How to Keep Your Healing / Deliverance

Hey Friends! It has been a while since I've shared and this post will be a bit of a shift from my usual wellness blogging but this is really important info on the spiritual side of healing. I'm actually re-blogging this article I wrote years ago (with a few tweaks) and I hope it's helpful to you.

If you have received prayer for healing or have experienced deliverance from demonic oppression, it is important that you are well-armed to keep your healing and stay free. Oftentimes, the enemy will attempt to return and bring someone back into bondage that has been delivered or healed. If we are unaware of how he does this, and how to prevent it, we can sadly come back under the same issues that plagued us before.

These steps to maintaining healing/deliverance are vital.

BE FILLED WITH GOD

Jesus tells a story of a person who had a spirit cast out of them. This person did not fill themselves with the Holy Spirit after deliverance, and so the spirit came back. Not only that, but it brought back seven other spirits worse than itself, and the condition of the person afterwards was worse than at the beginning. (Matthew 12:43-45)

This story illustrates the importance of filling yourself with the things of God, so that the enemy has no place to re-enter. This consists of daily infilling of the Holy Spirit. If you have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, this is something you should pursue. Ask the Lord for it, and seek it out. We have not because we ask not, and a prayer for more of the Holy Spirit will always be answered, according to Luke 11:13.

We also must fill our minds every day with God’s Word. Spending time daily in the Bible (in conversation with the Author) is important, to keep ourselves aligned with the Truth. As Smith Wigglesworth said, “Consume the Word until it consumes you.”

GRATITUDE

What we give thanks for increases. If you experience any measure of breakthrough, praise God for it! Tell others! Sing His praises and cultivate a heart of gratitude. He who is faithful with little, will be faithful with much. God will finish the work He started in us as we continually thank Him for it, and rest in what He already accomplished 2000 years ago on the cross when he bore our sickness and disease.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Remember that this is a battle. God wants us to reign in life. This was His purpose from the beginning. That purpose was thwarted in the garden when Adam and Eve first sinned, but redeemed when Jesus went to the cross. Our hope was restored, and the keys to the kingdom were given back. Victory was purchased, Jesus paid a great price. We cannot reign in life, as God intends, if we are suffering under physical and mental torment. (BTW when the Bible talks about suffering for Jesus, it is always talking about persecution, never about mental or physical disease.) This doesn't mean God won't work it out to good, but He is not the author of these things. He is not up in Heaven giving people cancer to "teach them a lesson".

No, rather these things align with the devil, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came to bring abundant life, and in Him there is no darkness at all. This is not to say that disease can't have a physical aspect also (not everything is spiritual in origin, and we do live in a toxic mess of a world, more on that later) , but often the physical and spiritual are intertwined. Even if demons aren't the source (they sometimes are), they often will be attracted to despair, sickness, and mental and physical strongholds like rats are attracted to garbage.

We want to make sure we are not giving the enemy a foothold, and a reason to torment us, and we can do so by evaluating our lives in the following areas:

*Habitual sin - Yes, we will occasionally sin, but there should be no kind of unrepentant, repetitive sin in our lives. This is the type of sin we make excuses for, rather than confess and turn from. This includes nurturing attitudes or thought patterns that are not glorifying to Jesus. It also includes any kind of sexual immorality, habitual lying, anger, pride, jealousy, filthy language and things contrary to Scripture. If we persist in sin and do not repent and turn away (by the power of the Holy Spirit, and God's grace), it will give the enemy a foothold into our lives.

*Unforgiveness & Holding on to Offense - Is there someone you need to forgive? This is a huge entry point for the demonic. The Bible is very clear that if we refuse to forgive the tormentors will come. This can be tough sometimes because we are human, and we get hurt. Sometimes we feel justified to hold onto offense. Spend some time processing this with the Lord and ask for His help. There is a difference between a heart posture that says "I want to forgive but it is difficult and I need Your help Lord" and a heart posture that says: "I refuse to forgive."

*Music/Movies - What we sometimes call "entertainment" can actually allow the demonic to enter our minds and gain access to our lives. Demonic influences present when people create songs/movies can begin to influence us the more we watch, the more we sing. Pay attention to the lyrics in songs. Pay attention to underlying themes in movies. Do they sound like they'd be inspired by the Holy Spirit? Or a different spirit? A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn't feel comfortable watching or listening to something with Jesus right next to you then don't do it. Remember, the Holy Spirit lives inside you at all times, not just when you are in a church building. He is a person and He can be grieved.

*Items in the home - Sometimes there are items in our homes that are allowing the enemy access. The Bible calls these items "accursed things" These things can be obvious, things like ouija boards, tarot cards, or other items connected to witchcraft or the occult. Or they can even be an item that you think is completely harmless, such as a souvenir you picked up from another country. Spend some time going through each room and praying. Ask Holy Spirit if there are items in that room that need to be removed. Pray over each room and dedicate your home to Jesus, commanding any evil spirits to leave.

*Yoga - This one will likely ruffle some feathers but the fact remains that yoga is a Hindu practice that, though westernized, cannot be divorced from it's very spiritual roots. Ask any person of Hindi descent if yoga can be purely a physical practice and they will tell you absolutely not. The very word, yoga, means to unite. Yoga was created to facilitate the union of the person practicing it with the false gods of hinduism. The poses themselves were designed for worship of false gods aka: demons. Yoga opens a person up to many evil spirits, including the kundalini spirit. I have seen many testimonies of those receiving very powerful deliverance after participating in what they thought was harmless practice. There are many exercises/stretches that you can do for your body that will give you the same benefits.

THE POWER OF OUR WORDS

It is so important to align our words, thoughts, and prayers with God’s will for our lives. The enemy always goes for the mind first. When a lie comes in, we must take it captive like the Bible says, and replace it with truth from God's Word. This is why declarations are so important. Scripture knowledge is vital. If we don’t know what God’s Word says, we will not be able to fend off the enemy’s lies. Speak life over yourself and your situation. Speak God’s Truth. Command your body to be well, just as Jesus commanded bodies to be well. You have the power and authority in His name.

Here are some declarations you can speak over yourself:

By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed. He took my sickness; He carried my

pain. I believe it is the will of God for me to be healed.

In the name of Jesus, I break every curse of infirmity, sickness and

premature death off my body.

In the name of Jesus, I break every curse of witchcraft and destruction

over my body from both sides of my family.

In the name of Jesus, I speak to every sickness in my body and I

command it to leave.

Every hidden sickness and every hidden disease, I command you to leave

my body in the name of Jesus.

I command all pain to leave my body in the name of Jesus.

I speak to infections to come out of my body in the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit

I release miracles of healing in my body in the name of Jesus.

Thank you Lord for healing me and delivering me from all sickness and

pain in Jesus name.

Know your identity in Christ and declare it. Refuse to come into alignment with what the enemy says. He is a liar and he has been defeated at the cross.

PHYSICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

And last but not least, an important part of keeping our healing is to take care of ourselves physically. After all, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and we should treat them as such! Remember those physical causes I mentioned earlier? If you're ready to make some changes and start identifying some of the physical factors that can be contributing to chronic illness, check out my latest manual, Twelve Weeks to a Healthier You. 

Also, if you are reading this and you need healing and or deliverance, please don't hesitate to reach out to me, I would be happy to pray for you and stand in faith for your breakthrough. If you aren't already a believer in Jesus and none of this makes any sense to you but you've read this far, I don't believe it's by accident. Jesus loves you, and He wants you to experience everything He has for you, including becoming a brand new creation, healed and whole and filled with His Holy Spirit. If you're ready to do that or have questions, please message me!

Stay Healthy Friends!