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IX. Keeping The Balance

 

      Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name. 18  And He said to them, I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning. 19  Behold, I give to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the authority of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20  Yet do not rejoice in this, that the evil spirits are subject to you, rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven. 21  In that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the sophisticated and cunning, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing before You.

     One of the problems in deliverance ministry by practioners is an improper balance between discipleship and the act of deliverance. Deliverance is sometimes overemphasized and seen as a cure all for Christian victory. There are inherent dangers in deliverance ministry just like any other ministry, namely, pride and over emphasis. This must be guarded carefully. 

In the portion of scripture above we see two very important things:

First, we are not to glory in power and authority but in our God and savior and the salvation He has provided for us.

Secondly, we must read all of Luke 17 in context and see that at no time did Jesus tell His disciples that they could practice deliverance or even indicate that it was one of their privileges. The only thing Jesus told them to do was to speak of the kingdom of God. Not a single word was mentioned about demons. However, they came back rejoicing because they discovered they could cast out demons. Jesus tell us in His prayer how they discovered the truth of it. His heavenly Father had revealed it to them spiritually.

A very important point should be made here. This is the only time we see Jesus rejoicing in the NT. As Jesus saw the power of the spiritual truth His Father had shown the disciples, He saw Satan fall like lightening as a result. I encourage you to meditate on this portion of scripture.

As in all things we must always be careful not to allow what we do by the power of God to become our focus or a matter of pride. But we do need to rejoice that God has given us something that is powerful in the bringing down of satanic strongholds in the lives of people. The church must rediscover what she knew in ages past but at the same time keep her balance lest she falls. 

 

Next - Learning from Israel and Applying it to the Church


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Last modified: April 2, 2008 11:37 AM