CONTINUED REFLECTION FROM DELIVERANCE WEEK 2023

 Continued reflection from Deliverance Week 2023

*Oh Lord, what is delaying my deliverance?* 

In anger, his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed.  "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. Matt 18:34-35NIV

Almost every deliverance minister I have heard or met thinks of the deliverance ministry as a way to help people gain freedom from evil spirits. This is the reason why some bible scholars insist that a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be possessed by demons. Hence, in their opinion, a believer cannot be in need of deliverance. This is a shallow way to consider this argument because, like you would have heard me say, there are ten factors that stand for the term, Deliverance. (Read my books, How to be Delivered and Remain Delivered. And, You Can’t Ignore Satan and His Demons. Available as soft copy PDF on Amazon Kindle Bookstore. You can also order directly from PNUR Press and Books by sending me a private message)

In Deliverance Week 2023, the Lord began to show us that the greater number of people who are currently in need of deliverance are not directly under the bondage of demons. This short story will cast more light on this.

In 2013, a dear Christian woman took some of my books that amounted to thirty-five thousand Naira (N35000), a big sum then. Despite many efforts to make her give me at least part of the money, she could not. I had bills to pay, and some of those bills were pressing.

One day, I thought this over and decided to preach to myself. So I went to the bible.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors Matt 6:12NIV

I took that passage literally; I owed some people, and this sister owes me. The Lord promises that if I cancel this sister’s debt, God will move the hearts of other people to cancel my own debts. I prayed along this line,

“Sister T, today in obedience to this word of God, I write off your credit. You are no longer owing me”. 

It was more than six years before Sister T called me. She wanted to plead with me to bear with her because she was not yet ready to pay me. She was shocked when I told her that she was no longer owing me because I had cancelled the debt six years ago. She tried to find out if I took that decision out of anger, and then I explained to her my reasons.

There was a long pause at her end. She cut the call but called back after some time to say that I taught her a hard lesson that day. She said she had been very rough with people who owed her, and she believed that was the reason things were very difficult with her. Imagine that I forgave her the debt she owed me without waiting for her to ask, but she was merciless to those who owed her but have been begging her to exercise more patience with them We have not spoken again since then, but I am sure she will spread the love.

Our main text comes from a similar story. The master forgave his subject a large debt, but the servant was not willing to forgive a fellow servant. So the master commanded that his servant be handed over to the jailers to be tormented until he has suffered enough to cover the amount he owed.

The fearful thing is that the Lord Jesus Christ said that God the Father will hand over any believer who refused to forgive their fellow humans to the tormentors to be tormented continually until they too have suffered to cover the cost of their sins.

Who are the tormentors implied here? Satan, his demons and agents of darkness. It implies that some believers who are seeking deliverance from demons will never be delivered because it is God that handed them over to be so tormented.

Unfortunately, there are many professing Christians presently in this kind of circumstances. It is a worse news that many deliverance ministries are not helping matters. They have a lot of prayer collections full of hate. They teach those seeking deliverance to return evil for evil and anger for anger.

Many unmarried ladies are still bitter with a man who broke her heart years ago, and she is still praying and expecting that something very bad would happen to them. Even pastors find it very difficult to forgive their disciples who tore their church and moved away. They are praying and hoping that something bad will happen to them. Business people are still sinking lower into more debts because of their heart attitude to those who owe them but are not able to pay. The examples are more than we can state all here.

Now, imagine these kinds of people fasting for a whole month for breakthrough; imagine this kind of person doing warfare prayer against the attack of witches and wizards. Imagine this fellow praying for deliverance from complicated diseases.

Who will rescue them when it is God that handed them over? They move from church to church, prophet to prophet and prayer-house to prayer-house. The more they prayed, the more complicated things became. It is not because the servants of God are not anointed or because their problems are too difficult. It is simply because God handed them over.

What should this kind of person do if they want to be delivered from the tormentors? The first thing is to ask God for forgiveness and then extend forgiveness to others. In this way, God and only God will revoke the right of the tormentors, and they will be set free.

Unfortunately, this is not a popular message in the prayer ministry and deliverance circles. Yet, I want my reader to understand that this is the only way.

Our main text added a powerful clause to the words of Jesus Christ. He said that forgiveness must not be a tool to get deliverance or healing, but it must be from your heart. It must be a sincere forgiveness. It must be a forgiveness with the understanding that the other person deserves to be forgiven just like you.

Simon wanted to progress in his walk with the Lord; he had abandoned his sorcery kind of ministry, given his life to Christ, gotten baptized, and became a disciple of Philip. He wanted to go all the way for the Lord. But he was stuck at a point. He decided to sacrifice even his money if that was what it would take for him to progress to the next level of his walk as a disciple.

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."  Peter answered: "May your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." Acts 8:18-23NIV

Did you read that? Full of bitterness; he was angry and bitter with some people; unknown to him, that was what was blocking his progress. No amount fasting, praying, and giving to God’s work will resolve this matter.

Many people are still held back in the prison of demons, curses, and illnesses because they refused to give to other people the very thing they are asking God to give them. They are in that condition under the express permission of God.

If your deliverance has been delayed for too long, maybe you should look into your heart.

I would like to hear from you.

Emma, your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com