Do I Need Deliverance?

Deliverance means getting free from demonic influence. Two weeks ago I attended a meeting where a number of Christians received ministry for deliverance. Such meetings are not common in the church these days, and people have questions afterwards. During a recent meeting to answer these questions, a statement was made that as many as 60% of Christians may need deliverance ministry. I’m inclined to agree with this statement. You may disagree with the statement, or quibble with the statistic, but even so the question that follows is this: “Am I among the 60%?” Or, more to the point, “Do I Need Deliverance?”

Warfare

As Christians we will always be at war with the enemy of our souls. His goal is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He will tempt us with thoughts to do wrong, he will send sickness to our bodies, and he will oppose our success in every way. Even Paul was subject to these attacks (see Romans 7 about attacks in his thought life, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 and 6:5 about attacks through hardship, and especially 2 Corinthians 12:7 about a thorn in the flesh sent by satan). As Christians we will face these obstacles the rest of our lives on earth. We cannot be delivered from these. But we can learn to fight, and experience victory.

Casting Out Demons

So what does deliverance really mean, then? The word does not appear often in the New Testament. It is used twice in the KJV, twice in the NAS, and once in the NIV. Of these, the most applicable verse is Luke 4:18.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18-19 (KJV)

The gospels contain dozens of accounts of Jesus rebuking or casting out demons, and the person who was previously subject to demonic influence being free afterwards.

Is this the sense in which as many as 60% of Christians may need deliverance? No, I don’t think so. There may be some Christians who experience such strong influence from the demonic realm that “rebuking or casting out” is the appropriate description. But for most of us it is not like that. For most of us getting free is a gradual process, with many dimensions. Let’s explore how this works.

Getting Free

We know from scripture that the demonic realm can be a source of thoughts. We find ourselves thinking a thought, not realizing that it may have originated outside of us, as a demonic suggestion. Many thoughts leading to sin have this origin. Thought patterns can become deeply entrenched in our minds. They may go back to what we learned in school, or from our parents. They may be justifications for sins we have committed. Entrenched thought patterns are almost like a walled city, a stronghold, to use terms from the Bible.

God wants us to wage war against these stongholds, just as the Israelites waged war against the pagan inhabitants of Caanan when God sent them to the Promised Land. I believe God will give us a strategy, a battle plan, and will also lead the attack, just as the Captain of the Host led the war in Caanan (Joshua 5:14).

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor 10:5 (NIV)

Certainly we need to recognize a stronghold before we can fight against it. God does this through prayer, through reading the Bible, through hearing the Word come alive personally (rhema), through the counsel of friends. These are also the weapons of our warfare, how we fight. Other weapons include praise and worship, memorizing scripture, and sometimes breaking curses that have come against us, and discarding certain items that have been associated with demonic influence.

Deliverance is Healing and Salvation

Sometimes when Jesus cast out a demon, it is called a healing. The Syrophoenician woman came to Jesus to cry for mercy on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter. Matthew writes that her daughter was healed at once. Mark, in the parallel passage, writes that the demon was gone.

The Greek word sozo is used to mean healing or salvation. Usually it means salvation. But it is used to describe healing for the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:23), the woman that touched the fringe of Jesus’ cloak (Mark 5:34), many others (Mark 6:56), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:52), the demoniac of Gerasene (Luke 8:36), and ten lepers (Luke 17:19).

What is the benefit of pointing out that deliverance is closely related to healing and salvation? What kind of prayer would you rather have? There are so many negative connotations to receiving ministry for deliverance, which just don’t apply to healing and salvation. Very few want prayer for deliverance. But many of us need it!

Is there a distinction? Yes, there is. Deliverance is a good term to use for getting free from demonic influence. Healing is a good term to describe recovery from sickness or injury, whether physical, emotional, or mental. Salvation is a good term to describe the rescue and transformation of our eternal being from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. But much (some would say all) sickness or injury is demonic in origin. Certainly being lost before salvation is demonic in origin.

Conclusion

The purpose of this journal entry is to say this:

• Most of us are subject to demonic influence more than we know.
• God has given us weapons to fight for freedom, on our own behalf, and on behalf of others.
• The greatest battles are the strongholds in our minds which oppose our faith/belief/confidence/trust in God.
• These strongholds are often not recognized.
• Getting free may be quick, with a prayer for deliverance, or it may be a long, slow walk of many steps, each one applying truth from God’s Word to our lives.
• We need each other for this battle.