In my last blog I shared a list of reasons from an older book by Don Basham that explain why some people are not set free by deliverance. Today I want to speak a little into the experience that many of us have had in which a person seems to genuinely get freedom from a spirit only to come back under the power of that spirit within a few days or weeks. Knowing how people lose their deliverance enables us to counsel those going through deliverance so that they might maintain that freedom in the months ahead.
First of all, people lose their freedom when their house remains vacant. Let me explain. Jesus said, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (Mt.12:43-45).
The “house” in this teaching is the body or the soul of the person who has been set free. When a spirit is cast out, it leaves a spiritual vacuum or vacancy. That vacuum will be filled by something. In the story Jesus told, the spirit returned and found the house unoccupied. It should have been filled by the Spirit of God and with the things of God rather than being left vacant. We always counsel those who have experienced deliverance to fill their lives with the Word of God, praise music, worship, godly books, and godly fellowship. We encourage them to avoid anything that would draw them back into old ways of thinking, old behaviors that are sinful or that border on sinful, and to stay away form relationships that might draw them back into the very things that opened the doors for the enemy in the first place. We encourage them to ask the Holy Spirit to fill them up so that there is no vacancy when an unclean spirit comes looking for a place to camp. Some lose their freedom because they fail to maintain a regimen of godliness during the days and weeks following their deliverance.
A second reason that people lose their deliverance is unbelief. Satan’s only real weapon against believers is a lie. He lied to Adam and Eve and he lies to us. After a person experiences freedom from a spirit or numerous spirits, the devil immediately begins to inject doubt into the situation. He will suggest that nothing really happened and nothing really changed during the deliverance session. He will suggest that the person is no different from before and that he or she still belongs to Satan. He will attempt to discredit those who ministered to the individual and, in general, create doubt about the individual’s newly found freedom. He may also suggest that he is more powerful than Jesus and that the individual will never be free. If the person buys into the lie, then Satan has an open door to demonize that person once again.
Because of the temptation and lies that inevitably come to the person who has been delivered, we need to prepare them for that moment with biblical truth. The gospels are abundantly clear that demons are real, many people are demonized, and that Jesus and those who follow him have authority to set people free. They must be clear that Jesus has all authority in heaven and in earth and that he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. They must also expect the lies to come. As they come they should not consider those lies to be their own thoughts but tempting spirits and should command them to leave in the same way that they commanded spirits to leave during their deliverance. Guarding your own thought life and rebuking lies with God’s truth is essential to maintaining freedom.
A third way that people lose their freedom after deliverance is to go back to the same old relationships and environment that contributed to their demonization in the first place or to spend time with unbelievers – especially unbelieving Christians who would deny the reality of demons and deliverance or who are casual about their faith. If a person has been delivered from a spirit of rejection, he or she should not stay around people who practice rejection until they are fully healed and strong enough not to “receive” the rejection. If a person has been in a sinful relationship that opened them up to demons, they must not go back to that relationship or even be close to it. If they have been around people who cast doubt on the scriptures or the truth of Jesus Christ they should avoid those relationships for a while because the devil will attempt to undermine the persons deliverance and peace through those people. Typically, there is a season of vulnerability after deliverance. For that season, those who have just been set free should avoid relationships that will discourage them, re-wound them, or tempt them to sin.
The fourth reason some lose their deliverance is that they withheld some part of their life from the Lordship of Jesus and continued to love or value some sin or some sinful relationship more than their relationship with Jesus. They may have said all the right words but their heart didn’t match their declarations. Double-mindedness is an open door for the enemy. A lack of true repentance still keeps part of us in agreement with Satan and that agreement gives him a legal right to harass us. Some people come to Jesus wanting to be set free from the consequences of a sin but not from the sin itself. Typically, when a believer has a persistent, unrepented sin in his or her life there is some demonic deception attached that keeps the person from seeing the destructive nature of the sin. Prayers for God to lift the veil of deception and to give them spiritual eyes through which to see the truth may be in order before deliverance. Sometimes we must learn to hate a sin we have once loved before a spirit can be driven out.
I’m sure there are other reasons that individuals may lose their deliverance and slip back into spiritual bondage but these represent some of the primary causes. As we minister deliverance, we need to instruct those receiving deliverance so that they can guard against these pitfalls. We need to practice the same cautions in our own lives as well to keep the enemy at bay. Blessings and freedom in Jesus today.
