Keeping Our Deliverance

You never find flies around a place which is fully disinfected and clean. They hate the disinfectant. In the case of the person who wants to retain their deliverance, they should always have the "disinfectant" of the Holy Spirit around them.

I. THE FIRST PRINCIPLE IS TO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.

This means leading a clean Holy life before God bringing every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

"Casting down arguments and every high thing that exhaults itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2Corinthians 10:5)

2. READ THE WORD OF GOD DAILY.

There should be a balanced reading from the scriptures each day. By "balanced" I mean read part of the Old Testament as well as part of the gospels and epistles. This does not need to be a lengthy reading; it should, however, be on a regular basis and on an ordered basis, so that there is a regular diet of the Word of God being fed to our spirit.

The Word of God is the mirror of the Spirit and as we read the Word, we read about ourselves. All our faults are exposed in the mirror of God's Word and we are therefore able to deal with those faults. As we do so we are transformed by the power of the Word.

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2Corinthians 3:18)

3. KEEP THE RIGHT COMPANY.

We are a separated people when we come to Jesus Christ, that is separated from the ways of the world. This does not mean to say that we should not move among the world and speak in love to those in the world, but in many cases we will need to keep away from the com­pany of those who cause the problem, or who have the same problem.

For example, if we are delivered from homosexuality, we must not go back amongst homo­sexuals, otherwise the weakness of our flesh will drag us back into the same problem again. Similarly, if we have been moving with a fast moving crowd and drinking, lusting, etc., we must break totally with fellowship from them. Some people decide to return and witness to those people, but in those circumstances we must be sure of our strength in the Lord before we attempt to do this. "Birds of a feather flock together", and if we again flock with the fast crowd, then we can expect real prob­lems to arise.

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbeliev­ers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawless­ness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?" (2Corinthians 6:14, 15)

God then tells us to come out and be separate from them.

Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. (2Corinthians 6:17)

4, HAVE THE RIGHT FELLOWSHIP.

It is important that we fellowship in a Bible believ­ing church and grow in things of the Holy Spirit. If our church appears to be "dead" simply because we have come to life, please remember the love that God still has for those in that particular church. Just because we have seen the light (it may have taken forty or fifty years for us to do so) do not expect everybody else to see the light within a few minutes. We may be called upon to show great love and tolerance towards those who are around us in that particular situation and continue to fellowship with them, so that they can see our changed life and desire to have the same. In such instances,

I would counsel the person to stay in that situation but seek spiritual feeding, perhaps through a prayer group or anointed teaching in a church which appears to be "alive", In that way, our spiritual life can be fed and at the same time we can be witnesses to those who may be lost to God's great truths, to whom the Holy Spirit would dearly love us to minister in His love. Let us not be too quick to judge those who appear to be in a "dead" situation. Only God knows the heart of each person, and some apparently "dead" people spiritually often possess purer hearts and better attitudes than so many people who claim to be Spirit-filled believers.

In the same way, we are to fellowship in our daily life with those who are spirit filled, so that we can grow in God's grace and love.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (ICorinthians 13:13)

5. WE MUST BE CONTINOUSLY FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipa­tion; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18)

This means the fruit of the Holy Spirit should be evident in our lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self con­trol (Galatians 5:22-23 amp). If this fruit is operating in our lives, then there is little opportunity for the enemy to be active.

MAKE JESUS LORD AS WELL AS SAVIOUR OF OUR LIFE

Every part of our being needs to be yielded to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. There must be no secrets between us and Him. Our thought life, our physical life, our sexual life, and our emotional life, should be all under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and subject to Him.

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).

If whatever we are doing gives glory to God, then we are safe.

JESUS SHOULD BE CENTRAL IN OUR LIFE

Jesus Christ should be the centre of our life during all our waking hours, so that we should be seeking to do things which are pleasing to Him. If this is so, then there will be little room for the devil to interfere. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrew 12:2)

PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD

The word of God sets out our whole armour.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints -" (Ephesians 6:12-18)

We should have our loins girded about with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness and our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, we should take the shield of faith, whereby we can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and the helmet of salvation which protects our mind. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, should always be in our hand, and finally we should be praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

The helmet of hope is the equivalent of the helmet of salvation. We should always be open to praise God and take upon us the garment of praise.

..... The garment of praise for the Spirit of heavi­ness". . .

(Isaiah 61:3)

As we take on the garment of praise this keeps us

LOVING GOD

Finally we should always remember to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength and to love our neigh­bour as ourselves.

Furthermore we should remember always to keep before us the new commandment that Jesus Christ gave us, namely to love one another as He loved us.

If we are obedient to these commandments in all respects then our walk with the Lord will be a real and vibrant one and we will hold our deliverance.