Level: 2, Lesson: 5
DELIVERANCE
OUTLINE

Jesus spent about one-fourth of His earthly ministry healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons. One-fourth of that ministry was actually spent expelling evil spirits from people.

Acts 10:38: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

I John 3:8: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."

Philippians 2:8-11: "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Ephesians 6:17: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

The Bible has power. We have an offensive weapon - the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. It is like a sword and it will hurt our enemy, Satan.

Jesus quoted the Word of God when He was tempted by Satan. He used the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and the devil left him.

The only weapon we have to defeat the enemy is the Word of God.

There is something in the Word of God that the devil doesn’t want us to know. He doesn’t want us to know the God behind the words and he will try to keep us from studying God’s Word.

Colossians 1:13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."

There is a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of God’s Son. A kingdom is a place where someone has the rule and reign. Jesus is the king in the kingdom of God’s Son. Jesus wants to be number one in your life, and the kingdom of darkness is trying to keep Him from that place of reign.

There is an enemy, Satan, and he has demonic power, but we have authority over him. Make Jesus Lord in your life and don’t let the enemy talk you out of what God has for your life.

DELIVERANCE
Lesson Text

Many battles have been fought over whether a Christian can be demon possessed. The Greek word for "possessed" is "daimonizomai" and literally means "to be demonized." The Bible makes no clear distinction between degrees of demon activity (such as oppressed, depressed, possessed, etc.), but simply refers to people as being "demonized." All Christians are fighting against spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12), and if we don’t put on the whole armor of God, Satan can certainly affect us or even control us.

When a person has allowed a demon to gain entrance into his life to the point that the demon is controlling him, he often needs the aid of a Spirit-filled believer who knows his authority (power) in Jesus, to take authority over the demon and cast it out. The person receiving the deliverance must also resist the demon. If the person receiving deliverance does not sincerely want to be set free, it will either stop the deliverance or produce the sad situation Jesus describes in Matthew 12:43-45.

The best way to administer deliverance is through God’s Word (Psalms 107:20; Matthew 8:16; John 8:31-33; 15:3; 17:17). As a person receives the Word, it will set him free and also help guard against the situation where the demon tries to come back in with seven other spirits. In severe cases of being demonized, the individual clearly needs the help of a believer, and that’s the reason Jesus equipped all believers with authority over evil spirits (Matthew 10:1; Mark 16:17).

Anointed praise and worship will also drive off evil spirits. For a person who knows God and is unmovable in his relationship with Him, there is no problem casting out devils. However, as illustrated in Acts 19:13-17, a person who doesn’t really "know" Jesus should not attempt a deliverance.

How does demon possession occur? Howard O. Pittman, a Baptist minister for 35 years, ruptured his main body trunk artery and suffered physical death on August 3, 1979. At this point He appeared before the Lord and some interesting things were revealed to him that I would like to share with you.

This is Howard’s account:

"My escort (an angel) informed me that he wanted me to see a demon in the process of actually possessing a human being . . . we were in the same hospital with my body but in a different room. The room appeared to be an employee’s lounge. I saw tables, chairs, dishes with food, and in the room were a young man and a young lady facing each other while laughing and talking. It was obvious that they could not see me nor the angels, yet I was so close to them I could almost reach out and touch them. I could hear and understand every word they said. They thought they were alone and as they laughed and talked, they were unaware of the horrible creature standing between them. This demon was so horrible in appearance of his shape and form that I recognized him immediately to be from the lower group (of demons), the perverted group. The angels, the demons, and I were in the spirit in that room and were aware of everything that was happening. Those in the flesh were only aware of themselves for they could not see or hear us even though we were back in this physical world. Since we were in the spirit, we still communicated with our minds.

"I was not really paying close attention to the words the two were speaking. My entire attention was focused upon the demon. He was a most horrible looking thing, reminding me of an over-grown, stuffed, slimy, green frog all out of shape and proportion. He moved slowly up into the face of the man then, suddenly, like a puff of smoke, he seemed to disappear into the face of the man just as if he went right through the pores of his skin. When the demon had entered the man, the angel said, "Now it’s done." The angel then proceeded to tell me how it was that this particular man was possessed. He stated, "The demon made himself desirable and attractive to the human." The angel then pointed out to me that mankind has a sovereign will, all his own, beyond which the demons cannot come. He also pointed out to me that the angels could not come beyond that sovereign will of man. God, Himself, will not violate that will. We are made in the image of God, therefore, we were given, like God, a sovereign will, the right to choose our destiny.

"Because of this . . . demons have developed great skills in deception. The basic principle of their operations is to make something evil as desirable, beautiful, and non-threatening as possible so that the person being tempted will lower his guard and accept whatever it is that is being used to cause sin. Once someone is deceived, it becomes easier for the deception to remain. In the case of possession, it becomes easier for the demon to maintain his control." (Placebo, by Howard Pittman, pgs. 22-23).

Satan can do nothing about Christians who are in Christ, but if he can deceive you into believing his lies about you or God, he will defeat you. You don’t have to out-muscle him to be free of his influence, you just have to out-truth him. Believe, declare and act upon truth, that is, God’s Word. If additional help is needed seek out believers who know their authority in Christ.

More information can be obtained on this subject by contacting
http://www.freedominchrist.com/resource.htm on the worldwide web.

DELIVERANCE
(Additional Information)

This is a letter that was sent to Don Krow:

"My girlfriend was possessed by evil spirits and she did so many stupid things that she did not know she did. It took almost seven days to cast out all the spirits that possessed her. After the final deliverance, wherein the strongman came out, the deliverance team of our Church told us that she was set free from demonic possession. Two months after her deliverance we had an altar call in the church and she went up and stood at the altar. When the minister laid hands on her suddenly evil spirits began to manifest and she was set free again. Before that night, she did not have condemning thoughts about her past; she just kept on praying, "Greater is He who is in me" and hoped the thoughts would be gone. I believe she was doing her best to keep on the right track with Jesus. My question is this: Even if you are speaking in tongues, praying everyday and during praise and worship, you can feel the presence of the Lord, can you still be demon possessed?" E.J.

The response to this letter was:

Dear E. J.: I would like to answer your question in the four following ways:

1. I would like to give you some general information (see part I ).
2. I would like to tell you how demon possession occurs (see part II ).
3. I would like to give you a personal experience (see part III ).
4. I would like to recommend some resources to help you and your girlfriend (see part IV ).

Part I - General Information:

Many battles have been fought over whether or not a Christian can be demon possessed. The Greek word for "possessed" is "posit" and literally means "to be possessed." The Bible makes no clear distinction between degrees of demon activity (such as oppressed, depressed, possessed, etc.), but simply refers to people as being ‘demonized.’ All Christians are fighting against spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12), and if we don’t take unto us the whole armor of God, Satan can certainly affect us or even control us.

When a person has allowed a demon to gain entrance into his life to the point that the demon is controlling him, he often times needs the aid of a Spirit-filled believer who knows his authority (power) in Jesus to take authority over the demon and cast it out. The person receiving the deliverance must be resisting the demon also. Failure of the person receiving deliverance to sincerely want to be set free will either stop the deliverance or produce the sad situation Jesus described in Matthew 12:43-45

The best way to administer deliverance is through God’s Word (Psalms 107:20; Matthew 8:16; John 8:31-33; 15:3; 17:17). As a person receives the Word, it will set him free and also help guard against this situation where the demon tries to come back in with seven other spirits. In severe cases of being posses though, the individual clearly needs the help of a believer, and that’s the reason for Jesus equipping all believers with authority over evil spirits (Mt. 10:1; Mk. 16:17)

Anointed praise and worship will also drive off evil spirits. For a person who knows God and is unmovable in his relationship with Him, there is no problem casting out devils. However, as illustrated in Acts 19:13-17, a person who doesn’t really "know" Jesus should not attempt a deliverance.

Part II - How does demon possession occur?

Howard O. Pittman, a Baptist minister for 35 years, on August 3, 1979 ruptured his main body trunk artery and suffered physical death. At this point he appeared before the Lord and was revealed some interesting things that I would like to share with you.

"My escort (an angel) informed me that he wanted me to see a demon in the process of actually possessing a human being . . . we were in the same hospital with my body but in a different room. The room appeared to be an employee’s lounge. I saw tables, chairs, dishes with food, and in the room were a young man and a young lady facing each other while laughing and talking. It was obvious that they could not see me nor the angels, yet I was so close to them I could almost reach out and touch them. I could hear and understand every word they said. They thought they were alone and as they laughed and talked, they were unaware of the horrible creature standing between them. This demon was so horrible in appearance of his shape and form that I recognized him immediately to be from the lower group (of demons), the perverted group. The angels, the demons, and I were in the spirit in that room and were aware of everything that was happening. Those in the flesh were only aware of themselves for they could not see or hear us even though we were back in this physical world. Since we were in the spirit, we still communicated with our minds.

"I was not really paying close attention to the words the two were speaking. My entire attention was focused upon the demon. He was a most horrible looking thing, reminding me of an over-grown, stuffed, slimy, green frog all out of shape and proportion. He moved slowly up into the face of the man then, suddenly, like a puff of smoke, he seemed to disappear into the face of the man just as if he went right through the pores of his skin. When the demon had entered the man, the angel said, "Now it’s done." The angel then proceeded to tell me how it was that this particular man was possessed. He stated, "The demon made himself desirable and attractive to the human." The angel then pointed out to me that mankind has a sovereign will, all his own, beyond which the demons cannot come. He also pointed out to me that the angels could not come beyond that sovereign will of man. God, Himself, will not violate that will. We are made in the image of God, therefore, we were given, like God, a sovereign will, the right to choose our destiny

"Because of this, . . . demons have developed great skills in deception. The basis principle of their operations is to make something evil as desirable, beautiful, and non- threatening as possible so that the person being tempted will lower his guard and accept whatever it is that is being used to cause sin. Once someone is deceived, it becomes easier for the deception to remain. In the case of possession, it becomes easier for the demon to maintain his control." (Placebo, by Howard Pittman, pp. 22-23)

Part III - A Personal Experience:

One evening I was riding in an automobile with a woman when suddenly she began to shake uncontrollably and lose control of her driving ability. I immediately reached over, laid my hand on her and bound the demonic spirits in Jesus’ name.

I asked her if she could get to our friend’s apartment. She said she thought she could. By the time we got there she was manifesting demons of a violent nature. We took authority over them in Jesus’ name and asked God to give us the discerning of spirits (a gift of the Holy Spirit) so that we could deal with this situation. As the Lord gave us discernment we commanded each demon by name to go from her. It was a mighty victory over the kingdom of darkness that night.

The next morning she began to manifest the same demons again. It was at this point that I learned a spiritual lesson. Instead of saying, "I thought we cast these demons out, they must be back!" I stood my ground and said, "I commanded you spirits out last night and as far as I am concerned you’re out!" The manifestations ceased, and the girl was delivered. What Satan wanted was for me to deal with him in the physical realm by what I could see, hear, taste and feel, but instead I used the shield of faith and quenched the fiery darts of the wicked (Ephesians 6:16).

If Satan can get you to follow manifestations he will beat you in the physical realm by putting on a show instead of you standing on God’s Word.

Satan can do nothing about your position in Christ, but if he can deceive you into believing his lies about you or God, he will defeat you. You don’t have to out-muscle him to be free of his influence, you just have to out-truth him. Believe, declare and act upon truth, that is, God’s Word.

Part IV - Recommended Resources:

"Nothing is more foundational to your freedom from Satan’s bondage than understand ing and affirming what God has done for you in Christ and who you are as a result. We all live in accordance with our perceived identity" (The Bondage Breaker, by Neil Anderson, p. 42). E.J., you said your girlfriend was having condemning thoughts before her last attack by demons. If she sees herself as a helpless victim of Satan and his schemes, she will live like his victim and be in bondage to his lies. But if she sees herself as the dearly loved and accepted child that she really is, she will live like a child of God. (Life for Today Bible Study Commentary, Andrew Wommack Ministries)

I highly recommend for you and your girlfriend to read the book The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson. In it, he gives a chapter on the steps to freedom and the prayers that need to be prayed to see the freedom that your girlfriend is seeking. It is a well balanced book that puts the subject of demonology in its proper place. It’s a how-to book, instead of just an informational book. You can buy a copy at your local Christian bookstore.

Here are some questions to think about for this lesson

Level 2 Lesson 5 Questions
DELIVERANCE

1. How does Ephesians 6:2 describe our spiritual conflict with the demonic realm?
2. What does Mark 16:17 teach us about the authority of the believer?
3. What must a person seeking deliverance from demons do according to James 4:7?
4. According to John 17:17, how can people be set free from spiritual darkness?
5. Music anointed by God has great power. What do we learn from I Samuel 16:23?
6. According to James 1:14, how does Satan deceive us into making something evil look desirable?

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