“You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.” – Psalms 32:7
Deliverance is a word that scares half of the body of Christ, and confuses most of the rest of us. Images of Dana Carvey running around the SNL stage dressed as the Church Lady trying to “EXORCISE THE DEMONS!” come to mind for many people. Others think of satanic possession or rituals performed in Latin when the word deliverance is mentioned. The enemy of our souls would like nothing more than perpetuating this stigma surrounding deliverance. It keeps far too many of us from ever going after and obtaining the real deliverance needed in our life. I think we need to dive into the Bible and find out what deliverance really means!
The Oxford dictionary defines deliverance as: the action of being rescued or set free. That definition by itself is enough to put some of the stereotypes about deliverance to rest. That isn’t even a biblical definition! There is a second definition in the Oxford dictionary as well: a formal or authoritative utterance. We’ll come back to that in a bit. There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated as deliverance: rhuomai (meaning “rescue”) and exaireo (meaning “take out of”)
I think to understand what deliverance really is, we should first examine what it is NOT. First, it is not exclusively an outward supernatural event. Certainly it could be, but we need to rid ourselves of the idea that the package of “deliverance” always involves demonic possessions, spinning heads, or exorcism rites. While there are some instances found in scripture about “demon possessed” individuals, I think in our lives we are much more likely to encounter “demon influenced” people (ourselves included!). Satan works day and night to try to put chains on people; believer and non-believer alike. We don’t have to be “possessed” to be bound up in chains brought on by the enemy. These chains can range anywhere from bitterness, anxiety, depression, addiction, and pride to idolatry, adultery, theft, or murder. Being bound in chains is a condition needing deliverance!
Deliverance is also not freedom from all temptation. This is going to shake-up a lot of our theologies, but God never promised to remove temptation. God delivering us from something does not mean that we won’t ever be tempted to return to it. Many believers wholeheartedly believe that God will make the devil stop tempting you in certain areas. I’ve even heard it preached from the pulpit, that when God delivers you, the desires are permanently gone. This not only runs contrary to scripture, but is incredibly harmful to Christians who are trying to get free. They feel like God has deserted them. They think that they must not have qualified for true deliverance because the temptation is still there. This idea that God setting us free will eliminate all temptation needs to be eradicated in the church. The Bible clearly explains that the enemy still wants us and will continue to look for opportunities to trip us up. I Peter 5:8-9 reads, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
We are told to resist the devil! There is nowhere in scripture that we are told to pray “God please make the devil stop.” We can’t try to push what God has told us to do back on Him. In his letter, James repeats this same admonishment. James 4:7 reads, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We are to resist the enemy and God’s word promises that he will flee from us. We have to do it! Likewise, there is no promise in the Bible saying that God will make the enemy forget what our weaknesses are. With God’s power behind us we may be more powerful than the enemy, but he is crafty. He is clever. Even after being forced to flee, he will come sneaking back around and tempt us with those things from which we have been freed. As the scripture above says, we must be sober and vigilant because he is stalking about looking for people to recapture. So what profit does the concept of deliverance really hold then?
Let’s go back to that Greek word from earlier: rhuomai. It means to rescue. If someone needs rescuing, it means that they are helpless in themselves and require assistance from the outside. This is exactly what God does to provide deliverance. If we look at the scripture from James 4 that we read earlier, we can look at the previous verse and see what God adds to our situation. James 4:6 reads, “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” When we are trying to escape out of any prison that the enemy has us locked in, we realize very quickly that we don’t have the strength. We cannot hope to do anything in our own power. It is through the medium of deliverance that God’s grace is enabled in our lives. With enough grace, we can do anything! Temptation will come. It is inevitable. But God gives us grace to overcome. Deliverance is the enabling of supernatural grace in our lives! After all, we can’t be an overcomer if we have nothing to overcome.
The second definition from the Oxford dictionary is: a formal or authoritative utterance. Is there a more authoritative utterance than the word of God? Along with the verses we’ve already read, there are numerous others that give us the assurance of deliverance. Deuteronomy 20:4 says, “For the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” There will be fights, but we have One who will lead us in battle. In the parable of the wise builder and the foolish builder, Jesus says that the rains will beat against both houses, but those who have a firm foundation (puts their trust in Him) will stand. Isaiah 54:17 reads, “’No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me,’ says the Lord.” How is that for an authoritative utterance? In II Corinthians 2:14, Paul writes, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” This is why reading and declaring the word of God over ourselves is so important. It isn’t just our guidebook for life; it is a key element in our deliverance!
Deliverance isn’t creepy. It isn’t scary. It is the will of our good and generous Father. Our deliverance has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. He didn’t just buy our salvation. He didn’t just purchase our healing. Jesus wants to see us live free! Perhaps we can’t live free from temptation or struggle; but we can certainly be free from the chains of sin that the enemy tries desperately to keep on us. Let’s use His word as our sword against the attacks of Satan. Let’s seek after and obtain God’s deliverance in our lives. He is the only One who can truly set us free!