Healing Through Deliverance
Many people who are oppressed by evil spirits do not realize that the cause of their oppression is demonic. Some have lived with their struggle(s) for so long, that they come to accept their conditions as incurable or even normal. In Luke, chapter 13, Jesus encounters a woman "who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all." (Verse 11). Had this woman been living in the USA, she might have been told her condition was "arthritis." If she was living in Vietnam, she might just consider this the result of bending over too many years in the rice fields.
Jesus, however, knew that her physical condition was the result of a spiritual cause. He said, "…should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free … from what bound her?" (Luke 13:16). His approach was, 1) to release her from the spirit of infirmity, then, 2) lay hands on her for healing. (See Luke 13:12-13.) I-61 prayer teams witness this same pattern often in our ministry sessions.
One woman we prayed for had been tormented by evil spirits for many years. After her deliverance she slowly began to discover that, as a result of her deliverance, many kinds of afflictions were healed. Here is a portion of the list of healings she provided to I-61 as part of her testimony: "no more anxiety, no more back pain, no more lock-jaw, no more dependence on Chapstick, no longer light sensitive (do not need sunglasses all the time), no more depression, no more nightmares, no more getting up every 1.5 hours every night, no more absent-mindedness," and many more! She also was healed from a spirit of blindness. Prior to a prayer session her doctor had told her that she had either a tumor, or aneurism, or poor circulation, and as such, she was losing her eyesight. She could only see a few feet in front of her. After prayer her vision was fine and the doctor declared her totally healed!
Some Christians doubt that Jesus is still in the healing business. Thank God, He is! "Those troubled by evil spirits were cured" Luke 6:18.
