Today was Church landscaping day… and I missed it.
However, I decided to begin the removal of about a dozen large holly bushes that line my driveway. It started to rain about the time I started, but I decided that working hard in the rain wouldn’t kill me. The area under the bushes was infested with virgina creeper. After I got the large limbs off, I started to rake the leaves from around the stumps, and couldn’t easily do it because of all the vines. I realized that these vines would totally prevent me from being able to pull out the stumps with my truck, so I began the task of pulling them all out.
While pulling, the Lord started dialoging with me about deliverance. First thought: “Bad Root, Bad Fruit”… then it got deeper.
Removing layers of demonic strongholds in an individual’s life is like this job (roots=strongholds), First, these things weren’t moving without getting rid of the roots at the foundation of each plant, but the roots were covered with leaves. Leaves = circumstances and events. The busy-ness of our life makes us look functional and normal, but they are dead, insulating cover. So in a deliverance session, getting the circumstances (life story) out of the way lets you see where the roots are.
So you see a root, and you start to pull, but with all the intersecting roots, you quickly realize that one usually leads to ten! You quickly realize that you’re not going to get the one out without dealing with all of them! Authorized demonic strongholds (we’ll call them “demons”) have blockers which are smaller issues and authorizations, untruths, unforgiveness, lies of the heart–“the sin that so easily entangles”. Each one of these must be dealt with. (Hebrews 12:1, NIV)
Pull or cut? Yes and yes–both. Pulling is done in your own power. You can eliminate minor lies and reason and council away many things that simply need some truth applied, which is really no more than clearing up spiritual misunderstandings. Cutting is using the sword of the Spirit, the Word, (Jesus); or in this case, 1-1/2 inch, 3x leveraged root cutters. Sure there are many we can pull in our own strength, but with the bigger ones we risk personal injury–especially when the root is secured on both sides and only the middle is exposed (symptoms of strongholds in life that are authorized in more than one place).
Occasionally, I ran across a root that crossed over into the neighbor’s parallel line of holly bushes. They were usually large and rubbery, and really difficult to pull (and I’d have hurt myself if I tried). What the Lord told me was to stick to what I was called to. I cannot remove someone else’s (third party) issue, and some roots are going to have to stay in the ground until a later time when the owner tends his own garden. There are issues I’m sure, where deliverance is not accomplished because the root is buried on both sides of a relationship. We can only take care of our half (how many times have I said that?!).
About this time, my lovely wife brought me a much-appreciated drink and the discussion with God was over, but as is often the case, I realized again the truth of Romans 1:20, and thought to myself two things: 1. God likes it when we garden, it’s almost like that’s what we were made to do, and 2. Usually, the deeper revelation comes in time of greater sacrifice. Those who do what others won’t (work hard in the rain) get what others don’t–a really fun discussion with my Dad.