God sets me free!
I want to start a page on this site in dedication to how God is moving in peoples’ lives. I want this page to be a place of encouragement and a place to glorify God and his transforming grace.
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” — Revelation 19:10
What God did for another, he can do it again. If He did it for me, he can do it for you.
In my life, God has been moving in powerful ways these past two weeks. I have been taking a two-week-long discipleship class (Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm) that has been teaching me of developing a relationship with God, while breaking free of any bondage. Brian Connolly led the class (www.faithlikebirds.com), but there were also guest speakers: Jake Kail, Dan Mohler, Jessika Tate, and Caleb and Bethany Kuenzli. I strongly encourage you to look them up on YouTube and watch some of their sermons.
In that first week, Jake Kail taught on the topic of deliverance. I feel that deliverance can be a bit of an intimidating topic; maybe it’s not taught about much in the Church or maybe our perception of deliverance is a bit distorted. We see in pop-culture references to demons, exorcisms, and things surrounding this that have a lot of fear associated with it. However, Jesus made deliverance from evil spirits part of his earthly ministry. Casting out demons was a common occurrence for Jesus, and his followers are also called to set captives free. God wants us to walk in abundant life, without any strongholds. Deliverance is just the beginning.
“But on Mount Zion will be deliverance, it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance” — Obadiah 1:17
I hope that my testimony will show people that deliverance is a real thing and it’s not scary. People don’t have to live a life in suffering, but are able to be set free from bondage.
The first day Jake was a guest speaker, he talked about his testimony and deliverance.
As Jake was talking, he mentioned various types of demonic spirits: a spirit of anger, depression, torment, infirmity, fear. . . Once he said fear, I felt a weight on my chest. Jake kept talking about discerning the presence of an evil spirit, but I had this weight on my chest and my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it.
Jake started talking about a previous experience he had with a woman. He was preaching at a church on deliverance and mentioned a spirit of anger, and the woman got up and started shouting at him, threw a chair at him, and got up in his face. In that moment, he described having the peace of God upon him, and praying with authority over this woman. (He said he needed the peace of God to not be startled by the woman). The woman was healed of a spirit of anger, and felt peace.
While he’s talking about this experience to the class, the weight on my chest is growing uncomfortable and I’m getting hot. I start thinking that during the next break in the class, I’ll go ask Jake to pray over me to deliver me of a spirit of fear. At that point, I heard a voice telling me that God’s not going to do anything, God’s not going to show up.
Right after I heard this, Jake started describing what happened after the woman’s healing. She said that the enemy was telling her lies not to get healing. Upon hearing this, I thought “Okay God, now I really need to get prayer during the break.”
Jake went on to describe the five truths of demonic influence. However, each truth felt like an eternity. I felt so uncomfortable: my chest was heavy, my heart was pounding, I was getting hot, and I was now starting to breathe heavily. I wanted this spirit out of me.
Jake finally got to the end of the first session, ready to go into the break. He closed out the first session in a prayer and I was already starting to cry. Students were dismissed on their break to go to the bathroom or go get a snack. But I walked right up to Jake with tears in my eyes.
I told him what I was experiencing since he mentioned the spirit of fear. He began to pray over me (I don’t exactly remember what he was praying), and I started to sob uncontrollably. As he continued to pray, my body started to bend over, my knees hit the floor, and then my forehead went to the floor. I was still crying uncontrollably and I could feel my tears move up my forehead as I had my forehead touching the ground.
I’ve seen other people fall to the ground through deliverance before, but I did not think that it was going to happen to me. I remember trying to stand up-right during the deliverance, but I literally could not; I could not lift myself up.
After the prayer, I felt the weight lifted off my chest and I was immediately done crying. I just felt peace and the presence of the Holy Spirit. After the break, I shared what had happened to me to the rest of the class.
Going home after church and walking through life, I felt this new boldness in me. I was no longer stressed about trivial things, and I no longer felt anxiety in areas where I had felt anxiety before.
Earlier in my life I suffered from depression and an eating disorder. However, in finding my identity in Christ, I no longer suffer from depression and an eating disorder. (This was a long process, but I am so grateful for how God shaped me through that time period in my life.) Four years later, even though I am free of depression and an eating disorder, I still had fear and anxiety from that.
Since being delivered, I’ve noticed I no longer have anxiety in social settings or at work. I feel this new boldness, and I’m exited to share how the Holy Spirit has moved in my life
Praise God that I can be set free from anxiety and fear, and walk in God’s peace.
Again, I want to use this website to glorify God. If you have a testimony of how God has moved in your life, big or small, and you want to share it on this website, please email me at hello@foritisbygrace.com. You could write 3 sentences or an essay; it doesn’t matter, I just want to use this platform to share how God has been moving.
Also if you want to learn more about deliverance, I would strongly recommend reading Jake Kail’s book: Setting Captives Free. This book equips everyday Christians to effectively cast out demons, setting captives free with power and compassion.