Prelude to Deliverance

Religion vs. The Great Commission

I hate the devil! There, I said it! I HATE THE DEVIL! I hate the devil and the multitudes of earthly demons under his control. They inflict bodies, torment minds, ruin relationships, and rape our finances to the point we’ve become spiritually naked, beaten down, and left half dead just like the traveler in the parable of the Good Samaritan! Recall in that story that the Jewish priest ignored that poor man and the Levite looked the other way. It was only the Samaritan that had a heart of compassion and showed kindness and mercy toward that hurting, bleeding man. The “religious” folk went out of their way (“passed by on the other side”) in order not to render help. (Luke 10:25-37) This innocent man came face to face with a demonic spirit of murder and greed and those who were bound by a religious spirit could not help him. It’s 2023, and not much has changed! We’re sitting comfortably in our beautiful churches displaying an air of religiousness, but doing nothing to help those who are hurting all around us.

Scripture says it this way: “…having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Timothy 3:5) We say we’re Christian, we put forth the appearance of godliness, but we’re not walking in the Spirit nor bearing the fruit of the spirit. We lack true spiritual power and there is little demonstration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We’re in church every time the doors are open, but there is no power to change lives! Most Christians cannot even name the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, let alone operate in them! Many church-goers do not know where the Great Commission is found in the Bible, let alone what it says! God help us in these last days!

God is crying out for a Church, a people who are not afraid to confront end-time demonic activity, in order to set the captives free. Religion never helped anyone. Religion never saved anyone. Religion never healed anyone. Religion never delivered anyone. Religion has no power to change and restore lives. In fact, religious tradition, handed down from generation to generation, makes the word of God null, void, and of no effect! (Mark 7:13)

The Devil is Trying to Kill You!

I grew up in a mainline denominational church. For eighteen years of my life I heard “Jesus loves you” sermons, which were true, but unfortunately stopped there! I never heard sin preached, never heard an altar call for salvation, and never once heard the term “devil” or “demons.” At 29-years old, on my deathbed from stage 5 cancer, that church couldn’t help me. My mom, as a faithful member of that church, couldn’t help me. I was so spiritually ignorant, I literally thought the devil was some fairy tale character with red horns and a long hairy tail that we children dressed up as for Halloween!

It took a spirit-filled woman of God (mother’s neighbor) to intervene and set me free. A woman who knew who she was in Christ, and who Christ was in her. A woman who wasn’t afraid to exercise her biblical God-given authority over demonic powers! A woman full of compassion, just like Jesus! A woman who spoke the truth in love, out of a sincere concern that I was on my way to hell. A woman who, under the unction of the Holy Spirit said, “You may not understand what I’m about to say, but there’s a real devil and his name is Satan, and he’s out to kill you. God has been trying to save you, but the devil is trying to destroy you!” (Excerpt from my testimony The Bride Wore Black – A Journey from the Dark Side to Christ’s Bride.) Can I tell you something? Her courage and blunt honesty changed my life that day. Instead of getting offended, there arose in me a holy anger that to this day is difficult to describe. That’s the day I got saved! And God not only miraculously healed my physical body, but went on to deliver me from all kinds of demonic junk that had been influencing my life.

Believers Have Authority to Cast Out Demons

I have been teaching, preaching, and imparting the healing virtue of Jesus Christ for 3+ decades, but only recently have become keenly aware of the need for deliverance (in conjunction with healing), even in the lives of Christians. Notice I said, “In the lives of Christians!” That’s not a very popular thought or opinion in the Church. As believers, we all agree that the secular world is full of demonic spirits and “those people” need Jesus, and many have need of deliverance. But to say that those of us inside the Church may need deliverance is simply not mentioned from our pulpits, let alone taught! More and more I’m seeing the link between physical infirmities and the need for deliverance. I’m concerned we’re trying to pray for healing, but what the person really needs is deliverance. We cannot pray a demon out of someone’s life, they have to be CAST OUT! Never once did Jesus instruct us to pray regarding demonic spirits. He told us to “cast them out” (evict, throw out, drive out, expel). There’s a big difference between praying or interceding for someone’s healing and casting out demons.

Recently, my Pastor’s wife asked me to teach a class on deliverance at my local church. It’s been a frequent request from the altar team workers, as well as other leaders in my church. Time and time again, we’re seeing the need for this type of ministry and realize the need for proper training. As I prepare to teach that class, I feel the need to make portions of it available right here on this website. Over the years I’ve received numerous emails asking for information on deliverance and all have noted how difficult it is finding anything reputable online on the topic of deliverance. Here’s the most recent email: “Could you tell me how to pray to cast out demons or publish something for everyone to read. It’s in the Bible but no one will talk about it.”

As a result, in the coming weeks, we will be delving into the following topics:

• What Jesus taught about the ministry of deliverance
• How Jesus cast out demons
• What exactly are demons
• How do demons get into a person
• How to expel demons

As someone operating in the ministry of healing for 34 years, I used to be under the impression that healing and deliverance were two distinctly different ministries and that some people were called by God into healing, and others were called into a deliverance ministry. I answered the call to heal the sick, but “that deliverance stuff was for someone else.” I can’t tell you how often those words came out of my mouth. Boy was I wrong! I have learned that as believers, we are ALL called to heal the sick AND to cast out demons! (In the weeks ahead we’ll be looking at scripture to confirm that.) It’s not one or the other, pick and choose, they are BOTH part of the Great Commission. You and I have power and authority (through Jesus Christ) to heal sicknesses AND to cast out demons. The key is to believe that we can.

Our assignment doesn’t stop with simply bringing people into a born-again experience with Jesus, we are called to help them align their lives in order to live out Kingdom principles. But the sad reality is that our churches are filled with born-again believers who are barely existing, and living a defeated life. We’re on our way to heaven, but on this earth we’re sick, depressed, tormented and bound, and can’t seem to break free from whatever is binding us. We give an outward appearance of victory, but we are not living free. We have become masters at suppressing the evil within us, and coping with it. But God never called us to cope, He called us to conquer!

I long to live the zoe abundant life that Jesus has for me, and I pray that is your desire as well. If you need a breakthrough, or know someone who does, I do hope you’ll find these upcoming teachings both informative and freeing.

© Glenda Motsavage and Sozo Ministries International, 2023