Hello creative friend!
This is week eighteen of twenty in my Freedom Friday posts on Identity in Christ. These blog posts are based on my I Am Journal and I hope you are joining me on this journey whether you own the journal or not.
Our truth topic today is: I am delivered!
To say that today’s topic is controversial would be a huge understatement. Can a Christian have a demon that needs to be cast out? Some say absolutely, some say no, it was all done at the cross. It is not my goal or intention to start a theology debate. I’m simply here to share my story with you.
Deliverance is the action of being rescued or set free. Other words for it is liberation, release, freeing, rescue, ransom, salvation, redemption etc… It is also the state of being saved from a painful or bad experience.
Some say that our deliverance was complete at the cross. I don’t know about you but I don’t think I know a single person who was suddenly completely free the second they accepted Jesus. On the contrary, I know many who would say that things actually got worse for them.
For many years after becoming a believer AND a follower of Christ I was plagued and tormented by many different things. I tried so hard to get free by following the advice of well meaning pastors, teachers and friends. If only you would pray more or read the bible more they would say…well guess what, saying those things to someone that was stuck in a performance based faith is not a good idea!! I would literally spend entire days doing just that and it didn’t help. In fact, the more I tried, the more I was tormented! I can remember living through a couple years of chronic itching. My whole body was itchy to the point where I thought I would end up in a mental hospital. I spent a whole year trying to eliminate this or that from my diet. Spent a ton of money on different shampoos and soap to see if I could find one that didn’t make me itchy. Spend even more money trying to figure out what the problem was. Nothing worked. The itch was inside my body, not on the surface. I got relief through medication for a few months but my body stopped responding to treatment and the torment came back full force. I should tell you that it got worse when I read the bible, prayed or was at church. That was suspicious to me. One day, someone told me to read “The Bondage Breaker” by Neil Anderson. As I sat down to read it, the itching went on over-drive but I decided not to let it stop me from reading the book. At some point I read about tormenting spirits and I just knew that this is what I had been dealing with. I prayed for deliverance from it and I was healed that day. Also, after following the books instructions to forgive EVERYONE that had ever caused me harm I was healed of arthritis. I had read in the bible that we need to forgive and had done so on a certain level but I had not gone to the level of actually writing each name down and forgiving each one instead of a generic “I forgive everyone” kind of prayer. To look at each wound, I was able to consider what I was actually forgiving.
Later on I was delivered from a spirit of fear and I ended up healed of allergies. This may not sound like a big deal but it was. I was allergic to most food and was told I was incompatible with my environment! I was very ill on many different levels. Just to name a few, the allergies caused asthma and hives as well as the kind of digestive issues that keep you from living life. I was afraid to leave home because I didn’t want to “have an attack” in public. My digestion issues were so painful at times that I would beg God to just take me. The more I eliminated foods that I was allergic too, the more allergies I developed. I would find release for a couple of weeks but then it would be something else causing the symptoms. I was afraid to eat. I WAS AFRAID OF FOOD. I know from experience that if you think a certain food will make you sick, then it most likely will. I never had a reaction to fish until the allergy test said I was allergic to it and the next time I ate fish, I had an anaphylactic reaction to it. The mind is a powerful thing! I was completely healed from this by being delivered from a spirit of fear. I’ve been able to eat whatever I want ever since and that was 13+ years ago.
My story of deliverance did not end there. It has continued and I walk in more and more freedom every day. Do you have sin in your life that you just can’t stop? There’s a good chance you’re up against demonic forces that need to be evicted.
Will power or trying in your own strength to “trust the Lord” more will not bring true freedom, in fact it will just make you more exhausted. I’m not saying that you won’t have a part to play in deliverance, it’s not just about casting a demon out. Your part is to forgive people, repent of wrong doing, walk in your new found freedom (ie stay away from alcohol if you’ve just been set free of being addicted to it!) and then trust the Lord with it. You can’t attempt to trust the Lord with anything that you are bound to. It just doesn’t work! Deal with the reasons that keep you from trusting Him in the first place!
Do I think there’s a demon behind every problem? No I do not. I think that sometimes people blame demons to avoid taking responsibility for their problems and sin. I do however think that it’s necessary to know what you’re fighting against.
I can honestly tell you that I loved the Lord so much and didn’t want to break His heart at all. It was my greatest desire to serve Him and please Him yet I was so completely bound by my past and just couldn’t get out of the sin that held me in chains. Deliverance made all the difference. Some of it was generational. Talk about feeling like there’s nothing you can do to change things. I mean, it’s in my genes right? So I can’t do anything? Wrong!! You can be set free from the generational issues that have you bound. You don’t have to live in fear of what has plagued your family for generations. Jesus wants to set you free.
Do you hear voices in your head that sound exactly like you but are constantly tearing you apart? It’s not you my friend, that is the voice of the enemy accusing you day and night. You don’t have to live like that. Tweet That!
You don’t have to live depressed or oppressed nor to you have to live tormented mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually. Jesus wants to deliver you in every way. He has great plans for you and living in torment is not one of them. It is fear that brings torment and His perfect love casts out fear!
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)
I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you that being a Christian doesn’t eliminate the battles in our lives but I can tell you this. Battles are a whole lot easier to win when you’re not fighting against a bunch of demons. Jesus wants to fight those battles for you but if you have given the enemy open doors to mess with you, those doors will have to be closed. Jesus will not force His way into places where you have keep out signs. Invite Him into the darkest, messiest places. He is an expert at cleaning house. You can trust Him to be loving and gentle. You are God’s child and He wants you free.
Bill Johnson
“Most of us are acutely aware that we live in a world at war. But the war is not over power, land or money, or even good and evil. It is over something even more basic. The war is over truth, and the battlefield is the mind of every person.”
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)
Here are biblical declarations that you can read out loud every day. Declare truth over yourself daily and you will soon believe it! I have included a free printable for you to use, enjoy it!
1- God is my refuge, and His everlasting arms are under me. He drives out the enemy before me and cries out, ‘Destroy them!’ (Deut 33:27)
2- God is the one who goes with me to fight for me against my enemies to give me victory. (Deut 20:4)
3- Jesus has given me authority to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm me. (Luke 10:19)
4- I use God’s powerful weapons to destroy strongholds and false arguments; I pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; I take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. (2 Cor 10:3-5)
5- God rescues me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who are too strong for me. The Lord is my support. He brings me out into a spacious place; He rescues me because he delights in me.’ (Psalm 18:17-19)
6- God did not give me a spirit of timidity, cowardice or fear, but He has given me a spirit of power, love, sound judgment and personal discipline. He has given me a sound well-balanced mind and self-control. (2 Tim 1:7)
7- The Lord grants that the enemies who rise up against me will be defeated before me. They will come at me from one direction but flee from me in seven. (Deut 28:7)
8- The truth sets me free. (John 8:32) I refuse to listen to the enemies lies.
9- I am not overcome with evil but I overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21) I focus more on God’s goodness and less on what the enemy is doing.
10- God is greater than any problem I face. I choose to worship Him in the midst of my battles.
Have a great week friend, I pray that you are filled with hope that Jesus can set you completely free and that nothing is too big for you to be delivered from.
