Dorian J. Owens
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Have you ever been in situations where you didn't know how to get out of it? No matter how hard you tried, it seemed like nothing was changing! I grew up my entire life, listening to sermons in church where the preachers were preachin' HARD (okay....), and they kept on saying stuff like, "HOLD ON, HOLD ON, HOLD ON!!!;" or, "You've got to live according to His will and way," or "Just trust Him," and MUCH more....
But, the thing I kept noticing was that EVERY SINGLE TIME that I TRIED to do those things myself in an attempt to deliver myself from the situations I was in, I kept failing at it. For instance, I'd hear certain phrases such as, "HOLD ON," and then feel the euphoria of the experience of church as we in the charismatic churches know it (which was simply, the preacher would get "happy;" which would then cause him to stop holding the microphone regularly; instead, now he has to "cup" the mic in his hand, and put it up against his mouth, and start preaching really hard, and then you just HAD to hear the Hammond B3 organ start "singing" at full blast, and then someone had to start running around the church, even though they didn't catch ANY REVELATION WHATSOEVER of what was said, and so much more; I could go on about this, but I've got more to say regarding deliverance, so I digress (LOL)....) Anyway, after that entire experience, I'd TRY to hold on, but I found that I wasn't holding on to anything but MY own faith, which wasn't strong enough to DELIVER me from where I was at.... It wasn't until last year (after 28+ years of life on this earth) that the Lord PURPOSED that I receive the REVELATION of what "deliverance" is, and also to experience it for myself....
But, before we go any further, what is the definition of "deliverance?" According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the word "deliverance" means, "the action of being rescued or set free." But then, it goes even further, as a second definition is in there, which is, "a formal or authoritative utterance...." You see, I learned the former definition during my childhood days in church, and it was interpreted to mean something that was miraculous, or something that I couldn't possibly have been able to do myself. In terms of the scriptures, the first thing that came to mind whenever somebody talked about "deliverance" was regarding the Israelites being set free, or delivered, from out of Egypt. But then, because that was an event that happened over 3,000 years ago, it wasn't a "relevant" thing to me now. Instead, I was told, and then I later embraced the "fact," if you will, that deliverance was something that meant that I had to deliver MYSELF from where I was at, and that the Lord would "help me" get myself out of this....
But, ladies and gentlemen, thanks be unto our Lord that that is not the case in the Kingdom! Now, yes, deliverance is "the action of being rescued or set free," BUT, from the Kingdom perspective, deliverance first happens via an utterance, or SPOKEN WORD that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us, and mind you, this is through men and women that are His, NOT through religious means, or through the world.... Think about this here: Deliverance is an action, but it only happens through a SPOKEN WORD that only His Spirit can bring to us....
So, what does this mean? What's the point of this "moment" here? Quite simply, we CANNOT deliver ourselves from stuff, situations, or circumstances (no matter how hard we try); instead, only the Lord can deliver us from stuff.... Religion tells us that we are to deliver OURSELVES, and that only gets us but so far, but from the Kingdom standpoint, HE (referring to the Lord Jesus Christ) DELIVERS US....
But then, HOW does the deliverance happen? What is the order of it?.... One of the things that I have learned over the past year is whenever I have wanted a situation or circumstance to change (in the natural), the Lord first CAUSES me to be in worship unto Him. (and the worship unto Him has been through not just gathering with everyone at church on Sundays and Wednesdays, but also through my daily activities too, such as doing website design, graphic design, photography, or other things that the Lord would have me to do regarding the furtherance of His Kingdom....) From that, the Lord then has HIS way (which only He can bring) of causing me to see the situation differently than before. THEN, He changes my situation on the exterior, or in the natural....
Just so you can see what I'm talking about, I'll give you an example. One is regarding my recent trip to Atlanta. At first, I wanted to come in January (as that was when I initially thought about coming). I first began to start looking up how much it would cost for me to be there for 5 days, and saw it would be over $700 (and ladies and gentlemen, that amount was on the low end....). So, after seeing that was not going to work, I was reminded first that the Lord is the One who will supply ALL my needs, according to HIS riches in Glory, not mine.... In other words, I realized that He is the One that will orchestrate every detail regarding my going to Atlanta instead of myself.... So, from that simple WORD, I released those things that I was trying to do UNDER MY OWN STRENGTH unto the Lord, and "went on to the next thing...." Once I did that, the Lord then opened up the door for me to come to Atlanta for a weekend, as part of new business in my own company! I only paid about $80 for gas, which was a fraction of what it would have cost if I was to have come up there UNDER MY OWN STRENGTH! My room was paid for, and I didn't have to get a rental or plane ticket to get up there; instead, I was able to ride with a staff member of the company I was working with, and I was able to stay with the owners of the company, at their house!....
Plus, another dynamic of "deliverance" is that the TIMING of the entire thing was perfect too, because if I had tried to come up the week before the trip came about, I would have been driving back in the midst of a snowstorm that came to Atlanta at that time.... But notice here that when I released those things that I was trying to do under my own strength (and mind you, the strength to even release those things was something WHICH ONLY THE LORD CAN BRING....), THAT was when the Lord manifested Himself in the situation....
So, my friends, the point of all this is simple: I'm here to let you know TODAY that you cannot deliver yourself from where you are at; instead, ONLY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST can deliver you. I know this because for many years, I tried to deliver myself out of the situations I was in, but didn't have any success. Instead, EVERY SINGLE TIME that I tried to deliver myself from the situations or circumstances I was in, I would end up failing at it, which then bred frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, and even more pressure to get out of the situations. BUT THE LORD WAS FAITHFUL, and He literally came to me WHERE I WAS AT, and literally delivered me from where I used to be (which was a place of hustling, trying to make a buck all the time, trying to survive, TRYING to live according His WORD, etc., etc.) to a place of freedom NOW in Him (which is allowing Him to CAUSE His WORD to be so inside of me, CAUSING me to do what He said, CAUSING me to show goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, etc. towards others, and more)....
In the coming articles, I'll be sharing with you some more moments regarding the HOW of the Lord.... You see, it's not a thing of "God WANTING us to live according to His Way;" instead, we in the Body of Christ are PURPOSED to RECEIVE the WAY OF THE LORD by His Spirit, and as that is being spoken by the Lord to us and RECEIVED by us by His Spirit, we begin to see HOW He does things. And, as that is happening inside of us, the Lord then begins to TRANSFORM US, first on the inside, and then, He delivers us in the natural....
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Have you ever been in situations where you didn't know how to get out of it? No matter how hard you tried, it seemed like nothing was changing! I grew up my entire life, listening to sermons in church where the preachers were preachin' HARD (okay....), and they kept on saying stuff like, "HOLD ON, HOLD ON, HOLD ON!!!;" or, "You've got to live according to His will and way," or "Just trust Him," and MUCH more....
But, the thing I kept noticing was that EVERY SINGLE TIME that I TRIED to do those things myself in an attempt to deliver myself from the situations I was in, I kept failing at it. For instance, I'd hear certain phrases such as, "HOLD ON," and then feel the euphoria of the experience of church as we in the charismatic churches know it (which was simply, the preacher would get "happy;" which would then cause him to stop holding the microphone regularly; instead, now he has to "cup" the mic in his hand, and put it up against his mouth, and start preaching really hard, and then you just HAD to hear the Hammond B3 organ start "singing" at full blast, and then someone had to start running around the church, even though they didn't catch ANY REVELATION WHATSOEVER of what was said, and so much more; I could go on about this, but I've got more to say regarding deliverance, so I digress (LOL)....) Anyway, after that entire experience, I'd TRY to hold on, but I found that I wasn't holding on to anything but MY own faith, which wasn't strong enough to DELIVER me from where I was at.... It wasn't until last year (after 28+ years of life on this earth) that the Lord PURPOSED that I receive the REVELATION of what "deliverance" is, and also to experience it for myself....
But, before we go any further, what is the definition of "deliverance?" According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the word "deliverance" means, "the action of being rescued or set free." But then, it goes even further, as a second definition is in there, which is, "a formal or authoritative utterance...." You see, I learned the former definition during my childhood days in church, and it was interpreted to mean something that was miraculous, or something that I couldn't possibly have been able to do myself. In terms of the scriptures, the first thing that came to mind whenever somebody talked about "deliverance" was regarding the Israelites being set free, or delivered, from out of Egypt. But then, because that was an event that happened over 3,000 years ago, it wasn't a "relevant" thing to me now. Instead, I was told, and then I later embraced the "fact," if you will, that deliverance was something that meant that I had to deliver MYSELF from where I was at, and that the Lord would "help me" get myself out of this....
But, ladies and gentlemen, thanks be unto our Lord that that is not the case in the Kingdom! Now, yes, deliverance is "the action of being rescued or set free," BUT, from the Kingdom perspective, deliverance first happens via an utterance, or SPOKEN WORD that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us, and mind you, this is through men and women that are His, NOT through religious means, or through the world.... Think about this here: Deliverance is an action, but it only happens through a SPOKEN WORD that only His Spirit can bring to us....
So, what does this mean? What's the point of this "moment" here? Quite simply, we CANNOT deliver ourselves from stuff, situations, or circumstances (no matter how hard we try); instead, only the Lord can deliver us from stuff.... Religion tells us that we are to deliver OURSELVES, and that only gets us but so far, but from the Kingdom standpoint, HE (referring to the Lord Jesus Christ) DELIVERS US....
But then, HOW does the deliverance happen? What is the order of it?.... One of the things that I have learned over the past year is whenever I have wanted a situation or circumstance to change (in the natural), the Lord first CAUSES me to be in worship unto Him. (and the worship unto Him has been through not just gathering with everyone at church on Sundays and Wednesdays, but also through my daily activities too, such as doing website design, graphic design, photography, or other things that the Lord would have me to do regarding the furtherance of His Kingdom....) From that, the Lord then has HIS way (which only He can bring) of causing me to see the situation differently than before. THEN, He changes my situation on the exterior, or in the natural....
Just so you can see what I'm talking about, I'll give you an example. One is regarding my recent trip to Atlanta. At first, I wanted to come in January (as that was when I initially thought about coming). I first began to start looking up how much it would cost for me to be there for 5 days, and saw it would be over $700 (and ladies and gentlemen, that amount was on the low end....). So, after seeing that was not going to work, I was reminded first that the Lord is the One who will supply ALL my needs, according to HIS riches in Glory, not mine.... In other words, I realized that He is the One that will orchestrate every detail regarding my going to Atlanta instead of myself.... So, from that simple WORD, I released those things that I was trying to do UNDER MY OWN STRENGTH unto the Lord, and "went on to the next thing...." Once I did that, the Lord then opened up the door for me to come to Atlanta for a weekend, as part of new business in my own company! I only paid about $80 for gas, which was a fraction of what it would have cost if I was to have come up there UNDER MY OWN STRENGTH! My room was paid for, and I didn't have to get a rental or plane ticket to get up there; instead, I was able to ride with a staff member of the company I was working with, and I was able to stay with the owners of the company, at their house!....
Plus, another dynamic of "deliverance" is that the TIMING of the entire thing was perfect too, because if I had tried to come up the week before the trip came about, I would have been driving back in the midst of a snowstorm that came to Atlanta at that time.... But notice here that when I released those things that I was trying to do under my own strength (and mind you, the strength to even release those things was something WHICH ONLY THE LORD CAN BRING....), THAT was when the Lord manifested Himself in the situation....
So, my friends, the point of all this is simple: I'm here to let you know TODAY that you cannot deliver yourself from where you are at; instead, ONLY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST can deliver you. I know this because for many years, I tried to deliver myself out of the situations I was in, but didn't have any success. Instead, EVERY SINGLE TIME that I tried to deliver myself from the situations or circumstances I was in, I would end up failing at it, which then bred frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, and even more pressure to get out of the situations. BUT THE LORD WAS FAITHFUL, and He literally came to me WHERE I WAS AT, and literally delivered me from where I used to be (which was a place of hustling, trying to make a buck all the time, trying to survive, TRYING to live according His WORD, etc., etc.) to a place of freedom NOW in Him (which is allowing Him to CAUSE His WORD to be so inside of me, CAUSING me to do what He said, CAUSING me to show goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, etc. towards others, and more)....
In the coming articles, I'll be sharing with you some more moments regarding the HOW of the Lord.... You see, it's not a thing of "God WANTING us to live according to His Way;" instead, we in the Body of Christ are PURPOSED to RECEIVE the WAY OF THE LORD by His Spirit, and as that is being spoken by the Lord to us and RECEIVED by us by His Spirit, we begin to see HOW He does things. And, as that is happening inside of us, the Lord then begins to TRANSFORM US, first on the inside, and then, He delivers us in the natural....
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