Instantaneous Deliverance?

god delivers the israelites from egypt
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If GOD did not deliver the Israelites from the hands of Pharoah and his minions instantaneously. If GOD chose to take the nation of Israel through a deliverance process that involved a considerable amount of time. Then why do we today always expect instantaneous deliverance in every situation?

Now I know that I know, I am going to mess up some of y’all psyche, belief systems, rituals, and mindsets. But let’s think about this. There is nowhere in the Bible where a single person was ever healed instantaneously. It always, always involved a process.

The Nation of israel deliverance process

Shortly after being taken into exile as slaves to Egypt, the Israelites started to complain and murmur concerning their plight to not only their captors but also to their GOD. (See Exodus 2:23-25).

Did you notice the steps? Now, if we go back a chapter in Exodus, we learn in time that Joseph and all his brothers died (verse 6). Sometimes afterward a new king was inaugurated into power in Egypt (verse 8). He soon noticed the growth, influence, and power they had gained. So, this king decides to enslave the Israelites and appointed brutal slave drivers over them (verse 11). They worked the Israelites ‘without mercy’ and then implemented a plan to eliminate the Israelites by murdering every male Hebrew boy within a certain demographic (verses 15 through 22).

Many years passed and the Hebrews desire relief from their harsh predicament. They pleaded with GOD for many years before GOD finally decided they had repentant and were ready for the second phase of their deliverance process. So, yes, the first step of any deliverance process is the mental prepping of an individual or a group or nation for what will come, what they will have to endure and go through to obtain their full deliverance.

So, now that they have sincerely repented and GOD is now ready ‘to act’ on HIS people’s behalf (verse 25). 
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​SIDEBAR: Verse 25 of Exodus chapter 2 says, GOD looked down on HIS people “… and knew it was time to act.” To act is stating that GOD acknowledged HIS obligation to help HIS people. 
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This is where Moses comes in, which he too had to go through a process throughout his entire childhood and most of his early adult life before he was ready to move on GOD’s behalf to take GOD’s entire nation through a corporate process to obtain their deliverance as a nation. (See Exodus chapters 1, verses 15 through 22; and chapters 2, 3, and 4 to verse 29).

Then the elders (leaders) among the Israelites had to go through their process to receive and try to understand what it was GOD was doing in and through Moses and his brother Aaron to set them all free from the hands of Pharoah. (See Exodus chapter 4 verses 29 through 30). In these two steps
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1. GOD had to convince Moses to accept his divine calling and purpose to set GOD’s people free, aka deliver them.
2. Then GOD’s leadership among the nation had to be receptive to not only what GOD was doing but also who GOD selected to do it through. 
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NOTE: If the leadership of Israel would have rejected the one GOD had selected to help set them free. Then it would either delay their deliverance process or they would have forfeited their right to be freed altogether and forever remain under the grip of a tyrant kingdom. 

So, so far, we have seen a two-step process to obtain deliverance. 

1. Mental – the undoing of mindsets, belief systems, habits, complacency. We must acknowledge that this process is different for every individual. Some will take longer than others. Either way, when dealing with strongholds that exist and are rooted in the mind. This can take many years of undoing before a person, is one, ready to receive their breakthrough, yet along actually obtaining it.
2. Appointment by GOD – GOD and HIM alone must put in place a leader and that individual’s supporting cast to implement GOD’s plan of action to deliver an individual, a group, or a nation from themselves and or their enemy. Self-appointed men or men appointed by men NEVER works. Deliverance will never work when it is done by man or his own self-will – man’s attempt to deliver or rescue himself. IT WON’T WORK. IT WON'T STICK. GOD must be involved, in complete control, and appoint the individuals who will do the work to ensure a successful deliverance. 

​Just taking into considering these first two steps, it is obvious to see that there is no way anyone can achieve instantaneous deliverance. It just does not happen. With these two steps along, it can take years. For some people and environments – decades. This is not rocket science. And we as the Body of Christ really need to stop putting this kind of unnecessary pressure and expectation on people. It is unrealistic, unloving, not justified, and not right nor fair to cripple people with impractical goals and personal religious ambition. And it sets them up for failure. 

This moves us into step 3 of the deliverance process.

Once a person or group or nation (1) realizes they need a deliverer to deliver them. (2) Genuinely want deliverance. (3) Sincerely repents and seeks GOD for their deliverance. (4) THEN GOD turns HIS attention to the person, group, or nation that needs deliverance and decides to act on their behalf. (5) THEN GOD puts people and things into place to achieve that deliverance. (6) THEN, IF the individual or the people the deliverance involves, agree to and follow ALL the provisions GOD puts in place. There are two more steps in the deliverance process. (NOTE: There is a fifth element – maintaining that deliverance or freedom, but we won’t cover that here today).

Step 3 of the deliverance process is THE PROCESS itself. What a person, group, or nation must undergo, experience, have to endure, or encounter. The transformation they must receive to obtain the prize or the results they want. Next to the mental process of deliverance, this is the most tedious, difficult, demanding, and complex part of this 5-step deliverance process.

For example, many of yall know my background with homosexuality. That journey for me, once I decided I needed GOD and I could not obtain the freedom I desperately wanted without HIM. That began for me a 5-year journey from undoing mindsets I had learned. To relearning my Bible and about GOD and HIS ways and HIS expectations. To gain mastery over certain sexual behaviors I had become accustomed to and enjoyed to a degree. I had to learn to change my environment, and the people I hung out and socialize with. I could no longer listen to certain types of music that I enjoyed. I had to change my career, who I did business with, and the partnerships that I had built. I had to learn to hear from GOD for myself and practice total obedience. Then I had to learn to grow up in Christ which meant rejecting the things, hopes, and dreams I may have had, especially those things that are attached to this world.

That five-year journey was tough. My flesh, Satan and his minions, family and friends, and my environment and surroundings did not make my journey easy at all. I gave up everything. And I mean everything. I hit rock bottom. Was left with nothing. At some point, I had to become totally dependent on GOD to provide for me through the goodness of others’ grace and mercy. HE, GOD broke me. But TODAY, PRAISE JAH! I AM NOT THE SAME WOMAN I WAS WHEN I FIRST STARTED THAT PROCESS. I am not. And I am not easily tossed here and there by people’s opinions of me, people’s thoughts about my shaky past, or my successes today because I have endured GOD’s process.

The point is to get me completely delivered from the many strongholds I was dealing with at that time, it took GOD a total of 5 years. A friend of mine came out of that environment the same time I did and it took that person only one year and a few months before this individual experienced their total deliverance. Same issues with similar processes. Same results. But different duration. But in each situation, neither one of us was delivered instantaneously. Each one had to undergo.

Step 1 – a change in our mindsets, belief systems, habits, and complacency.
Step 2 – GOD had to relocate both of us from one state to another. And then initially appoint one person that spent that first year with us helping us to walk this thing out. And then later inserted the Body of Christ into our lives to help us further grow and mature. 
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SIDEBAR: Now, I got to say. This was the most dangerous and difficult part of my journey. Because most in the church, once my past became appropriate, were not willing to receive me and what GOD was doing in and through me. I became a target. Many refuse to believe that GOD can change you or I should say change a person who has lived a homosexual life; nor believe a person can maintain it. So, because leaders were making it difficult for me. You can imagine what members of the congregation did. (And I say leaders as a whole because if one is allowed to do it then they all are responsible in GOD’s eyes because they are one body).

My second, third, and fourth years of my deliverance process were horrible. I really don’t know how I survived all that because of CHURCH people. Well, I know how but I am making a point.  Here I want you to understand that season in my life was dangerous because GOD was setting things in place for my success. But the Church was doing the complete opposite and trying to tear me down in the process. What I went through by means of men and women in the Church should have forced me to quit. To turn away from the Church and even go back to what I was doing before. BUT GOD!

If I have gained anything from that experience. It has helped me to not be bothered by people’s opinions, what they think about my past or me in general. And its helped me to not be easily tossed here or there by the church’s idiosyncrasy. 
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Step 3 – then there is THE PROCESS. In the process, GOD tailors this for each individual, group, or nation. There is no standard, routine, or protocol anyone can follow. Each individual brings about a different set of problems and needs. Therefore, each deliverance needs to be adjusted and adapted to meet that individual specific needs and structure. In deliverance, there is no one size fits all. And if a church, ministry, or individual is implementing such practices on your behalf – RUN, run for the hills. You ain’t going to be set free there. What you particularly must undergo, experience, endure, or have to encounter to obtain the results you want. Will certainly be different from everyone else that comes along seeking to be delivered from the same thing, habit, or practice. 

No such thing as insTANtaneous deliverance
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Now, you see just based on the time that is needed to get a person, group, or nation to a point to acknowledge they need deliverance. Then to put the right people into leadership roles to help achieve deliverance. Then to get a second set of leaders to understand and agree to the deliverance process. And then to go through the actual deliverance process. As you see, deliverance in itself can never and will never take place instantaneously. To claim such a thing is an error and is not supported by the scriptures anywhere.
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