DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES

“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, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

~Luke 4:18-19

THE ABOVE SCRIPTURE recorded by Luke is a summary of the entire mission of Jesus Christ in His first advent in the earth. This gives a clear idea of the state of man and mankind in this sinful world.

DELIVERANCE MEANS a state of been saved from harm or danger. It has another word in salvation. To say you are delivered is to say that you are free or saved from the oppression of something or somebody.

SATAN FIRST CAUSED man to sin, and bound him with the fetters of rebellion against God. So man was in perpetual enmity against God not able to do righteousness, which is the character of God and His sons.

SECONDLY, as a result of sin, all kinds of sufferings and diseases came to be the lot of mankind. Without hope all became victims of this attack. Sometimes these ailments were beyond biological causes, as many were possessed with evil spirits inflicted by Satan, manifesting in a range of infirmity.

BUT WHEN JESUS CAME, he said “…because he hath anointed me …to preach deliverance to the captives…” There is no greater gospel or greater good news than this that those who sat in darkness now behold a great light from above.

YES! HE WENT ABOUT doing good. He proved that His power of deliverance cuts across all phases of the life of man. He delivers from sin. He delivers from sickness and from the captivity of evil spirits. He delivers from spiritual and physical blindness and He brings comfort to those who are brokenhearted. This is Christ’s mission on the earth.

THE SAME JESUS CHRIST is still here with us in the power of the Holy Ghost, working through His true servants to reach the needy with this gospel. Yes, Jesus the same yesterday and today and forever! Amen.

• DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND SICKNESS
  

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;” Psalms 103:2-3.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53:5

THESE VERSES are clear on the double cure of cleansing from sin and diseases.

MAN WAS FIRST BROUGHT UP under the power of sin when he fell to the devil’s temptation in the Garden of Eden. Today men are brought under all manner of sinful habits from which they cannot deliver themselves. We see the workings of alcohol and tobacco in the lives of men and women. They have been so bound that they waste their earnings and risk their health for alcohol and smoking. Although many are dying daily from these habits, more and more, especially younger people are growing into the practices creating even more problems for future generations. There is even now a graduation into hard drugs.

THIS IS INDEED killing faster and wiping out the young generation so easily. The war against drugs by several governments of the world is impressive, but it is far able to help the situation, because they do not have the cure for the real problem which is the corruption of the nature of man by sin. What about sexual immorality; what about lying and anger and murder and hatred and all forms of iniquity which have now laid men under sundry bondages for which the world is suffering today?

THERE IS GOOD NEWS, I recall my ordeal with sin. I had suffered from the pains of sin and wondered if I could ever come out of my habits; praise God, He delivered me when I came to Him broken in heart and submitted to His will. Today, my life has changed and I can now experience a renewal of my soul. Jesus Christ delivers from the captivity of sin and its guilt through his one supreme shedding of His blood 2000 years ago. The Bible says today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. There your deliverance lies. His power will break every yoke and you shall be washed by water and by the Spirit.

• SICKNESS

ALTHOUGH MANY HAVE SAID that there is no healing today and that it ended with the apostles, the power of God is from ages to ages and to His people He is available to grant their hearts desires.

AS WE READ in Isaiah 53, Christ died for our healing and if he died for our healing, it means our healing has been purchased by his blood. Therefore, He is still a healer today.

JESUS CAME with the gospel of deliverance from sin and diseases. He did not only preach it, He demonstrated it by healing all sick folks that believed in Him. Whatever the manner of disease you may be suffering from, there is one who is compassionate and feels the pain of your suffering, Christ the Lord, He is willing to touch you and make you every wit whole. Remember the leper who met Jesus believing that he would be healed if Jesus would touch him, and in Matthew  8:3, we read,

“And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

ARE YOU DOUBTING whether Jesus will heal your disease? I tell you assuredly, that He will. Believe as that leper did, and you will receive the power of His healing, NOW. If you believe it shall be according to your faith.

THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE in the healing power of God today have shut themselves out of the healing stream now flowing for the God’s people. Like Naaman the Syrian, take your deep and you shall be healed. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. This is the Lord’s invitation, are you coming right now; did I hear you say I am coming?

• FROM DEMONIC POSSESSIONS
  

THE DEVIL IS INFESTING the world with all forms of spiritisms and cults through which men and women have been initiated into some kinds of covenants. In this process evil spirits called demons take charge of the human being and use him for his purpose. Men’s drive for all forms of evil powers has further compounded their problems and they dabble into one form of demonism or the other.

JESUS MET SEVERAL of them possessed with a devil and he delivered them. In Mark 5, we read of a man possessed with unclean spirits which drove him into the graveyard and he tore himself with stones. He was often bound with fetters, but nothing could hold him, until Jesus met him, and cast out the demons out of him. We are told that afterward he was in his right mind and sat down clothed and the Master asked him to return to his family.

ANOTHER ONE was recorded in Matthew 15, when the Canaanite woman came to Jesus and said that her daughter was vexed with a devil, and with the word of mouth, the child was made whole.

PAUL AND HIS COLLEAGUES met with a woman possessed with the evil spirit of divination, whose masters made gains of her (Acts 16:16-18). She was used to oppose the preaching of the gospel, although subtly, but Paul discerned her cunnings and rebuked the evil spirit and it came out of her.

TODAY, THE CHURCH OF GOD has power to cast out demons. Jesus said if we will have faith, we will see the glory of God. It is still His business to listen to the voice of His saints and every cry of faith on behalf of the one under captivity. If you are possessed with a devil, you will receive your deliverance if you will meet Jesus Christ. He waits for you and He is willing to touch you, only believe.

• FALSE DELIVERANCE
  

THERE ARE MANY TODAY who are going about organizing deliverance services and in the process infecting people with evil spirits. Such scenes records acts of falling and rolling on the floor and all manner of obscenities. These they call deliverance.

WITHOUT FEAR of equivocation, many of these are false and deceitful and those who patronize such gatherings to seek deliverance must take warning and beware for while they promise to help, they make you many times the child of hell.

EXORCISTS DO NOT ONLY EXIST in Christendom, they are also plenty in our local traditions and among native doctors. It is a case of a demon placating a demon. And anyone who is conversant with our African form of exorcism will not find it difficult to see what is happening in the churches of our day. The warning is beware of them.

WE FOUND IN SCRIPTURES that those possessed with demons are thrown up and down and broken by their tormentors, but are made quiet by God’s deliverance. Today the reverse is the evidence of the so called miracles. Christ would raise those who are brought low.

• CONCLUSION

SIN IS THE MAJOR CAUSE of so many situations today, once the seeker comes to Christ and has his faith looking up to Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith, he is not only forgiven, his body is taken over by the Holy Spirit, and every evil spirit must take its leave by the power of anointing.

THERE IS NO TRUCE between light and darkness and God would not have His children come under such bondage and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. That liberty is what Jesus Christ has brought down to you and me. We must believe to receive and be free; Yes! we must be free to be His.