The word deliverance is a biblical word that is misused in the church today. Deliverance “ministries” shift the blame for a believers sin on demons that must be exercised by the “minister.” They tell us that demons can possess genuine born again believers and torment them to the point where they need to be “delivered” from their demons. Further, they say that demons can re-enter the delivered victim repeatedly, which requires “maintenance,” meaning repeated exorcisms. This all is rank heresy and has nothing to do with biblical teaching. It has caused untold harm to individuals and to the name of Christ. This is unfortunate because the word “deliver” (with its various inflectional endings) is a word that is found in the Bible.
“Deliver” in Hebrew & Greek
In the Old Testament there are at least three Hebrew words that are translated “deliver.” The words “natsal,” “palat” and “yasha” are all synonyms and essentially mean to rescue or to deliver in a physical sense (Exodus 3:8; Psalm 91:14; Judges 7:7). When you come to the New Testament, there are few different Greek words that can be translated “deliver” both in a spiritual and physical sense.
God is Our Deliverer
It is comforting to know that the Lord gives His people all kinds of deliverances from all kinds of troubles. In fact, Psalm 68:20 uses the plural,
God is to us a God of deliverances.
We pray often for God to put a hedge of protection around people. This figure of speech comes from the Book of Job. In Job chapter 1, God points out to Satan that Job is blameless and an upright man (Job 1:8). In essence, Satan replies to God by saying that Job acts this way because He put a hedge of protection around him. A hedge is like wall of intertwined thorn bushes which in ancient days were used to keep animals away from crops. Even though this statement originates with Satan, there is a cornel of truth in it. God’s protection is like a hedge of thorn bushes circled around His people. God cares for us just like a mother bird guards her chicks from harm (Psalm 91:4). God is like a hiding place where He will secure us and keep us from trouble (Psalm 32:7). He is like a shield that surrounds us from every fiery dart of the enemy (Psalm 5:12). He is like a fortress where we can run and find refuge (2 Samuel 22:3-4). The Bible uses all kinds of metaphors to describe the great care that God gives to His children, delivering them from every kind of trouble. David was keen on the Lord’s ever present help, he said in Psalm 41:1-2,
1 The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. 2 The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive.
Also further into the Psalms he said in Psalm 144:1-2,
Blessed be the Lord my rock, my loving kindness, my fortress, my stronghold, and my deliverer.
We gain great confidence in the Lord by reading over and over in Scripture of His miraculous deliverances of His people and we gain strength to face any challenge that comes our way, knowing that God will get us through.
Scripture Reference
“So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah.
3 My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge;
My savior, You save me from violence.
4 “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
1 How blessed is he who considers the helpless;
The Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.
2 The Lord will protect him and keep him alive,
And he shall be called blessed upon the earth;
And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
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