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Deliverance Helps - Deliverance Prayers |
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In this article, I want to share with you one of the most powerful weapons in spiritual warfare. This warfare strategy works for every type of warfare. There is not a single war that rises against you that you cannot have victory over if you understand this concept.
It is the act of returning to sender any evil sent your way. It is as simple as that. Whenever anything is sent to do you harm you simply pack it up and send it back to whoever sends it. Nothing can be more logical than what we are looking at in the next few pages.
Unfortunately, this is one of the warfare strategies that well-meaning Christians fight against. Their fight is usually based on a misinterpretation of the words of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew and Luke. Before I tell you about this weapon I need to disabuse your minds of some of the things you probably have heard from people about how wrong and inappropriate this warfare strategy is. Allow me to take you to the scriptures that people misunderstand and misinterpret and thereafter take you to the scriptures that support this concept.
Let's begin in the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 5 verses 10 and 11: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
A lack of understanding of the scriptures above makes people say that it is wrong to pray some of the prayers we pray in warfare. They look at these scriptures and they say it’s even wrong for someone to send a curse to you and you send it back to them.
Here are my thoughts about these scriptures:
Number one, when Jesus spoke these words, He wasn't speaking about spiritual warfare, rather, He was talking about persecution. Have you ever been persecuted? If you are a real Christian you must have experienced persecution at one time or another. As you take a stand for God where you work, where you live, among relations and friends, among sinners and saints, you are likely to come under persecution. That is exactly what Jesus was talking about here.
There is a fine line between the persecution for righteousness using natural weapons and spiritual warfare. In the scripture above, the Lord was not taking about spiritual warfare, rather He is talking about the persecution of those people that are righteous, that are living for God, that are holy, that are upholding purity and righteousness without compromise. He said to them: "You will be persecuted."
The second thought is this: In most cases, the weapons that are used in persecution are natural weapons not spiritual weapons. What do I mean by natural weapons? Look at what He says in verse 11; “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall persecute you” - that is a natural weapon. Now look at another natural weapon that they use: "and shall say (with their mouths) all manners evil against you falsely for my name sake".
It is obvious that He wasn't talking about spiritual warfare, He was talking about persecution. If you are a Christian, people will say all kinds of evil things against you. They will lie against you accusing you of saying what you never said. People will say you did what you never did and say you promoted and supported what you never supported. If you are a child of God and you are living for God, you should expect to be persecuted in this manner.
What then should be our reaction? The Bible says in verse 12; “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
Our reaction to that type of injustice according to Jesus is to rejoice and be exceedingly glad because our reward is great in heaven. Unfortunately, many have misunderstood this scripture and apply what is meant for persecution to spiritual warfare. The enemy comes against you and throws a curse at you or a jinx and a hex. And someone says; ‘don't pray, don’t say I bind you; I send you back to sender’. They say just rejoice and jump for joy and be exceedingly glad. But is that right?
Imagine the enemy throwing a curse against somebody and he has a stroke and then we go to him and say; "don't pray just jump up and rejoice" and he says; "I am a little bit crippled; I can't even jump to rejoice”. And then we say; "you just try it, the Bible says when they persecute you for righteousness sake and they speak against you falsely, just rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven." That sounds ridiculous to me.
When you teach people like that, you have misapplied what is supposed to be for persecution to spiritual warfare. If you do that, you allow the enemy to operate unchallenged in your life. You allow the enemy to take advantage of your misunderstanding of the scripture. So, get it clearly, this scripture is not talking about spiritual warfare, it’s talking about the persecution that all believers go through.
The other scripture is even more serious than this and that is the book of Luke chapter 6 verses 27 to 31;
“But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise”.
I want you to note that; "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies" is used even stronger than the admonition in Matthew. Does it mean we should ‘Love all witches and love all wizards?’ After they killed your wife or they killed your husband or they killed your children, do you still love them? ‘Do good to them which hate you…’ In other words, after they have done their destructive works we should invite them for dinner or take them out for lunch and let them poison our food all just because the Bible says; “love your enemy and do good to them which hate you?"
Now verse 28 says; "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
The greatest mistake you can make is to apply this scripture to spiritual warfare. What is that passage talking about? This is just an amplified text of what Jesus said in the book of Matthew. This is what our reaction should be to those who persecute us. Those who persecute us for the most part - now, mark my choice of words - for the most part use natural weapons to fight us. That is our lot as Christians. Now to erroneously use this scripture and say: "Well if people fight you spiritually, this is the way Jesus wants you to respond" you are going to kill somebody before you realize it. Let me give you an example.
A witch speaks to you in a dream and threatens you by saying "we will deal with you". Now, when you wake up what do you do? You go to that person and shake her hand and give her a hug and say "I am expecting the deal." Then before long your spouse falls down and dies. The witch then comes back to you that same night your spouse dies and says "we told you that we will deal with you. Wait and see." On the day of the funeral of your spouse your first child collapses and ends up in the emergency. And then you have another dream, the same witch comes to you and says: "you know what? We got your spouse, we got your child and we are not done yet". Then you sit down there and you quote Luke 6:29 and you say: "unto him that smite thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away thy husband, give him thy first child also. And him that taketh away your business, give him your pay cheque also". She says she is coming back, that's ok, after all, the Bible says in verse 30 "give unto every man that asketh thee."
They asked for your spouse, they got her. They asked for your child, they got him. They asked for your job, they got it. Then you say "I am expecting the next thing they will do to me because Jesus Christ said this is the way we are supposed to react." Some others will even tell you according to verse 28 "bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you". Have you ever been cursed? Have they called you every name but a child of God?
When our enemies operate against us in the natural, we are to respond as Jesus commanded. As children of God, we don't fight them. We don’t do an eye for an eye. When they curse and use profanity against you, you do not curse back or use profanity against them. However when they take it a step further and connive with the gates of hell to curse you, then they have raised the persecution to higher level. They have gone from the natural to the supernatural. So, what is your own reaction? You also have no choice but to raise your own defenses to another level and raise your own prayers to another level to be able to counter what they say and do against you.
If anyone conspires with the gates of hell against my life and destiny and sends me an arrow, I have every right to send it back to them, and say "I don't want it." But you may say: "that is wrong, you are cursing them". I am not cursing them. They are the ones cursing themselves. You know why? There is a great deal of difference between originating a curse and sending back a curse to the originator!
The example I always give here is very simple, even a kindergartener can understand it. If someone sends you a packaged mail and puts inside the package, a rattle snake, a cobra, a copperhead and ten scorpions. The mail man walks to your door and shows you the label describing what is inside the package. Will you say: "Hold on, Mr. Mailman, rattle snake, cobra, and copperhead and ten Arizona scorpions! Let me go and seek for counseling on what to do? Or let me pray about this. Let me fast for seven days to know what to do about this”. No!
You will say: "Mailman, please, undeliverable. Please return to sender. Isn't that what you will do if you get such a package in your mail?
So, how can anyone say we are wrong for preaching, teaching and admonishing people to return evil back to wherever they came from? After all you are not the one sending the evil; they are the ones who sent it. What you simply did was to send the evil back. What is wrong with that?
Do you know the greatest blessing you can give to senders of evil is really to return their evil to them. When the thing gets to them and the scorpion strikes them, and the copperhead coppers their head, and the rattle snake rattles them, they end up in the hospital. If they are fortunate enough to recover they are not likely to send such packages again. That is a great service to them and to humanity.
A friend of mine pastors in a small village known for idol worship in Africa. He did great exploits for God in the community and this got him into a lot of trouble with the idol worshippers. One day, to enable them worship their idol, the idol worshippers put the whole village under a curfew. No one was allowed to turn any light on after dark. They were also banned from venturing outside their home.
This Pastor decided to be an exception to the law. He said; "how can I a child of God subscribe to the rule of darkness?" Unfortunately, the day they made that rule, there was power failure in the village. This man of God went and bought candles and lanterns and lit up his whole house. When those people came by his house at midnight, they called him by name and said: "how dare you? We will teach you a lesson!"
He smiled and answered them: "And I will teach you a lesson too because I am a child of the Living God and no weapon that is formed against me shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against me in judgment shall be condemned. This is power against power."
They went and did their thing and some people came to the Pastor in the morning saying: "Pastor, what is wrong in turning off lights just for one night? These people are not asking for five nights or twenty nights, just one night. Why didn't you turn off your light and let them do their thing?” The Pastor said; "Light has never bowed down to darkness and I will not bow."
Three days after this incident happened, a demonic personality came visiting the Pastor in his house. This demonic personality is made out of mud, It not human, but it looks like human. It neither talks nor hears; all it knows is to deliver a wicked message, and it doesn’t need a door or window to come into any house because it is a spirit. It was sent by the idol worshipers to beat the Pastor to death. Many people have been killed through this kind of attack in Africa.
This demonic personality came in through the wall with a stick in its hand and began to make a horrible sound; "hmmmmmmmm! hmmmmmmmm!!”. The Pastor looked at it, shook his head and said; "which one is this? It’s like these people have no sense at all. Why should they send something that can neither talk nor hear against me? How can they send something that has no blood, no flesh and can’t see?"
As the personality moved closer with the stick in its hand, the Pastor said; "If I throw water on this thing, it will not work. If I kick it, I will break my leg. There is only one thing I have and that is the power of the Word."
Beloved, there is authority in our words! I plead with you to use the authority that God has invested in you. Begin to command things to come to pass and they will come to pass, command things to stop and they will stop.
The pastor looked at the demonic personality and said; “this is the last time you will ever attack anyone. Stop where you are in Jesus’ name!" And the thing froze and said "Hmmmmmmmm! Hmmmmmmmm!" The man of God said, "shut up in Jesus’ name and go back to whoever sent you!” It immediately turned around and headed back to the sender. The problem with that spirit is that when it is sent, and it can't accomplish what it is sent to do, whoever sent it will have to be the recipient of what it is sent to do.
So, the spirit turned around and went back to the house of the man who sent it. As soon as the original sender opened the door, the spirit beat him to death. The villagers woke up in the morning and found him dead.
The villagers came to the Pastor greatly afraid because of what had happened. They wanted to worship and offer sacrifices to him, but he said "no, I don't need any sacrifice. All I want you to do is to surrender to Jesus because He is the one who did it” As a result of that encounter, the idol worshippers became receptive to the gospel message and many were converted.
Those who know their God shall be strong and they shall do exploits. The reason we are not doing what we need to do is because we don't know God like we ought to know. Enough is enough! It is high time you made the spirits that have been talking around you to shut up, and get out in the name of Jesus.
I command every evil power and every evil personality working against your life to go back to where they came from in the mighty name of Jesus!
The Bible says in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 6; “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you”.
Here Paul the Apostle, who wrote extensively about love in the Corinthian epistle penned that it is a righteous thing to return things to senders. This is to say that there is absolutely nothing unrighteous about it as long as you are not the one who originates it. As long as what you are saying is ‘take it back’. What happens when they take it back is between them and what they sent. It is their payback time. It’s a righteous thing for God to pay them back. Whosoever does not want trouble should not trouble the child of God.
The Psalmist was a man that fought a lot of battles. He said in Psalm 37 verses 14 and 15; “The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken”.
The wicked specializes in drawing out their sword and bending their bow to cast down the poor and the needy and to slay such as is of upright conversation. That’s the life they live. But the Bible says in verse 15 that their sword shall enter their own heart. This means it shall backfire on them and it shall affect them just as they planned for it to affect the righteous.
“For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.”(Psalm 35:7-8)
That is what we call backfire and return to sender. I am not digging any pit; he is the one who dug the pit. I am not spreading any net; he is the one that spread the net. So, let him fall into what he dug and be caught by the net that he spread.
It is amazing that the people you are trying to help are the ones that are attacking you. Several years ago we were having a revival service and I was preaching and enjoying my sermon like I always do. But there was a lady who sat in the back of the church throwing spiritual arrows at me.
One of my ushers spotted her and commanded her arrows to return to her. Suddenly, she fell down and was immediately carried out of the sanctuary for prayers. It was not until after the service that I knew what had happened. She came to me and said "Pastor, I am very sorry for what happened." She owned up to the fact that she was throwing spiritual arrows to me. Then she said that all of a sudden the arrows turned around and hit her. The next thing she knew was that she found herself surrounded by prayer warriors. She came to throw arrows at a wrong place and at a wrong person. Unfortunately for her she fell into the pit she dug and got caught in the net she spread.
In second Timothy chapter 4 verses 14, Paul the Apostle was a man sent by God but there was another man -Alexander, the coppersmith sent by the devil to fight against Paul and his ministerial outreaches
“Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: May the Lord reward him according to his works: Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words”.
Paul the Apostle said; “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil." You know what he said after that? He said "the Lord will reward him according to his works." What were his works? Evil! In order words, he got evil back.
I knew a man who was the head of the smiths in his community. We always went into his shop to help him fan the fire he used on the iron works. This man was deep in the occult. After I became a Christian he called me one day and said; "this Bible that you are carrying around doesn’t have power, let me show you power". He took something and shook it in my ears and said; "you heard that?" I said "yes, sir, I heard it." He then took a sharp knife and cut me with it. Rather than the knife cutting into my flesh, my skin just swelled up and came back down immediately. There was no laceration to my skin. He said "that is power."
I told the above story to let you know how spiritually powerful some smiths can be. Be they coppersmiths like Alexander or ironsmiths like that man. Paul himself admitted that this smith did him much evil. Alexander however got back a dose of his own medicine.
There is a name behind the forces that are working against you. Yours may not be Alexander, but there is a name behind them. Find out the name and deal with the individual. It is high time we rose up as Christians to teach some people the lessons of their lives. It can be simply done by asking God to reward them according to the work of their hands against you.
This article has been extracted from Dr. Itiola's book: Return to Sender. To purchase a copy,
click here.
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