God's arrows of deliverance

Can fall out if you don't hit hard

Hi overcomer :)

Sometimes what God promises you does not come to pass.

And as I've written before...

His promised gift gets stolen off you.

Super annoying.

So what can we do to nullify defeats like this?

Well.

This example may help...

In 2015 I ran out of inhalers on a weekend.

So instead,

I prayed for deliverance from Asthma I'd had since a child.

Plus I asked the LORD for freedom from the Asthma steroids I was on too* (This is not medical advice! This is just what happened in my life).

And all of a sudden...

The LORD showed me what to do.

And thankfully (after a few tentative stops and starts) in a few days it seemed that yes…indeed, I was healed.

This was a big deal to me because I'd had serious asthma since a child.

Countless folk had prayed for my healing for years too, yet nothing ever seemed to happen.

This time though,

When Holy Spirit showed me what to do...

The healing 'stuck'.

However,

A few years later (before Covid hit etc)...

While house-sitting for my Dad in Scotland a vile illness came upon me. Never had anything like it before or since.

First 24 hours I lay there burning up with fever.

Unable to move.

Next day was way worse...

A terrible weight seemed to straddle my chest crushing nearly all my breath out of me.*

It was grim.

And it entered my chest so fast.

Yet crucially, shortly after this all kicked off...

I had a witness in my spirit this illness had a demonic source. That it was not just a 'regular' illness etc. (See Proverbs 20:27)*

And so...

As I laid there praying in my mind (too weak to pray in tongues etc)... I also discerned this attack had a very distinct purpose.

To steal my freedom from Asthma back in 2015.

To destroy my testimony.

And indeed...

It took three days of intense warfare until I began to breathe to the point where I was kind of okay. And from there to begin full recovery.

The second night was the worst...

I wrestled all night fighting this stuff off.

And night hours are the worst eh?

Between the hours of 12:00am and 5:00am especially was like wrestling with a gang of invisible thugs thumping me all over.

However.

This time was different.

I was fighting back, hard.

And this scripture strengthened me a lot.

"And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.”

So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it.

Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot.

And he said,

“The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”

2 Kings 13:15-17 NKJV

Crucially my key to victory was this.

I was CERTAIN.

For remember overcomer...

Certainty is victory.

May this astonishing truth be your testimony…

"The certainty that...

What we cannot see EXISTS."

Hebrews 11:1b ISV

For me.

I knew,

And I was certain…

I had been set free by the LORD.

Plus I'd enjoyed four years with no medication, which boosted my faith.

No Asthma present. No doctors. Freedom actually.

Therefore,

When this attack suddenly smashed into my weekend...

I refused to hand over my hard won health. My freedom from Asthma. I held on to my faith refusing anything but victory.

Rejected wave upon wave of black thoughts like this...

"You fool. You stopped medication. This time you are going to die! Now you will die and it's your own fault. You can't breath, you will die! *

To such taunts I replied...

"I rebuke you in Jesus Name. Even if I die I will still trust the LORD my healer.

I rebuke every spirit sent on assignment to steal my health in Jesus Name.

Jesus gave me freedom from Asthma. So I refuse you or any power of darkness permission to steal it from me or over the health of my lungs.

I resist you in Jesus Name. I refuse to budge one inch.

I curse to death whatever sickness, virus or disease is attacking my body and lungs in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Shrivel up and die and be removed harmlessly from my body in Jesus Name!

I decree your death now in Jesus Christ's holy Name!

Amen!"

Now I wish I could say my health recovered after saying that prayer just once that night.

No saint. Not at all...

It didn't.

I still had to hold my ground.

SEVEN HOURS standing by faith... (between 10:00pm and 5:00am next day) on the second night alone. Resisting, insisting, ENFORCING prayer warfare... against the enemy before finally I sensed I was gaining the upper hand.

Even then I still had to continue to stand by faith for another 24 hours until the early hours of the third morning. (Easy to get what Paul meant by ‘wrestling’ with the powers of darkness in Ephesians 6:12 eh?)

Yet.

By then I knew...

I knew this 'weird illness' thing was dead.

The powers of darkness left.

And I finally fell asleep in the peace of GOD.

Therefore beloved of the LORD.

Remember.

The enemy is jealous of your gifts.

(He never gets any, hence he steals).

So when the LORD gives you a victory...

Train your arms to hit HARD like the prophet teaches below.

Be sure it's not lost...

"And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.”

So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.”

So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it.

Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot.

And he said,

“The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”

Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped.

And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”

2 Kings 13:15-19 NKJV

Finally always call to mind,

One far mightier than Elisha places His hand on yours as you take up your bow for Him. Your arrows will fly and hit their targets for it is Jesus who is guiding your steps to victory.

Be...

CERTAIN.

And so your victories will be permanent.

May it ever be so with you.

Bless you.

Dave.

PS. This version of Hebrews 11:1 in the ISV is so profound don't you think?

* This is not medical advice.

If you need medical help get it from a qualified MD. I am not one. This is my personal story. Do (only) what the LORD tells you not copy blindly what I or any other person shares.

After all...

Colossians speaks of Luke the beloved physician.

Doctors have a noble calling too.

*"The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts."

Proverbs 20:27 ESV