If you have said or read the Lord's Prayer before, you would have come across the line which reads: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:13) God will deliver us from sin through the mighty power of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. We serve a God who is able to intervene in our circumstances - not someone who would just look on and feel sorry about the state we find ourselves in.
Many brought their sick to Him that they may be delivered. "Yet the news about Him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses." (Luke 5:15) Paul declares: "In our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us,." (2 Corinthians 1:9-10)
On whom have you set your hope for deliverance, on the juju man, the local witch doctor or the herbalist? Not one of these can offer you permanent relief for your ailment. The lady who had been bleeding for twelve years and had gone to see so many doctors but could not find relief resolved to seek healing from Jesus but without having to distract Him. No doubt she must have heard so much about Jesus' healing power of deliverance that she was ready to make this desperate attempt. So she decided she would just touch the helm of Jesus' garment. "She said to herself, 'If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed." (Matthew 9:21)
So she sneaked in through the crowd and realised her aim but in doing so our Lord Jesus sensed some power had left him. Someone had touched Him, and had drained some power from His power source. That lady looked for her solution and when she reached for Jesus she found it. Haven't you yet realised that Jesus has become a power source for us for all your sufferings, ailments, difficulties and trials that the evil one has put upon us?
However, the power of God in Jesus is not a matching source for what we have been bound by. He will get rid of and defeat any power that is denying the full-fledged existence in Christ however entrenched they have become because deliverance is not found in any one else, except in our Lord Jesus.
Have you, like this woman, been looking for help and not found it? Have you strayed into the world of the evil one and need to be rescued? "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28)
When our Lord Jesus sent out His disciples in pairs for some practical experience, He addressed them in these terms: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." (Matthew 10:8) He has equipped us for victory against the evil one.
If you are relying on your power in order to be delivered, deliverance will not come. It was not self-imposed; it is a spiritual influence that only the name of Jesus can deliver you from. If you have been stealing, cheating, lying since you were a child and still feel at ease with yourself then something is fundamentally wrong. You need to be delivered from it. Make that a concern. Satan has you in his grips to the extent that you don't make the difference any more between the good and the bad. You have confounded the two. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." (Isaiah 5:20) You will need a powerful touch from the one called; "Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6b) for a miracle, for a turn around of your situation.
Isaiah exhorts: "Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done." (Isaiah 3:10-11)
If you have never been delivered and need to seek Jesus, do so now for a permanent solution. It was not meant for us to stay bound in sickness as a result of constant sin. There is a way out of this mess if we have eternal life as an objective for our lives. Let us seek and pursue it.
God does not make distinctions in terms of class or race. It is only those who call upon the name of the Lord that will be saved. It is those who seek his face that will find it. On the cross our Lord Jesus broke the chains that had imprisoned us for ages, manifesting that there is hope for deliverance from Him who has conquered the world. Life is not a dead-end street without any hope from what is frustrating our progress in life and restricting our march towards heaven. We need to come out strong and victorious. To do so however, we need to look up to the source of our help. "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:2)
"The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (2 Titus 4:18)
