Ministering Deliverance

This teaching series was original presented on the healing school, a list that is dedicated to teaching people how to heal the sick and cast out demons, as per Jesus' command in Matthew 10:8. It says, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."

It makes sense for this teaching series to be taught there, because deliverance and healing are often related. But as an intercessor, you may be thinking, "Well, that is fine, but what does this teaching have to do with me?"

God May Ask You To Become Part Of The Answer To Your Prayer

I would like to share a story about a personal experience in order to answer that question. Back in 1995 I was a very active intercessor and I was also a part of the pastor's personal intercession team. He met with his intercessors for half an hour every Sunday, to fill us in on what was going on and on what we should pray for. One Sunday morning, our pastor shared that the church was in a financial crisis because people were not tithing, and many were not even putting small amounts into the offering plate. This had been going on for a few months, and now the church did not have enough money to pay it's basic bills (like rent and the staff's salaries). He asked us to pray that the Lord would release a spirit of generosity on the congregation, so that they would start giving, so that we could climb out of this financial crisis.

I took his challenge to heart and earnestly began seeking the Lord on this. In fact, I felt so burdened to pray about that that I also fasted about it for three days. The Lord spoke to me just as the fast was ending, and while I was praying fervently for Him to release a spirit of generosity on the congregation and to help us with our financial crisis.

He said, "Teresa, if you really mean what you are praying, then I want you to be a part of the solution." He then instructed me to give a freewill offering (over and above my regular tithe) that was a huge amount of money to me. I wasn't thrilled with giving away so much money, but of course, I obeyed the Lord. I did not understand it at the time, but my giving was a prophetic acting out of "financial generosity." And my gift was substantial enough that it became a part of the solution...of course, it was still a far cry from paying the whole staff's salary and paying a month's rent.

In the next few weeks, the Lord provided enough finances in the form of special "gifts" from others in the Church, and we were able to get by. In addition, the congregation as a whole started putting more money into the offering plate, so the church's weekly "income" increased. The church was not floating in money, but the financial crisis was averted and the church was able to get by for a season without any layoffs.

That was my first exposure to God asking me to be a part of the solution to something that He assigned me to pray for.

But it was not the only time He asked me to do that. In fact, over the years, He has asked that type of thing of me a lot. It wasn't always about money. Sometimes it was about volunteering my time or talents. Sometimes it was about seeking someone out and ministering to them.

God taught me an important principle--there are times when He gives us a prayer assignment, He will ask us to become part of the solution for whatever we are praying for. If you are a serious intercessor and you haven't already experienced this, I can guarantee that you will.

It may be that the Lord assigns you to pray for revival in Africa for years, where you find ask God to send missionaries to them. Then one day, God sends you there on a short term mission trip, where you minister and become a part of the answer to your own prayer. Or perhaps you pray for someone with a personal financial crisis, and the Lord instructs you to give them some sort of present...maybe He tells you to buy a week's worth of groceries for them, or pay one of their bills. Or perhaps you pray for someone who is wracked with some type of oppression from the enemy, and God asks you to minister inner healing to them. Or maybe you are praying for someone who has been sick for a long time, and God asks you to go lay hands on them.

I know it feels a lot "safer" to pray from your prayer closet or from an intercessor's meeting than to actually go out and minister face-to-face to someone. But there will be times when God asks you to do precisely that.

That means you need to learn how to minister with Him.

Why Deliverance?

The idea of "deliverance" sounds scary to a lot of people, but most of the time that you do it, you end up dealing with pretty low level demons that are smaller/weaker than the type you deal with regularly in routine intercession.

Most intercessors are not strangers to some level of spiritual warfare. That is because we are enlisted in God's army, and God will ask us to do battle in prayer and intercession. Eph 6:10-12 tells us:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

That means we battle the enemy's forces when we enter into prayer and intercession. Most of the time we can't see them (unless God reveals them to us) and we can't hear what they are saying, but we do engage in real hand-to-hand combat with them as we pray and intercede.

It may be that you ask the Lord to stop the enemy's plans to harm the children at the local school. Or it may be more direct, where you stand up and "draw a line in the sand" and forbid enemy spirits from certain activities or from certain locations. For instance, did you know that you are engaging in low-level spiritual warfare when you go though a house and anoint things with oil and clean enemy spirits out of the place? You are engaging in spiritual warfare when you cleanse the land where you know that some type of atrocity was committed. You are engaging in spiritual warfare when you go up to a mountain and pray over the city, asking God to advance His kingdom and trample the enemy's hold over people.

Deliverance is not really that much different than any of these types of prayer activities...except that it is done one-on-one and face-to- face. Rodney will talk later on about the different strengths and levels of demons (and also about their level of attachment to the person you are ministering to). But most of the time, you will deal with less powerful and lower level demons doing deliverance than you will face when you are praying about lowering the murder rate over your city or keeping the children at the local school safe. The demons may try to intimidate you or scare you or "bluff." It does that in hopes that you won't exercise the Lord's authority over it to make it leave its "home." And if you haven't had any experience or training, they might be able to psych you out. But once you understand the authority that the Lord has given you and once you are aware of how to go about setting someone free, deliverance is actually pretty easy to do--because Jesus already did the majority of the work on the cross.

Putting It All Together

So why are we looking at deliverance? That is the level of battle has stepped up in recent times. I guess the devil knows that the end is near, so he is feeling desperate and is fighting harder. He is releasing more demons and assigning them to oppress and torment even more people right now--and God wants to set them free.

You can see evidences of demonic oppression all over the place. For example, Some people have addictions which are actually a demon controlling them. Some people have are wracked with fear and others have severe depression--both caused by the "ministry" of demonic spirits that have been assigned to shut them down and make them ineffective. The list goes on and on...as demons are released in people's lives to cause problems in the areas of health, finances, relationships, etc.

Does that sound like some of the things that the Lord has had you praying about lately?

Remember that God may ask you to become a part of the solution to whatever He assigns you to pray about. Don't' be surprised to discover that a demon has been personally assigned to one (or more) of the people who God tells you to pray for. God may ask you to personally deal with that demon as a part of your prayer assignment. He may ask you to minister deliverance to that person because the demon is acting against your prayers, and you need to get rid of it in order to see the answer.

One of the big things on the Lord's agenda right now is to break the devil's power over an area by breaking his power over individuals one at a time. And He is likely to use you to accomplish His purposes in this area. So don't be surprised if the Lord puts you in a situation where you need to cast out a demon and set someone free.