Pastor to Pastor
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Pastor to Pastor
Unraveling Deliverance: Steps To Spiritual Freedom Ep. 3
What if the key to breaking free from your deepest struggles is simply being honest with yourself and God? Join us to explore the critical first step towards spiritual deliverance. Together, we unpack the transformative power of confession and repentance, supported by scriptures such as James 5:16, Psalms 32:5, and 1 John 1:9. This isn't just about admitting faults; it's about allowing God's light to shine into the darkest corners of our lives, exposing and eliminating what holds us back.
Honesty, humility, and genuine repentance—these are the cornerstones of true spiritual freedom. Pastor Jason and I dive into the importance of acknowledging our pride and embracing humility, drawing wisdom from James 4:6-7. We differentiate between superficial repentance and the heartfelt change that mourns sin and seeks real transformation. Through personal experiences and insights, we reveal the futility of living a double life and stress that true liberation comes from sincere obedience to God's will, not mere lip service.
Finally, we discuss the empowering role of the Holy Spirit in achieving spiritual freedom. We emphasize the necessity of choosing between freedom and spiritual chains, using vivid imagery and personal anecdotes to illustrate this life-changing decision. The conversation touches on the emotional and spiritual impact of sin, the importance of genuine repentance, and the necessity of forgiveness, referencing Matthew 6:14-15. We wrap up with an open invitation for those seeking deliverance to reach out for support, offering a blessing and expressing our gratitude for your dedication to this journey towards spiritual freedom.
steps to freedom. What does it look like Coming up next?
Speaker 2:Hey, what's up, family? We're back for another episode of Pastor to Pastor. As always, I'm Seth. I got Jason Watson right here with me, hey, hey hey everybody. Man, we are super excited for another recording and episode and we're going to be talking about deliverance. You heard it in the tag. We're excited and we're going to encourage you and hopefully this encourages others as well. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Hey, you know, as we closed out the podcast last week we talked about you know one thing you were saying I've heard of. I keep hearing about pulling down strongholds. Now what does that really look like? What's the process behind pulling down strongholds? And that's really what the episode today is about. Like steps to deliverance. What are the steps to be actually set free, whether it's self-deliverance, whether it's delivering your friend in a parking lot, like in a service, like what does deliverance look like? And there's seven key factors I think we need to discuss, to talk about what actually goes into deliverance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe in there's instantaneous things that the Lord can do, right, but I do also believe that there is a before, a during and an after process, especially when it comes to deliverance, because, honestly, the things that we're attacked by and bound with I mean there's a lot of them are years, years of struggles and strongholds, and so, while again, I think the power of the Holy Spirit can really set people free, but you can also open up the gateways, you can also create opportunities for it to come back, and so we want to talk about the process of what do you got to do to prep?
Speaker 2:for it, and then what does it look like afterwards as well?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because truth of the matter is, even Jesus talks about deliverance and Scripture shows us I'll get it right in a minute.
Speaker 2:What about the beatbox up there?
Speaker 1:Right. Scripture even shows us that if you cast out right, it says, if you were to come back, it would come back seven times stronger You'd find a house clean and swept and not filled and come back with other demons. So there's got to be a process to this. You can't just set people free and leave them out as orphans amongst the wolves. So it's definitely important. But look, man, let's dig into these seven steps. The first one is super important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. The first one is honesty. Yeah, you gotta be. You gotta be honest with yourself first, right, right and be honest and acknowledge the fact of what you're struggling with. And be honest with god, because this is the truth. God already knows what you're struggling with. He's just waiting for you to bring it to him and acknowledge it yourself. Uh, you know, if we expect to receive the blessing of deliverance, that's where it starts right.
Speaker 1:It starts with honesty look you want god to Look. You're trying to hide and compartmentalize something that needs to be brought to the light, yep, and as long as you allow darkness to dwell, it will continue to dwell. Yep, the enemy's going to use anything against you or against other people that you can keep hidden, and the most important thing is you go ahead and shine light on it. Go ahead and get the love of jesus all over it. Go ahead and illuminate the darkness and that way the enemy can't has nowhere to dwell, nowhere to hide that's right.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like you're exposing, like the demon, the demon or the what you're attacked by. It is being exposed now. Right, you've shined the light on it. Okay, I'm getting ready to go to work. You're getting ready to get out of this thing? Yeah you know you're exposing it and I I love what James 5, 16 says they confess your trespasses to one another. Pray for one another that you may be healed, bringing light to darkness so that darkness has no hold on you, right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And if you're helping deliver somebody or asking to be delivered, you've got to confess your sins, confess your part in the agreement with darkness. Right, yeah, yeah, you've got to bring this stuff to light and get it out in the open so the enemy doesn't have a ledge to hold on to.
Speaker 2:And if we're really honest, Pastor Jay, a lot of the things we're struggling with are self-inflicted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure there are doors we've opened.
Speaker 2:I love how you said that there's this partnership that we've created with these things that we're struggling with. We've got to repent, we've got to acknowledge that, hey, I've had a part in this thing, I've opened up a door, a conversation, I mean. And so when you're really honest with yourself, that's where you get the start of freedom.
Speaker 1:Right and confession leads to forgiving. Ooh, come on.
Speaker 2:My goodness.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, confession leads to forgiving, and forgiven leads to free. Yeah, I love that you could preach that thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, yeah psalms psalms 32 5 said I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions to the lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. What I love is this 1 John 1.9 says if you will repent, god is faithful and just to cleanse you from all of your unrighteousness.
Speaker 2:And that's what I love is that if you'll take this first step, god will always meet you right. That's why he says you draw near, I'll draw near. And we have to acknowledge, first and foremost, our part and our role into our own deliverance, because here's the truth If it doesn't start with us, we'll never get delivered.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:If you don't have a dog in the fight, you're not trying to pursue this thing. It's got to start with you, absolutely. You've got to initiate it.
Speaker 1:You're not going to deliver people who don't want deliverance.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like you, can't force somebody into salvation. They either want it or they don't. Those are the two options, and this is what I love, man, about confessing your sin, and I think of it in terms of being a part of a fellowship of brothers and sisters, right being within a church, confessing your sin to one another so that they can help pray for you, so they can help strengthen you, they can help keep you accountable. Look, and you know, you've got to. You've got to choose wisely who you confess to.
Speaker 1:You should. You should definitely have some mature saints in your church and your congregation and your family, somebody that you know, that you can go to and say look, this is what I'm struggling with, Somebody who's mature and can and can be mature in the spirit not in the flesh, but be mature in the spirit, who they can help you, restore you and kind of bring you out of this darkness, this dark area that's in your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and it's super important that you have somebody like a pastor or someone who you feel comfortable and confident with, who you can go and have those conversations with. That's the beauty of the church and the congregation that God's given us man, that we don't have to walk these paths by ourselves. That's right. So I feel like somebody, through what we're talking about, is going to really start seeing the opportunity to be set free from the spirit of lust, from the spirit of anger, from the spirit of all these addiction, all these different spirits that people are dealing with. Look, you're right. Last episode you talked about it. It's not something we talk about and we have ignorant Christians walking around, bound and defeated, when they should be walking free and liberated man. That's right.
Speaker 2:You ready to preach? Oh man, I feel a stir.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir Crane, that B3 organ, my boy Bam bam, that ain't the B3,. But you know, oh my goodness, hey look, look man. The second step, we got to hit on, so the first one is being honest, be honest, be open. We got to hit on, so the first one is being honest, be honest, be open.
Speaker 2:The second one say this, say this. We got to say this one time. Confession leads to forgiven and forgiven leads to free man, that's powerful, click that, get that.
Speaker 1:Tweet that thing you want to tweet something tweet that, share that with somebody.
Speaker 2:It starts with honesty, and then we go next to humility, and if we're honest, we lack humility in this world today.
Speaker 1:Right, right, a lot, a lot, a lot.
Speaker 2:We are full of pride. You know, humility is not just being honest, but it's recognizing that I can't do this on my own. I need help. Humility is saying I'm removing the pride and thinking I can control, because a lot of us, if we're honest, the things we're dealing with is because it's self-inflicted by our own control, that we want to be in control over everything. But humility says okay, I've got to learn to submit this thing. I can't handle it on my own and I've got to get God's provision, I've got to get his help in order for me to get delivered and set free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're really breaking pride in your life and you're really realizing that it's got to be God who does it for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And this includes the recognition that one is dependent upon God and his provision for deliverance, like he's given us that authority, but the authority comes from him. It doesn't come from us and we are dependent solely on his provision of authority that we can get set free or that we can set other people free. Yeah, james 4, 6 through 7 says, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Now here's an important word resist, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Now let's be honest, there ain't a whole lot of people resisting.
Speaker 1:Nah, we opening the door wide man there ain't many people resisting, man, the first moment you you look at something on social media you know you shouldn't look at, instead of scrolling past or deleting or whatever rebuking you.
Speaker 2:We back up like oh my.
Speaker 1:Lord, you're sliding back down, looking again right, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're doing things that you know you shouldn't do. Resist Right, fight the enemy, resist the temptation, and it says he will flee from you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, and he'll help you. The Lord will help you resist and what you find for sure, the easier it gets, easier it gets. And so we've got honesty, we've got humility and honestly we could we could do a whole message on what it looks like to resist the enemy. Maybe we'll break that down a little more, uh. But the third step is, uh, repentance. Right, it's such an important part, repenting. Repentance is a determined turning away from sin and satan. One must hate all evil in their lives and fall out of agreement with it. Repentance is this, just turning away from sin. And let me just say this I want to be very clear there's two different types of repentance that people do. Some do it with their head and some do it with their heart. True repentance is done with the heart. Let me say what it is and teach what it is. When you do it with your head, your head is oh, I made a mistake, forgive me, with no intentions of not making that mistake again.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:But when you do it with your heart. That's why I said blessed are those who mourn. It's talking about those who mourn sin. So when I repent, I'm mourning the fact that I sinned against my holy God and I failed and now, and I failed and now I don't want to ever do that again. So a true repented heart is God. Forgive me and give me the strength to do what we just read in James 4 to resist the enemy, resist sin and be clean and set free.
Speaker 1:It's just like Jesus was talking about those two praying in the temple right. He said one who tore his clothes and was saying, have mercy on me, for I'm a sinner. And the other one was like, thank God, I'm not like him. Like who do you think walked away justified? Jesus said that the man who ringed his heart out, that's the one who was humble, who come before God and repented, that's the one who was forgiven. Repentance is an important part of our walk. I love Amos 3.3. It says can two walk together unless they agreed?
Speaker 2:Man.
Speaker 1:I lived years like that bro.
Speaker 2:Years of where I was a Sunday Christian and a weekday sinner, because I wanted to please my family, but I also wanted to please my friends on the side. You know what? I'm saying and I'm miserable.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. It's like living a double life Trying to serve two masters A man is unstable, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Speaker 2:And, man, I live that unstable life, bro. And then I wondered why I battled and struggled with the attacks of the enemy, yeah and uh, I I didn't. Here's why I didn't repent. For the weekday, uh, sinning. And the weekend sinning is because I felt like I was getting away with it. I felt like sunday, just every sunday, was wiping the slate clean when really my heart was never pure.
Speaker 2:So I was just stacking sin on sin stacking burden on burden and never truly repenting because I diluted it to just something I said, but nothing I meant in my heart.
Speaker 1:Right, so you were really using Sundays as a way to feel better about your sin Exactly Basically. And that's the key thing is, deliverance is not used to merely gain relief from problems in order to become, but you do it in order to become more like Jesus through obedience to all that God requires of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:Repentance is turning away from everything that hinders you from growing spiritually, everything that hinders you in ministry, everything that hinders you in fellowship with the Father. It's turning away. Repentance requires open confession of all sin and takes away the right for the demon to stay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I love that. You've got to do it. You've got to do it. You've got honesty, you've got humility, you've got repentance. And let's talk about number four. Yeah, Renunciation.
Speaker 1:And let's talk about number four. Yeah, renunciation.
Speaker 2:I let Pastor Jason know that Renunciation. I was pretty sure I was going to jack that thing up, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, you actually touched on it a little bit in one of the last ones that we talked about. Renunciation is forsaking of evil and it's a result of repentance. So, like you said, it's not just saying, man, I feel bad about what I did, but now how do I not do that again, like it's renouncing sin and it's actually it's. It's not just saying you sin, but then it's the turning away and it's something you know in matthew 3, 7 through 8 says. But when he saw many of the pharisees and psalmists coming to his baptism, he said to them Bearing fruit worthy of repentance involves more than words. It's a demonstration of repentance, such as repenting of lust and going and throwing away your pornographic material.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, right For sure.
Speaker 1:Or deleting sites in history.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we look. I know a lot of people struggle with lust. We talk about lust a lot, but there are a lot of different controls and a lot of different. There's a lot of different darkness in people's lives, but lust is a big one. I think it's one of the most that are mentioned when we talk about fornication and sexual immorality, those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:It's one of the biggest things that plagues society today. It ain't something new. It's something that's been plaguing society and the human race for a long, long time, but it's definitely one of the strongholds that the enemy has on us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, amen, and I want to backtrack really quick for repentance. Jason needs to repent for butchering that Sadducees word.
Speaker 1:Sadducees.
Speaker 2:He calls it Sadducees. But you know, pastor Jay, here's the truth is that when you renounce, what you're doing is taking authority Right. When you're choosing to take the authority and the identity God's given you, it says enough is enough. That's why I love those services I don't know if you've been a part of those services where people have brought their weed. They've brought their cigarettes.
Speaker 2:They've brought the little fifth of liquor that they've carried in and brought them to the altar and just okay, I'm giving this to the Lord. I'm completely taking it. That's what it is. It don't have to be so dramatic, like in a service and bring it down, but you've got to get rid. I remember growing up back in the uh, yeah, you know youth days where they'd get this big old barrel and you'd throw all your dirty cds and all that stuff in there and we do this thing where you just burn them up and stuff like that and the bad thing is, the next week we just go buy another one because we did it, because we did it out of religious act.
Speaker 2:But it wasn't anything pure in our heart. But when you get in your mind, I'm fed up with the enemy having a foothold in my life and controlling me.
Speaker 1:And you just start.
Speaker 2:I'm going to renounce everything that is not of God in my life, because a lot of us don't even know, we have not even known what freedom is. That's why it says taste and see that the Lord is good. Some of you haven't even tasted what true freedom is because you've just tiptoed around it right, and when you truly get a taste of what freedom is, it would be so easy to start denouncing the things that are pulling you away from the freedom god's given you. Yeah, and you know. Uh, in acts, chapter 19 we talked about this a little bit on the previous podcast, but it's um. We talk about renouncing and what they did, and I want to put it in context of the value. I know a lot of people don't want to give up stuff because what they've invested in the stuff that they own and they feel like they're throwing away money.
Speaker 2:But here's the truth the money ain't worth your life.
Speaker 1:Why can't?
Speaker 2:the world, lose your soul. Exactly, I mean that stuff ain't worth it. But in Acts 19,. Those who came to believe in christ in ephesus, they did, uh, what they did to their, their rich craft books and the magician books and stuff. They ended up burning them getting rid of them and they said it was over a million dollars worth of stuff, and that's where we've got to get a place in.
Speaker 2:When you experience the true power of the holy spirit and freedom yeah, I don't care what I lose, because I see what I gain yeah, yeah and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's selling the property to buy the pearl right. It's selling everything to buy the one pearl.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness bro, we could really preach that bro. And a lot of us are contributing to our own bound. Detriment, yeah, yeah, and it's like no, make a decision. Do you either want freedom or you want chains? Right Pick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're walking in agreement with chains if you don't.
Speaker 2:It's like let me give you this imagery. It's like coming to the altar or coming to worship with one hand behind your back and one lifted to God and say I'll give you this part of my life.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But some of this stuff I just want to keep for myself because of how it makes me feel at certain moments. And I don't know about you, but when I fall short into sin I feel completely miserable. For sure. When I fail that morning that you read about in the Beatitude man, I feel I'm more. My soul cries man, and we've got to get a place as Christians and it's not out of religion, but it's out of I failed.
Speaker 1:Not that I'm perfect, but that I failed God Like I felt, like man. I really. Paul talks about it. He says you crucify Christ fresh and anew. Every time you willfully sin Like bro. That breaks my heart, thinking that I've contributed to any kind of pain or suffering, even beyond what he's. Obviously he doesn't, but it's just like it again because you're telling the world that it doesn't really matter to you. So what example are we setting in people and what are we doing to our relationship with Christ? I mean, he thought we were to die for and here we are still choosing what put him on a cross.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know bro. Anyway, yeah, and even in Psalms.
Speaker 2:it talks about the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the relationship. Right, it also talks about the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Speaker 1:Oh man, you ain't no fear of the Lord anymore, you know that I know People live like I used to live.
Speaker 2:I didn't fear the Lord. I could live like hell and think I'd still go to church on Sunday and make it to heaven. But it's not the truth and I know a lot of people preach that, but it's not the truth and a lot of us are bound and we talk about this deliverance and we think we can get delivered from some and I'll just live with the rest.
Speaker 1:But you're either free or youary freedom.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like I'll come to service, I'll feel good, I'll feel better about my situation, and then I'll go right back to my situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is why I get so fed up with these worship services where we just tickle people's ear and they get them all elevated with their emotions but they still leave bound.
Speaker 1:Right, they still leave broken. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They leave with an emotional high, but they are spiritually depleted, and so, anyway, I can keep going.
Speaker 1:Let's go on to the next one.
Speaker 2:Anyway, back to repentance, though, and renunciation. When you are renouncing these things, what you're also doing is renouncing sin.
Speaker 1:Right, you're declaring I don't want to sin no more. You're turning away, you're not walking with anymore. You're not walking. I don't want to sin, no more. You're turning away. You're not walking with anymore, you're not walking in agreement anymore. You are actually turning away from those things. Right, right, number five. Number five is forgiveness.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like it's vital God freely forgives us who confess sins and asks for forgiveness through Christ Right. He expects us to forgive others who have wronged us in the same way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what I love is Matthew 6, 14 through 15. It says For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. I've taught this before and I it's if we believe scripture, right? If you believe your unforgiveness is keeping you out of heaven, come on. Yeah, so you mean to tell me someone is worth. What they've done to you is greater than you just forgiving them and going to heaven?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a stronghold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, forgiveness requires one. Now, reconciliation requires two Right, but forgiveness requires one. That's right and you might need help in forgiveness. Yeah, but with the strength of Jesus, I will forgive. I've forgiven Right, like you may have to go in it that way because there's some things hard to let go of.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But as long as you're declaring it, as long as you're believing it, as long as you're working in it. Look, we pray the Lord's Prayer. How many people pray the Lord's Prayer and pray? Forgive me as I forgive others?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then you still mad at your mama.
Speaker 2:You still mad at your daddy, I'll probably be skipping over that part. Lord, forgive me and screw the others. Yeah, oh, come on. Come on. We know how some people are, but I'm I got. I mean, I've been really honest, like when you, when you are, have unforgiveness in your heart. What you're saying is I would rather hold on this grudge and unforgiveness than receive freedom and make it to heaven. I'm choosing. I'm choosing my bitterness over freedom, right, I'm choosing the pain over deliverance, and so I don't know about you, but I ain't going to hell for nobody, nobody.
Speaker 1:And it ain't worth it. Willingness to forgive is important. Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant. Right, the master threw the servant to the tormentors, and Jesus even says it. He says and so will my father do to you, so a part of your torment may be your unforgiveness.
Speaker 1:yeah, a part of what you're going through, that darkness in your life, a part of the, the hindrance and the being bound that you're dealing with right now, maybe because of you're willing to unforgive. Right, you think of king saul, who was tormented, who did whatever he wanted to do, and the only thing that ever, that ever, let him be free was when David came and played the harp Right, and then, after David left, it would come right back again. We talked about that. Yeah, that's right, let's move on to number six.
Speaker 2:Number six is prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer. Ask God to deliver you and set you free in Jesus' name. Again, notice all these things. The first five steps was stuff you needed to do. Then you come and it's pretty much as you're declaring okay, I'm ready now. Yeah, I've done my prep work, yeah I'm ready, let's get god involved in this now and let's partner with the holy spirit and let's get this thing going. Joe 232 says, and it shall come to pass, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Speaker 1:Yeah, number seven.
Speaker 2:My God.
Speaker 1:Warfare. Now, this one's kind of deep. I don't know if we'll get time to go into the whole thing or not, but look, warfare is your attack at the enemy. Listen, this ain't you just sitting back, this ain't just you. Oh man, yeah, I've been beat down today. No, this is when you've had enough and you stand up in the authority that God has given you. You've done all that you can do and now you're standing eye to eye with the enemy and you're taking authority over the enemy and claiming God's word.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this now, before we get too deep into this.
Speaker 1:Hold on.
Speaker 2:Should we just do this as a little teaser and make this next week's full episode, so we can take our time and break this thing down?
Speaker 1:I think we should. Here's why because, when it comes to self-deliverance, when it comes to um, attacking the enemy for yourself, for your family, for your home, for your church, for your nation, for your community, like this will be great. This will be great leading into that yeah, let's.
Speaker 2:Uh, we're gonna, we're gonna stop right here we to stop right here, give you a little teaser.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Next week we're going to give you some weapons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to put something in your hands. That's right Give you some knowledge and some things that you can go slap the enemy with. I know that's right.
Speaker 2:Listen. Thank you so much for taking time to listen to this, share this with those and equipped by this stuff. And hey, send in some prayer requests, send us in some things that you need help with or conversations you'd like for us to bring on this podcast, or here's the thing too.
Speaker 1:I would even extend this If you need deliverance, if you are wanting to be set free and you pass out on how to go about it, I'm not sure. I just know that I need to be set free. Listen, this is an open opportunity for you to reach out to us and let us know. We will get you scheduled. We want to see you as free as we want to see ourselves free, and we are here to help you. So reach out if you are in need of deliverance and we'll certainly connect with you.
Speaker 2:That's right, amen. Hey, before we end, we're going to do what we always do we're going to bless you and then send you on your way. May the Lord show you his favor and give you peace. Thanks again. We'll see you here next time. God bless you.
