The Importance of Deliverance

The importance of By Shannon Hodges DELIVERANCE

By Shannon Hodges

The front door slammed shut with intense force! Before I could comprehend that my daughter was leaving home for good, I was watching her as she drove off. A lifetime of negative emotions and wounds that had been stuffed down my entire life came erupting up and out of me like a volcano. Every mask I had in place was instantly off and my anguish and pain could no longer be hidden.

I started wailing. I’m not talking about crying hard but ugly crying. I didn’t realize a human could make the sounds that came out of me! The negative emotions spewed out. I didn’t want to stop them for the first time in my life. I didn’t care if others were uncomfortable because of my emotions.

What are the deeply hidden wounds and negative emotions I’m talking about? A lifetime of rejection, shame, fear, insecurities, worthlessness, heartbreak and church hurt. I was angry and brokenhearted! Growing up in a religious home and faithfully serving in the church, I could not understand why my life was a broken, hot mess.

I took a journey with God and began to understand why. You see, the -majority of churches focus on our spirit and the world focuses on the flesh. The soul has been ignored and it shows in the life of many believers. I hold the personal conviction that every single believer should go through deliverance. As a Deep Inner Healing & Deliverance Minister, one of the roadblocks I come up against is when a believer is

struggling and needs help but refuses to believe they have a demon.

When we receive Jesus as our Savior our spirit is made completely new and clean. Any demons that were in our spirits are kicked out; however, they can still have legal access to our souls (mind, will, and emotions) and body. Many people argue that Christians cannot have demons. I used to be one of them until God opened my eyes.

How does a demon gain legal rights in our life? The answer is simple, sin! There are three areas Satan uses to gain legal access into our lives. The first is Generational Sin. The Bible says that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the third and fourth generation. These sins create curses and pass down through the bloodline in the womb with demons attached to these curses.

The Second is sin committed against you.

“When we receive Jesus as our Savior our spirit is made completely new and clean.”

This could be through trauma, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, mental abuse, or any way someone hurts you.

The third is through our own sin. You see, we are a three-part being. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. The soul is the seat of our feelings, desires, affections, and aversions. The Gates of our soul are imagination, conscience, memory, reason, and affections. These connect to our five natural senses: seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, and touching.

The Gates of Our…

1. Imagination connects to our seeing (eyes).

This enables our soul to see. 2. Conscience connects to our smelling (nose). This helps our soul detect the presence of good and evil. 3. Memory connects to our hearing (ears).

This helps our soul recall or remember what we have heard. 4. Reason connects to our tasting (mouth).

This helps our soul compare facts as the taste compares foods. 5. Affection connects to our touching (hands). This helps our souls feel and connect.

In 3 John 2, “Beloved friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and that you continually enjoy good health, AS YOUR SOUL IS PROSPERING.”

Our hearts and the condition of our hearts are extremely important to God. Jesus came so that we may walk FREE. God cares deeply about wounds. Psalm 34:18 in The Passion Translation, “The Lord is close to all whose hearts are crushed by pain, and He is always ready to restore the repentant one.” Other versions say “brokenhearted” and “crushed in spirit.”

Demons are attracted to the wounds on our souls. It opens the door to create similar wounds. Have you wondered why a particular event keeps reoccurring in your life or your family’s life and the frustration that you feel? Many times, sickness is healed when the soul is healed.

The Bible says that the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy. Are you experiencing any killing, stealing, or destruction in your life? God tells us that we are to guard our hearts which is part of our soul. We are to renew our minds, which is part of our soul. Our will is either bent toward Satan or bent toward God.

What about the “gates” I mentioned? These gates are used as entry points through sin. What are you using your imagination for? What are you watching? What do you listen to? What about what you’re touching? Every time we defile these “gates” it allows the enemy access and over time, strongholds are created.

Does my story sound familiar to you? Is your family a hot mess? Are your emotions all over the place? Do you have a lot of mind chatter or negative self-talk? How is your health or your finances? I work with Christian clients weekly and every single one of them has been delivered from demons.

I didn’t think I had demons until I went through deliverance. I was shocked by what was allowed to come and go freely in my life. Afterward, I experienced heaviness lift off of me and striving stopped! I also experienced a major shift in my identity, soul cleansing, freedom, confidence and authority in Christ!

In John 14:30 Jesus referred to Satan saying, “But he has no power over Me, for he has nothing to use against Me.” There were no wounds in Jesus’ soul. The importance of deliverance is so that Satan has no power over us either and we can live free to rule and reign!

Shannon Hodges is a certified deliverance minister, author and speaker. She is a FREEDOM-BRINGER who specializes in helping others overcome their traumatic past! Her life passion is to partner with Jesus to see many people step into the highest level of freedom possible.

She began pursuing her passion by becoming an author of Simply BeYOUtiful: Discovering God, Find Your True Identity & Healing from Toxic Christians. In this book she shares her story of feeling like an outcast filled with shame, fear, brokenness, religious lies, and many forms of bondage.