Deliverance

This is the Truth Network. that we see them, first of all, in God's Word, and then we live them out. They become expressions of our experience.

They are experience to us, not something that we've just read about or heard about, but they are real life experiences to us. First of all, the Word of God gives us that foundation. And then secondly, we see with our own eyes, and we experience in the presence of God, the things described in His Word. And if you look with me today at Ezekiel 28, we see a prophetic event being described here. We're picking it up in verse 25. Thus says the Lord God, when I gather the house of Israel from the peoples, among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them, in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. Verse 26, and they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely when I execute judgments upon their neighbors who have treated them with contempt.

Then they will know that I am the Lord their God. And just back up there in the middle of verse 26, they shall dwell securely when I, the Lord is speaking, execute judgment, plural judgments, upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. This is a deliverance message. It is a prophetic promise.

It is not yet. It is to come. And this is given to us against a historical backdrop, really. 400 years of bondage for the Hebrew people began as a mission to rescue, really, the patriarch Jacob along with his small clan of 70. And this became history's epic story of mass deliverance. So we have a backdrop of deliverance. We have a future prophetic view of ultimate deliverance. And it all is about this nation of millions who in that original sense were delivered overnight from slavery. They were experiencing really cruel bondage so that these millions who had been held for many years, hundreds of years, suddenly, suddenly were freed, suddenly released. They're tormentors even in the case of Israel in bondage in Egypt.

The tormentors, the Egyptians were urging their departure, encouraging them to leave with gifts of gold and silver. That is not your typical rescue mission. That is not the typical way that we think of deliverance from bondage, from slavery, from oppression. However, that is God's idea.

It is His way of seeing things. And we know that because He did that. And not just once, but many times. Throughout history, in many ways, just recently on our podcast, we discussed the deliverance of the Allied forces during the invasion of Normandy.

An extremely impossible rescue actually occurred. And we, in the podcast, trace that back to the story of the intercessors who were praying in Wales, in the Bible College there, under the direction of a man named Rhys Howells. So we have many, many stories and examples of how God delivers at the prompting, really, and the cooperation and the participation of His people.

That there is a historical path, there is a pattern that's laid out, and we are involved in that pattern. And not only do we see this kind of rescue out there on the horizon for every person in whatever their setting may be, but of course we apply a personal, make it a personal application so that my deliverance, your deliverance, can parallel this account here in Ezekiel, the account of the exodus of the Hebrew people out of bondage in another land. And we know that under the underpinning here, the reason and the explanation is a covenant relationship with the Almighty that calls every season a rescue season. I believe God is waiting for us to believe Him, and that it is His heart that every season be a rescue season, and that all of those in bondage be singled out for rescue and deliverance. So our title today is Deliverance. We are focused in on the strong arm of the Lord and this expression of His character, because the mercy of the Lord is everlasting, and His judgments, as we read in Ezekiel 28, His judgments are certain. His judgment is on the head and the heads of His enemies, and on the enemies of His people, and His rescue is directed toward those who have covenanted with Him, are in relationship with Him, and we're living in that time, both then historically, now, presently, and in the future, as in the case that Ezekiel describes. So God is intervening on intervening on your behalf. There is deliverance available for you. Doors that have held you are now opening, have opened already in many cases, so that your soul is rescued, that you are refreshed with hope, and the impasse that was formally existing, it lifts the siege breaks.

The bonds are broken. You go free. You go home. You literally go home. Back to the presence of the Lord.

Back to the land of your fathers. Back to the place of security and the place of deliverance and salvation that belongs to you and that is written on the tablet of your heart. Your season of waiting has changed to one of rescue, to deliverance, a way of escape, get this, plus abundance, plus abundance. So God said to Israel, listen, there'll come a time when you will be gathered together and you'll build houses and plant vineyards. This kind of abundance, this kind of prosperity is the season that we are in because we're in this season of God. It's His heart.

Every season is a rescue season for Him. And you know this includes, and I just remind you, we've got podcasts on these topics, on healing, deliverance, or deliverance, deliverances of healing. This is such a profound reality in God's Word.

It's not rare. This is the norm in the written Word of God, healing deliverances. In the Bible, God demonstrates His love and He lavishes it upon His people in the form of rescuing them from physical bondage, the bondage of sickness and disease. And this is something that even religionists cannot stop, both in Bible times, in Jesus' day, presently.

This is not a power and a presence and a plan that religion can stop, no matter what the argument might be. In Jesus' ministry, there were many kinds of healings that took place, and Jesus said that there were laborers needed to bring in this harvest. The harvest He referred to was a harvest of healings, all kinds of healings, all kinds of sickness and disease.

Jesus said of you as His disciple that you could ask God to send laborers to assist you in this harvest of healing and that you and I can pray for anyone who is sick. We can proclaim the authority of God's Word for healing to every generation, again, despite the objection of unbelieving religionists or religions or philosophers or naysayers. You know, the gainsayer cannot outweigh or overrule the Word of the Lord. So what you believe really matters here.

Let me say that again, what you believe really matters. To believe is to release God's power, but unbelief fundamentally, fundamentally, fundamentally, fundamentally opposes Jesus' mission of healing and deliverance. Unbelief is not just another opinion, it is its own opinion and, by the way, a rejection of God's covenant plan. Unbelief is a rejection of God's covenant plan. The result of unbelief is always more unbelief, which is more rejection.

It's an endless cycle. The Lord says of Israel that the land is His. Israel is the Lord's land and where there is the contest over that land are the contest over your body, are the contest to stop God's deliverance over you, any oppression, any bondage at all. The Lord says, and He says this aloud, out in the presence of His enemies and your enemies, hey, you belong to Him. You belong to Him. You are the Lord's land.

Like Israel, you are the Lord's land. And let me just speak a minute to the bully that bullies opposition here to God's plan. Listen, the strength of the bully is broken as well. Every eye is going to see an end to this torment, being inflicted by bullies around the world, tyrants, tormentors, those who come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. They are the embodiment of evil, right?

Right? So we are in opposition to the bully spirit. And listen, the Lord silences him. I heard someone say one time that the Lord puts a sock in the mouth of that bully, that accuser, that thief. And I love that visual.

I love to get a visual of that image. The bully's strength usually begins with words and those words damage. But in this deliverance season, the time has come for even the bully to be dealt with and for him to hang like Haman on his own gallows. The expression in one place in the word is that he will be impaled on his own counsel. I like to get the visual image of that.

The visual image of that too against that cruel oppressor, the bully, the tyrant. So we're talking about this covenant of deliverance. And even Jeremiah spoke to the days of deliverance in Jeremiah 31, 33 through 34. Basically Jeremiah saying, behold the days are coming.

And as he declares what the Lord is saying, he emphasizes what we are speaking of here. The Lord says that I will make a new covenant with you. I will make a new covenant with you. Not according to an old covenant, but this is the covenant that I will make with you. I'll write my law in your mind and I'll write it on your heart.

And I will be your God and you will be my people. So this covenant that God gave to Abraham between God and Abram meant protection for Abram and Sarah and their family line, including future generations. In fact, the covenant assured provision for Abram, who was God's man and his descendants in every way, in every detail of life.

You know, we need to believe this. We need to see it as a reality and applied to our life situation in the present. From ancient times and still today, the Jewish people have a covenant that again and again proves to be the undoing of their enemies. Again and again, God's loving kindness for Israel has redeemed the missteps that drew them away from his covering. The anchor of his love for them holds, like he holds them safely under his watch care, both Israel and the Jewish people.

But you know, we are the seed. Christianity is the spiritual seed and our roots go down deep in the Jewish nation. And we draw our covenant from our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And we have a covenant with Almighty God that is a blood covenant, purchased and established at Calvary by our Lord Jesus.

So hey, God's love for you is made clear. He has demonstrated his keeping power for Israel. He keeps that land, continues to bless that land, prospers the people and the land. And this is how we know that his deliverance is a powerful part of the Jewish and the Christian inheritance. This is what Hebrews 9 speaks to.

You can begin in verse 11, go through 15, and just go through 15 and just read that for yourself. This ancient blessing of covenant protection really points to the Lordship of Almighty God and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are living it, we are breathing it, and we can therefore take up our position in prayer to pray for those who don't know him yet, who don't have access to this covenant yet, but they will.

They will because we pray for them, we intercede for them. Let's touch again on belief because this is really important. We have to get this because some feel justified, even entitled, to present an argument, basically a contradiction to God's Word in the areas that we're discussing here, God's desire to see you delivered from whatever that bondage is, whatever it is.

Think on this, think about it. And those who think like this, who take exception to and contradict what is clearly shown in God's Word, they overlook this snare that they are being drawn into by participating in that kind of thinking, in a contradiction to what God has already said is true. And when that thought is presented basically what's being said is that truth can be made to be anything that they want it to be. Even their own obsessive thoughts, like that can be presented as truth and it becomes truth.

That is not the case. Just because you or I say something is true and then we obsess on that, that doesn't make it true. What establishes truth is God's Word.

It's eternal. And we have that eternal storehouse of God's love and His affection and His eternal plan for us. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you, deliverance on every level in every way is an important part.

It's not everything but it's so important and hey we're missing out. We're missing out not only in personal application but in our proclamation and our declaration of deliverance to those who are yet to believe. So that this becomes a strong testimony. You can look back at our podcast titled He Healed Me. That's a personal testimony and just really listen, listen to that episode as that declaration of a testimony of God's delivering power and in this case the power of deliverance and healing. And also look back at our podcast titled The Warrior's Calling. It really begins with the story of the battle there at Dunkirk during World War II.

The date was, that invasion took place June 4, 1940 when the odds of being released from the the bondage of the attack that the allied forces were under, the odds were so minimal there literally was no hope. But those that laid hold in prayer to the Covenant of Almighty God to deliver the innocent and to prevail and to bring judgment literally on the head of the oppressor. That is the story. That is actually the historical account. So think about these things and realize that for God's people we can live this way. We can think this way. There is more than one experience of deliverance.

You probably have at least one that you can pinpoint, but it's not just one. The word is plural, multiple deliverances. The story of Israel, the history of Israel, many deliverances, not just the one at the Red Sea, but throughout their pilgrimage in the desert and even to this day in that land. We are moving toward an end-time fulfillment of everything that God has promised and nothing will fail to come to pass. So we want to see this with our own eyes and heaven seen. We want to acknowledge, recognize, and proclaim the miraculous.

We want to document it and point again and again our children and grandchildren to this legacy, to this truth, because we want it. We want miracles, but God wants them more because His Word says so. And He wants the church to be this way, to correctly reflect Him, to fully reflect Him. This is the testimony of a mature church, the one the Lord is coming to receive again and to take to be with Him. This is the description, the outworking of the miraculous, the testimony of supernatural deliverances from bondages of all kinds. This is our message. This is our gospel. God is good and His delivering power is available. So today, as we close, let me just announce to you, proclaim to you, declare to you right now where you are, in the place that you are, the situations that surround you, ever how difficult or impossible the Lord is there. And every voice speaking death or destruction to you is silenced and marginalized by the presence of the life-giving Spirit of Almighty God. His hand is on you and His right arm is bared to deliver you from every affliction, every oppression, and every hopeless plot. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. He rescues His people from destruction. This is the Word of the Lord to you.

This is your reality. This power belongs to the church, the bride of Christ. I bless you today and I say, Amen. Amen.

We agree and we believe the Word of the Lord. God bless you. I'll see you next time. Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again and we'll see you next time.