“In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,       “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” (Luke 4:34-36).

This account of Jesus ministering deliverance to a person has several common elements with many other “deliverance” accounts in the gospels. First of all, we notice that demons often attend church with those they are oppressing. Most demonic oppression does not entirely control a person but rather influences them. These individuals will function normally most of the time and in most areas of their lives.  They will go to work, go home, play with their kids, have friends, and go to church. However, there will be a small but significant part of their life over which they feel little to no control.

This demonic influence will manifest as moments of rage that are always blamed on other people, hidden pornography addictions, persistent and powerful feelings of rejection, jealousy, bitterness, envy or self-loathing.  They may be experienced as fear, anxiety, or bouts of depression and illness.  Most demonic affliction does not look like the Gadarene demoniac who lived among the tombs, cutting himself and crying out. Most demonic manifestations mimic emotional brokenness and illness that occurs in the natural realm and so we seek treatment from the natural realm. Since there is a spiritual force fueling these issues in a person’s life, therapies offered by the world will not solve the issue.  At best a person may learn to manage his rage, his anxiety, his depression or his addictions but will never feel totally free of them.

Many of us who are afflicted by demons have experienced that affliction so long that we think every human being must be dealing with the same issues and so we try out best to manage our feelings and dark thoughts and believe it is just our lot in life to do so. Our secret hope is that those thoughts and feelings we try so hard to repress will never get out of hand.  However, the enemy wears us down and sets us up and those thoughts and feeling so get out of hand usually with very hurtful consequences.

The second thing we notice in this account that is common to other accounts of deliverance is that demonic spirits know exactly who Jesus is and recognize his authority over them. They often cry out in despair and fear and ask if he is going to destroy them or send them to the Abyss (See Luke 8:31).  I’ve always found it interesting that Jesus didn’t destroy them or send them to the pit of hell but cast them out of a person with the possibility that they would simply go and afflict others.  The primary point however is that demons were subject to the authority of Christ even before the cross.  How much more are they subject now after he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth?  I also know that demons become very uncomfortable in the presence of God. Those who are demonized and make it to church will often feel agitated or fearful in worship or as people pray over them.  They are not feeling their own agitation, fear or even hate but they are experiencing what the demons are feeling.  Unfortunately, there are times and places where the presence of God is hardly evident in church services so that demons will be quite comfortable in those places.  We also know that Satan loves to steal the word of God from a heart before it can take root and so the demonic is often present in church services doing just that. How often are we distracted during worship or a sermon or have random thoughts of envy or lust or judgment toward someone we notice in the crowd or on the platform?  The enemy is stealing the word.

Finally we notice that it requires power and authority to cast out the enemy.  Power is defined as the force with which one can impose his will on another.  When Michael warred against Satan and his angels in the rebellion, Satan and those who had joined him were cast down to the earth.  That demonstrated that the power of heaven is superior to that of hell.  Jesus walked the earth with power and authority over the demonic, disease, and even death.  He had power because the power of heaven backed up his commands. Jesus said that the Father had put more than twelve legions of angels at his disposal (See Mt.26:53). Authority is not power but is what directs power.  When an artillery officer gives the command to fire, his words don’t have the ability to destroy the target but his word’s have authority to direct and release the power that can destroy the enemy. Jesus carried the authority of heaven with him and his commands directed the power of heaven.  It takes both to cast out the enemy, heal the sick. or raise the dead.

In Luke 9:1, we are told that Jesus gave that same power and authority to the twelve. They immediately went out to preach the gospel and as they went they healed and cast out demons. In Luke 10, Jesus sent out seventy-two others with the same power and authority.  The effects were stunning. “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”  My guess is that the first time they healed or cast out a demon they were just as surprised as the crowds were who witnessed it.  We struggle to believe the same thing.  We have no doubts that Jesus can heal or deliver or that heaven is more powerful than hell.  What we struggle to believe is that Jesus has delegated his authority to us and that our commands will actually direct the power of heaven into a certain situation. But Jesus promised that those who believed in him would do even greater things than he did when he walked the earth.

We’re told by the writer of Hebrews, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb.1:3).  Jesus is the exact representation of the Father.  In other words, Jesus re-presents the Father. He does exactly what the Father does in exactly the same ways the Father does it.  We are the body of Christ and his ambassadors on the earth.  We are called to re-present Jesus just as Jesus represents the Father – not just in actions but also in character. Character comes through the Spirit but action comes by faith.  In the context of healing and deliverance, faith believes that Jesus will honor our prayers and commands in his name and back them up with the power of heaven because we act in his authority.  The demons know his authority over them. We are the ones who sometimes doubt it.

If the enemy cannot blind us to the authority of Christ working through his church today, his fallback position is to convince us that only a few select people in the church can command demons.  Then we all wait around hoping one of those guys shows up.  Every believer is an ambassador of Christ and walks in his authority. I believe Jesus sent out the seventy-two so that we would know his authority was not going to be given to just a select circle of men but to all who follow him.  My hope is that we will all walk in that authority today believing that when we pray or command with the authority of Christ, heaven will train its gun on the target we have selected.  Be blessed.

David’s psalm after his sin with Bathsheba –

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge … Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice … 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. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:1-17).

Walking with God in intimate fellowship is the goal and the key to experiencing his presence, hearing him, receiving his promises, ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit, living with joy and everything else you can think of.  Walking with God is based on agreement with him. “How can two walk together unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). To maintain our “agreement” with God we must deal effectively with any sin that creeps into our lives.  David’s psalm quoted above is vey instructive.  First of all, David knew the heart of God better than any man in scripture other than Jesus because he was “a man after God’s own heart.” Secondly, after his sin with Bathsheba he was in desperate need of realigning his life and heart with the Father.

It’s helpful to know that after adultery, murder and a year of covering up the sins, God’s forgiveness was not out of reach for David. Undoubtedly, David’s sin had set some consequences in motion that he would have to live with, but as soon as he confessed his sin to God he was forgiven and his walk with the Lord restored.  Some great difficulties loomed in his future but God, as a loving Father, would walk through those difficulties with him.  David’s heart and view of God revealed in Psalm 51 is the key to restoration.  Let me just point out a few keys but you should reflect on this psalm yourself for your own insights.

First of all, throughout this psalm David made no attempt to rationalize, justify or minimize his sin. He blamed no one else for his actions but acknowledged that he was totally responsible for the choices he had made.  Too many times we come before God like children caught with our hands in the cookie jar giving every excuse for our actions.  “I couldn’t help myself.  I was overpowered by the smell of those cookies. Actually, my sister made me do it! If mom hadn’t made the cookies in the first place this would have never happened! What’s the big deal anyway, it was only one small cookie?  Besides, the cookie rule is stupid and unfair!”  You get the drift. David could have tried to spread the blame around or deny his personal responsibility by declaring that Bathsheba shouldn’t have been bathing outside or that she should have refused to come to his apartment. Maybe if Uriah had been a better husband this would never have happened or if God hadn’t given David such strong sexual desires he could have said “no” to the temptation, etc.

Sometimes our approach to confession betrays our view that God will forgive our sins or continue to love us only if we convince him that the sin wasn’t our fault or that the biblical standard isn’t fair or that it is out of step with our current realities. David does none of that.  He relies immediately and totally on God’s mercy, his unfailing love, and his great compassion.

He refuses to bargain with God or to offer to somehow work off his sin through penance or good works or by never doing it again – “God if you will just forgive this, I will….” He acknowledges that there is nothing he can do to make his sin right or to make it go away.  He simply asks God to cleanse his sin and purify his heart because there is nothing else he can do. He declares that God’s standards are right and just and simply acknowledges his great failure in living up to those standards.

In this psalm, there is obviously godly sorrow in David’s heart for his sin.  He has wronged God first by violating his commands and wounding (in this case killing) those that God also loved. He feels his guilt and shame but he is laying all of that at the feet of God’s mercy and the cross which already stood in the mind of God (Rev.13:8).  Even after his great sin, David believed that reconciliation was possible and that God was willing to restore his joy because of God’s great heart and relentless love for his people.

David also understood that God is not interested in us carrying guilt and shame around for years so that our joy, our service to him and our testimony is suffocated by the weight of our past.  I see people who seem to carry guilt, shame and self-loathing over sins from there past as if they can earn God’s forgiveness through their self-inflicted misery and emotional suffering.  God is not interested in that because our refusal to accept his forgiveness robs him of our joyful service, our praise, and our testimony to sinners around us. Our insistence on continuing to carry our guilt and shame for past sins declares that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough for us.

David was not theologically clear on the cross but he was clear on the heart of God that provided the cross and so he pressed into God and trusted him totally for grace, mercy, unfailing love, cleansing, and restoration.  No excuses. No rationalization. Just confession and trust in the heart and character of God.  We need to come to God daily with every sin in the same assurance.  We can actually come with even more assurance because we are this side of the cross and understand what Jesus has done for us. If we believe that our sins, our brokenness, and the darkness we still discover in our hearts make us unacceptable to God then we will distance ourselves from him and begin to deny, justify and rationalize our sins until we no longer accept God’s standards in our lives.  God doesn’t require us to live up to his standards before he accepts us, he accepts us in Jesus so that by his Spirit we can begin to live up to those standards.

Dealing with sin and weakness in our lives on a daily basis through the cross is essential to our walk with the Father. Nothing is beyond his grace and mercy. David understood that and when sin was greater than David, God’s grace was greater than sin.  It still is.  Be blessed today in the unfailing love and sure forgiveness of your Father.

Have you ever wondered where God is and how he feels when you are being abused, wronged, or wounded?  I was visiting with a friend of mine who is a gifted songwriter.  My friend has been deeply wounded on several occasions in this life but reminded me of a great psalm that pictures God’s response to those who would harm his children.

King David wrote: The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.  In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind…The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them… He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. (Ps.18:5-16).

Although David employs a great deal of imagery in this psalm, the picture is clear. God is a loving Father who hears the cry of his children and rises in anger toward those who would injure them.  David wrote this after God had delivered him from the hand of Saul who had been hunting David for years. In this psalm the Holy Spirit reveals the heart of God toward his hurting children.  He is described as a Father seething with anger, who rends the heavens to rescue one of his beloved children.  Before you say, “Well, he’s never done that for me when I have cried out!” remember that David went through a number of trials before he was finally and fully delivered from his enemy. But this psalm reveals a great deal that should comfort us.

First of all, God is not indifferent to our pain or our dilemmas.  He feels as any good father would feel watching someone hurt his child.  I remember a moment when my youngest daughter was in kindergarten. I was at her school for a Fall Festival when I saw her come of the door leading to the playground and a boy about twice her size pushed her so that she nearly fell.  It wasn’t an accident as he hurried by.  I saw him look at her and intentionally push her.  I felt my blood pressure rise along with a great deal of anger over what he had just done to my little girl. I confronted the boy and let him know very clearly that if that ever happened again there would be swift and severe consequences.  In that moment of anger, I still exercised restraint.  After all, he was just a boy…and there were witnesses. But I still remember my automatic and immediate response to seeing my daughter wronged by a bully.

David paints that picture of our heavenly Father.  He rises in anger breathing fire and coming in vengeance on those who would wrong his child.  And yet, even in this psalm, he showed great restraint.  With all of his power, he still only scattered the enemy and routed them.  Unrestrained, God could have annihilated every one of them in a moment. In his heart he wanted to do just that. Yet, he also loves those who hurt us and still desires for them to repent and be saved.   Remember those moments in the wilderness wanderings of Israel when God would tell Moses to step aside and let him destroy Israel and start over?  That was his feeling, but in his restraint he allowed Moses to intercede on behalf of a stubborn and faithless nation so that he could change his mind and give them another chance.  Think of the restraint of the Father as he watched cruel men abuse and crucify his only begotten Son.  God’s dilemma is that he is not only holy and all-powerful, but he is love. He loves us and our enemies as well. And so he restrains himself and by that restraint is restricted to comforting and healing us rather than annihilating our enemies the moment they wound us. Before you push back against that, remember that there have probably been moments in our lives when he restrained his anger and frustration against us as well.

However, there will come a day when those who refuse to repent will feel the wrath of a loving Father because of what they have done to his children. God does store up wrath. In that Day, men will cry out, tremble, and want to hide under the mountains because of the wrath that will be coming their way.  God is not indifferent and he will display his love for his children and his justice toward those who have abused, rejected, wounded, and even killed those in Christ who have not come to faith and repented.

Remember the parable of the sheep and the goats that Jesus told in Matthew 25.  It is a parable of judgment.  He says that when he comes with his angels, all men will stand before him and will be separated based on what they have done for the poor, the lonely, the imprisoned, and the oppressed.  Those who ministered to the victims of this world will be rewarded.  Jesus says, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  To those who did not care about the victims of this world, Jesus released them to eternal punishment and said, ”Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”  How much more will that be true for those who injured his children without repentance?

Jesus told us that in this world we will have trouble.  He even told us to expect persecution. He also said, “ I will never leave you nor forsake you” and “I will be with you even unto the end of the age.”  Even in our suffering God is there. He is filled with pain and anger because of what is being done to us. His heart is to save, to comfort and to heal and also to punish the wicked who would hurt you.  He will do so in time. In the meantime, a Father’s restraint blesses us all.  Be blessed today knowing that whatever you have suffered, your Father is stirred deeply and will rise from his throne on your behalf.

Have you ever noticed how often Jesus healed on the Sabbath?  In John 9, Jesus healed a man that was born blind.  He had been a beggar and was apparently a fairly well known figure in part of the city.  Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with his saliva and put it on the man’s eyes.  He then instructed the beggar to go the pool of Siloam and wash.  The man was obedient to the command and left the pool seeing for the first time.

Imagine how amazing sight would be for the first time. Suddenly, this man saw only what he had felt and heard all his life.  He had felt water on his skin but as soon as he washed the mud from his eyes he saw water rippling with sunlight sparkling across the surface of the pool.  He saw the faces of familiar voices he had only heard each day as he begged.  He was struck with the endless colors of clothing the crowds were wearing. He suddenly put form and color to the animals he had heard and touched in Jerusalem since childhood. Add to that the shape and colors of buildings, trees, grass, the sky, the sun, and the clouds. The immense amount of new images filling his mind must have been almost overwhelming.  It makes me wonder if part of the miracle was a download of understanding that was imparted to the beggars mind to make sense of what he was seeing.

Of course, as the word of this notable miracle spread, the Pharisees showed up like investigative reporters snooping out a story for the National Inquirer. They remind us that religion devoid of relationship with the Father can be a dangerous thing.  Once again, the Pharisees did not deny the miracle but missed everything about it because it had occurred on the Sabbath. Their response to a blind man who now saw each of their faces was to state that, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

Some questioned the miracle and so his parents were brought forth to confirm that this was their son and that he had indeed been born blind. After doing so, the questions were not about the amazing healing and how it had touched the blind man’s heart and soul, but only were designed to discover whom the man was that had broken the Sabbath by healing someone.  To the formerly blind beggar they said, “Give glory to God, we know this man is a sinner.” His reply, of course, was on target.  “Whether he is a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see.”  This blind beggar went on to state some fairly sound theology. “Now this is remarkable.  You don’t know where he comes from yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinner.  He listens to the godly man who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  The Pharisees responded with their usual grace and scholarship – “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.”

Miracles are signs.  They are realities that point to even greater realities.  A road sign pointing you to Interstate 20 is a reality but it points to something greater and more useful. The sign won’t take you where you want to go, it only points you to that which will.  Miracles are amazing things, but they point you to an even greater reality. Jesus himself said that his miracles testified to his identity as the Son of God and his identity as the Anointed One. The giver of the miracle is always a greater reality than the miracle itself. As we seek the gifts of the Spirit and the supernatural power of God, we should never see those things as an end in themselves but rather road signs that point us to the giver of the gifts which should always be out true pursuit.

Having said that, how did the Pharisees miss the point of the healings time after time?  These were learned men who had memorized the first five books of the Bible as a beginning step.  They discussed and debated the Torah over and over. These were men of prayer who had devoted themselves to the knowledge of God.  Jesus himself acknowledged that they searched the scriptures diligently but they missed him.  The scriptures were signs pointing to the greater reality but they missed the reality. Somehow they never grasped the onramp to a personal relationship with God the Father.

God is pouring out a great measure of power and miracles on his church today.  These miracles can again become a divide just as they were in the days of Jesus. The problem will not be in the miracles but in the hearts of those who witness the miracles or who refuse to witness the miracles.  Miracles will come because God is a God of miracles who is still pointing to his Son. He is also a God of compassion and his miracles for healing, freedom and provision still flow out of a heart that is burdened for the brokenness and suffering of his people.

As in the days of Jesus, there will be different responses to the miracles. The best, of course, is belief in Jesus as the one true Son of God.  Some will see the signs and understand the destination. They will absolutely know that Jesus is the singular road to the Father.  Others will get caught up in the gifts themselves and never conform to the image of Jesus Christ in spirit or character.  These men may abuse the gifts or use them for their own ends.  They will tend to discredit the faith.

Still others will deny the reality of the miracles or declare, as the Pharisees declared, that these contemporary miracles are deceptions from the enemy. I believe Jesus healed often on the Sabbath because the Sabbath laws had become a stronghold of religion.  Men had taken it on themselves to closely define the things that constituted “work” on the Sabbath and in doing so violated the spirit of the Sabbath all together.  Jesus declared that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  The very thing that God had given to bless man with rest and a focus on the love and faithfulness of God became an instrument of victimization.  To deny healing and deliverance on the Sabbath was to deny the powerful expression of God’s love on the Sabbath. In doing so, God was viewed as a God of rules rather than relationship.

Some will do the same today.  In the name of orthodoxy and biblical scholarship, some will deny the heart of God by denying that he still wants to intervene in the suffering of his people and the lost condition of men through displays of power. In the name of scholarship and intellect, men will declare that the signs that once pointed men to Jesus now point men to the devil.  Won’t there be counterfeit signs and wonders in the last days?  Yes, there will be the counterfeit but there will also be the authentic.  Those with the Spirit of Christ who ask the Spirit to lead them into all truth will know the difference.

As Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.”  If miracles draw people to Jesus, promote righteousness, heal broken hearts and set captives free, they are from God by every biblical standard.  Those who deny that God still works in power and miracles will simply forfeit the field to the enemy.  People hunger for the miraculous because they hunger for heaven where the miracles of God flood the atmosphere.

When a holy church operates in the true power of God for healing and freedom, then there is a standard against which the counterfeit signs and wonders of the enemy can be measured. Without that, he will be fielding the only team.  The church must seek the gifts but seek the giver even more. Signs are important but point to a greater reality and although signs may be misread, it’s hard to find the interstate without them.  Be blessed.

One of my favorite authors through the years has been Philip Yancey.  Two of his books, What’s So Amazing About Grace and The Jesus I Never Knew, are books that I return to and reread from time to time. I was teaching a class this morning when the essential subject of forgiveness came up.  It is an essential subject because if we fail to forgive those who have wronged us, we open the door to the enemy and give him a perfect right to camp out in our living room (metaphorically speaking).  I like what Yancey has to say about the act of forgiving or our refusal to forgive.

As the Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt said, the only remedy for the inevitability of history is forgiveness; otherwise we remain trapped in the “predicament of irreversibility.” … Not to forgive imprisons me in the past and locks out all potential for change.  I, thus, yield control to another, my enemy, and doom myself to suffer the consequences of the wrong.  I once heard an immigrant rabbi make an astonishing statement,  “Before coming to America, I had to forgive Adolph Hitler,” he said. “I did not want to bring Hitler inside of me to my new country.” (Yancey, Philip. What’s So Amazing About Grace? Zondervan, 1997, p.99)

Those who have been wounded bristle at the thought of forgiving the one who has hurt them – especially when that person has hurt them over and over again. We bristle because we think they are getting a free pass for their “crimes” against us.  It’s like Jesus has commanded us to hand over a “Get Out of Jail Free” card to our worst enemy so they can go on hurting us as well as others. Our sense of justice cries out. Our anxiety level spikes because we think that these people must be stopped and it is the force of our unforgiveness that will stop them.

But here is the secret about forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a gift of God for the one who has been wronged, not for the one who has committed the wrong.  If we can understand that, we can summon the heart to forgive.  The rabbi quoted by Yancey had it right.  Unforgiveness keeps the hurt and the hurter alive in our hearts. God has actually made us to forgive so that time and distance will do a work of healing – unless we keep the hurt alive by constantly ripping the scab off our wound as we rehearse the wrongs and keep them fresh so that our “enemy” will not escape our wrath.

But we are the ones who will not escape without forgiving. Without forgiving we carry our “enemy” with us wherever we go.  We don’t allow God’s grace to do its work. Forgiveness is not the act of minimizing your pain or excusing what has been done to you.  It is the act of releasing judgment of the matter to God who judges perfectly.

What could you do with all the energy you have burned up thinking about the one who wounded you and wondering how justice will be served? Think of the sleepless nights and the pain you have endured reliving the memories of things done and said to you. God offers that back as a gift to you if you will simply release the matter to him.  You no longer have to forfeit your time, energy, and sleep to the matter. Release it to him.  You don’t have to spend one more second considering how you will make the other person pay for what they did to you. Release it to him. Forgiveness is like selling a mortgage to another company.  It will be their job to collect the debt, keep up with the legal work, and keep the records.  You won’t have to give it another thought.

“But what do I get,” you ask?  You get peace.  You get a heart drained of poison and bitterness. You get some relationships healed and restored and others just set aside.  You get a future untethered to your past.  You get the full forgiveness of God. You get space back in your heart so that love can fill the space that resentment once occupied.

Again, forgiveness is God’s gift for the wounded.  It is the pristine environment where healing can occur.  Will God forgive those terrible people who wronged and wounded you?  Will he forgive those who took your life away by their brutal acts?  If they repent; if they change; if they truly come to Christ he will.  But if they do, the individuals that hurt you will no longer exist. That will be a blessing as well.  If they don’t repent God won’t forgive.  But if you want to be fully healed pray that they will repent and be saved. Ask God to bless them. Forgive as you were forgiven.  Choose to overcome evil with good and you give your violators no more power over you. Then you will be free indeed.

I have served in several churches in my time as a pastor and I have talked to dozens of people who were restless, wounded and discontent in the church they attended.  The common denominator was that they had been in the same church for years, it had become less and less dynamic, and had settled into just “keeping house.”  These believers were unchallenged and felt as if they were drying up.  They nearly all had spoken with leaders in their church on several occasions and had prayed for years that revival or renewal might break out.  They were each discouraged and disgruntled and yet continued to attend a church where they were essentially unfruitful. I’m assuming there are many others in that situation who struggle with whether to “find another church” or to “hang in there” another year.

For some reason, I feel prompted to share some thoughts on that today. There are always disgruntled members who are looking for the perfect church (defined as a church that would do everything their way) but that is not who I am thinking about in this blog.  I’m thinking about believers who have stayed in one congregation for years, served there faithfully, enjoyed some seasons of excitement and fruitfulness at that church – but that was long ago.  There are others who have been longing and praying for revival at their church or asking God for a powerful move of the Holy Spirit where they are.  Yet there is no evidence on the horizon of either of those desires being fulfilled.

When I ask why they live with such disappointment and discontent for years they usually answer that they love their church and the people there.  Often these are “lay leaders” in the church who feel that they would be abandoning others who have been crying out for the same things for years. And so they stay and attend faithfully each Sunday in what seems to be the triumph of hope over experience.

Lots of times I hear church leaders say that these people need to continue to serve, they need to be part of the solution and not the problem, or that they need to renew their personal zeal without depending on church leadership.  And, sometimes, that has merit.  But there are also churches that vacant of life, vacant of God’s Spirit, and whose leadership is not hungry at all  to change that environment.

I’m reminded of what Jesus said regarding his life of service to the Father.  “ I can only do what I see the Father doing” (Jn.5:19).  Henry Blackabay put it this way, “See what God is doing and join him there.”  Jesus pointed us to fruitfulness in the kingdom of God and to fields white unto harvest.  I believe there comes a time when we need to understand that God is doing nothing or very little in a field because no one is plowing, planting, or watering and those who oversee the field are content or even committed to it laying fallow.  There comes a time when believers need to find where God is working or moving and join him there in a field that is producing a harvest. Remember, those fields are always in need of laborers.

I know why many people hang on in unfruitful churches year after year.  They stay because of the relationships they have there and for what those people mean to them. They also have a history in that place – weddings, funeral’s, baptisms, etc. I am a huge fan of love and loyalty and think those are very godly traits.  But sometimes we put those relationships before our relationship to God and so choose to stay in a religious environment that weakens our spirit and greatly limits our fruitfulness in the kingdom.

I have also visited with dozens of people who attend churches where the gifts of the Spirit are minimized or rejected and who keep calling out to God to receive their own gift of healing, prophecy, or even tongues. They want to see a “Pentecost” at the church they attend beginning with themselves. They want to see lives changed and loved ones healed and set free from fear and addictions.  And so they stay for years yearning and praying for a move of God.  I don’t want to judge any specific situation, but typically if God is not moving it is because leadership is not allowing it.

God honors authority.  Many Christians have placed themselves under the authority of leaders who are truly not interested in a life-altering move of God or who deny the present ministry of the Holy Spirit. To see God move or to receive the gifts of the Spirit, those believers may have to step out from under authority that is saying “No” to those things and find spiritual leaders who are saying “Yes!”

Here’s the thing.  If everyone were living in a city whose water sources had dried up to a trickle and whose civic leaders refused to haul in water, would we applaud the ones who stayed and died of thirst with the people they loved or would it be better for one to leave, find a stream overflowing its banks with fresh water, return, and lead the others who were thirsty to that source?

If anyone chooses to leave a church I believe they should do so in love, with respect toward leadership, and in a way that does not create disunity, But I see so many being disobedient to Christ because they love a church that is being disobedient to his Spirit. Nearly every believer I know senses that we are in the last days. So why sit on the bench when the game is late in the fourth quarter, the team is playing for the greatest prize of all, and you are needed on the field?  Paul said to “Run in such a way as to win the prize” (1 Cor. 9:24).

I am not saying to run to another church at the first sign of trouble or at your first disappointment. Try to be part of the solution but, if year after year, God is not being allowed to display his transforming power and glory there, I encourage you to go where he is busting out, turning lives and the world upside down,  and join him there.  Be fruitful.  Be joyful.  Be passionate. Go where spiritual leaders welcome your hunger and zeal rather than feeling threatened by it.  The time is short.  Jesus wants you in the game!

Once demonic oppression is indicated in the life of a believer, dealing with the demonic is fairly straightforward.

Deliverance is based on a few essential beliefs and principles.

1.  The kingdom of heaven has power and authority much greater than anything in the kingdom of darkness.  Satan was cast down.
2. Jesus demonstrated that authority over demons again and again while on the earth as the Son of Man.
3. Satan, death, and the grave could not hold the resurrected Savior who died for our sins to take away Satan’s legal claims against us.
4. Positionally, we are sons and daughters in the house of God, kings and priests on the earth, and the representatives of Jesus Christ who carry his delegated power and authority over the enemy.
5.  The only power Satan has over believers is the power we give him when we choose to live unaligned with God in all or part of our life. Others to whom we are connected may also have given him that right (sins of the fathers, curses, etc.).
6.  Our misalignment gives Satan a legal right to “rent a room,” i.e. afflict or oppress us.
7. Re-aligning ourselves with the Father removes the enemy’s legal right to afflict us.
9.  Having removed that right, we can command demons to leave us by the authority of Jesus Christ who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

Basic Process for Finding Freedom from the Demonic

Make all declarations or statements verbally because you are declaring these things to the spiritual realm.

1.  Begin your re-alignment by declaring your faith in and allegiance to Jesus Christ.
2.  Renounce sin and all the works of Satan.
3.  Acknowledge the areas in your life that are unaligned with the Father. These may be areas of persistent unrepented sin, unbelief, or unforgiveness. As King David prayed, “Search my heart O God and show me if there is any offensive way in me,” you should also pray and ask God to show you any hidden sins or rebellion in your life. Do not rationalize, minimize or blame others for your sin and do not accuse God of having unjust standards.
4.  Confess and repent of your sins by declaring God’s standards to be righteous and agreeing with him about his standards and your failure to keep them. Ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus based on his sacrifice for you and nothing else.  Be as specific as possible. Thank God for forgiving you. (See 1 Jn. 1:9).
5.  Confess the sins of your Fathers if you know them specifically.  If not, confess the wickedness, known and unknown, of your ancestors and renounce their sins and wickedness. Ask God to break the affects of their sins in your life and thank him for doing so.
6.  Forgive all those whom you have not forgiven.  This is an act of the will not your emotions. Biblical forgiveness is choosing to no longer require payment for a wrong done to you.  It is turning judgment of the matter over to God.  It is a decision to no longer act in any way designed to make someone pay for the wrong he/she did to you.  Jesus then instructs us to bless them and pray for them.  We must forgive those who sin against us because Jesus forgives our sins. It is not because they deserve it, but because Jesus deserves it.

Having re-aligned yourself with the Father, you may….

• Declare that Jesus became a curse for you so that you might blessed (Gal. 3:13-14).  Because of that you may ask Jesus to sever, make null and void, and cancel any curses that have ever been established against you by words or sins. Thank him for doing so.
• Declare that you are a son/daughter of the king. God’s representative on the earth, and that you serve in the power and authority of Jesus Christ.
• Renounce any sin, emotions or thoughts contrary to God’s truth that you believe demonic spirits have prompted or produced in you.  It may be something like … In the Name of Jesus I renounce fear, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bitterness, pornography, unbelief, gossip, apathy, etc.
• Then in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ and by his blood that was shed for you, you can command those spirits to leave you immediately and never return.

That is the basic process and scriptural principles for breaking the power of the enemy in your life or someone else’s life based on whom Jesus is, what he has done and who you are in him.

For more details about this process and for suggested commands and declarations over the enemy I would recommend reading my book Born to Be Free. It is also important that you learn how to walk out your freedom so that the enemy cannot return. The book will give you a more thorough theological base, a more thorough understanding of who you are in Christ, and lead you through a thorough assessment of your life to discover entry points for the enemy.  It will also walk you through a systematic process for deliverance and maintaining your freedom.

All I have trued to do in this blog is to give you a sense of how the demonic operates and a basic framework for understanding deliverance.  Faith in Jesus is still the key in all of this.  I hope this eight part series has been helpful.

How to Rid Your “House” of Unwanted Guests:  Identifying the Problem

Not everything is demonic. We have to deal with the appetites of the flesh and learn to say “No” to our fallen nature. You can’t cast out the flesh. You must crucify it.  Sometimes, in a fallen world, illness is simply illness; depression is caused by chemical imbalances, and broken relationships are created by our own negative choices.  However, many things do have demonic dimensions that must be dealt with before freedom and healing can occur.

Demons attach themselves to believers because someone has given them a legal right to do so.  We may have opened that door through persistent, unrepented sin in our lives, refusal to forgive those who have wounded us, or long-standing unbelief related to God’s truth.  It is possible that demons have come down through family lines as a consequence of “the sins of our fathers” or that someone with authority over us spoke curses that created “legal” assignments for the enemy.  Perhaps, we ourselves spoke those words. It is also possible that demons entered in through wounds inflicted by trauma, abuse, or rejection.

There are several common experiences or doorways that make individuals vulnerable to demonic affliction or that indicate or suggest demonic activity within a person.  If you recognize these “doorways” or manifestations in your life, it raises the probability that you may be struggling with demonic oppression.

Sins of the Fathers – This demonic door is opened when ancestors (especially males) rebelled against God and lived in unrepented sin.  This is especially true in the areas of sexual immorality, occult activity, violence, or addictions.

Child Abuse – Child abuse opens the door for the enemy in many ways.  Often the abuser has some authority over the child or the enemy can enter later through the child’s residual anger, resentment, unforgiveness and shame.

Sexual Sins – For some reason, our sexuality is a place the enemy has targeted in man to produce all kinds of destructive behaviors that alienate us from God, others, and ourselves. Sexual sin of all kinds is a place where Satan gains tremendous access to individuals and families.

Gender Confusion  – Scripture says that God “made them male and female.”   Although our fallen nature contributes to damaged genes and chemical imbalances in our bodies, it is not God’s will that His children be confused about their sexual identity.  If gender confusion is an issue, it may have demonic components.

Anger – Emotions of rage, anger, bitterness, etc. are usually established in childhood after a wounding experience, a painful wrong, or a perceived betrayal.  These thoughts and emotions are natural reactions to those “wrongs,” but if nurtured or kept alive by subsequent wounding, they can open the door for demonic spirits to come in and fuel these destructive emotions and mindsets.  They then become strongholds and may be experienced as rage, hatred, thoughts of revenge, or bitterness.

Abandonment through death, divorce, sickness, or neglect may open the door to spirits of sorrow, fear, and distrust.

Occult Involvement – Christian and non-Christian occult groups throw the door wide open to demons as they invite their presence, pray to them, or serve them.

Curses – Demonic spirits may be commissioned to enforce curses in the lives of individuals or families that are attached to sins or word curses. If you feel trapped in patterns of abuse, destructive relationships, poverty, crisis, etc. a curse may be operating.

You Conspire Against You by persistently engaging in sinful or destructive behaviors and thought patterns, even though you want to be free from those things.  You may say and do things frequently that “aren’t you.”   You may have tried prayer, the Word, accountability, counseling, etc., without victory over the issue. The demonic is indicated when the more you resist a sinful or destructive thought or feeling, the more it presses in on you.  It feels obsessive, compulsive and addictive.

If you struggle with any of the above issues, you may have unwanted guests that have harassed and tormented you for a short time or as long as you can remember. Many demon-afflicted individuals have struggled with sinful or destructive thought patterns so long that they believe it is normal and that everyone must fight those thoughts every day.  That isn’t the case. When the demonic is involved, deliverance makes an unbelievable difference in managing temptation and condemnation. Sometimes you may not be certain whether demonic activity is involved.  I recommend treating it like a spirit and if it isn’t you haven’t lost anything. If it is, you have gained your freedom.

The first step after identifying demonic activity in your “house” is taking away the issue that has given Satan a legal right to camp in your life.  Having done that, you can command those spirits to leave by the power and authority of Jesus Christ who has delegated that power and authority to every believer. If there is sin, you need to repent.  If there is unforgiveness, you must forgive. If there are generational sins you must acknowledge those and renounce them.  If there are curses you must nullify those in the name of Jesus.

In Part 8 of Dealing with the Demonic, we will explore those steps in more detail.

As Christians, we are unique in the universe.  We live under grace while everyone and everything else exists under law.  Law operates on the basis of authority and legalities. When Jesus died on the cross he redeemed us from the dominion of darkness (Col.1:13-14) and in doing so revoked Satan’s legal right to lay claim to us or treat us as slaves. For those who enter the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus Christ, Satan’s access is limited.  Temptation and persecution from the outside seem to be permitted in the spiritual realm.  Otherwise, we would not need divine weapons (2 Cor. 10:3), the armor of God (Eph.6:10-11), or an awareness of Satan’s schemes contrived against us.  We are told, however, that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear (1 Cor.10:13). Therefore, God has set limits on the extent to which Satan can attack or harass those who belong to Jesus.   The book of Job reflects those kind of spiritual boundaries.  As Satan came before God wanting to target Job, God set definite limits on Satan’s access to Job with each round of temptations.

For unbelievers, Satan seems to have very few limitations. The evil, brokenness, and perversion that is so prevalent in our world attests to that. That condition is not necessarily confined to the 21^st Century. The man who lived among the tombs in Mark 5 who had a “legion” of demons resident within him attests to that.  The question is, “Can Christians be afflicted with demonic spirits so that deliverance is needed to set them free?” and, if so, “How does Satan gain access to them since they have been delivered from his dominion?”  Great questions!  I’m glad you asked.

Many will argue that demons cannot possess believers because we belong to Christ and his Spirit lives within us.  I fully agree because possession implies ownership and we have certainly been purchased by the blood of Christ.  I do not believe Christians can be possessed by Satan (owned), but I believe they can be harassed and afflicted by spirits who are attached or residing within the person.

Jesus speaks about an unclean spirit being cast out of a man and then returning to that “house” to find it “unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order.” The spirit returns and brings other demonic spirits with him. (Mt.12:43-45).  Think of your body as a house. Suppose you decide to rent out a room in your house to generate some extra income. A young man knocks on your door and tells you that a friend told him about your room for rent.  He tells you that he goes to school all day and studies at night, is quiet, has few friends and you will hardly know he is there. You shake hands, write out a brief lease with the monthly amount you agree on and rent out the room.

In a week or two, however, you begin to notice loud music, friends coming to his room at all hours, and horrid smells drifting through the house.  You confront your renter and tell him that he is making your life miserable and he will need to move. He laughs, says he will stay as long as he likes and shows you the lease that you signed without written stipulations regarding noise, friends, or smells.  He has not taken possession of your house.  Except for the one room, the rest of your house still belongs to you, functions well, and is neat and clean.  However, because he was given a legal right to establish a dwelling in one room of your house, he can harass you from that position and eventually make your life miserable.  You will need to find a way to void his lease and then you can have him and his friends removed.

Although Jesus has removed Satan’s legal right to access believers, in general, an individual believer can give the enemy the right to rent a room “in their house” which can lead to a great deal of torment and chaos in that believer’s life.  So, how can Satan gain legal access to set up a stronghold in a believer’s life?  It happens through the process of coming into agreement with Satan in part of your life.  As you agree with him you walk with him (Amos 3:3).  If you walk with someone long enough, it is only a matter of time until they come home with you.

1. When Christians refuse to submit an area of their life to the lordship of Jesus and persist in unrepented sin, the enemy has open access to any area that is not under the Lordship of Jesus.
2. A refusal to forgive those who have wronged us gives Satan a legal right to invade a believer’s life because our refusal to forgive keeps God’s forgiveness from covering our sins.
3. “Sins of the Father’s” can give the enemy access. Scripture declares that certain sins will be passed down to the children to the 3^rd and 4^th generations. That means that the consequences of that sin will be inherited by the children which may include demonic assignments.
4. Curses that are attached to sins or that have been spoken over an individual may have demons assigned to enforce the curse and that curse will give the enemy a legal right to invade a believer’s life.
5. Many people come to Christ demonized and, like the promised land, the enemy still must be driven out even after entering into their salvation.
6. Unbelief can also be an open door to the enemy. Unbelief in God or the Word of God is actually coming into agreement with Satan.  Paul tells us that strongholds are belief systems within us that oppose God’s truth. When we fail to believe God about who we are in Christ, who Christ is, God’s standards for living, etc. we open a door to the demonic.
7. Experience also tells us that the demonic can gain entrance to our hearts through trauma  – especially violent or sexual trauma.  The wounds seem to create an opening for the enemy’s lies and the lies create an agreement with Satan.  Sometime the bitterness and unforgiveness attached to wounds opens the door as well.

Although saved and in Christ, we know that many Christians live in bondage to addictions; are tormented by fears and deep depression; live for decades with “secret sins;” and carry deep emotional wounds for years that destroy one relationship after another.  If believers can carry that kind of bondage and darkness within of them – even though they are saved – why would we doubt that they can be afflicted by demons as well?

Tomorrow, how to rid “your house” of the demonic in Part 7.

In his book, The Days of His Presence, Francis Fragipane has a thought provoking section on the nature of times and seasons in the Bible.  This particular section discusses the kind of period that the Greeks referred to as a kairos.  According to Frangipane, this kind of season followed long, flat periods of history where very little changed in the world but suddenly the world was overtaken by incredible shifts and transformations in nations, knowledge, and faith which often included sweeping religious reforms and spiritual activity.

For instance, between Malachi and Matthew, there were approximately three hundred years of silence when little or no revelation occurred in Israel. But suddenly the coming of Messiah that had been foretold since the Days of Adam swept in and the power of God rocked the world of those who witnessed it.  Paul tells us that in the “fullness of time (kairos) God sent forth his Son.”  The idea of a “fullness of time” suggests that God had been storing up events to be released on the earth that would alter the course of nations and individuals.

Kairos seasons do not always happen in days or weeks or even months.  Sometimes they happen over a period of years or decades.   But relative to history, these events seem to catch us off guard and explode onto the scene.  Noah preached for 120 years while God was putting everything in place to release a cataclysmic kairos when in the fullness of time he released the flood.  For those who had not heard God, it seemed to come out of nowhere.  Israel was in Egypt for 450 years while God arranged the chessboard so that in the fullness of time Moses would arise, plagues would be released, and a nation of over a million people would walk into the wilderness.  After that, world empires would arise, seem invulnerable for centuries, and then suddenly fall in a matter of hours or days as God had shown his prophets.

These kairos moments are orchestrated by God for centuries while he puts every piece in place until the fullness of time. When that time comes, the changes are so sweeping and so universal that it seems that the whole world has tipped off its axis. God often speaks of “shaking the world” or “shaking a nation.”  That is the feeling when kairos is released.  To those in the center of the storm, everything feels like chaos, but to the director of the storm everything is being realigned for his purposes. Those who are closest to the Lord in such times can fall asleep in the boat even while water is breaking over the bow.

Frangipane makes the case that we have been in a kairos season for a century. Technology and knowledge has exploded across the globe. Two world wars have come and gone. The nuclear age has been ushered in and great nations have risen and fallen – some seemingly overnight like the USSR.  The Holy Spirit has always given revelation to man and manifested in miracles but now the church is moving in evangelism, healing, miracles, and revelation in ways not seen since the book of Acts.

This is consistent with biblical history.  In each kairos, God revealed himself in new ways and manifested his power through his people. The enemy too rose up in unprecedented ways in response. Of course, God always wins but during these kairos events spiritual activity seems to ramp up exponentially as it did in the gospels.

As you view the activity of God around the globe, we see millions of Chinese coming to faith in an avowed atheist nation.  Million have come to faith in Africa in the past few decades. Korean churches are bursting at the seams. Every mission report or campaign outlines miracles from radical conversions to radical healings (including raising people from the dead), along with miracles of protection and provision, dreams and visions, and thousands coming to Jesus in a day.

Of course, the cynical among us can reject the reports and videos and write it all off as demonic deception or emotionalism.  But the same believers will proclaim that we are certainly in the last days.  If we are finally coming to the end of the last days, then this is certainly a kairos and God is moving in the fullness of time. In those seasons God had always moved in power and done epic things through his people.

I believe today is no different.  I have personally seen the healings, deliverance, radical conversions, and miracles of provision and protection.  I have been told on numerous occasions by trustworthy people who have been eyewitnesses to Jesus appearing to Muslims and entire families renouncing Islam and coming to faith.  I have heard from trustworthy people who have seen with their own eyes the dead being raised in the name of Jesus and entire villages coming to faith as a result.  All of this sounds amazing and almost beyond belief but did it not happen in the book of Acts in the fullness of time?  Why must we doubt that God would use the miraculous power of heaven to bring in a great harvest now at the end of this season?

If you have been taught to reject or doubt the gifts of the Spirit and the power of God, I hope you will not sit cynically on the sideline while God is inviting you to play in the greatest game ever played.  If you can’t bring yourself to trust believers who talk about such things, then honestly ask God to show you his power if he is indeed manifesting in such ways today.  But when you see it, don’t return to the bench. Get in the game with all your heart.

Think about it, in these kairos moments, doctrines and orthodoxy never won the day. They were important and faithfulness and truth were keys to God moving on behalf of his people.  But power won the day. Pharaoh did not surrender to doctrine but to manifest power. The Torah never convinced Nebuchadnezzar, but three men emerging from a fiery furnace and another walking out of a lion’s den convinced him that there was one God. Even Jesus said, “If you don’t believe me, believe the works I do.”  This is a time, a kairos, when we must not be suspicious of the move of God but embrace it because the miracles themselves reveal God to us and to those who need him desperately.  Remember, to reject what God is doing, is, in part, to reject him.