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"We huddled, wrapped in blankets, warming ourselves by the fire.
Visions of the enemy raced through our heads. My heart fluttered as I looked numbly around at the others.
Some trembled and others stared steely eyed into the burning embers.
Tomorrow was to be the day - the day in which we would attack.
We had prepared long for this day, each one struggling to win his own
battles within - the battle with fear, with selfishness, with self-control.
No one spoke. All seemed transfixed.
Ashon arose and walked to the center of the circle and stood by the fire.
He opened the old book, the pages worn and tattered, and began to read:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will dwell in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!"
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His bulwark is a shield and bulwark.
You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not approach you.
You will only look on with your eyes,
And see the recompense of the wicked.
For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
Lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
Ashon paused to give us all a moment to reflect, and then he continued,
"Remember who you are, and whom He is who has called you to this war.
For it has been written regarding you:"
"Because he has loved Me,
therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high,
because he has known My name.
"He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him, and honor him.
"With a long life I will satisfy him,
And let him behold My salvation."
A warm sense of peace began to descend upon us and envelop our motley
band. Victory would be assured.
Our captain had already won the war.
The battle would be ours.
Michael
(Psalm 91)
PRAYER
SUPPORT
It is critically important that Christians pray for one another.
We are exhorted in Scripture that "first of all, I urge that
entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all
men" (I Tim 2:1). I believe
that one of the main reasons so many Christians fail in spiritual warfare is
that we fail to uphold them in prayer.
If you or another person is planning to confront the world, the flesh or
the devil, looking to God for victory, it is important that believers be there
to uphold that person in prayer. We
are to: "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law of Christ"
(Gal 6:2). "With all prayer
and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and
with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for
all the saints" (Eph 6:28).
There can also be great benefit in working through such a `freedom'
process with another person or a group of people.
Such a unity can allow an extra blessing from God.
"Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one
another, so that you may be healed. The
effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much" (Jam 5:16).
"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about
anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in
heaven. For where two or three have
gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst" (Matt 18:19-20).
Finding others to pray is a great blessing.
Paul writes: "And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in
helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our
behalf for the favour bestowed upon us through the prayers of many" (2 Cor
1:10b-11). I would like to provide
a brief list of things that are appropriate to pray, regarding yourself or
fellow Christians who are about to confront the kingdom of darkness:
1. "Protection."
Pray that God would surround them with His presence, and protect them
from the attacks of the evil one. Ask
God that He would provide His holy angels to protect, and carry out the commands
of His Son, Jesus Christ. Pray that
their minds would be protected, and there would be clarity as to which thoughts
are their own, and which ones come from the kingdom of darkness.
2. "Strength."
Ask God to give them strength to stand in His power and to not waiver in
faith, wisdom, or discernment. Request
that God's Spirit provide all the necessary gifting required to reveal and
remove the demonic from their
strongholds.
Ask God to provide the necessary "firepower" to get the job
done in spiritual reality.
3. "Binding."
Command that all demons involved with this person or persons be bound
with chains that cannot be broken, and that there be total obedience to Christ
and His servants (Mk 3:27; 18:18). This
is to be done in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 16:19; II
Cor 5:20). (Never attempt to do any such thing in your own authority!)
Also pray that all demons be stripped of their spiritual armour and
rendered weak in their resistance.
4. "Loosing."
Pray that their minds be released from bondage so that they would
understand the truth. Pray that their spiritual ears and eyes be opened so that
they hear the truth and see the light (2 Cor 4:3-7;Job 36:15;Rev 3:18).
5. "Filling."
Pray that God by His Spirit fill all areas, vacated by the kingdom of
darkness with Himself. Ask that there would be a cleansing and a healing, in God's
perfect timing. Pray that the
Spirit be allowed "to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil
2:13).
6. "Be Thankful."
Realize that the battle is the Lord's.
"Thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by reason
of this great multitude; for the
battle is not yours but God's" (II Chron 20:15).
Thank Him for the victory!
PROTECTION
FROM DARKNESS
All of us have read accounts of wild and fantastic exorcisms,
and stories of deliverances that sound a bit like "The Exorcist." Such things can happen, but that they neither need to happen,
nor will happen, if people understand what to do and when to do it.
In the hundreds of deliverance sessions we have had, not even one has had
what would be classed as the `common' manifestations: vomiting balls of slime,
poltergeist activities, or the spectacular departure of demons.
The possibility of these activities happening is always there, but with
the proper preparation, such activity can be almost virtually eliminated.
In our early years of ministry, we often witnessed some of the more minor
manifestations, but over the last few years have witnessed very few.
We have learned that there are certain prayers and commands that prohibit
manifestations from occurring. We
have also discovered that the more ready the person is for going through
deliverance, and the fewer rights and grounds that are brought into the session,
the less power the demonic has with which to manifest.
We are now focused more on a truth encounter rather than a power
encounter. My partner has likened
deliverance to the cutting down of a huge tree.
We used to bring in all the heavy equipment and then spend two or three
hours trying to push or pull the tree over. Sometimes it could last days.
Now, we allow the person, with truth, to go around beforehand and cut off
all the roots. In the end, there is
very little resistance to pushing the tree over. It no longer has anything from which to receive
support.
There is also a systematic order that, when followed, reduces the
likelihood of manifestations. This
order is implicit in the procedure
outlined in this book. If things
are put out of order, it will cause a lot more difficulties; therefore, I
suggest that you follow the procedures outlined in this book to the letter. There are reasons for every step and procedure.
Some of this game plan has come directly from the Lord, and was then
incorporated into our methodology. The
following is a list of specific things that should be prayed before a session
for deliverance:
1. "Praising and
thanking God."
- thank Him for His Son, and our salvation
-
thank Him that He is the giver of good gifts, and that He will not give
us a stone when we ask for bread.
- thank Him that it is His will that we all be free from Satan's
influence and control.
- thank Him for the fact that Christ has defeated Satan
- thank Him that we have power and authority over all the kingdom of
darkness through Christ.
- thank Him for His Spirit whom gives abundantly more than what is needed
for the present situation.
2. "Ask for strength
and power."
- recognize our total dependence upon Him and His might.
- ask that He would fill each one present with power by His Spirit.
- ask for His supervision, and overseeing of the entire process.
- ask for a manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit as needed.
- ask for wisdom, understanding, and discernment - ask that everything
that will be done would glorify the name of Jesus.
3. "Ask for God's
provision for the people being set free."
- that their minds would be set aside so that they would have a clear
memory of all that is going on.
- that they would have a clear sense of God's presence
- that they would be comforted by His Spirit.
- that freedom would be granted as He sees fit.
- that God would oversee so that any experience that would strengthen the
people being delivered be allowed.
4. "Preparing the
environment in spiritual reality."
- ask God for a holy hedge of angels to surround the property and that
they be so equipped that they would be able to withstand any attacks that would
come from the kingdom of darkness.
- ask God for extra legions of angels that would be ready to carry out
any orders from the Lord.
- ask for special bodyguards to be placed around each person, and each
member of their family.
- command in the power and authority of Christ that any unbound or
wandering spirits that are within the hedge of angels, go outside the hedge of
angels NOW.
- command that any rulers, principalities, or powers, or even Satan
himself, who would wish to involve themselves or come and interfere with the
session would be bound from doing so.
- command that any strategies that have been formulated against this
time, be broken and rendered null and void.
- command that any weapons that are to be used by the kingdom of darkness
be broken and rendered useless.
- command that any curses or projections that are being sent at this
time, or will be sent during this process be broken and bound up at their
source.
- command that any witchcraft or sorcery, any covenants or pacts that
have been put in place by others against this time be broken and rendered void.
- command that any channels of communication between any part of the
kingdom of darkness that has rights or grounds to the people involved here be
closed off from the rest of the kingdom
of darkness, and that all evil spirits that wish to be involved here be
in confusion.
- ask the Father to send angels to bind up any people who would wish to
curse or project, either themselves or any negative energy, towards
this time. Ask God to bless these people.
- ask the Father to put a blood covering over those in the session, and
over the angelic protection provided (Rev 12:11).
- Amen
NOTES
ON BINDING AND LOOSING
The Bible speaks of binding and loosing in a number of places.
Those in the deliverance ministry need to clearly understand what these
concepts involve and the intent behind them.
"Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his
property, unless he first binds the strong man?
And then he will plunder his house" (Matt 12:29).
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you
shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall
loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven" (Matt 16:19).
"Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall have
been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in
heaven. Again I say to you, that if
two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for
them by My Father who is in heaven" (Matt 18:18,19).
The Greek word used for bind is "deo".
It means to tie or to fasten, as with chains or a long rope.
It is the kind of binding that is done to a dog or other animal to keep
it from straying. When we bind
Satan or other demons, they are still able to move about, but only within the
restrictions of the chain that holds them.
The section reading "shall have been bound in heaven" in the
Greek means "that which has already been bound in the heavenlies."
Notice that we are talking of the heavenlies, that area which is on the
earth and above the earth - not where God dwells.
Second, notice that we can bind on earth that which is already bound in
the heavenlies. Peter was given the
"keys" to the kingdom of heaven.
We are to use those keys to lock and unlock that which has already been
locked and unlocked. The secret is
matching the keys with the locks. As
Christians, we cannot run around binding and loosing anything and everything
indiscriminately. However, there
has been tremendous power given to the church through prayer to move the hands
of God, to bind and loose in the heavenlies - so that we can bind and loose that
which is corresponding on earth. Christ
has already defeated the kingdom of darkness and bound the strong man in the
heavenlies, therefore we can be confident that we have the power to bind those
demons that are interfering in our lives, so that we can clean out our own
houses. Realize though, that you
cannot bind demons from that which they have a specific right to.
If there is willful sin, then the things that are "bound in the
heavenlies" are not bound with regard to this person. Keep
all in perspective.
I must issue a serious word of caution to those people who feel that they
are to travel around and indiscriminately bind all the principalities and powers
over an area, and do this with the prayers of a couple of people.
No such activity should take place unless clearly instructed by the Holy
Spirit. In Jude 8-10 it speaks of
those who "revile angelic majesties", and how even Michael, when
contesting with the devil over the body of Moses, did not personally rebuke
Satan, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
Do not ever get ahead of the Lord, and never bind outside of the will of
the Lord. It has often been said that people who run around doing such
things at will, are the same people who end up in the insane asylums.
This is true. Binder beware.
"And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a
sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten
up at all. And when Jesus saw her,
He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed [loosed] from
your sickness." And He laid
His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began
glorifying God" (Lk 13:11-13).
"... You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie
[loose] his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?
And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for
eighteen long years, should she not have been released [loosed] from this bond
on the Sabbath day" (vs 15,16).
The Greek word for "loose" in these texts is "luo".
It refers to "loosing anything tied or fastened; to loose one bound;
to set free; to discharge from prison. To
free from bondage or disease (one held by Satan) by restoration to health."
(Thayers) The same principles hold true for loosing as hold true for
binding. We are able to loose that
which has already been loosed in the heavenlies. Therefore, if there is no sin in a person's life, and it is
within the will of the Lord, we can "loose" a person, a place, or a
group of people to be free. In
being free, they then are able to choose clearly which way they will go and who
they will serve. Also, once a
person is free from the demonic, we are then free to lay hands on the person and
pray for physical healing. If it is
then in God's will, which it usually is when there has been demonically induced
sickness, the prayers will be answered and the person's body will be restored.
LIES
FROM THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS
Often as soon as a person begins to take active steps towards dispelling
darkness, he will begin to experience certain lies which will come into his mind
regarding the deliverance process. You
may check these with your past or current experience:
1. "We don't really
exist." One of the first
lies that demons will give a person is that they really don't exist - that this
is all the work of an overly active imagination and the problems are really the
result of some other dimension (either physical or psychological).
THE FACT THAT SUCH THOUGHTS ARE COMING IS POSSIBLE PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE
OF DEMONS.
2. "Embarrassment."
Often demons will tell the people that they will be embarrassed during
the deliverance: that they will be
made to tell all sorts of sordid details about their past; that they will throw
up, become violent, or curse and swear. NO
SUCH THINGS EVER NEED TO OCCUR.
3. "Insanity."
Demons may convince people that they will go out of their mind, and not
be able to come back to consciousness. NO
SUCH THINGS EVER NEEDS TO OCCUR.
4. "Kill."
Often people will be told that the demons will either kill them, the
people working with them, or other people that they love.
They also may say that, when they leave, they will go to their spouses or
children - to torment them instead. NO
SUCH THINGS WILL HAPPEN. IMMEDIATE
RELATIVES ARE PROTECTED BY THE LORD AS ALWAYS.
THOSE DEMONS THAT ARE DEALT WITH BY THE LORD WILL NEVER REAPPEAR, APART
FROM GROSS SIN AND MISCONDUCT; AND ONLY THEN IN THE SAME PERSON THAT THEY LEFT.
5. "Unpardonable
sin." People may be told
that they have either committed some unpardonable sin or that, having indwelling
demons is the unpardonable sin. NONSENSE!
NO ONE WHO HAD COMMITTED THE UNPARDONABLE SIN WOULD BE SEEKING CLEANSING
AND HOLINESS (see Mk 3:28,29; Jn 16:7-11).
6. "Loveless."
Demons may suggest that the person who is inhabited is no longer lovable
to God, therefore He will not help. RIDICULOUS! (see Rom 8:37-39).
7. "Belittle."
Often it will be suggested that it is not really in man's domain to be
meddling in such spiritual matters, that this should really be left strictly up
to God. If this lie does not work,
there will then be the assertion that the people who are giving guidance either
do not know what they are talking about or that there will never be enough
prayer support etc. HOG WASH!
JESUS, AS A MAN, SAW THIS AS A DOMAIN TO `MEDDLE' IN.
8. "What if?"
" What if it fails? Then where
will I go? I will really have
proved that I am a failure then!" ALL
LIES, LIES, LIES. SAY, "I WILL
NOT LET NEGATIVE SPECULATION OF THE FUTURE STOP ME FROM DOING WHAT IS RIGHT IN
THE PRESENT."
9. "Haunt."
The demonic may tell the individual that deliverance is really of no use,
and that they will come back to haunt him and others anyway.
WISHFUL IMAGINATION ON THEIR PART.
10. "Defiance."
On some occasions, the demons will assert that not even Christ could cast
them out, much less a lesser Christian. I
HAVE YET TO SEE SATAN RESIST THE LORD DIRECTLY, AND HAVE SEEN THE COMMAND OF
FELLOW CHRISTIANS CAUSE HIM TO FLEE. (see Lk 10:1-24; especially vs 17).
11. "Goody-good."
Demons are even tricky enough sometimes to propose that they are really
good spirits, and that they should be allowed to remain.
Sometimes the demons will suggest that the person should pray
"for" them rather than "against" them.
"After all, it is mean to cast out another of God's created beings.
All of God's creatures need a home."
ALL LIES. SATAN'S POSITIONAL
HOME IS IN THE LAKE OF FIRE, AND THE TEMPORARY HOME OF MUCH OF HIS KINGDOM IS IN
THE PIT OR IN TARTARUS (see Mk 3:20-30).
12. "Nothing
Without." Many times there
is the suggestion that the person may lose a lot of talents and abilities, for
after all, did not the demonic provide them?
Are they not the providers of all good pleasures and feelings?
There will be nothing left inside once they are gone.
This is often the mindset of many who have been deeply demonized since
birth. ALL GOOD GIFTS COME FROM
ABOVE, NOT FROM BELOW (see Jam 1:16-18). NO
GOOD THING WILL HE WITHHOLD FROM THEM WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE
(see Rom 8:28).
13. "Hiding."
Sometimes the demonic will simply stop functioning and go into hiding,
thereby convincing the person that they have left and there is no longer any
need to proceed with any formal deliverance.
BE SURE THAT THEY WILL SURFACE OR BE BACK, IF NOT DEALT WITH.
"Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is
a liar, and the father of lies" (John 8:44b).
POWER
IN PRAYER
It is important that we understand both our authority as believers in
prayer, and our power. The Lord
gave his disciples both power and authority over the kingdom of darkness. Authority is a positional endowment. We carry the seal of God which says that we are His and that
we share in Christ's authority. As
Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father (Eph 1:20,21), we too are
seated positionally with Him (Eph 2:6). This
position of authority, though, does not give us inherent power.
In and of ourselves we have no power when compared to an Almighty God.
God is our power, and because of our position, we are able to access His
power. In that sense, we can
manifest power here on Earth. God,
by His Holy Spirit, can empower us to perform to the extent of our authority -
as He wills - not as we will. Our
authority is as real and legal as eternal marriage, but our power is from above
(Eph 6:10).
Why then do our prayers so often lack power?
Christ provided the answer in Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9:14-29 - it is
the result of unbelief. How does
one develop belief? Christ answers
that the power to cast out some demons comes by prayer (Some manuscripts include
"and fasting."). We can
assume that "unbelief" is overcome by time spent in prayer.
Sufficient time spent in prayer will increase the level of belief.
When there is sufficient faith, then God's power can be released.
There are those whom God has gifted with an added measure of faith.
These are the people that you want praying, when there is an attack
against the gates of hell. Realize,
too, that it may take the faith of more than one to bring down a strong demonic
structure. God sets the criteria -
all I know for sure is that the more people praying, the easier everything goes,
and the less backlash that will occur later.
Because of our authority and the power that He makes available to us, we
find that demons are subject to us in Christ's name (Lk 10:17). The Greek word for "subject" is "hupotasso"
which is a military term connotating "to arrange under."
We see demons snap to attention when we issue commands, like soldiers
before their commanding officer. It
is our authority "in Him" and our power "from Him" that
brings about this response.
FASTING
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set
the oppressed free and break every yoke?" (Is. 58:6, KJV).
We often suggest to people that they fast and pray at least one meal
before attempting to confront the kingdom of darkness. There seems to be some added blessing, and heightening of
spiritual sensitivity that occurs when one specifically denies himself (food
& sex) and shuts himself in, alone with God. God is often able to reveal things more clearly to that
person, and `tune them in' spiritually. Often
God will be able to reveal sin in the person's life that he/she had not
previously noticed. God will not
hear us if we know that we have wickedness in our hearts (Ps 66:18).
It is not important that one fast the same day as the session, but just
sometime prior. Personally, I find
that I need lots of energy if I am going to be ministering a number of
deliverances during a short period of time, so I do not fast during that time.
My understanding is that fasting increases the potency of prayer. We always attempt to see to it that we have a large
collection of prayers before the throne before we confront the kingdom of
darkness.
SOME
CONSIDERATIONS ON PRAYER
*** Prayer is answered through God's grace in answer to faith.
We do not deserve the answers apart from Christ's atonement for us.
*** There are hindrances to prayer:
We "do not have because we do not ask" (Jam 4:1), or we
"ask with wrong motives, so that we may spend it on our pleasures"
(Jam 4:2). God will neither hear us
if there is sin separating us from Himself (Is 59:1,2).
*** "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary and they
shall walk and not faint" (Is 40:31).
*** We need to ask what is within His will (I Jn 5:14,15).
We need therefore to continue putting on the mind of Christ, and asking
for wisdom.
*** Prayer is to involve our entire inner being:
- our hearts (Lam 3:41; Ps 62:8; Heb 10:22)
- our souls (Ps 25:1; I Sam 1:15)
- our spirits (I Cor 14:15; I Thess 5:17)
*** We can pray in a number of positions:
- bowing down (Ps 95:6)
- kneeling (2 Chron 6:13; Ps 95:6; Lk 22:41)
- on our face (Num. 16:22; Josh 5:14; I Cor 21:16; Matt 26:39)
- with hands raised (Ps 28:2; I Tim 2:8; Is 1:15; Lam 2:19)
- standing (I Kings 8:22; Mk 11:25)
*** We can pray in tongues (Acts 2:11; I Cor 14:1-4). It has also been found by many that we can command demons in
tongues, when led by the Holy Spirit.
*** We should use the "Sword of the Spirit" which is God's Word
when we pray. By using God's own
words our prayers are infiltrated with power and can cut deep to the innermost
workings of the person we are praying for - cutting out, cleansing, and exposing
the kingdom of darkness.
*** Remember that, often we have not because we ask not (Jam 4:3).
*** Be persistent in prayer (Luke 18:1-8), until an answer is received.
 
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