God’s Pattern For
Deliverance
Part 2 – Freedom Through Obedience
If the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed. Joh 8:36
Absolute freedom in
Christ is available, and it is always God’s will for His children. It doesn’t
matter what you are struggling against, God wants you to be free of it. Too
many of us; nearly all of us in fact, are struggling against things that God wants
to set us free from.
We struggle against
these things for much too long. They get stuck in our minds and become habitual
patterns. We pray for relief, we speak to them and go into warfare against
them, but they are still there. We steel ourselves against them every morning,
and then have to admit they have gotten the better of us every night. Sound
like anyone you know? Me, too!
What we need to
understand about our situation is this: God knows what we are going through and
He wants us to be free from it. Free! Completely free!
And
the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I
am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring
them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with
milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now
therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I
have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now
therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my
people the children of Israel out of Egypt. Exo 3:7-10
God knows what we’re
going through when we are in bondage of any sort. He sees our affliction. He
hears our cries to be released from this thing, whatever it may be. He comes to
know our sorrows; the daily struggle; the endless line of defeats. And He has
arranged a way for us to be free. All we have to do is to follow the plan that
He has laid out.
Yes, God has a
plan to set us free! And He reveals it to those that are searching and
listening for Him.
And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt
with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he
will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the
Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in
her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and
upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. Exo
3:20-22
And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his
throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the
firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of
Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But
against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me,
and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that
follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a
great anger.
Exo 11:4-8
Once God has seen our afflictions, heard
our cries for His help, and come to know our sorrows, He puts His deliverance
plan into effect. But what is the plan? How do we find out? What do we need to
do to be a part of this plan?
The first thing we
need to understand about God’s plan is that He always honors His promises (Num.
23:19). The second thing we need to understand is that He is no respecter of
persons (Acts 10:34).
If God saw the
afflictions of the children of Israel, heard their cries and came to know their
sorrows, then He is still doing the same thing for you and I. And once God
comes to know the sorrows of the afflicted, He comes down to deliver them from
their affliction.
And I am come
down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out
of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and
honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites,
and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Exo 3:8
We must understand that this is the pattern that God has laid out, and
that He always honors it.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his
servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house
where there was not
one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from
among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as
ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be
gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that
they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. Exo 12:30-33
Just as God
honored His Word to Moses and the children of Israel, He continues to honor His
Word today. And because He is no respecter of persons, what worked for them
will work for us. It has to. It’s God’s pattern.
Many of us are not
familiar with the patterns of God. Many of us are even unaware that God has
laid out patterns for us. What we need to understand is that we serve a God of
order. Every time we follow the steps He has laid out, He will do His part.
Every time.
So where do we
find the pattern for deliverance? Where did God hide this pattern? It’s in His
Word. We just need to understand how to find it.
The first thing we
need to understand about the patterns of God, is that they always require an
act of faith on our part.
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the
land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month
of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In
the tenth day of
this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for
an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his
neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to
his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without
blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And
they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the
houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night,
roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all
with water, but roast with
fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let
nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until
the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded,
your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in
haste: it is the
LORD'S passover. Exo 12:1-11
Before the Pharaoh rose up in the middle
of the night to realize that God had slain all the first-born of Egypt, the
children of Israel had to follow His instructions. Even though they may not
have fully grasped the importance of having lamb for dinner instead of roast
beef and potatoes, they had to act in faith. They had to obey first. That is
always the first step in every pattern of God: obedience. He will always reveal
to us what we are supposed to do, but the ball never gets rolling until we do
it.
And the children of Israel went away, and did as
the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. Exo
12:28
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his
servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house
where there was not
one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from
among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as
ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be
gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that
they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. Exo 12:30-33
Had the children
of Israel decided that they weren’t really in the mood for lamb and ordered out
for a pizza instead, the greatest deliverance in the Old Testament would have
never taken place. The importance of obeying God in the smallest of things cannot
be stressed enough. Who could have guessed that eating lamb for dinner one
night would have such an effect?
When we want or
need God to move in our situation, we must respond to Him in faith. To respond
in faith means that we must do something.
Yea, a man
may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy
works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Jas
2:18
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead? Jas 2:20
Even if all we must do is to walk down to
the front of the sanctuary during the altar call, we must do something that God
is asking us to do. This is faith, and it is faith that causes God to act on
our behalf.
And when he was come into the house, the blind
men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye
that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched
he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it
unto you. Mat 9:28-29
It is faith, acting in accordance with the
will of God, that activates our deliverance and leads to our freedom in Christ.
When we become obedient to the will of God and act out our faith, He comes to
our rescue. This is a biblical pattern, and God honors it every time. No
exceptions.
Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD
commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring
the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. Exo 12:50-51
What we must understand is that our
freedom can come only through obedience. Our oppression came from an act of
disobedience, so to be free of the oppression we must come into obedience.
Freedom can only come through obedience
This may make no sense whatsoever to the
mind of a human being, but our freedom can only come through being a servant to
Christ Jesus.
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the
Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. 1Co 7:22
A good servant is always first and
foremost an obedient servant. It is our voluntary servitude to Christ Jesus
that buys our freedom.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which
was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
righteousness. Rom 6:16-18
Servitude to our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, IS freedom from sin and
death.
I want to encourage all of my readers to
search your hearts. Is there something you are struggling against? Do you feel
as though it is getting the better of you? We’ve all been there.
If this is your situation, ask the Lord to
reveal the act of disobedience which allowed this thing to operate in your
life. Then repent. Seek deliverance counseling from a qualified deliverance
minister. But most importantly, bring your life back into obedience with the
will and the word of God. This one simple act will make huge changes in your
life.
I also encourage those of you serious
about deliverance to continue reading this series of articles. The next article
in the series, entitled “The Pre-Deliverance Pattern” will be published soon!
