Deliverance to the Captive (September 2022)

One evening, Robert, Chaunta, and I had walked out our front door. Chaunta had visited with us for a while and was making her way to go home. It was dark outside, so we could only see by the light coming from the street. Chaunta glared into our yard and said, “What is that?” We all tried to adjust our eyes to see what was moving slowly across our property. My first thought was that one of the critters in our subdivision had made its way into our yard to eat some food scraps. Chaunta noticed it was a young racoon with something on his head. We looked closer and could tell that there was a plastic bottle on his head. It looked like a mayo jar. We realized that the racoon had tried to eat from the jar, and his head got stuck. Well, I am an animal lover, so I was feeling panic. I knew he would die if the jar was not removed. He could not eat anything, and I really don’t know how he was breathing. I began to pray.

Robert felt that he could remove the jar by simply grabbing the jar and pulling it off. He tried, but it was stuck tight. The racoon kept coming to Robert for him to help him. Chaunta even tried to remove the jar. But me? …I stood on the side and prayed in my prayer language. Chaunta held the light towards the racoon while Robert placed both hands around the jar. He quickly pulled on the jar, and the racoon was free. He scurried off in his freedom. Well, you would have thought that we were having a praise and worship service unto our great God, right there in the front yard. All of us had our arms lifted towards the heaven, thanking Him for setting this captive free.

Jesus stood in the synagogue and read Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised…” Jesus sat down and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” I want to reference two portions of this verse. “To preach deliverance to the captives” means to grant deliverance to those who are in prison; to break off the chains of bondage. Now, Jesus is not necessarily talking about those behind bars but those who are bound by demons. The second reference in this passage is “To set at liberty them that are bruised”. This means those who are “pressed down” by great calamity or whose hearts are “pressed” or “bruised”; to free them. Jesus is still freeing those who are held captive by demons.

Jesus said in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” Am I advocating that we can “preach deliverance to the captives”? …That we can set at “liberty them that are bruised”? Yes, I am. Obviously, it is His power, but we can carry the anointing to do what Jesus did and does.

Paul was preaching in a village, and there was a woman bound by a spirit of divination. The demon in her kept yelling out things to Paul. Her words sounded right but they were intended to distract those who were receiving from Paul’s preaching. Finally, Paul turned and said to the evil spirit, “I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour” Acts 16:16-18. Jesus set this captive free from a devil. Paul said in Philippians 4:9, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” Notice the word “do”. Jesus speaks to us in Mark 16:17 that in His name, we can cast out devils; give deliverance to the captives. Well, what is His name? It is Jesus. Jesus said, You “go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Child of God, you have the authority, power, and anointing through Christ Jesus to set the captive free. Ask that the Father draw those that are bound to Jesus. Remember, the little racoon kept coming up to Robert for his deliverance. Notice: he came to where his deliverance was. Amen!!!