Deliverance isn’t just for the Unbeliever

What would you say if I told you that the majority of my deliverance ministry has involved “saved Christians?”

Nancy is one. A bright 30-something with large blue eyes and a contagious laugh, she accepted the Lord Jesus several years ago and attended church regularly. 

Nancy knew something wasn’t right. She could feel it. It felt heavy, dark, sometimes she heard words that spoke against Jesus when she was praying. Sometimes the sinister voice used curse words randomly, sometimes it spoke against the person of Jesus Christ, and other times she felt a gripping in her gut as if something was trying to stop her from praying. It wasn’t a loud voice, just something in the background that seemed to make its presence known whenever she drew close to the Lord. There was a pervasive fear of the dark that had followed her from childhood and certain desires that persisted. She felt driven to pursue men married or otherwise, to seek out sexual relationships with them although she herself was married. I could tell that she wanted to tell me something, her face went from pensive to anguished. Tears streamed down her face.

“I love Jesus.” She said softly.

It was then that the Holy Spirit began to name the demons that tormented her. I heard them being named one by one, fear, depression, occult. They always work in gangs, I knew there were more.

“Something isn’t right inside of me, it’s like there is a fight inside going on sometimes, like something is in there.” “I want it out.”

I smiled. I praised God Almighty and reached for her hands because she didn’t know it yet but those demons from hell were already packing their bags. You see, evil spirits operate on the premise of permission. We are the legal owners of our own bodies, evil spirits need permission to operate through our will and emotions, through doors that we open when we sin, and sometimes through generational curses that are passed to us through the sin of one or more of our ancestors.

I held her hands in mine, she looked up at me as if pleading with everything in her being.

“Can you make it stop? Can you make it come out?”

“No Nancy, I can’t, but Jesus can.” Relief gripped her in sobs.

“Before we begin Nancy I need you to know some very important things, but let’s pray first.”

I wish I had a nickel for every “Nancy” out there. Some are tormented by spirits of rejection and condemnation never feeling that they are accepted of God. Relationship problems follow them like stalkers. Others suffer from sexual demons, fantasies come out of nowhere, dreams of sexual liaisons with persons known and unknown come in the night. They always seem drawn to others who suffer from the same demonic forces of lust as if the spirits call out to one another.

They do.

Others are tormented by spirits of addiction, as much as they want to be free they cannot stop no matter how hard they try, no matter how many times they promise themselves that it won’t happen again.

Evil spirits of pharmakōn (the use of medicine, drugs or alcohol for the purpose of getting high) have found their way in demanding their pound of flesh with each hit. Seducing spirits of sexual addiction demand your attention in the form of lust, porn, fornication and adultery. Like a slave you turn on the computer, or pick up the phone for your next liaison. It’s never enough, you return again and again.

There are others of course but their end game is always the same…keep you in physical or mental bondage…keep your attention anywhere but on God’s plan and purpose for your life. Keep you feeling like enough of a failure that you remain convinced that God could never use you for anything good.

Because if these demons from hell can conquer your will and control your desires you will be prevented from making the impact that God chose you for on this earth.

Control and keeping you firmly in the grasp of the lies that render you useless for God’s kingdom is the name of the game. You see, when we are completely set free from satan and his plans of destruction for our lives he knows that we can be used in a very powerful way in the lives of others through one much more powerful than he is…the Holy Spirit. When we give our lives and hearts over to Jesus, the only son of God, He speaks the truth through His Word into our lives, into our spirits, into our hearts and the truth sets us free from all of the garbage of our past and our present. We have a new start. James 4:8 says “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” We belong to the one who loves us so much He suffered unimaginable pain on the cross so that He would never have to live without us. His love for you is truly that great. He loves YOU.

He loves you.

Yes, this is for you. He has heard your cries, Jesus has seen your tears, He knows your heart and He also knows that you are not perfect and you never will be until you meet Him face to face at the end of your earthly life. As long as we wear this flesh and live in these bodies we will never be perfect and without sin. But we can grow in righteousness. As we choose God and His way we will find we overcome sin in certain areas of our lives that we were once in bondage to.

How does this happen? Sometimes it requires deliverance as it did with Nancy. Other times evil spirits and their influence in our lives simply ‘fall away or break off’ of us as we align our thoughts and actions with God and His Word. Evil cannot thrive in a person who doesn’t agree with and does not desire to give way to sinful acts. The power within your life changes hands. As you give way to obedience to God, His spirit begins to govern and rule within your spirit. As you give way to satan and sinful acts his spiritual henchmen begin their oppressive reign within your emotions and thoughts urging you to commit intentional sin further opening the door to other demonic spirits. It’s all about permission through acts and intention.

There is no better way to protect yourself from evil than to obey God’s Word. God’s Word backs this up; James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Satan absolutely despises obedience to God, after all, he is the poster child for rebellion; John 8:44 “…He (satan) was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.”

 Satan will never tell you the truth…ever…about God…about yourself…about the power of God to redeem every part of your life and set you free. He is the father of lies.

So here is the truth that he won’t tell you. You are very deeply loved by God no matter what you have done, where you are now with God, where you have been in your past, no matter what you believe about yourself, no matter what others say about you or have said about you in the past…you are loved…you are wanted. God said it best, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37) and He means it.

“Are you ready Nancy?”

“Yes!” Tears glistened in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

“Then let’s begin, Jesus is right here, His Holy Spirit is right here…her hands squeezed mine as I spoke.

Nancy rebuked and repented of every known sin in her life, she forgave every person that had ever wronged her and spoke to the Lord Jesus as if He was her best friend asking Him to completely cleanse her of every evil rebellious spirit that had attached itself to her whether through personal sin or through any generational sins committed by her ancestors.

 Permission. In this case it is about permission, repentance, forgiveness of others, and the breaking of generational curses formed in the practice of dabbling in the occult.

Now it was my turn. “satan you will release this child of God, you will release her mind, her emotions, and her body in the name of Jesus Christ…you will be silent…you will not manifest….you will release Nancy completely in the name of Jesus…………..” We continued until each demonic spirit who had gained a foothold in her life was dealt with.

Luke 10:19 ”Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”

(A few days later)

“Hey Nancy! Good to see you girlfriend!” “How have you been doing?” I fell in step with her as we made our way to the sanctuary at church.

“I would normally say I’m doing fine” she said coyly. “But that would be a lie” “I am doing GREAT!” she said with one of the biggest smiles I think that I have ever seen.

“The voice is gone, I actually feel like I am 50 pounds lighter, my arms, my legs, my whole body!” “My mind is clear and I am not fighting to stay faithful to my husband…it’s just gone….all of it!”

We continued to rejoice together in her new found freedom until it was time to find our seats.

I never get tired of hearing or telling of Gods miraculous works of love and faithfulness in our lives. We don’t clean ourselves up. He does. Praise God! Kids are great at getting dirty and getting themselves into some real fixes. Praise God that we have a ready and willing heavenly parent to gather us in His arms and clean things up…and not just once. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I needed a bath every night! Not much has changed except that I don’t get as dirty as I used to. I kinda avoid the mud puddles now. We do that as we grow up physically and spiritually.

Can you be a believer and be harassed by satan? Yes. Can satan remain attached to certain areas of your life through unrepentant sin, continuation in sin or generational curses? Yes. These are open doors of legal egress. Remember the enemy needs legal permission to come in and take a foothold in your life.

Nancy’s is just one success story of many. Did she go on to live a life of perfection? Come on! No. The answer is no. None of us will. But we can be set free to choose. We can ditch the guilt, the shame, the demonic strongholds and torment that push us around. We can live a life of freedom. We can walk in the knowledge every day that we are loved by a gracious and merciful Father who bought that freedom through the blood of His son Jesus Christ. And even on your worst days, and you will have them, you can get back up secure in the knowledge that you are God’s and He is yours, that it won’t be a walk of perfection but you aren’t alone and you are forgiven when you ask. You can grab ahold of Jesus’ hand and do your best to walk in obedience and Jesus promises that His grace will meet your need to help you walk well, to do your best….and your best is good enough.

D. Stadden-Eck

©2019 Permission must be granted by the author before using any portion of this article of writing whether in whole or in part. Names have been changed in this account, any resemblance to any person in this article is purely coincidental.