| DELIVERANCE: WHY SOME ARE NOT DELIVERED Derek Prince HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Jan 9 2009 08:00AM Most of the people who have prayed the prayer in "Preparing For Deliverance" have received deliverance from demons - but not all. Here are ten possible factors that might hinder a person from receiving deliverance: 1. Lack of repentance 2. Lack of desperation 3. Wrong motives 4. Self-centeredness - a desire for attention 5. Failure to break with the occult 6. Failure to sever binding soulish relationships 7. Lack of release from a curse 8. Failure to confess a specific sin 9. Not "separated" by water baptism 10. Part of a larger battle 1. Lack of Repentance Jesus began His public ministry with the words "Repent, and believe" (Mark 1:15). He never expected anyone to believe without first repenting. Faith that does not proceed out of repentance is not valid and cannot be expected to produce the results promised to true faith. Every sinner is, by both act and nature, in rebellion against God. We do not qualify to receive God's blessings until we have renounced our rebellion and turned totally away from it. This is the essential nature of repentance: renouncing our rebellion against God. Ask yourself, "Am I submitted without reservation to the authority of Jesus Christ in my life?" If you cannot answer yes, you are still in an attitude of rebellion. There is only one remedy: repentance. In repentance, we submit ourselves by an act of the will to the Lordship of Christ in our lives. Our repentance is proved genuine when we go on to study and obey the teachings of Jesus. People often seek deliverance because they want to be free from the unpleasant consequences of demonic oppression. But this is not sufficient reason. If you do not commit yourself to go on after deliverance to serve the Lord, either you will not receive deliverance at all, or if you do receive it, it will not be permanent. 2. Lack of Desperation When we are seeking deliverance from Satan's bondage, we need to recognize the reality of our situation. We have been taken prisoner by a cruel despot who hates us with total hatred and will do everything he can to harm us and, if possible, to destroy us. When we turn to Christ for deliverance, it must be with the recognition that He is the only One who can help us. We need to be as desperate as Peter was when he was sinking in the waters of Galilee and cried out to Jesus, "Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30). He realized that in another moment the water would close over his mouth and he would no longer be able to cry for help. Several times, when a person has approached me (Derek Prince) seeking deliverance, I have said, "Deliverance is for the desperate. I don't feel that you are desperate yet. Come back when you are." Sometimes I suggest that a person fast for 24 hours before seeking deliverance. 3. Wrong Motives The apostle James, analyzing reasons that people sometimes pray but do not get what they pray for, wrote, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3). This often applies to people praying for deliverance from demons. They have come to recognize that demonic bondage is, in varying degrees, unpleasant and frustrating. It is a barrier to their pleasures. They think they can get more enjoyment out of life if they were set free. But this is not sufficient reason for God to respond to their prayers. When we come to Him for deliverance, He searches our motives. He offers freedom to those who will use it to serve Christ more effectively, not those who wish to continue in a life of selfish pleasure. 4. Self-Centeredness - A Desire for Attention Some people always feel ignored and unimportant. They want to be at center stage but life keeps them in the background. They feel nobody cares about them. One possible reason: They are oppressed and suppressed by demons. When they seek deliverance, they suddenly find themselves the center of attention and they enjoy it. But after some measure of deliverance, they drop back into the shadows. People no longer pay as much attention to them. So they find some new aspect of their "problem" to discuss and some new area in which they need deliverance. Deep down they really do not want to be free. What they want is attention. They are like the women described by Paul in II Timothy 3:7, "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." It is right to have compassion on such people and to present clearly the conditions for receiving deliverance. But there comes a point when we must challenge them to accept full deliverance - and the responsibility that goes with it. 5. Failure to Break with the Occult It is seldom easy to make a full and final break with the occult. Satan will use every trick in his repertoire to hold onto his victims. A person seeking to break away may be like Lot's wife escaping from Sodom. She turned around for one last, regretful look at what she was leaving behind and became forever immobilized as a pillar of salt (see Genesis 19:26). Jesus held her up as a warning to all succeeding generations: "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). The land of Canaan into which God brought the Israelites was corrupted by idolatry and occult involvement. For this reason God told His people, "Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces" (Exodus 23:24). The Israelites were required to obliterate every trace of occult involvement. Nothing was to be carried over from the old order to the new. God even demanded that His people's speech indicate the total break with the old order: "Make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth" (Exodus 23:13). The world around us today is like the land of Canaan at that time - corrupted and defiled by every conceivable form of the occult. But many Christians are slow to recognize how intensely God hates the occult. He requires that we make the same total break with all those things that He required of Israel in the land of Canaan: We must obliterate every trace of them from our lives. The things that link us to the occult are often subtle and hard to detect. A person seeking deliverance needs to pray, "Lord, show me if there is anything in my life that still links me to the occult, and show me how to make a complete break." 6. Failure to Sever Binding Soulish Relationships Demonic bondage can result from being manipulated or controlled by soulish pressure exercised by some other person. Release from such bondage obviously depends on severing any such controlling relationship. Jesus warned us that "a man's foes will be those of his own household" (Matthew 10:36). This is often true in cases of such binding personal relationships. A mother, for instance, may seek to control her child. Or a young man may continually be pressured by his brother to go back to taking drugs with him. No matter how close the family member or friend, full freedom will not come until that control is severed. The process of adjusting such relationships may be painful, but it is essential for full deliverance. Sometimes it is necessary to break all contact with the controlling person and trust God to reestablish the relationship in His time and on His terms. 7. Lack of Release from a Curse I have listed seven common indicators that there may be a curse over a person's life: Mental or emotional breakdown; Repeated or chronic sicknesses (especially if hereditary); Barrenness, a tendency to miscarry or related female problems; Breakdown of marriage and family alienation; Continuing financial insufficiency; Being "accident-prone"; and A family history of suicides or unnatural or untimely deaths. If you recognize that any of the forces I identified are still at work in your life, it may be that you are not yet fully released from every curse. The basis of your release is the exchange that took place at the cross. There Jesus took on Himself every curse to which our sinfulness had exposed us, that in return we might be entitled to every blessing due to His spotless righteousness. The ramifications of this exchange are many-sided and extend into every area of our lives. 8. Failure to Confess a Specific Sin "If we confess our sin, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins..." (I John 1:9). God does not necessarily require that we confess individually every sin we have ever committed. But at times one specific sin must be brought out into the open. Until it is acknowledged and confessed, God withholds His forgiveness and cleansing. After David was convicted of his sins of adultery and murder, he said, "My sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:3). David recognized the horror of the sin that had separated him from God. His only hope for inward peace and renewed fellowship with God was to bring his sin out into the open by specific confession. When a person is seeking deliverance from demons, there may be a specific sin that has to be confessed. It may be the sin that opened him or her up to the demon in the first place. In that case God will withhold deliverance until the particular sin has been identified and confessed. A mother once brought her teenage daughter to Lydia and me (Derek Prince) for deliverance. We succeeded in casting out a number of demons, but there was one stuck in the girl's throat that refused to move any further. Eventually I said to the young woman, "I believe you have committed one specific sin that God requires you to confess by name." The girl looked at me for a few moments in acute embarrassment, then blurted out, "I had an abortion." The mother let out a gasp. She had apparently known nothing about it. "God requires one more thing," I told the young woman. "You have to confess that abortion as murder." She did. And the moment she correctly named her sin as murder, she was completely delivered. She received forgiveness not only from God but from her mother. Mother and daughter fell into each other's arms and cried together. When God requires the confession of some specific sin, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal it. It is His ministry, after all, to convict of sin (see John 16:8). In addition to murder, specific sins that often need to be confessed are listed in the last four of the Ten Commandments: adultery, theft, false witness and coveting (Exodus 20:14-17). 9. Not "Separated" by Water Baptism Being baptized in water, is the outward act by which we "complete" the salvation we have received through our faith in Christ's atonement. A person who has believed but not been baptized is "incompletely" saved. It is only "complete" salvation that grants us the legal right to be free from demonic oppression. Unfortunately, even some churches that practice baptism by immersion do not sufficiently emphasize its importance. I (Derek Prince) want to make clear, however, that I am not speaking of baptism as a ceremony required to join some particular congregation, but simply as an act of personal obedience to Scripture. Whenever I (Derek Prince) pray for deliverance with people who have never been baptized as believers, I warn them, "You are free now, but if you intend to retain your freedom, you must be baptized in water." On the other hand, you may have done this without understanding the complete deliverance from Satan's power to which you are legally entitled. If you still find yourself harassed by Satan's demons, take your stand on what your baptism really means. Pray something like this: "Lord Jesus, I thank You that I have passed through the water out of Satan's kingdom and into Your kingdom. And now, Lord, I take authority in Your name and cut off every harassing demon that has been pursuing me." 10. Part of a Larger Battle As Christians we are involved in a vast spiritual war that spans both earth and heaven. Paul describes this as a wrestling match against satanic forces in the heavenlies (see Ephesians 6:12). At times we may find ourselves in conflict not only with demons on the earthly plane, but also with daimons (the "gods" who direct the daimonions [demons] here on earth) whose headquarters are in the heavenlies. Sometimes a person who appears relatively unimportant on the earthly plane is a strategic element in this global conflict. Satan's diamons are aware of this and are determined to retain control over that life and use it to oppose God's purposes. Consequently, any attempt to minister deliverance is resisted fiercely, not only by the demons in the person but also by the satanic forces in the heavenlies operating through that person. I call such a person a "battleground." A single individual, for instance, may be the key to the salvation of a whole family or even some larger community. Or the deliverance of just one person may open the door to bring the Gospel to a hitherto unreached people group. If this is so, Satan will marshal his forces, both on earth and in the heavenlies, to retain his control over that individual. To minister to such people, we need insight into the heavenlies - perhaps through a vision, or a word of wisdom or knowledge. If we have a clear picture of the forces opposing us, we can call on committed intercessors to stand together with us to claim the victory Christ has gained for us. For through His atoning death and victorious resurrection, He has "disarmed principalities and powers" of Satan that oppose us (Colossians 2:15). It may also be, when a person does not receive deliverance, that we need to apply the words of Jesus in Mark 9:29: "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." In such cases, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Source: They Shall Expel Demons, by Derek Prince, Copyright 1989, Chosen Books. |
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