Emotional Health and Kingdom Power Week 13: The Deliverance Dimension - Authority in Humility

There's part of our series on doing the stuff.

I've got the joy this morning of talking to you about

Deliverance. It's not that funny yet.

It might get funny, you know, a word that already, no doubt, is

conjuring up all sorts of emotions, images for you,

Exorcism of demons from people, Deliverance, talking about the

devil, Satan. It makes you think of images

like this or maybe like this. Maybe start thinking of films.

Maybe you've seen films like Paranormal Activity.

And as we talk about demons, this sort of image is created in

your mind. And to some extent, you'd be

right to be thinking like this. However, the sad reason that

we're thinking like this is thanks to Mediaeval art,

Hollywood, and some very elaborate creatives.

Now Mediaeval Art didn't aim to capture the devil's physical

reality, but more his moral bankruptcy.

Now he borrowed He borrowed features from Pagan gods like

Pan that you'll see here with horns and hooves and blending

them with levery back wings and grotesque extra faces in some,

and that the church created a visual deterrent for what was

then largely an illiterate population.

That his ugliness was designed to signal that the devil is the

ultimate symbol of disorder with the absence of divine beauty.

However, this artistic over marketing it often backfired by

distracting us with this scary monster.

And I'd like to argue that this is perhaps how so many of us

still think of the devil and demons today.

But demons were not created as the grotesque monster seen in

art. The Book of Job tells us They

were originally created as angels, celestial beings of

light who are present at the foundation of the world.

However, the Bible reveals A rebellion led by one we so often

call the devil, who the book of Isaiah tells us he boasted.

I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God.

Now in this rebellion, a significant portion of angels

symbolised in the Bible as a third of the stars of heaven and

cast them to earth, choosing to abandon their own position of

authority, and they left their proper dwelling place.

Now they transitioned from servants of God to spiritual

rebels. Though these fallen angels now

identified, as we call them, demons.

Now Paul in the Bible tells us we do not wrestle against flesh

and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the

heavenly places to obstruct God's purposes.

I mean, imagine them so often, don't we, as the images I showed

you earlier, that we run scared as Christians.

We become terrified of witchcraft, witches, demons, the

occult. We even live in fear or we

ignore exist it's existence completely.

We see say things like there's darkness over there and that

maybe there is, but none of this comes up against the blood of

Jesus. And this is what we're going to

be pushing into this morning. Now there's a Bible verse that

says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Hosea 4. And so this morning, before we

talk about Deliverance, I want to put this whole subject of the

devil and demons into some biblical context for us, rather

than Hollywood's influence, which adds so often to our fear

to resist the devil that we first need to see him as he

truly is. And that begins with stripping

away the names we've given him, names that, quite frankly, he

just does not deserve. Now, perhaps the greatest thing

marketing win for the enemy is the name Lucifer.

Now many of us maybe grew up believing that this was his

heavenly name before he was kicked out of heaven.

However, if you look at the original Hebrew of Isaiah 14,

the word used is Hello Ben Shahar, which translates to Day

Star, Son of the Dawn. So how do we get to Lucifer?

Well it came from something called the Latin Vulgate

translation, a 4th century translation of the Bible.

And the word Lucifer is simply the Latin word for light bearer.

It wasn't a proper name, it was an adjective, a describing word.

Now in fact, in the Latin Bible, the word Lucifer is used to

describe several things, including the morning star, the

king of Babylon, and in some contexts even the glory of

Christ. So then, when the King James

translators kept the Latin word for Lucifer, instead of

translating into English, they inadvertently created a

character name where there was none.

By calling the enemy Lucifer, we're using a title of beauty

and light to describe the Prince of Darkness.

We're giving him this cool identity that scripture just

does not afford him. He's not a light bearer, he's a

light stealer. When we stop using this false

name, we stop giving him a dignity forfeited long ago.

So if Lucifer isn't his name, what about Satan or the Devil,

as I've already referred to him as this morning?

Even here that we find that the Bible is remarkably reluctant to

give this entity a personal identity.

In the Old Testament, the word Satan is always perceived by the

OR in Hebrew, ha ha, Satan translating to the Satan.

Now in Hebrew, this literally means the adversary or the

accuser. It's a job description.

It's not a name. It's a legal title.

Think of it like, I'm going to go and see the doctor.

We don't say I'm off to see Doctor.

And as we keep moving through the Old New Testament, we read

in Job a scene that often confuses us.

It says, now there was a day when the sons of God came to

present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among

them. When we look at this scene in

Job, we see that the Accuser isn't some rogue independent

dark deity ruling of rival Kingdom.

He's actually a functional member of the heavenly

courtroom, a celestial almost like an internal affairs agent

who's become utterly obsessed with finding fault.

He isn't there because he's God's equal.

He's there because he's a cynical bureaucrat looking for

his legal loophole to trip us up with.

And then as we move into the New Testament, the Greek word

changes it to the devil, to diabolos, but it follows the

same pattern. It means slanderer.

Now, when we combine the meaning of these words, we get accuser

adversary. Now this shift in language is

really, really vital for us to understand accuser adversary.

Now, if we think of Satan as a powerful personal name, we tend

to fear him as a dark God. But if we see him as the accuser

adversary, we see his tactics. Now he's a legalistic nuisance

who prowls around looking for bureaucratic loopholes in our

souls to exploit. He doesn't have a name because

in the Kingdom of God, he's a nobody.

He's a creature who's lost his personhood because he was

totally rejected by God. He's a creature, not the creator

now. We've spent centuries looking

for a monster with a pitchfork now, which makes us completely

vulnerable to a slanderer or a persecutor who whispers you're

not good enough at 2:00 AM in the morning.

Now the mediaeval imagery makes the devil look powerful and

scary. The biblical image makes him

look pathetic and desperate. So how do we find a balanced

view? And we must first avoid 2

extremes. The first is to pretend that he

doesn't exist now so that we would not be outwitted by Satan.

But we are not ignorant of his designs, it tells us in Two

Corinthians. And the second is to become so

obsessed with him, giving him prime time in our thoughts, that

it should belong to God. The balanced view is proportion

and perspective. Now we must remember that the

accuser adversary is a created being.

He's not the opposite of God. God is infinite.

The devil is finite. God is omnipresent.

The devil can only be in one place at a time.

God is the creator. The devil can only twist what

has already been made. If you hold a penny against your

eye, it'll be large enough to block out the sun.

The penny hasn't become bigger than the sun, it just becomes

the centre of our focus. And many of us live with a Satan

centred theology, see his hand in every misfortune and his

power in every shadow. We hold that penny in front of

our eye, so close for the accuser that we can no longer

see Jesus. The resistance, then, is not

about shouting at the shadows. Resistance is the relentless

application of truth to the accuser's lies.

Now, when the slanderer tells us that we are beyond grace, he's

acting as official capacity. That Greek word diabolos the

slanderer. We don't resist him by arguing

with him. We resist him by refocusing on

the Advocate that we have with the fathers. 1 John 2 tells us.

The apostle Peter tells us resist him firm in your faith.

Notice he doesn't say resist him firm in your fear.

He doesn't say resist him by studying his history.

He says be firm in your faith, which is your trust in the

authority of Jesus. That across the span of

Scripture, the enemy's appearances are surprisingly

rare. They're revealing him not as a

ruler of a rival Kingdom, but as a legalistic obstructionist,

which is really hard for me to say.

Crucially, you know, we must distinguish between this CEO of

rebellion who handles high level deception and the foot soldiers

or the unclean spirits who cause localised chaos.

Now, when we understand this hierarchy, we stop giving the

accuser too much credit for every minor distraction,

recognising instead that while he leads to this broad

insurgency, he's ultimately A defeated squatter who's been

given far too much of our airtime.

But the threat is real, even though, as we have looked at, we

so often give the accuser too much airtime.

I've seen so many stories I could share with you this

morning, but this morning isn't long enough.

But I do want to share about 7 1/2 to our family.

When we moved to Myanmar, many of you know our daughter Elsie,

and we'd only been out there for 2-3, four months.

And we'd had somebody come in to sort our air conditioning out.

And he had a, a 3rd Reich logo in his air conditioning badge.

And it was an interesting character.

Didn't speak any English. Our Burmese was limited to say

the least. But there was just something not

right and left that that evening we felt that there was just

something in our our apartment that wasn't right.

And we put Elsie to bed and and she fell asleep and we were sat

doing whatever we were doing that evening.

And all of a sudden, Elsie appeared at the door of her

bedroom. And the only word I can use to

describe you else is that you stuttled in this sort of motion

across the floor at what, three years old, the fingertips barely

gracing the floor. And then under the the kitchen

table, the dining room table looking out at us didn't quite

hiss, but it wouldn't surprise if she hissed.

We couldn't get anything out of her.

She wouldn't respond to us. She wouldn't do anything.

And all I can think about was this is some sort of something

demonic going on. And it was the most bizarre

thing. Fortunately, you're doing it

right now, aren't you? Since Lisa and I applied this

church 7 years ago, you know many things have happened.

You know, some we can explain in the natural and some we can't.

But over the last few weeks that we really felt a pressure come

against us as leaders. And as we started to listen to

our team, it became apparent that something was happening

amongst our team that wasn't normal.

Listen to these first hand accounts for my team, all from

the last six weeks. It started off as doubts and

feeling insecure. It lead to arguments in our

marriage with complete confusion about it was even about.

It just snowballed over several weeks into me fully believing

that no one liked me or wanted me around.

That God was disappointed and angry at me.

That I was rubbish at my job and both God and my employers wanted

me fired. That the church would be better

off if I left because everyone hated me.

I honestly had no idea that it was something demonic until the

night before some training recently.

I felt so so sick and I'll it felt like I'd come down with a

horrific bug so I prayed for healing and it moved.

I was immediately feeling completely fine illness wise but

my sciatica, something I've not had issues with for over a year,

flared up and I was in awful pain.

Then it moved to my head then back to my leg again.

That was the moment I realised that sorry that I realised what

it was. Remembering a training from VLG

on Deliverance. I pray for healing and she

moves. It's so often demonic.

Second one on my way home from the gym.

Someone have driven into the side of my car while in the

roundabout by the Vue cinema. Despite having run through what

I've done, I knew I wasn't in the wrong as I've done the same

room countless of times before. But there are lots of things

going at work and in church, all for the progression of my life

as a leader, that it instantly felt like something designed to

hold us back with all that we've been planning for church, work

and home life. The weeks after I've taken lots

of time off from work. However, the attacks weren't

done. I felt.

I felt it all from my team members through different issues

and difficulties they were facing and it cascaded the

countless technical difficulties on Sunday mornings during

worship. The final blow was when I

received an update from my dad who was then diagnosed with

stage 4 stomach cancer out of the blue without any symptoms.

It made me realise the enemy will really try and get you in

every aspect of your life. The next one them in mind is all

running concurrent. It felt like something was

trying to pull me away from the church.

The thoughts and feelings were subtle at 1st and the more I

listened to the thoughts the more they escalated the thoughts

that the thoughts that started were.

I don't fit in at the church. Phil and Lisa don't want me here

with overall feelings of anxiety, depression, deep

sadness. Feel like I couldn't tell

anyone. The thoughts were very loud and

chaotic which my mind usually isn't.

It's actually quite boring in my mind most of the time.

The more I listened to these thoughts, they turned into the

idea that I shouldn't be here anymore.

These thoughts lasted for five days.

During this time of struggle, praying and worshipping, I even

prayed Help me Lord. In those moments I felt a peace

with a sense of encouragement that everything was going to be

OK and it was going to end soon. Johnny was amazing during this

time. When I couldn't see feel where

God was, I could. When Johnny spoke, God was

definitely using him during this time.

On day five I was hoping that Johnny was arranging to get me

sectioned. Johnny, I were talking.

It felt like I blanked out as I do not know what Ed said.

I remember Johnny kept saying stop talking, we've got intense

headaches and stomach pains. I just started praying.

The initial thought of praying brought a lot of fear which

obviously made me want to pray more.

I asked God for forgiveness for the words I'd spoken, also

forgiving everyone and asking God to bless them.

I had a memory of someone close to me randomly coming to mind in

which I forgave that person and it felt like a weight lifted off

me. The racing chaotic thoughts

instantly stopped as well as all the emotions that came with.

About a week or two later, every lie that been spoken to me are

replaced with truth. Praying was still a little

difficult so I prayed into this asking direction.

God put it on my heart to just list what I was thankful for and

to pray for people at the church.

As awful as this experience was amazing, when I look back on it

all, I could see that God threw out the next one.

Over the last few weeks I've had a lot of complex stuff going on

in my relationships, both at work and in my personal life.

In the midst of all the huge challenges and struggle it has

raised for me in itself, the enemy has been using this to

make me experience a lot of anxiety, imposter syndrome, and

self doubt as I try and navigate what feels like every facet of

my life coming under tension in one way or another.

When you're feeling like this, it's so easy for the enemy to

make you feel lonely and isolated and like you're not

doing anything right despite being surrounded by people who

love you. There's four members of our

pastoral team all at the same time, all concurrent and

alongside this, me and Lisa. Lisa picked up some sort of

nerve pain that's gone all the way down her arm for the last

three months. Bear in mind, we're normally

very fit and healthy. 2 weeks later I got a pain in my

shoulder. When we went on holiday six

weeks ago. I couldn't even swim with Elsie,

the pain was so much. And then we were doing something

in here and somebody came alongside Lisa and said

something really nasty to Lisa about us.

And literally before weekend, and that same day, 3:00 in one

of those testimonies there, one of those people phoned us and

accused us of some really awful stuff.

And so we went into the weekend with these accusations.

We were carrying this pain. We were carrying like, what are

we doing? What have we done?

And then that Saturday evening, Elsie came down for dinner and

she said, I've got a pain in my stomach.

And obviously I said eat your food up, you'll be fine in the

morning. And then by seven, 8:00 in the

evening, she's like, no, no, it really hurts to the point at

ten, 11:00, she was in the foetal position in bed, curled

up, unable to move. Like she couldn't even sit up in

the car. As I took her to hospital that

night, she was lying in the foetal position in the back of

the car. And we got there and they

thought it might be appendicitis.

And she eventually got diagnosed with something which wasn't

appendicitis but gives completely the same symptoms.

And then 7:00 Sunday morning, she was discharged.

Because of this, Lisa ended up missing church that morning and

pretty much else. She was back to normal by the

time we got home. She was very tired from the

night in hospital and then 10:20 I realised I'd forgotten all the

Mother's Day presents for church that day.

They were all at home and Kit bailed me out by driving home

and then everything. I don't know if you remember

this Sunday 3 or 4 weeks ago. If it could go wrong tech wise

in here. If it could go wrong in a Sunday

morning, it went apart in here. And one of the amazing things

was Rebecca wandered over to me in the front and she says, Phil,

she said, you know, people who've been worshipping in here

for 200 years, you know, don't worry about what's going on.

We're worshipping. And words to that effect is

something pathetic. And it just kind of settled me

in that, that moment. But that weekend we had all of

this stuff hanging over. And then Monday night, my phone

went and the person who'd accused us stuff, she said, I

don't know what I was thinking on Friday.

I don't know what came over me, but I'm really, really sorry.

And I didn't mean any of the things that I said to you on

Monday. And so you can see this stuff is

real. But we're not to be scared of

it. No, we're to be really, really

aware of it and to see it for what it is aware.

But we're never afraid. And some of you know me, I'll

have a good military metaphor. And so today, no, we need to be

thinking about moving away from a wartime footing and into an

aftermath footing. Now, at the cross, the enemy

wasn't just challenged, he was dismantled.

This is the ultimate courtroom victory, where Jesus removed the

accuser's only weapon, his legal right to condemn us.

When Christ cried, it is finished.

He closed the case against humanity.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open

shame by triumphing over them. In him the slander in chief was

disbarred. When Jesus quoted Isaiah in Luke

4, He issued a final eviction notice to the powers of

darkness. When Jesus sent, he sent me to

proclaim liberty to the captors and recovery of sight to the

blind, to set at liberty those who are pressed to proclaim the

year of the Lord's favour. He announced a spiritual jubilee

where the prison doors are off the hinges and the King's

authority is established. Now, now, this is our absolute

reality. The enemy's power to hold you is

legally over. While we may still hear the

whispers, our team may get set. Of course, we're no longer

fighting for a victory. We are standing in a victory in

the one that Jesus has already won.

And in the vineyard we love a good tension.

And this tension is the now and the not yet of the Kingdom of

God, the now. The victory is won, the head of

the snake is crushed, the queues has been disarmed and put to

shame. And we live in the not yet.

The final arrest. And the casting of the enemy

into the lake of fire, as we read in Revelation, is a future

event. And so we currently live in the

overlap of the ages. If we go back to our military

metaphors, imagine a war where the peace treaty has been

signed, the cross, but the news hasn't reached every remote

outpost yet. The enemy is like a retreating

army on a short leash. He knows his time is short, so

he engages scorched earth tactics using his last remaining

weapon, deception and lies. He cannot pull us back into the

cell, but now, so he tries to convince you that the door is

still locked in the not yet. This means that in deliverance

and daily spiritual life, we don't fight for a win from a

win. If we focus too much on the not

yet, we become fearful, as if the enemy still has a say in our

destiny. If we focus on the now and

ignore the ongoing skirmishes, we become complacent because we

are in the not yet. The adversary still ploughs, but

because we're in the now. He can only be set as an

accuser. He can shout across the

courtroom, but he cannot change the judge's verdict.

Jesus has already declared us free.

The resistance is simple, the act of walking out the open door

while the gaoler shouts empty threats from the hallway.

And so, as we move from understanding the accuser

adversary to actually resisting him, we must adopt the posture

of the Kingdom in the vineyard. We often say we want to do what

Jesus did. This is why we're doing a Doing

the Stuff series. But we want to do it the way

Jesus did it. Low hype, high authority.

You know, if we believe the premise that the enemy is a

defeated legalistic nuisance, then our ministry of Deliverance

shouldn't look like a Hollywood horror movie.

It should look like a calm, authoritative application of the

truth. Alexander Venter, a South

African vineyard theologian, reminds us that Deliverance is

really about a power encounter with a monster.

It's about integrated healing. He uses the analogy of the hook

and the hands, the accuser adversary.

The hands can only get a grip on our lives if there is a hook, a

lie we believed, an unhealed wound, fear, a legalistic claim

we've allowed him to make. In our ministry today, we don't

start by shouting at the hand. We start by asking the Holy

Spirit to reveal the hook. When we identify the lie of the

accuser, perhaps a lie that you're unlovable, you're

disqualified, we replace it with the truth of Jesus.

That hook is removed. Once the hook is gone, the

adversary has nothing to hold onto.

He's a squatter who's lost his legal right to the property.

It's Jay Paffitt, leader of the Vineyard in the USA, often says

this is ordinary people doing extraordinary things, just

neighbours helping neighbours walk in the light.

When we pray for one another, we aren't performing deliverance,

we're facilitating it. Now, generally speaking,

deliverance prayer is handled as a last resort with a small team

led by Lisa and I. Now before this, we looked at

inner prayer, healing ministry, you know, which we're currently

training up with in the church. You know, just last weekend we

had a team of 15 or so in York for some training which we'll be

rolling out in the coming months, which everybody in

church will be able to access. Most problems around unclean

spirits impacting people nearly always come through people's

fear or unforgiveness and this is so often sorted through inner

prayer healing ministry guided by the Holy Spirit which removes

the hooks quietly and effectively.

There's a good analogy of rubbish and how do rats get

attracted all round the rubbish and as we remove that rubbish

the rats disappear and it's the same in our lives.

There's sometimes in a prayer ministry just isn't enough

though and we need to push deeper into deliverance ministry

to free people. And as I said, least, and I take

the lead on this, however, sometimes unclean spirits rid of

ugly heads when we least expect it and we all need to be

equipped to deal with it. Such as ministry time in here,

maybe in small group or when your daughter scuttles across

the floor. But what does it look like when

we actually sit down to pray with someone?

How do we move from the now and a not yet theory into now and a

not yet freedom Now here in Darlington now we're going to

follow a very specific path. It's not about being

professional exorcists, it's about being family members,

helping family members walk out of an open prison door.

Though firstly, before we even open our mouths in prayer, we

check our internal posture. Deliverance is 10% technique,

90% atmosphere. It's peace versus panic.

Now when fear hits, and it might especially when things get a bit

weird, we don't panic. If you think to yourself, don't

know what to do, we change our thinking.

We aren't operating on our own. Know how we are operating on

Jesus authority. We declare I our identity.

I'm a child of God, I belong here and the accuser does not.

We love and we honour and this is the most important aspect of

deliverance. The person in front of us is a

child of God. They're not a project that we

don't look for demons, we look for the person that Jesus loves.

And with this we use the power of two.

We always work in pairs. Jesus sent people out two by

two. It was good enough for him.

It's definitely good enough for us.

Now. Sometimes the adversary tries to

throw a tantrum to distract us. We call it a manifestation.

It might look like somebody's body started to convulse.

Sometimes their eyes might roll all the way back.

Sometimes they might start shouting.

No set rules here guys. All sorts of crack might go

down. You know, if it happens, you

know we stay calm and we silence the unclean spirit.

If it starts screaming or talking, we don't interview it.

We're not ask it's name and we don't give it any air time, OK?

We don't care what it's got to say.

It's a slanderer, it's a liar. And we simply can, in the name

of Jesus, to be quiet. Our eyes are on the person we

talk to the individual, not the entity.

We keep them engaged. Stay with me.

You're doing well. Dil Jesus is right here.

Now to know which tool to use, we look to Isaiah 61.

We ask, is this person a captive or are they a prisoner?

If they're captive, they're held by lies and deception.

They've been told they're worthless.

You're marked in need, truth. And this is often when we see

people traditionally called possession.

But a a better biblical word is demonisation.

You see, possession implies ownership, but if you're a child

of God, the the accuser doesn't own a square inch of you.

You can't be possessed. You've been bought with a price

instead. A captive is someone who is

being demonised, harassed or occupied in an air of their life

because the enemy has convinced them of a lie.

They're like a hostage who doesn't realise that a gun is

empty. Now the tool here is renouncing

those lies and declaring the truth of who they are in Christ.

Or are they a prisoner? They're held by sin.

They've walked into a cell by their own choice.

They need repentance now. In this case, demonisation

happens because a door was opened for maybe.

It's not like sexual sin, witchcraft, the occult,

Freemasonry. There's a long list here that

there aren't just a victim. They've made an agreement with

the adversary and he has taken up residence in that area of

their life. The tool here is confession,

it's forgiveness. Now.

We don't just shout at the enemy, we help the person shut

the door that they open so the accuser has no legal right to

stay there. Whether they're being held

captive, being bullied, or a prisoner who's been tricked into

a cell. The goal is the same and the

goal is freedom. And then when we actually begin

the ministry, we follow the simple model that Julius taught

us last week. We follow the five step healing

model. We interview.

We look for the entry points. Is it in the body?

Is it habits, illness, Is it in the soul?

Is it trauma, rejection or the number one spirit?

Is it fear or is it within your own spirit?

Is it a cult witchcraft involving an old vowels word

curses? Step 2.

This is the game changer. Forgiveness.

This is the big, big one. Unforgiveness is the primary

block to freedom. We ask, is there anyone you need

to forgive? No.

The Kingdom is binary. We either forgive and we walk in

light, or we hold on and we stay in the dark.

We flee sin and we forgive others.

Period. Step three, we renounce and we

break. Now we have the person who

already say the words. I renounce the spirit of fear.

I break the power of the soul tie.

There is power in the spoken word.

We are breaking the legal contract the accuser thinks he

has with us. Step four, we cast out.

Once the legal right is gone, we tell the squatter to leave up

and out in the name of Jesus, and we send it to the place that

Jesus has appointed for you. Really important.

Up and out in the name of Jesus and go where Jesus has appointed

for you. Sometimes there's a cough,

sometimes a deep exhale, sometimes there's an extra

manifestation. Now maybe use a litmus test.

Ask them to say thank you Jesus. If they can't say it or they

choke on it. Now we know that the unclean

spirit is trying to hold on, and we go again until the air is

clear. Similar to how Julius taught us

last week on repeating prayers for healing.

And Step 5, we fill and we seal. We never leave the house empty.

We pray for the infilly of the Holy Spirit and we ask the

golden question. Close your eyes, Jesus.

How do you see this person's heart now?

Whatever Jesus says or shows them, that's their identity,

that's the gift that they take away with them.

And following this, then we really have to focus on

aftercare, keeping the door closed.

Now, deliverance isn't just an event, it's a lifestyle that we

work with everyone on. A freedom plan if you want to

give it a title to ensure that the accuser doesn't try to move

back in. So once you've walked out of

that prison cell, how do you stay out Now?

It starts with the stories you tell yourself every single

morning. No, take those truths, those

specific beautiful things that Jesus told you about who you

are, and put them where you can't ignore them.

Write them on your bathroom mirror, put them on your phone's

lock screen, and actually speak them aloud.

No, the Accuser loves to work in a quiet, isolated corners of our

mind. Which is why you cannot be a

Lone Ranger in this. No, the Adversary no doesn't

hunt in a crowd. He looks for the one who's

drifted away from the pack. You need a community walking

with you. People who know your story can

remind you of the truth when their whispers start getting

loud again. But it's not just about who

you're with. It's about becoming a student of

the enemy's tactics in your own life.

Start spotting the patterns. Maybe you notice that every time

you see your boss, or every time you walk into a certain

environment, that old spirit of fear starts to creep back in.

It's a trigger when you spot it. Don't just sit there.

Flip the script. Interrupt the accuser with an

immediate act of gratitude or a declaration of God's goodness.

And finally, be practical. If there was a habit or a

lifestyle choice that left the door wide open for the enemy to

walk in, it's time to shut the door and lock it now.

Walking and now of the Kingdom means living in a way that says

the old lease is up, that we've moved into a new house and the

accuser doesn't have a key anymore.

Now, this isn't scary stuff. It's the most beautiful thing in

the world to watch somebody walk free.

Now we have the authority, we have the tools, and we have King

Jesus. Let's do what Jesus did.

They're in Darlington Vineyard. We'll never pray for somebody

for deliverance who's not linked into the church properly and

ideally in a small group because the aftercare is so important.

And another great reason is if we don't need one to find a

church that we don't hop from church to church week to week.

It's not biblical. We settle, we serve, we join a

small group, we have to be in community.

And finally, we must remember that the goal of deliverance is

not just about the absence of the adversary, but about the

presence of the King. Deliverance is the now of the

Kingdom breaking into your not yet struggle.

It's the moment when the accuser is silenced by the Advocate

Jesus. Now, as we move forward this

week, that we need to stop looking for the Lucifer of

legend or the Devil of the Middle Ages.

Instead, be alert to the accuser adversary now, when you hear

that voice of condemnation, when you feel the obstruction to your

spiritual growth, recognise it for what it is, the desperate

gasps of a defeated prosecutor. He has no name, he has no

authority. That isn't permitted by God, and

his time is short. We do not fight for victory, we

fight from the victory already won at the cross stun.

It's still shining. Sometimes we just need to move

the penny.