June 28, 2018
Exodus 3:12
And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
CONSIDER THIS
The sign of deliverance is worship.
True deliverance is not the change from this condition to that condition but the movement from slavery to freedom and it is signaled by the unfettered worship of the delivered. There are many who have reigned in an addiction to some substance but remain enslaved. Though they have moved from uncontrolled substance abuse to abstinence, so many have not yet experienced deliverance from slavery to freedom. They may seem to have gotten out of Egypt, but Egypt is not yet out of them.
The sign of deliverance is the worship of the only true and living God: who I might add is Jesus Christ. Every other god is a false god which demands total allegiance and delivers slavish attachment. I find it interesting how the conversation around addiction centers around the language of recovery rather than deliverance. Don’t get me wrong, I have enormous appreciation for the addiction-recovery movement. My problem is their starting place. They do not begin with the vision of Divine freedom but rather with unmanageable addiction. As a result, they do not end with Divine freedom but managed addiction. (Just so you know that I know, I recognize it’s a lot more complex than that and my rhetoric may be overstated and unfair, so don’t let that cause you to miss the thrust of today’s reflection)
Now, may I be bold with us? The human condition is slavery, whether voluntary or involuntary. Human beings, by nature, will have a master, even if we believe that master to be ourselves. God, by nature, will only be the master of those who willingly surrender their allegiance to him, but the beauty of this surrender is the way he returns his allegiance to his followers. Deliverance is rescue from the bondage of a false god and the restoration of bonding with the true God.
No less than ten times we see some form of this petition from Moses to Pharaoh.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. Exodus 8:1
Note the twofold movement: 1. Let my people go. 2. So that they may worship me. 1. Release from bondage. 2. Return to bonding (i.e. worship).
What if we practiced this very form of prayer as deliverance? So often we say our prayers to God, which is fine, but I wonder what impact it might have if we began speaking our prayers in the form of the Word of God directly into the face of evil.
‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
How about like this? “This is what the Lord says to you, (name the oppressor or bondage or slave holder here), let (name the one being oppressed or enslaved here) go so that they may worship me.”
Don’t be surprised when it doesn’t happen the first or second or hundredth time. And don’t be shocked when all hell breaks loose in response to the rebellion of darkness. Take comfort from Moses, who never gave in until Pharaoh gave up.
Every time we gather in the fellowship of the New Room we end our time with a raucous singing of what we call our fight song. It’s one of the great hymns of deliverance in the history of the Church. Written by Charles Wesley, this great anthem of the Gospel, And Can It Be, never disappoints.
Something about a song of deliverance takes us inside of itself and hides us in the shelter of the most high God. Songs of deliverance are poetry carried by the Spirit of God into the realm of prophecy. We do not so much sing these songs as they sing us. By the time the fourth verse comes around, the atmosphere in the room is near the breaking point as we sing,
Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast-bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
That last line is not even sung. It’s bellowed. Every hand in the room lifts like a rocket en route to the heavens. And the sound of chains hitting the floor is palpable.
My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
From the millennial who doesn’t care much for hymns to my mother who had never heard the song before to the Salvation Army bass drumming grandmother who has sung it all her life—all of them will tell you it was worth the whole trip just to sing that song.
‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
And if you haven’t signed up for this year’s New Room Conference, I don’t know what else to say but, “There’s still time.” If you like the Daily Text, these are your people. This is your conference.
Come on!
THE PRAYER
Lord Jesus, you are right here, right now. You fill me with songs of deliverance. In fact, you are my song of deliverance. Help me hear that song deeper and deeper. Teach me to sing it into the face of darkness and evil. You are my deliverer. Right here, Jesus. Right now, Jesus. Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
- Did you cross the line today and commit to joining us for the New Room Conference this fall?
- How do you see the difference between praying to God to deliver a person and speaking the word of God’s deliverance to an oppressor as a form of prayer?
- What do you make of this transformation from bondage to bonding? How are they related? How are they different in your experience?
P.S. Go to newroomconference.com register and get the Daily Text Deal of the Century by using the Code: DAILYTEXTPARTY. And yes I am throwing a pre-conference party in your honor on that Wednesday morning September 19 before the Conference officially kicks off at noon. We will do some teaching and training on prayer and awakening as well as some worship and prayer together. Come on! #AintNoPartyLikeAdailyTextPartyCauseAdailyTextPartyDon’tStop!
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J.D. Walt, is a Bond Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. jd.walt@seedbed.com.
3 Responses
I need deliverance from spiritual slave and my family. We are naked spiritually by the witch word.
I,m trusting God to send a Shepherd guild me in my calling (apostolic) who is call into Apostolic ministry, whose focus is not on winning souls to God and not to populate Church building by making name and wealth for self.
Correction please on my from first post! Who his focus is on winning souls to God and not to populate church building by making name and wealth for self.