DELIVERED FROM THE WORLD
Locking Target
It is time to WAR! It is time to get on the offensive. It is time to take back what the enemy has stolen. The bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ep. 6:10-12). What does this all mean? Well, it means that the war we fight is not physical but spiritual. The bible also says that the weapons God has given us are not carnal but spiritual for the pulling down of strongholds (2 Co. 10:4). Strongholds are the things in our lives that we seem to not break free from.
God wants to teach us how to use sniper rifles in the spirit. We might be able to shoot but what I believe we lack is the ability to lock target. Our prayers might not be having results in certain areas in our lives and in the lives of those we love because we haven't been able to identify the enemy. So it is time to expose the enemy for who he is. We need to learn how to take out the root. In a war if the General is taken out the rest of the soldiers surrender. We also need to learn how to look beyond the fruit and see the root of the matter and pray accordingly, because when the root is taken out the fruit goes along with it.
The weapon we need to identify the enemy in the battles we face is the weapon of discernment. Discernment is the ability to look beyond the natural and identify in the spiritual whom we really face. Snipers usually take a position, focus and wait until their enemy is on target before they shoot. To walk in discernment we need the ability to wait, hold our position, and just remain focused until God exposes the enemy we face.
Dan 2:16-22 Daniel went to the king and asked for a little time so that he could interpret the dream. Daniel then went home and told his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what was going on. He asked them to pray to the God of heaven for mercy in solving this mystery so that the four of them wouldn't be killed along with the whole company of Babylonian wise men. That night the answer to the mystery was given to Daniel in a vision. Daniel blessed the God of heaven, saying, "Blessed be the name of God, forever and ever. He knows all, does all: He changes the seasons and guides history, He raises up kings and also brings them down, he provides both intelligence and discernment, He opens up the depths, tells secrets, sees in the dark--light spills out of him!
Delivered from the World
The children of Israel were delivered from Egypt (bondage to the world) but before they could get to the Promised Land (Destiny) they had to go through the wilderness (spiritual journey). Just because Israel was delivered from Egypt doesn't mean that Egypt was not still in them. Salvation does not deliver us from the world when we are saved we are born again, meaning we are starting over, things all become new. We are now learning to walk in the supernatural, to be led by the spirit. But, this only comes as we allow the Holy Spirit to strip us of all that has attached itself to us that is of the world, and put on or be clothed now with Christ. Romans chapter 12:2 says to no longer be conformed to the world but to be renewed in mind by the spirit and the word.
So, each of us are going through a process called sanctification, which is the stripping off of everything that is of the world. God is patient and longsuffering. He took the children of Israel on a 40 year journey before He felt they were ready to cross over into the Promised Land. We are all learning to take baby steps, we all fall, but thank God He loves us unconditionally and never gives up on us, He picks us up every single time. I believe over the remaining weeks God is going to reveal areas that we need to be delivered from. I don't believe as Christians we can be possessed by the enemy, but we can certainly be harassed, tormented, led astray. Doors that we opened in the world to the demonic realm is not just automatically shut because we got saved. They are only shut when they are first identified, repented of, and renounced from our lives. A lot of what we may face may be what we have been born into, they are generational curses, patterns of sinful behavior that follow one generation after the other. Some things go really deep and can be real emotional when dealing with, and seem very hard to break free from. Some things take much prayer and fasting.
Mar 9:17-29 A man out of the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my mute son, made speechless by a demon, to you. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes stiff as a board. I told your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they couldn't." Jesus said, "What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here." They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure, causing him to writhe on the ground and foam at the mouth. He asked the boy's father, "How long has this been going on?" "Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!" Jesus said, "If? There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, "Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!" Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: "Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you--Out of him, and stay out!" Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, "He's dead." But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up. After arriving back home, his disciples cornered Jesus and asked, "Why couldn't we throw the demon out?" He answered, "There is no way to get rid of this kind of demon except by prayer and fasting."
Freedom, Do We Really Want It?
We have to make up our minds do we really want to be free? The first generation of the children of Israel were too afraid, they were comfortable in their sin, they would rather spend their life wandering in the wilderness than face the giants that were standing between them and their destiny. Only Joshua and Caleb had the faith to cross over and God had to raise up another generation to go with them. There are many that call themselves Christians but I believe very few that cross over. Many only go so far before they choose to take themselves out of the game, they go AWOL, because the battle gets to personal, it goes too deep, it asks too much. But God again doesn't want some of us, He wants all, and until we are willing to deal with everything we will remain exactly where we are.