DELIVERANCE

Deliverance is bringing somebody out of the captivity of the devil. In this section we shall discuss how deliverance could be ministered to the people who are troubled by spiritual spouses.  The following are the steps that should be taken for a deliverance to be successful:

Repentance is the first step.  Repentance and deliverance are two sides of the same coin.  There mustn’t be one without the other.  To repent is to turn away from Satan and all he stands for to return to God.  It involves actively the confessing of our sins, both past and present.

Renunciation is the second step.  Reject and renounce every evil marriage.  But also remember that every evil marriage is legally binding to those involved in it.  Renounce the spouse and the spirit children.  Break every covenant of the spiritual marriage over the victim’s life and by faith destroy the marriage certificate. Redeem the person through the blood of Christ and present by faith the bill of divorce to the devil.  If anything, destroy every physical thing that could have served as points of contact (Col. 2:14).

In order to come out of a covenant or a curse, first and foremost, desire to be

free from them.  Remember that curses do not just come; they are caused (Pro. 26:2).  Once you know how a covenant or curse came upon you, it gives you power to repent, confess or even minister restitution if it so directly concerns you.  Restitution is an aspect of paying back in compensation for what was taken.  When this is done, renunciation becomes possible. Address them squarely and command them to cease operating on your life in the name of Jesus Christ.   Taking your position as a child of God, based on the privileges of all God’s children (Eph. 1:3; John 1:12; Rom. 8:37-39; and Job 22:28) decree or declare boldly what you desire to see.  If it was a spiritual spouse, now declare a true human spouse; if it was spiritual children, now decree normal physical children.  If it were fruitlessness or barrenness or infertility now command productivity, children and fertility.  If it were lack of progress or poverty, where even when you have been giving and working hard and it still persisted, decree progress and prosperity to be yours in Jesus’ name.    

In conclusion, it is my belief that discussions on topics of this nature are always inconclusive.  However, it is important to mention that in both counselling and deliverance the aftermath is always vital.  After successful deliverance former victims should now live in commitment with Christ, by the word, by praise and prayer and by constant forgiveness and focusing their minds on the Holy Spirit.

SUCCESSFUL COUNSELLING

In the previous segment I have tried to give general discussions on the nature and operations of the demonic kingdom.  We have analysed the satanic kingdom; manifestations of demons and their kinds; Satan’s arsenal; Covenants and Curses.  You should have been asking: the symptoms have been diagnosed, but where is the formula for the cure?  I deliberately left that out in order to be discussed here.  In this segment, general guidelines on counselling and deliverance shall be given in order to successfully deal with all aspects of demonology and covenants and curses.  It is important to note here that all of these aspects are normally solutions to ground and magic levels warfare.  In the next chapter we shall look at the concept of the Heavenlies, which will offer us clues to warring at the strategic level.

Nature of Counselling

Before one can deal very well with issues of deliverance, counselling tenets need to be very well internalised.  Counselling is defined as, a process by which a person is assisted to behave in a more rewarding manner.  As a process it takes place over a period of time and promotes healing, comfort, clarification and reconciliation.  People who seek counselling usually have attempted to change their behaviour but their efforts have been in vain.  So they opt to seek a mature and usually experienced counsellor who should offer them solutions, or attempt to offer them. There are three basic elements in counselling: The Counselee, the Counsellor and the Negative Experience.  The counselee is the person in pain desiring to be healed; the counsellor is the helper who listens; and the negative experience is that which causes pain and distress.  The counselee identifies the negative experience and is helped to choose a path that is satisfactory.  Those seeking help are experts on the problem and they could have been living with it for weeks, months or even years.  Now they want it released.  It then becomes the counsellor’s duty to listen carefully and help the counselees spell out their needs.  The counsellor must prepare an atmosphere of acceptance and genuine care to facilitate the process.

In order to be a successful counsellor, counsellors must have the following qualities: first, they must be genuine.  They should be genuinely concerned with the person they counsel.  Secondly, counsellors must show empathy. Empathy is the ability to place oneself in another person’s position.  An American saying goes that, “One person should not criticize another until he has walked a mile in the other’s moccasins.”  One can only covey one’s understanding of the counselee’s problem through this basic quality of empathetic understanding.  Allow the counselee expound on his or her problem and then be understanding.  Thirdly, have unconditional positive regard for the counselee.  Whatever your clients tells you, they are still to be treated with the respect they deserve.  They must be treated as persons and not otherwise.  This means that the counsellor needs to be non-judgemental.  Imaginable problems are faced in counselling such as attempted suicide, rape, incest, drug addictions, child and spouse abuse, debilitating diseases, sexual harassment, lesbianism, homosexuality, cheating on spouse, witchcraft, murder, abortions, immorality, and the list is endless.  You as a counsellor need to display positivism even in all these cases.  Lastly, the counsellor must be a stable and dependable person.  This includes keeping appointments and so on.

Goals of Counselling

It is said that if we do not set goals, we might end up someplace we did not intend to go.  Someone has also said that if we do not want to plan, we are planning to fail.  Counselling has both immediate and long term goals.  Long-term goals include removing symptoms; restoring earlier levels of functioning; freeing the persons to reach their potential and helping them find personal meaning and values.  On the other hand, immediate goals include helping the persons do what is in their best interest, reducing the emotional distress, increasing relations with God and others.  Meeting immediate goals will help both the counsellor and the counselee to reach to the long-term goals.  These goals have value both in psychosocial or spiritual counselling.  Many problems encountered usually are psycho-spiritual.   The aim of counselling is to help the counselee move from a state of brokenness towards wholeness.  Though in many psychosocial counselling, healing is not considered as a permanent cure but as a reduction of and the healthy management of the hurts in one’s life. In the “School of Intercession”, however, we view counselling as geared towards healing, which is the total removal of pain. For real healing of hurting people to take place, the therapist must be aware of the process by which counselling is carried out.  While the specific counselling method may vary, there are three essential conditions:  Acceptance, reassurance and confidentiality.

Acceptance:  Many people who come for counselling have experienced rejection in one way or the other.  Accept people the way they are.  However, cases of unbiblical certainties must be taken with caution.

Reassurance:  The wounded individual must feel that although his or her situation is causing a great deal of pain, it is not hopeless.  Most often people come to us asking for help, while they are fully persuaded in their heart of hearts that nothing can help.  The counsellor must not despair but find even the dimmest of help to render.  Without this, the counselee may not find reason to continue.

Confidentiality:  This is of utmost importance.  The counselee must absolutely know that what he or she shares will remain with the counsellor and will not grow wings and fly.  Cases of confidentiality would normally include cases in which the counselee appears to be a danger to him/her or others, in which there is suspected child abuse, AIDS, abortion, and in which the counselee gives the counsellor informed consent.  In Church settings where the counsellor is also the Pastor, congregant-counselees should be assured that nothing would go on the pulpit!