At the time of our salvation, we are totally redeemed—body, soul and spirit. The spirit is fully redeemed as God’s Spirit connects with ours. What has been redeemed in us must be reclaimed. Since God’s Spirit indwells our spirits, I believe our spirits have been fully reclaimed, but the soul must be reclaimed as well.
Deliverance is the “children’s bread” Jesus referred to in Matthew 15:26. It’s an integral part of the atonement and central to the ministry of healing He entrusted to His church. Deliverance, as New Testament reality, flows from the finished work of the cross.
We now stand in the place of victory with Christ, and it includes victory over the demonic. We never see Jesus wrestling or struggling with demonic powers. He always acts from a position of authority, manifesting the Father’s kingdom (Luke 11:20). He simply commands the demons to come out, using the authority He has from the Father, which the demons have to obey.
As believers standing in victory with Christ, we too have this authority. Jesus has commissioned us to go into the world with His Good News, telling us that miracles, signs and wonders will accompany us. He says specifically, “In My name they will drive out demons” (Mark 16:17).
We in the church today must be courageous enough to acknowledge our need to live in the reality of the nearness of the kingdom of God, for it is just as much at hand today as it was when Jesus first brought it to us 2,000 years ago. I believe the primary purpose of the power of God given to believers is to be a continuing revelation of His love and an integral part of the presentation of the gospel—which includes deliverance. How can someone embrace the Good News of the gospel if they are bound by the powers of darkness? God sent His Son to set the captives free, and Jesus is still releasing prisoners today.
The faddish fascination with the devil and evil that enjoyed resurgence in American culture in the 1970s ushered in a plethora of occult-based New Age practices that have taken root in our culture. Combining that with the half-truths of the entertainment industry, we are left with a spiritually confused culture. Intellectual evangelicalism tends to strong-arm the notion of evil, and thus the need for deliverance, while other segments of the church race after deliverance to such a great extent that they see demons behind everything that ails them.
Add to the mix people whose practice of deliverance borders on questionable and manipulative, and is it any wonder the church tends to throw up its hands in confusion when it comes to deliverance? But there is no need for the church to remain ignorant or confused about deliverance.
