PREPARATION FOR A DELIVERANCE SESSION

You are reading this either because you are curious about spiritual warfare, because you are leading a prayer ministry or because you are struggling in some way that you believe could be demonic in nature. We entered into spiritual warfare for all of those reasons. Each of us are leaders in a local church whose core is helping people grow as disciples and disciple makers who trust and follow Jesus. God led us to develop this tool to put in our disciple-making tool belt. Spiritual warfare should not be entered into alone. We were meant to walk out the Christian life in community. We will describe the basics of spiritual warfare, but we will not dive deep into the practices that do not foster discipleship.

This guide is meant to give you basic information on spiritual warfare as well as a very practical tool to use in your prayer ministry with other Christians. We want all Christians to understand and live out of their identity and authority in Christ.

Experience isn’t necessary to walk someone through a deliverance session, but spiritual and emotional maturity is required to lead. We also suggest that the leader have a strong prayer life and show fruit of the Holy Spirit as well as be an experienced disciple maker. Both leader and intercessor must be trustworthy with very personal and sensitive information. Each session should have an intercessor (or two) that is dedicated to praying for the individual prior to and during the session. Both the leader and the intercessor must lead a life of repentance, humility, and submission to the Lord.

Best practice for most sessions is to keep them to the same gender only. The main reason for this is for complete transparency, especially in the forgiveness and bondage/sin sections. Safety & sensitivity for the purpose of transparency is of utmost importance.

When we are talking to someone who is struggling or who we believe would benefit from a spiritual warfare session, we go over the following points.

• SEEKING FREEDOM FROM SPIRITUAL BONDAGE: You are here most likely because nothing has worked. You are seeking freedom because you have tried Bible studies, prayers, medications, counseling and/or rehab and nothing has worked. If so, there probably is a spiritual or demonic attack occurring.

• IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: We want to establish that the participant is a believer in Jesus Christ and has committed to Him through confession, repentance, and baptism by immersion. As believers, we are promised the Holy Spirit – who lives in us (Acts 2)– but the Bible does not promise that we won’t be attacked spiritually (Ephesians 6:12).

• SPIRITUAL HOUSE ANALOGY: It may be best to give an illustration of your personal spiritual house. God owns your house and, as a disciple of Jesus, the Holy Spirit resides in your house. You are the landlord of your house.

• LIGHT VS. DARKNESS IN YOUR HOUSE: Your house has many rooms which should be lit brightly with the Holy Spirit. But because the enemy wants to kill, steal and destroy, he tries to wreck your spiritual house and discredit or harm your testimony of the Lord Jesus. His aim is to gain access to your house through open doorways and then systematically turn out the lights in your rooms, thus darkening your house. Once attached to rooms within your house, he likes to hide, and whisper lies. Essentially, he is an unwanted squatter that wreaks havoc.

• DOORWAYS: Demonization happens through open doorways in your house which can occur through things like habitual ongoing sin, abuse, trauma, or familiar (generational spirits). No matter the cause, we have the authority to negate the influence under the healing power and authority of Jesus.

• CANCER ANALOGY: Another analogy is cancer. Think of cancer that needs to be removed surgically & the goal is then healing and preventing it from returning. Cancers can be caused from heredity (familiar or ancestral), toxic exposures (trauma) or personal choices (sin). The process of spiritual house cleaning is like surgery, but intentional recovery afterwards will be necessary.

• STANDING IN CHRIST: An important note is that demons own nothing. A Christ follower is safe and secure in their eternal standing. The Holy Spirit lives in that person. We believe that non-Christians can be possessed by demons; however, Christians cannot be possessed. However, Christians can be oppressed or even have varying degrees of demonization. This a stronger attachment or stronghold which needs to be broken.

• WARFARE BEFORE THE WARFARE: Leading up to your session, you may experience thoughts, excuses or rationalizations such as: “Things are better. I don’t need to do this;” “You will look like a fool;” “You’re not going to do it right;” etc. You may have intense fear, anxiety, nightmares, sickness, thoughts of excuses to cancel, threats against loved ones or against your reputation, enticements, or false promises by the enemy. Most people experience this to one degree or another.

• NOTHING TO FEAR: Please rest in the fact that you are safe. Your leader is here with you through this, but most importantly, Jesus is here. The Holy Spirit is our power source for protection and mediation. There is complete victory in Christ and there is nothing to fear!

• FRIENDS WHO PRAY: Every session should have a prayer intercessor or two that will pray for you and listen for guidance from the Holy Spirit to help the process for freedom before and during your session. They may hear things, see images, or have ideas that they will share with the leader or you during the session.

• HOMEWORK BEFORE YOUR SESSION: Completion of the Personal Inventory and journaling is required prior to our main session together. Be as thorough as possible. How complete your answers are will have a direct impact on your session.

• A SIMPLE BIBLICAL PROCESS

The Deliverance Process will be simple: The 4 C's

1. Confess: Bring forth the area identified as a stronghold and name it.

2. Claim (the blood of Jesus) - Renounce: Ask God to cancel the ground/permission that the spirit has, removing their right to stay by claiming the blood of Jesus.

3. Command: Tell the controlling/unwanted spirit to leave, standing in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian has this standing of victory, protection and position which was purchased at the cross–the battle has already been won.

4. Commit: Ask the Holy Spirit to fill all the places vacated by the enemy.

• SPIRITUAL GROUND RULES: Prior to beginning a session, we claim our authority by stating ground rules out loud for the spiritual realm. The demonic spirits will not be allowed to do anything harmful to you in the process. This will allow for a safe and peaceful experience. We have seen this work repeatedly. We use these on the biblical principle that we are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ as his disciples and therefore have authority over the demonic. We claim that right and exercise order and control, not giving into fear or sensationalism. God is a god of order and not disorder. Each believer has dignity and this practicality of laying down ground rules maintains that. In our experience, we have taken people through deliverance with and without this process and each way works, however by adding ground rules in the spiritual realm, there is peace and dignity. No, we will not see an example found directly in scripture however in practice this works case after case. We stand on biblical principles.

• MANIFESTATIONS: If you have any sensations or physical symptoms, please let us know. Often, we may elect to exert our authority in Christ to help the participant and stop the symptoms if they are uncomfortable or disrupting the session. Manifestations that we have seen include yawning, coughing, exhaling deeply, nausea, headache, ringing in your ears, confusion, sweating, feeling hot or cold, aches & pains, chills, muscle cramps, difficulty speaking, muscle contractions etc. This is common and nothing to be alarmed about. It is simply the enemy trying to disrupt the session by an attempt to exert control and it will not be permitted to continue.

• VOICES, IMPRESSIONS AND IDEAS DURING THE SESSION: When a question is asked to the spiritual realm, you may hear an answer, or have an image pop into your mind. We ask participants to close their eyes and listen and not try to overthink or analyze things that they are hearing. Please share everything you hear with us, even if it sounds weird or inappropriate. We will ask the Holy Spirit to filter questions of the demonic to ensure accuracy and truth. If it is quiet after a while, please let us know this as well.

• LEARNING THE LIES WILL HELP YOU MOVING FORWARD: We will ask several questions directed at the spiritual realm. The main purpose of this is to know what lies this particular enemy tells you so you can recognize it in the future and/or understand the impact it has had on your life. This is part of the discipleship process. Once you understand the lies of the enemy and are able to differentiate the truth of God found in scripture, then you will be able to live in more and more freedom.

• TRANSPARENCY IS KEY: We ask that the participant be as transparent and complete in their answers as possible. Please do not hold anything back in your answers.

• FASTING & PRAYER: We encourage all participants to fast and pray the day of the session, if possible, including the leader & intercessor(s).

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT DISCIPLESHIP

THE HEALING JOURNEY

Think about cancer. Often cancer needs to be cut out of the body. This process is much like surgery. After surgery, people need to recover physically and mentally. They need to be nurtured and cared for. If the person is treated well after surgery with proper rest, medication, nutrition, rehabilitation and human care, then they will heal and flourish. If any of these things are absent, the process of recovery can be painful and even harmful. For this reason, we outline a process of discipleship after this session of spiritual battle. We all need the Word of God (truth), the Spirit of God (healing power) and the people of God (love). This means that we require all participants to have a plan in place for discipleship which includes those elements. Accountability is key to gaining and maintaining freedom. This process is not a one-time fix. Jesus constantly transforms us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2)! We are confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).