One of the main reasons the Father’s plan included sending Jesus, His Son, to earth was to set the captives free! He came to bring prisoners of sin, the law, fear, confusion etc., into freedom. This freedom is of the spirit and is possible only through Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, who was promised to us when Jesus went to the Father. God knew that, left to their own ways, men would be bound by every thinkable kind of oppressing spirit. These spirits would wreak havoc with us – body, soul and spirit. In His wisdom, God drew up plans for us to be freed from all this bondage.

When my conversion to Christ took place, chances are I looked relatively normal to most people. The truth was that I was a slave to so many possessing spirits that I was on the brink of no longer being able to function in this life. Praise God! Jesus came to set the captives free! He began at once to set me free.

There are many ways we can acquire those spirits that desire to hold us hostage. The first opportunity for this is inheritance. “… visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:7  Over the years, since my personal life with Jesus began, He has shown me numerous stumbling blocks to my freedom, handed down to me from ancestors. One of the most powerful and all-encompassing was a spirit of fear I received from my mother. Some of the many other oppressions were; alcohol, depression, insomnia, sexual lust, selfishness and loneliness, to name a few. 

As we continue on in life we soon begin to add to the oppression we were born with, including our fallen nature. We can see it happening in very young children, even babies. Their stubbornness and willfulness starts very early on. As we grow and mature our willfulness can grow into rebellion as we pick up more wrong ideas through our friends, at school, college, TV, books, music, movies, drugs, and our own choices. As these spiritual bullies control our actions and reactions we become more and more out of control. Some of the benign and personal oppressions can grow and be added to so they are no longer just problems for us, alone, but others are now affected and perhaps threatened by our behavior.

Here is how some of those things grew for me; an alcohol problem became an addiction, lust turned into an amoral attitude, disappointment fear and resentment brought on anger, hate and neurotic actions. I became a hypochondriac along with an obsession concerning a broken relationship. Then desperation and hopelessness set in and demons of suicide rushed in to destroy me completely before I could belong to Jesus Christ. I know those suicide demons personally, and they can be relentless. Insomnia was always there doing her part in each of these progressions, keeping me awake plotting and planning. Praise God, the reality of 2 Timothy 2:26 came to my rescue in the nick of time. “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 

These spirits I have called by name are only the tip of the iceberg of what the Lord had to deal with when I came to Him. He started at once to set me free. (If I seem over-zealous or fanatic in His behalf, it is because I know how merciful His deliverance has been for me!) “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” John 8:36 He has His priorities which are not always the same as ours. He started by giving me the hope and peace I had never known before, which delivered me from those demons of suicide, desperation and hopelessness. Soon came the disappearance of anger and hate … especially for my ex -husband. This was followed by freedom from addictions, namely alcohol, cigarettes, lust etc. etc. With the disappearance of undesirable spirits, I was filled more and more with His Spirit, the Holy Spirit and the fruits that He brings. “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Romans 6:18 Just the opposite of the old life as Jesus says; “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34 Jesus also said; “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 

Where the matter of deliverance is concerned, when we have been walking with the Lord for some time, we must face the truth about ourselves and desire to be set free. Sometimes God sees our hearts and has mercy and delivers us quickly, quietly and without our asking, especially when we are babes in Him. In severe cases deliverance can be quite dramatic and with all sorts of manifestations. Most of the time, though, it is a quiet word from the Lord through a wide variety of ways. He lets us know of our need for deliverance in dreams, His Word, music, something someone else might say or do, or a testimony. His ways of showing us that we need help in some areas are limitless. Usually, it is good to ask believers for prayer. It is also good to rebuke and take authority over Satan, even call the name of the problem demon if you know what it is, in “Jesus’ Name”. 

During the twenty years since I first began my deliverance, it has been an ongoing process. Praise God He didn’t show me what I was really like all at once. At first God, in His mercy, relieved me, almost automatically, of the severe and dramatic shackles that had kept me bound so long. At that time I had no idea what I needed or how badly off I really was. Having filled me with His love, peace and the Holy Ghost, He could now take His time in making me into that truly “new creature” He wanted me to be.

I urge you, believers, to continuously seek to be free from anything that might hinder your relationship with Jesus and the perfection He wants for you. I exhort you, church, never be ashamed to ask for the saints to lay hands on you for deliverance. Claim your inheritance! Always be eager to shed your shackles.

 

The following are a few scriptures referring to freedom:

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Isaiah 61:1-4

[1] The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

[2] To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

[3] To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

[4] And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

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Luke 4:18-20

[18] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

[19] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

[20] And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

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John 8:32 & 36

[32] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

[36] If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

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Galatians 5:1

[1] Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.