Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13

In the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray, instructing them not to heap up empty repetitive phrases or to pray to be seen and heard. Rather, He leads them in such a way as to acknowledge the holiness of God, the sovereignty of God, and the daily need for God in provision, forgiveness, and deliverance from the temptation of sin.

It may seem strange to mention what we know as the Lord’s prayer in this blog post. I am reminded of this passage of Scripture when considering a book that was written a few years ago titled Deliver Yourself from Evil. This particular book focuses on “finding the entry points for demons in a Christian’s life and activating self-deliverance through confession and prophetic declarations.” The author who wrote this book told readers that casting demons out of oneself is part of the Great Commission found in Mark 16:15-18.

For those who may not be familiar with this teaching, self-deliverance is a prevalent teaching in the hyper charismatic movement and in the modern deliverance movement. It is essentially a subset within deliverance teaching, telling individuals that if a deliverance minister is not available, they are capable of casting demons out personally. People are told that if they have sin, generational curses, past traumas, or ancestral sin leading to oppression in their bloodline, this gives demons legal rights in their personal lives. This leads to the need for demonic deliverance where this individual confesses, renounces, and casts out the indwelling demon. From there, there are leaders who encourage “deliverance maintenance”, which is having demons cast out on a routine basis so that the devil is not given a foothold in a person’s life.

This teaching is problematic on many levels in that Scripture does not instruct born-again believers to cast out personal demons. The apostles of Christ did not instruct the church in any way to do this. Scripture does not tell us that demons have legal rights to indwell believers. It does not tell us that we need to confess the sins of our ancestors in order to be free. In fact, Ezekiel 18 would refute this belief, and Jesus Christ has brought freedom to us (Galatians 3:13). The Word helps us to understand that we are responsible for individual sin, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the remedy for our sin sickness and debt before God. Though this type of teaching may tip the hat in acknowledging sin, the responsibility is placed upon the devil, and this narrative is as old as the garden.

There is a far better and biblical teaching born again believers need to hear, and it is the teaching of sanctification. The Bible helps us to know how to deal with sin in our lives, which is encouraging. Romans 8:13 tells us that sin is to be killed by the Spirit. We are to kill the deeds of the flesh by the Holy Spirit. We are continuously reminded as fellow believers were in the New Testament to put on Christ and to not gratify the desires of the flesh. (For a helpful article on the mortification of sin, please read this from Sinclair Ferguson.) The apostles did not tell fellow believers to cast demons out in self-deliverance or in any other fashion. The focus was placed back on Christ and the deliverance He purchased for us with His own blood (justification) and the deliverance He provides from the power of sin (sanctification). 1 Peter 2:24 is a beautiful verse to help us see how Jesus provided our justification and our sanctification.

Some may be quick to blame the devil when they feel conviction or shame for their actions, and though we know that Satan and demons exist, and we know that the Bible instructs in how to engage in spiritual warfare, a born-again believer will feel conviction and shame from sin because of the Holy Spirit who brings to the forefront identity in Christ. Sin avoids the light that exposes its presence. Conviction is a gift leading us to repentance, and repentance is to be a continual part of a believer’s life. The answer for our struggles and our temptation to sin is not in demonic deliverance because believers in Christ are no longer under the tyrannical rule of Satan. The solution is understanding sanctification and its activity in the life of the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We have been given wonderful news. We are not the savior of our souls and our lives. If we can “save” ourselves, then we are misguided. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and the Lord’s prayer reminds us of our daily need for Him in every area of our lives. We will face difficult times in this world, and our response is to look to Christ. When the desires of the flesh want to rule, we renew our minds with the Word of God, being exhorted to put on Christ (Ephesians 4:17-5:1, Colossians 3:1-17). Jesus Christ is our Deliverer. Deliverance from the influence and temptation of the enemy in this world is one of those areas, and the Lord is faithful to help us in our time of need.

Listen to this episode dealing with the teaching of self-deliverance: The Lovesick Scribe Podcast: Deliver Yourself from Evil? on Apple Podcasts