| Faith Is Believing Free Of Oppression
FAITH IS BELIEVING FREE OF OPPRESSION
“Faith requires you to look consistently in one direction, believe consistently in one thing, and speak consistently in one way.”(Author Unknown)
Our faith is not believing what we can see, but believing what we can’t see (see Hebrews 11:1). His Word says that if we want to be free of oppression, then we need to act and talk like we are free, and not make believe. Our Lord Jesus Christ will honour what we do in His Name. But, He has warned us often, who we confide in on these matters. We have shared with many Christians in the past, but some of them have caused us unnecessary strife, by “trampling us under their feet, and tearing us to pieces”. They didn’t want to hear or listen to any spiritual concept that will affect their “comfort zone” and “belief system”. They would only go out of their way to attempt to tear apart what we say and to defame us by labelling and innuendoes.
“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” (Matt. 7:6)
We can see that our Lord Jesus Christ is saying that we shouldn’t share those things with those Christians, who are “unholy” or “unclean”. We believe that an unholy or unclean person is a Christian who has not been cleansed and delivered from evil. They are still carrying a lot of spiritual garbage around with them, buried deep-down within their “soul”, and they are not free in our Lord Jesus Christ, because their “house is empty, swept, and put in order”, and isn’t filled and cleansed. It’s futile in trying to share or teach spiritual concepts to Christians who don’t want to listen, and they will only tear apart what you have to say by inference, backbiting, and gossip. We don’t stop sharing His Word with unbelievers, but we need to be wise and discerning when we share with new “born-again” Christians.
Wondering and analysing everything in our mind, wavering to and fro between opinions whether there are demons or not involved, or if a Christian can be free of torment, harassment and oppression, will only put us nearer to our grave. Many Christians have demons! And we need to realise that we have been given all “authority” over demons through His Commission.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you (to heal the sick and cast out demons); and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)
Our Lord Jesus Christ was physically working with His disciples before He ascended into heaven. And today, He continues to be with His disciples spiritually through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit continues to teach us all those things, “earthly and heavenly”, that He had taught His disciples, such as healing the sick, casting out demons, etc.
“Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.” (Mark 3:14,15)
When our Lord Jesus Christ chose His twelve disciples, He didn’t choose them to be His associates and companions because of their faith. Their faith often faltered the same as our faith falters today. He didn’t choose them because of their talent and ability and no one stood out with any unusual ability. They didn’t attend “Bible College” to receive a credential of authority, to be in authority. The authority was given to them! They all represented a wide range of life experiences and backgrounds, and they had no more leadership potential than those who were not chosen. The one characteristic that they shared was their willingness to obey our Lord Jesus Christ. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to carry out special roles in the growth of the early church. Today, there are many of His disciples who are filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to carry out those special roles, but the complacency, seduction, and deception within the Body of Christ have pushed those special roles aside, because of false teaching, unbelief, humanism, politically correctness, and witchcraft that has crept into many churches through the “doctrine of demons”.
The Body of Christ should not disqualify themselves from this service to our Lord Jesus Christ by “healing the sick and casting out demons”, just because the leaders of their church do not believe that they haven’t the credentials. Being His disciple is simply a matter of following Him and doing the things that He did, such as healing sick and casting out demons---and raising the dead. When repentance and cleansing becomes an automatic process of a church, then transformation and revival will come to the church through faith.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark16:15-18)
Most of His disciples today are in all parts of the world preaching the Gospel to the people who haven’t heard about our Lord Jesus Christ. But, how many of His disciples today are determined to be a witness for our Lord Jesus Christ to their fellow Christians, and are prepared “to cast out demons in His Name”, “to lay hands on the sick in His Name”, “to heal the broken-hearted in His Name”, “to set the captives free in His Name”, “to heal the blind in His Name”, “to free those who are oppressed in His Name” (Luke 4:18) and “to deliver them from evil in His Name” (Matthew 6:13)?
As His Disciples we should pray for one another to be delivered by casting out demons, the same way that our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples did, from these trying times of oppression and temptation, and for deliverance from Satan, his forces, and his deceit. Things of the supernatural realm of today are no different to the days of our Lord Jesus Christ and are so subtle that most Christians, including some leaders, don’t even realise what is happening to them. (Complacency breeds contempt, and over-confidence breeds complacency!)
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all nations.” (Luke 24:47)
His Word needs to open our mind, our spiritual mind, our heart; but before that can happen, we need to open our mind to what the Scriptures is saying, and to understand exactly what they are saying. Many Christians spend much of their time reading around the convicting passages of Scripture, asking other people who think the same as they do, and consulting reference material and commentaries, but to no avail. When we begin praying, asking our Lord Jesus Christ to place another Christians across our paths, then the Holy Spirit will open our minds to knowledge and understanding, giving us a“new insight” into His Word, and to put it into that Christian’s life, who HE puts across our path. It happens often, and then the power of the Holy Spirit will begin to show them revelation of His Truth that will set them free in Jesus’ Name.
It’s time that Christians were set free in Jesus’ Name!
“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)
We can identify with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ through His Father, because by His authority He told His disciples to go out and do all things that He taught them, which they past onto us. The Holy Spirit has been teaching us, but no one has been listening. We are responsible for spreading the Gospel of Salvation, and our authority comes from our Heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t need authority just to save people; we need authority to cast out demons, to heal sick and blind. Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated by words and by actions how to accomplish the job to His disciples, the same as they did to those who followed them. Today, most disciples only want to do 25% of the job; they do God’s work by preaching the Gospel only, and doing “good works”, nothing else!
To do God’s work, we follow the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, and we avoid doing His work in our own strength and desires of our flesh. His Disciples didn’t have the power to forgive sins, but our Lord Jesus Christ gave them the privilege of telling new believers that their sins have been forgiven. All His disciples today, have the same privilege and can announce the forgiveness of sins with certainty when we ourselves have confessed, and find repentance and faith in His Name.
We can’t understand why there are so many churches afraid to bring their people to confession, repentance, and forgiveness of sins, to cast out demons and to heal the sick? Is it because they might offend, and are frighten to lose some members? Those members are most likely the unholy and unclean ones that are holding the church back, and need to be wary of. The church shouldn’t hesitate, but to obey His Word, and let those members who want to go, than to hold back the growth of the willing members of their church. The Lord will bless them for their obedience.
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:22-23)
It’s shameful when there are many self-professed teachers, healers and deliverers who can “talk” on their great successes, but really tell you nothing about the skills to attain those successes. Many false teachers prophesy, cast out demons and perform wonder in Jesus’ Name and talk about our Lord Jesus Christ and heaven, but they don’t belong to His Kingdom. Our Lord Jesus Christ is more concerned about our “walk” than our “talk”. He wants us to do the right things by His Word, to the Body of Christ, and not just say the right words. Our “house” will withstand the storms that Satan send against me, but only if we do what is right as in accordance to His Word, instead of just talking about it. Our faith and belief can’t be separated from what we do in His Name. There are many Christians who sound religious, but have no personal relationship with Him. Our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will hold us steadfast on the day of reckoning.
If we need something from our Lord Jesus Christ, we should start thanking Him for it right now, and every day. Then, one day, all of a sudden, we will have it. Let our Lord Jesus Christ hear us thanking Him. However, if we keep on giving Him thanks for anything, continually, every day, doing it joyfully and reverently, in His Name, then He will give whatever we ask for, because He promised us in the New Testament that He would! We must be bold and loud, and glorify His Name in all things that we do! In everything we do, we must glorify His Name, and before we do anything we must consider if it is going to bring glory to His Name!
We believe that this is our faith, and our faith will free us from demonic torment, harassment, oppression and suppression.  |
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