Deliverance prayer sessions

Deliverance Prayer Sessions

Preparing for Deliverance

Preparing for deliverance is basically a process of drawing near to God and purifying ourselves from as many sin footholds as possible. Evil spirits use footholds to attempt to keep us in bondage. When the footholds have been removed by confession and repentance, the spirits are less able to resist being expelled. Here are some suggestions for actions to take leading up to the deliverance date:

Inventory current and past sin (see our Deal with Sin page)
Confess & repent from the sin as you are able. Note that demonized persons sometimes experience a “blocking” effect when trying to renounce past sin (especially occult sin). Manifestations may include difficulty in speaking, severe distraction and/or severe exhaustion. If these occur, take note of the sin area you are attempting to deal with and inform your deliverance team of what you are encountering.
Ask sincere Christians to pray for you as often as possible. Prayer cover is something that will help you maintain some semblance of peace as you approach the deliverance session date. Email is a great tool by which you can create a "prayer support team" who you can email your prayer request updates to quickly.
Saturate your mind with the word of God daily as you draw near to the deliverance session. Load the word into your mind through daily devotion Bible studies, scripture memory/meditation and scripture tapes/CD's
Surround yourself and your home with atmosphere of praise & worship
Daily prayers for peace, protection and victory: Examples: Binding evil spirits influencing you & loosing God’s peace and deliverance; Pleading the blood of Jesus over you and your mind
Fast: Fasting strengthens your spirit and brings your body into submission to your spirit

You can expect resistance (from the evil spirits) to increase as the deliverance date approaches. Like apartment tenants who resist eviction, demons resist deliverance. Some of the demon's ploys we know of include:

Try to increase your addictive behaviors
Try to increase your emotional conflict
Scare tactics to increase your fear of going through with deliverance
Doubt attacks (thoughts like "You'll never get free," or "You won't be able to have any fun once your delivered")
Try to point you into self-destructive behaviors
Lack of peace, fitful sleep, nightmares, etc.

If you reach this point and are under attack, take courage and don't allow the devil to weaken your resolve to be free of the demonic bondage. The devil is a defeated foe and knows at this point that he is on the way out. Your debt was paid and your freedom purchased 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ. Be encouraged in your faith to persevere and proceed with the deliverance as God directs you.

Deliverance sessions

Format: Every deliverance session will likely be unique depending on you, your deliverance team and the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Some events typically included in deliverance sessions:

Beginning prayers, praise and worship
Binding & Loosing prayers: Binding the demons from violent manifestations; binding demons from all power sources / Loosing God's plans for freedom and deliverance
Protection prayers: Pleading the blood of Jesus Christ over persons present, the room and the atmosphere all around
Prayer for direction: Asking the Lord for guidance on how to proceed with the deliverance
Invitation prayers: Inviting the Lord and his angels to come into the room; Inviting the Lord to heal and deliver
Confessing and Renouncing: Confessing and renouncing specific sin areas, especially those associated with the bondage
Commanding in the name of Jesus: Taking authority in Christ over the demons and commanding them to leave the demonized person. This is often accompanied by reading of key passages from the scriptures that support the believer’s authority over evil.
Prayer for healing: Asking the Lord to heal any emotional, spiritual or physical wounds from the past that may be serving as footholds for the current oppression
Prayer for cutting soul ties: This severs any sinful connections of our soul with other people, spirits or objects.
"Soaking" Prayer: This is when the deliverance team prays quietly in the Spirit for the person seeking freedom. Soaking prayer is often used in praying for healing, as documented studies have shown that prayer applied over a time period yields healings. Praying in tongues is a useful tool for this type of prayer, especially when the deliverance team is unsure of how to proceed.

What to expect: There are a wide variety of deliverance examples in the Bible. Some went quickly, and others were more drawn out. Certain "classes" of demons do seem to offer more resistance than others. For example, spirits associated with occult sin (all sex sin is in this category) tend to be the most tenacious. Deliverance from occult spirits may include manifestations. There is no reason to fear demons if we are trusting in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God has given us the authority and the spiritual surgical tools to remove the evil spirits and restore wholeness to the freedom-seeker.

Your responsibilities

Believe: Faith is the key ingredient that will release God's power in your life and help you break free. There are several beliefs that our faith must be anchored in:

You have authority over all evil spirits through your faith in Jesus Christ (Luke 10:19-20)
The word of God is living and powerful; it substantiates your claim as an heir to the kingdom of God and the authority of Christ (Galatians 4:7)
You have overcome the power of the devil through Jesus Christ (1 John 4:4; 1 John 5:4-5)
God will deliver you from evil and preserve you for his heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:18)
You have the Holy Spirit’s live-in help to stop your sinful habits and to live a new life practicing righteousness (Romans 8:11,13)

Don’t give up: Deliverance can be challenging, but with God’s help, you will be successful. Your resolve to continue through the session will be a great help to you and your deliverance team. Stand united with them in resolve to rid yourself of the evil spirits. Don't listen to the lies the devil will use to try to weaken your determination. Sample lies include:

"You’ll never get free"
"Life without sin will be boring"
"You don’t really want us to leave"
"You can’t live without your pet sin" (or "You'll die without it")
"You know we’ll be back, so why even bother resisting now?"
"God can’t use you because you’re a rotten sinner"
"God has already given up on you; you’ve got no hope"

Be honest with your team: Complete honesty with your team about how you are feeling and what is going through your mind is very important. This will help the team navigate through the session. If you don’t feel free at the end of the session, don’t feel obligated to say you’re free. Also, if you are feeling uncomfortable about how the team is proceeding at any time, share this with them. If something doesn’t seem right, don’t be afraid to ask for a break to share your concern and/or to pray about what to do.

Have courage and don’t fear: The devil does not want you free from demonic bondage. He will use fear and lies to try to keep you in bondage. Your faith in God will directly neutralize any fear tactics (Deuteronomy 31:6). Your reliance on the word of God (the truth) will destroy any lies the devil tries to tell you (John 8:31-32).

Follow-up sessions

Deliverance from major demonization may need to take place over several sessions. There may be many spirits involved, and it’s possible that the Lord may direct a gradual deliverance so that the freedom-seeker can adjust to each change along the way. A one shot deliverance would obviously seem best, but don’t get discouraged if more sessions are required.

Proceed to next page: Deliverance Follow-up

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