“You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.”  Job 11:16

I’ve been thinking about deliverance.  It’s big business; people travel to gurus and ministers who promise deliverance, stand in prayer lines to get it, read books on it, and claim it, all without knowing exactly what they want deliverance from. The truth is, if we’ve given our lives to God, through his Son Jesus, we’ve already been delivered!  There is no need to exhaust ourselves, and waste time and energy (and usually money) trying to ‘get delivered.’  Nor do you have to travel out of state for it.  The only thing we still have to be delivered from is ourselves!

Take all of that time and energy, and take an honest look at your life- what is or isn’t working for you?  What has worked for you in the past?  Start with the obvious;  God will lead you from there.  If He shows you an area where you lack wisdom, or self-control, work on that.  Instead of trying to change your whole life overnight, just do one thing different today. And then do it again tomorrow.  And then do it again the next day.  Don’t focus on not doing things, pay attention to what you should be doing, and do it.  This will absolutely bring ‘deliverance’, and will save you time, energy, and money in the long run.  Which will bring you more deliverance!

Instead of asking people to pray for your deliverance (if you are already a Christian) ask them to hold you accountable.  Not everybody, but one or two mature friends who know how to act as though they’ve been delivered.  After awhile- and spiritual growth and maturity takes time, just like physical and mental growth- you will look back, and realize that many of your present troubles will be behind you.  True, we do get new ones, that sometimes make the old ones pale in comparison, but at least you will have a sense of what to do, and what not to waste time on.

“Whereas the life serene has no more certain mark than this, that it ever moves with constant unimpeded flow.”  –Epictetus