What would you think when a Christian comes to you and says that he is going for a deliverance class?
- you would think the person is possessed..
- maybe they are carrying serious baggage
- that they are serious sinners!
When David prayed “…and the Lord delivered me from all my fears…” He was asking God to deliver him from his own fears. walk to the altar for prayer to ask the Lord to deliver you from the baggage of fear.
The word deliverance simply means to rescue someone. God has rescued us from different places. He continues to rescue us because the presence of sin is not yet over. We have to remember that we are recued from the kingdom of darkness thru redemption into the Kingdom of God. God hedges us when we are born again but there are people who leave doorways for the forces of darkness to return.
God and satan can not dwell in the same house. If you have left a doorway then slowly you start moving away from the body of Christ and before long you stop coming to Church and finally satan gains full control of you. When you got saved, the house was clean, but with open doors, the enemy came in like a flood and it is said that you are in a worse position than you were when you were born again. Such a person would need to come back to Christ for redemption and close all doorways by breaking such connections. Such connections may include linkages to the occult and new age movements…palm reading, witchcraft, horoscopes and the likes.
Sometimes the doorways look really attractive and don’t look threatening initially. You hold on to a little bitterness, a little anger… we don’t need to be possessed with a hundred demons, a little lie is also a doorway and the enemy will not hesitate to use this as a way to come into your life. You may have been abused when you were a child and you carry this bitterness into marriage. Just because you became born again doesn’t close this doorway, you need to close this doorway by working on your bitterness.
So we all need deliverance and that is the purpose for the sermon series that we have been going through this whole month “Bondage Breaker” Today we continue with part III, the D’s of Deliverance.
Before I share the D’s, here are some three statements.
1. Deliverance requires you to KNOW WHO CHRIST IS.
Col 1:16 says “…For in him all things were created… things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
We need deliverance because Christ knows both worlds…the unseen and the seen. Col 2:9 says the in Christ is the fullness of deity. He doesn’t need to ask anyone whether you can be delivered. V.10 says he is the head of all authorities…government, church, powers and spiritual authorities. SO anything that rises above you, Christ is the head over all authority and has power to heal and deliver.
2. Deliverance requires we KNOW OUR HERITAGE IN CHRIST. You are a son of God and you serve a different kingdom.
Col 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
There is nothing that can defeat Gods power. Its incredible and great and its for you. It’s the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand of God, a place of honor and reverence. This is the same power that lives in you.
3. Deliverance requires us to TRANSLATE these SPIRITUAL VICTORIES to REALITIES in life
We live In a world where we are surrounded with sickness of every kind but the bible says the “…I am the Lord that healeth thee” He can heal you in an instant. We need to relate this spiritual victory into a physical reality but many Christians struggle with that. You need to come to the place where God is God of all or not at all. He cannot share his glory with you. You need to understand that God is ready and willing to heal you but he needs you to rise to a level of faith and understanding where you can begin to walk with that faith. Heb 11: 6 “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him”.
There has to be a two prong approach to your realisitation of the promises of God and translating them to your deliverance. a) You must know that God exists and what you read in scripture is true and b) You must come to the place of knowing that God will reward you because you are His child and are still under his dominion.
Through the ENCOUNTER of Jesus and Woman with the Issue of blood, we can see the D’s of Deliverance.
1. DEPENDANCE
MARK 5:24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors…
This woman had to stop depending on the strongholds she was tied to, to begin walking in the freedom of depending on God. The Enemy had bound her with sickness. The passage above says that this DISEASE CAUSED HER TO BLEED CONTINUOUSLY for 12 years. Not only did she SUFFER from the DISEASE but also SUFFERED from MANY DOCTORS.
Like the disease, many strongholds hold us captive and dependent and we are unable to have the strength of breaking loose from its claws. With the time, the stronghold puts you under its bondage and control. It become the one that sustains you and gives you the hope, you need it to survive because it energizes you and eventually it becomes your support system, causes dependency and enslaves you.
2. DISCERNMENT
Discernment is an important step towards healing. David said, Psalms 51:3 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me”.
It is almost like this sin was haunting David; He had some revelation of how his sin had affected his relationship with God. REVELATION IS ABLE TO BREAK US OUT GODWARD so as to access Him.
In Matt 5:26b “and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had not gotten better. In fact, she had gotten worse. Three things happened:
- She SPENT EVERYTHING
- She did NOT GET BETTER
- She BECAME WORSE
3. DESIRE
The woman with the issue of blood had desire. V. 8 …For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Knowledge of the CONSEQUENCE of living in BONDAGE must be alive in us if we are to receive deliverance. She knew that if she remained in her current state she would bleed more and she would suffer more.
Knowing the Blessedness of living in HEALING and FREEDOM will make us push through any obstacle to reach Jesus. Realizing the pain of living in sin, David cried out to God for cleansing: Ps 51:7 “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow”.
She heard about Jesus ministry; this created hope and desire for healing. So she said, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”
The Prophet Isaiah in Isiah 6 realized “I am a man of unclean lips” DESIRE (Hunger) must be CONFESSED before FAITH is ACTIVATED.
4. DARING
This woman was willing to break social taboos. According to Leviticus 15:19-30, an “unclean” woman was unwelcome in society and considered a social outcast. This meant that EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE SHE TOUCHED BECAME CEREMONIALLY UNCLEAN. The word “touch,” in Greek means to “fasten onto or grab” or to “cling” to His cloth that comprised His outer robe. She did not just touch the robe. She held on and grabbed on. Cry out to God for your deliverance.
a) If she was involved sexually, her bed and even her husband would have been ceremonially unclean (Deut 24:1).
b) She would be barred from worship in the synagogue since she could not make atonement for her blood flow (Lev 15:28-30).
c) If she touched Jesus under normal circumstances, she would make Him ceremonially “unclean.” But praise be to God that nothing can make Jesus unclean. When we touch Him with our uncleanliness, His beauty and glory cleans us up.
5. DETERMINATION
The bible say in Mark that the Crowd was “Large,” referring to “a large crowd followed”, in Luke 8:42, the crowd here was like a “Crush,” meaning, “the crowds almost crushed Him” and in Luke 8:45, “the people are crowding and pressing against Jesus”
So this woman had to push through in order to get close to Jesus. She was very determined to get her deliverance. She would have preferred to die crushed by the crowd than die from the issue of blood.
5. DELIBERATE
This woman said in v28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed…. In Luke 8:46 Jesus says that someone ‘deliberately touched’ him. Jesus was talking about the attitude of the woman. The disciples even argued that there were many people around how can he say someone touched him. But Jesus knew that someone has deliberately grabbed. David in Ps 51:10 says “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. You must be deliberate in your prayer for deliverance. Specifically speak about the issues that you face…lying, issues of sin and wrong attitudes.
6. DEMOLISH
2 Cor 10:3-6 says “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete”.
God has to demolish those thought patterns that nothing else works. God says in His word that all things work together for the good of those that believe. So you can succeed in life, in business and in your marriage. Thought patterns build themselves against what the word of God says.
7. DECLARATION
Jesus says in Mark 5:34 “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over”.
You need to declare that you are no longer bound by satan.
I pray that God’s word will speak to you today and that you would allow Christ to break all bondages that have you chained. I pray that you would experience the freedom that comes from Christ. If you are not born again, you need to receive Christ and turn away from sin.
