DELIVERANCE

 

                                                     DELIVERANCE

“Deliverance is defined as “a rescue from bondage or danger.” Deliverance in the Bible is the acts of God whereby He rescues His people from peril. In the Old Testament, deliverance is focused primarily on God’s removal of those who are in the midst of trouble or danger. He rescues His people from their enemies.”  (What does the Bible say about deliverance?  God Questions)

1 Samuel 17:37; The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”  Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” and from the hand of the wicked NIV

Psalm18:16-17; He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. NIV

Exodus 3:8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. NIV

“In the New Testament, God is always the subject—and His people are always the object—of deliverance. The descriptions of temporal deliverance in the Old Testament serve as symbolic representations of the spiritual deliverance from sin which is available only through Christ. He offers deliverance from mankind’s greatest peril—sin, evil, death and judgment. By God’s power, believers are delivered from this present evil age and from the power of Satan’s reign. All aspects of deliverance are available only through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who was Himself delivered up for us so that we would be delivered from eternal punishment for sin. Only Jesus rescues us from the “wrath to come.”

1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. NIV

Galatians 1:4-5 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  NIV

Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. NIV

Matthew 12:22, Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. NIV

James 4:7,Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  NIV

Acts 8:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. NIV

Matthew 9:32-33 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. ³³ And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

Deliverance is part of the Gospel.  Jesus told His Disciples in Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; NIV

Jake Kail, the author of “Setting Captives Free,” says there are four principles in the Bible about demonic influence:

1.      Demonic influence is real.

2.      It is common.

3.      There are varying degrees of demonic influence.

4.      There are certain things that can open the door, i.e. trauma; unforgiveness; sin; the occult; and generational curses.

Can a Christian be possessed by a demon? NO, a born again, spirit filled Christian, cannot be possessed by a demon but can be oppressed by one. The definition of oppression is—“The state of being subject to unjust treatment or control.”  “The Bible says that the devil seeks to devour believers (1 Peter 5:8), and Satan and his demons “scheme” against Christians (Ephesians 6:11). As Satan attempted with Jesus (Luke 4:2), demonic forces tempt us to sin and oppose our efforts to obey God.  Should a Christian allow the demons to succeed in these attacks, oppression results. Demonic oppression is when a demon is temporarily victorious over a Christian, successfully tempting a Christian to sin and hindering his ability to serve God with a strong testimony. If a Christian continues to allow demonic oppression in his/her life, the oppression can increase to the point that the demon has a very strong influence over the Christian’s thoughts, behavior, and spirituality. Christians who allow continuing sin open themselves up for greater and greater oppression. Confession and repentance of sin are necessary to restore fellowship with God, who can then break the power of demonic influence. The apostle John gives us great encouragement in this area: “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him” (1 John 5:18).”  (What does the Bible say about demonic oppression?  God Questions)

1 John 4:4 says, You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  The power of the Holy Spirit can overcome demonic oppression.  We rely on the Holy Spirit to successfully resist demonic influence.  Ephesians 6:16 says, In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert in Matthew 4:1-11?  Jesus rebuked him by quoting scripture.  Scripture is very powerful.  We are not left defenseless because we have the Holy Spirit living in us.  There is a very powerful teaching by Jake Kail about deliverance with powerful prayers for deliverance.  I hope you open this link even if you do not recognize that you may be dealing with deliverance issues.  Make sure you watch the entire video because there are special prayers that he prays for you.  This is an important video to share with others.

https://sidroth.org/?s=Jake+Kail&post_type=television_episode&orderby=relevance&order=DESC

The Armor of God

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Ephesians 6:10-17  NIV

 

 

THE BLOOD OF JESUS

                                                            THE BLOOD OF JESUS

• It remits sins (Matt. 26:28 NKJV).
• It gives life to those who consume it (John 6:53).
• It causes us to dwell in Christ and Him in us (John 6:56).
• It is the means by which Jesus purchased the church (Acts 20:28).
• It is the means by which Jesus becomes our atonement through faith (Rom. 3:25).
• It justifies us and saves us from God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9).
• It redeems us (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18–19; Rev. 5:9).
• It brings those who were far away from God near to Him (Eph. 2:13).
• It grants us the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:14).
• It brings peace and reconciliation with God (Col. 1:20).
• It has “obtained eternal redemption” for us (Heb. 9:12).
• It cleanses our consciences from “dead works” to serve the living God (Heb. 9:14).
• It is the means by which we enter the Most Holy Place with boldness (Heb. 10:19 NIV).
• It “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:24 NIV).
• It sanctifies us (Heb. 13:12).
• It makes us complete for “every good work” (Heb. 13:20–21 NKJV).
• It “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
• It bears witness in the earth along with the Spirit and the water (1 John 5:8 KJV).
• It is the means by which Jesus washes us (Rev. 1:5; 7:14 KJV).
• It is the means by which we overcome the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10–11).

Thank God for the “precious blood” of Christ (1 Pet. 1:19), the “sprinkled blood” of Christ (Heb. 12:24), the blood of “the new covenant” (Luke 22:20), the “blood of the eternal covenant” shed for us (Heb. 13:20).

“The life … is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11).  (Excerpt from the book, “Jesus Now: Unveiling the Present-Day Ministry of Christ.” By Frank Viola)

The blood of Jesus is very powerful. In Buenos Aires in 1996, a consecrated host was found on the ground and then placed in water to dissolve.  Days later it was still there and had turned into bloody flesh.

“Doctor Castañón took it to the San Francisco Forensic Institute without telling anyone there what it was or where it came from. After testing, he was told the samples constituted heart muscle, specifically from the myocardium of the left ventricle. Further, the tests showed the blood was human, with human DNA, and of the rare AB-positive type — the same as found on the Shroud of Turin.”

“Following those results, the Host was taken to Dr. Frederick Zugibe, an esteemed cardiologist and forensic pathologist at Columbia University in New York. According to Dr. Castañón, Dr. Zugibe tested the samples he was given and said the person whose heart it came from must have been tortured. Further, Dr. Zugibe was reportedly amazed that when he studied the samples, they were pulsating like a living, beating heart.” (Eucharistic Miracles Confirm Real Presence Of Jesus Christ.”)

For more detail about this amazing miracle, the following is a link to an article, “Eucharistic Miracles Confirm Real Presence Of Jesus Christ” by Ryan Fitzgerald, April 24, 2016, Church Militant.com:

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/eucharistic-miracles-confirm-real-presence-of-Jesus-Christ

My husband Marty and I have experienced a manifestation of this years ago when we received the Eucharist in the form of the body (Host) and the Blood (consecrated wine) in the Chalice.  We were at a Mission Church around 15 miles from the southern Border town of Douglas, Arizona.

When I looked down to receive the consecrated wine, I noticed that it looked like blood and the water, that the Priest adds to the wine, did not mingle with the blood.  My husband noticed the same thing without me talking to him about it.  Was it blood?  We don’t know but we have never experienced this before.  Whether or not it was or was not blood, I believe in the true Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist!

But when [the soldiers] came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. ~John 19:33-34

“In this regard, a retired cardio-thoracic surgeon, Dr. Antony de Bono, feels that there is a simple reason for the outpouring of the “blood and water.”

He writes: Jesus had a haemothorax, which in the stillness of the dead body, had separated out as they do into two layers: the heavier red cells below and the light watery plasma above. The haemothorax was the result of the savage flagellation.  It is well known that blood in these circumstances in a still dead body starts to separate out, to sediment, the heavier red cells sinking to the bottom leaving a much lighter, straw colored fluid, the plasma above.”  “(A Doctor on Why “Blood and Water” Gushed From Jesus’ Heart” Kathleen N. Hattrup, 6/22/19)

PLEADING THE BLOOD OF JESUS OVER THE HEALTH OF YOUR BODY

 Heavenly Father, I come before You in Jesus’ name. Father God, thank You that Your Word says I should prosper and be in health, even as my soul prospers. Thank You that Your Word says I am healed by the stripes of Jesus, and that You sent Your Word, Jesus, and healed my disease.

So Father God, because of the blood Jesus shed on Calvary—that same blood that made a way for me to approach You and receive forgiveness for all of my sins—and because of the terrible, bloody scourging Jesus endured to purchase my healing, I ask right now that You would heal my body. Let Your healing power course through my veins right now, and heal me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.

Lord Jesus, because You paid the price with Your blood and body for me to be healed right now, please make my body come into alignment with the perfect healing You paid for me to have. Let my brain think right in every area. Let my organs function perfectly. Let my blood be full of the right things and free from the wrong things. Remove every invading germ, virus, bacteria, malfunction, and malignant cell from my body, and restore any damage done to my body by past sicknesses.

Thank You, Father. Thank You that these things are done for me by the blood of Jesus. I receive Your healing right now, and I give You all the praise. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our Heavenly Father is merciful and gracious. He is also a fair, just, and righteous Judge. And when we present our “case” before His throne of grace in prayer, we can insist that He carry out His will for us based on the legal evidence of Jesus’ blood.

The price for Father’s will to be done was completely paid on the cross. The blood of Jesus is all-sufficient. And when we present that blood to our Father in faith, He will move Heaven and earth to bring Jesus the reward of His suffering in our lives. (Jamie Rohrbaugh February 23, 2017)

 

GOD'S TIMING

                                                                     GOD’S TIMING

Timing is “the choice, judgment, or control of when something should be done.” (Oxford Dictionaires)

Psalm 31:15 (NIV)

My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.

Mark 1:15 New International Version (NIV)

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Acts 1:7 (NIV)

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Galatians 4:4 (NIV)

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

The following is an excerpt from an article, “What is God’s Timing?” Get Bible Answers.org.

·              Jesus had to wait 30 years before God baptized Him with the Holy Spirit and anointed His   ministry.

·              Moses waited 40 years before God sent him to rescue the children of Israel from the Egyptians.

·              The Israelites had to wait for 430 years before God rescued them from the Egyptians.

·              David had to wait for 13 years before he became king of Israel after being told he would be king.

·              Abraham had to wait 25 years for the birth of his son Isaac after being told he would be a father.

·              Noah had to wait 120 years from starting the ark until the flood actually happened.

·              The apostles waited 10 days after Jesus had ascended before they received the Holy Spirit.

“Kenneth W. Hagin gives a good example of God’s timing. “When I was 16 years old, I traveled all over California with my sister, my mom, and my dad, Kenneth E Hagin, as he preached the Word. We lived in a travel trailer. Once we pulled into a town where Dad was going to preach for several days in a church.  We had enough food for one meal, and we ate that Saturday night.  Sunday after church the pastor took us out for dinner, and after that, we had no more food.

My dad said, “don’t tell anybody.  God will provide.  Until then, we’re just going to keep believing what the Word says,” Monday came and went, and we didn’t eat. Tuesday went by, and we didn’t eat… Wednesday, a man knocked on the door and said, “Brother Hagin, since Sunday the Lord’s been dealing with me that you needed groceries, but I knew you didn’t need any.  Finally it got so bad that today I couldn’t stand it, so I just went and bought a whole pickup truck load of groceries.  Here they are.”(1) Sometimes God is waiting for someone to obey.”

 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

I am sure all of us have stories we have heard or stories of our own where we can see God’s perfect timing.  We can look back and see that if something had occurred according to our timing, it would not have worked out in our best interests.  Remember, God sees the whole picture and we do not.  Time is in God’s hands and so is His timing. 

Troy Brewer, a Pastor of OpenDoor  Church, said, “Time is God’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.”  He also has stated that we can redeem our timeline from events in the past by inviting Jesus into a time of trauma for healing.  He has a book that explains this in detail, “Redeeming Your Timeline.”  Even though this is not specifically about God’s timing, we live in a world where we operate in the past, present and future and God is already there.  He is in our past, He is in our present and He is in our future.  God is not subject to time.

The following is a prayer to ask Jesus to go back with you in the past to heal any trauma or hurt.  Jesus is not bound by time, so ask Him to heal your past hurts and trauma.

A PRAYER FOR THE HEALING OF PAST TRAUMA

Jesus, walk with me into my past (ask Him to be present at the time of the trauma/hurt).

Jesus heal me from _____________________. (the event that occurred)

I ask you to heal the memory of ___________.

I forgive _________ .  (If someone is the contributing factor of an event)

Thank You for healing me from that memory.

Walk with me now and always.

I love you and I continue to trust You with my life.

Amen

 Be assured that as sure as God is in your present and past, He is surely in your future.  I have a poster on my refrigerator that says, “I am not afraid of tomorrow because I know that GOD is already there!”

 

GOD'S TEMPLE

                                                                 GOD’S TEMPLE

“The Ark of the Covenant was one of the most instrumental symbols of faith and God’s presence. The contents of which included the tables of the Mosaic law, a pot of manna, and the rod of Aaron. The Ark’s origin stemmed from Exodus 25:10 when Moses was commanded by God to “make an ark of acacia wood.

Unlike the statutes of gods idolized by many of the Israelites, the Ark of the Covenant served as a religious symbol where the people could meet with God. He hovered over the Ark when the priests were present. If the priests were absent, the presence of the law tablets reflected God’s presence. Thus, the Ark of the Covenant was aptly named because of the commandments written on the tablets.”  (What Was the Ark of The Covenant?  Its Meaning and Significance by Chad Napier; Christianity.com/Crosswalk Contributing writer)

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?  I Corinthians 3:16 (NIV)

 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.  1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  Ephesians 2:19-21 (NIV)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Hebrews 10:19-22 (NIV)

“The breaking of Jesus’ body at the crucifixion is the unprecedented means by which believers have access to the presence of God.” (Professor Daniel M. Gurtner) 

 The Ark of the Covenant contained the presence of God.  Moses was told by God to build it.  It contained the Ten Commandments.  It was a reminder to the people of God’s presence.  King Solomon, who was David’s son, built the first Temple. 

The First Temple was totally destroyed in the Siege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BC.  The Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD.  According to most theologians, a Third Temple will be built during the Tribulation when the anti-christ will declare himself as God. 

We are God’s Temple.  It is He who lives in the Body of Christ.  Remember when God said to Moses, This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  Hebrews 8:10 (NIV)

I believe that it was God’s intent all of the time to manifest His presence by showing the people first through the building of the Ark of the Covenant.  It was a visible sign.  Then when Jesus died, we received the full inheritance of Christ as children of God through the Salvation of Jesus on the cross of Calvary.   The renting of the curtain at the Temple when Jesus died signified  that there was no longer a division between man and God because Jesus became the Mediator between man and God Almighty. 

A Temple is a place where God dwells.  When we ask Jesus into our heart, He comes in and dwells in our body and spirit.  We are made in the image and likeness of God.  When we speak God’s Word, He is speaking through us.  When we are compassionate and reach out to others, it is God Himself, through our actions, touching other people’s lives.  St. Theresa of Avila once said, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out his compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.”

It is overwhelming to me that God would choose, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, to dwell in such an imperfect body in which who we are is manifested in our soul which consists of our mind, will and emotions.  So many times our soul can be in conflict with God’s will but that is why the Holy Spirit is there to counsel, help and comfort us.  We are not alone. 

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.^] So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  Mark 10:6-9 (NIV) We are no longer alone when we ask Jesus into our hearts and lives.  We become one in Him through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.  His true Presence abides in us.

The following is a quote from Brother Lawrence who was a lay brother and was born in 1614 and wrote the book, “The Practice of The Presence of God.”

“He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.”
― Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

Yes, God is “nearer to us than we think.”  He is so near that He lives inside us.  We are His Temple so His presence living in us is solace in times of trial but also a joy to know that the God of all creation dwells in us!!  So next time you hear that quiet inner voice, listen because He is speaking to His beloved--------------YOU!!

SALVATION PRAYER

Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross to cleanse me from all my sins.

Forgive me of all my sins as I forgive those who have offended me.

Come into my heart.  Dwell in me.  I surrender my life to You.

Thank you Jesus!!