Deliverance, Part 1
You Must Destroy Them Totally
The following
is the first of a short series about God's deliverance.
"And when the LORD your God has delivered them over to
you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them
totally . . ." (Deut 7:2)
With so much talk going on these days about deliverance and
deliverance ministries, it's enough to make all of us stop
for a moment and ask the question: "Do I have something in
my life that I need deliverance from?" If you had asked this
question of ancient Israel, the answer would have been a
hearty "yes"! Israel needed deliverance from lots of things!
From the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites,
to name a few, seven nations larger and stronger than they
(See Deut. 7:1).
But wait a minute. How can this relate to Me . . .? After
all, none of my enemies have the suffix "ite" attached to
them! It's true. We don't battle the same obstacles anymore.
The Israelites needed physical deliverance from people,
while our modern-day enemies are more subtitle: alcohol,
drugs, sins of immorality, intemperance, food addictions,
impatience, unforgiveness, etc. etc. No, they aren't humans
and they don't have "ite" attached to the end; but they are
enemies just the same!
In addition to numerous other things I needed deliverance
from (anger, criticalness, unforgiveness, you know, stuff
like that!), I struggled with two horrible addictions for
many years. When God gave me deliverance, He did so in two
very different ways. One of these "enemies" was simply
removed from my life the day I received the gift of the Holy
Spirit. The other stuck around to try and entice me back
into its horrible spells.
Why? Why did God simply remove all traces of one and not do
so with the other? I believe it was because God, in His
infinite mercy, knew me. When I received the Holy Spirit, I
was involved with a denomination that didn't believe in the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. As a result, I doubted what I
had received. God knew I would need a tangible sign in order
to embrace that this was actually a real gift from Him. I
believe this is why this "enemy" was simply removed. And OH
what a DAY OF REJOICING that was!
But the other enemy . . . If only it could have gone away so
easily! I mean, if I am delivered of this promise, as the
Bible tells me I am, than why do I still struggle? But when
I read Deut. 7 this morning, I began to understand . . .
Let's begin by taking a closer look at this verse: "And when
the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you
have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally . .
." Notice that God says "when" He delivers them over to the
Israelites, but when "they" defeated them, then "they" must
destroy them totally! God took these 7 nations of enemies
and gave them to Israel, but Israel still had a
responsibility. It was Israel's job to dispose of them!
Still confused? Let's say that you catch a cricket and place
it into the cage of your pet lizard. You have delivered the
cricket to the lizard. But the lizard still has something he
has to do. He must eat the cricket! And it isn't your fault
at all if he fails to do so! God delivers us of our problems
-- gives us everything we need to be victorious -- but
sometimes it is left up to us to actually defeat the enemy.
We still have a responsibility to perform. We must take the
control given to us by the merits of Jesus' blood and
"destroy them totally"!
To learn how to totally destroy the enemy, see Deliverance,
Part 2, appearing in Sunday's edition of the Illustrator
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,