Prescription For Deliverance Through Discipleship

By Dr. Joanna Graham Hutchinson

A prescription for Deliverance through Discipleship is a tool created for those in the body of Christ who desire more than a religious experience. This manual explains soteriology and salvation in three dimensions: initial, progressive, and eternal. It takes the believer on a life journey from accepting Christ as Savior to spiritual growth, the

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jan 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781640887305

Book preview

Preface

The doctrine of the apostles of Jesus Christ must be studied and lived out in the lives of those who name Jesus as their personal Savior. This doctrine must be taught throughout the body of Christ. When the chosen people of God rise up and proclaim this Gospel with lifestyle changes needed to demonstrate the holiness of God, those who walk in darkness will see Gods’ light, repent, and then walk in it.

When we lift Jesus from the earth, he draws all men to himself. We are called to be true disciples of Christ and to lift him up; as we begin the transformation process to become true disciples, we are lifting Jesus and depending on him to draw the lost to him.

It is my prayer that as you read, you will develop a greater desire to study your Bible. In order for information streams to connect in your mind, you must have prior knowledge. Unless you are familiar with the Bible, some statements I make will be new information. In instances where there is no prior knowledge, trust Holy Spirit to lead you into his truth. Allow yourself to learn as you build a foundation for additional truths. You do not need to be a Bible scholar to understand the different ideas, concepts, and theories here.

The information contained in this book is designed to draw you to your Bible and other resources to help you establish your own personal theologies about the subjects that are presented and discussed here. Much of what is written here is to provide a foundation for thinking and give you a jump-off point to establish personal guidelines for victorious living.

I write from the premise that this book will be used for individual and group studies and that each student will have a sincere desire to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

The questions at the end of each chapter are designed to make you think, learn to use your Bible, and establish your personal points of reference for each topic.

I believe the Bible was written for believers, and therefore I write for believers—those who seek to enhance their relationship with Christ and have a more intimate relationship with others while they rid themselves of the baggage they collected as they lived through the traumas and adversities of life.

In order to understand the things of God, you must belong to God or have a sincere desire to belong to him. The carnal (worldly, ungodly) man (mind) cannot comprehend (understand) the things of (Holy Spirit) God.

I respect the fact that you have decided to read this book. I pray that as you read, Holy Spirit will enlighten your mind, comfort your heart, prompt you to grow closer to him, and lead you to eternal salvation. I pray that with every fiber of your being you will yearn for intimacy with the Father every day of your life and that you will press past all hindrances to reach the status of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Use this easy read to book to enhance your relationship with the Lord and become delivered through discipleship.

Introduction

Deliverance through Discipleship is the name of a radio broadcast I produced, sponsored, and hosted several years ago. The response was overwhelmingly favorable. The church community in my city, Gainesville, Florida, was quite receptive to the contents and delivery method I presented.

Prior to this broadcast, I had been introduced to a set of books on discipleship and found the concept of discipleship life-changing. My eyes were opened to the need for a set of instructions for those who want a concise and straightforward set of directives.

As the minister for the singles at my church, I wrote a lesson called You Are What You Eat. When I presented the lesson, the group responded very well and was quite surprised to find that I had authored it.

A few days later, during a meeting with my pastor, I learned that he was interested in developing a discipleship training program for our church. I showed him the program I had purchased, but later thought that I should create something tailored to folk who need to be delivered from the works of their flesh.

After much thought, I decided to use the articles and sermons that I had written over the course of several years as a starting point to create a workbook. I wanted a simple, easy-to-read, complete, concise, written in everyday simple language, no degree required to comprehend workbook.

Much of the content of this book is the result of years of interacting with Father God. I learned to get with God every day and to acknowledge his continual presence with me. He showed me how to utilize his ability inside me to write and create a tool for the body of Christ.

Hopefully, many of those who have heard but ignored the voice of God calling them to a more intimate relationship will read these words and discover how simple it is to be a true disciple of Christ and to obtain deliverance from their bondage to sin.

The body of Christ has to respond to the call to go into the entire world, preach the gospel and make disciples. To do so will lead us out of our comfort zones, on our faces before the true and living God. The response to this call will take us outside the four walls of our church, into the hedges and highways, where the lost sheep of God are being held in bondage to the forces of hell (Luke 15:1–7).

A Prescription for Deliverance through Discipleship will empower believers to grow spiritually, win the lost, and live Zoe.

Unit 1

The Goal of Holy Spirit

Chapter 1

Spiritual Growth: The Goal of Holy Spirit

Introduction

The foundation for deliverance is laid in the fact that believers must follow the teachings of Jesus and use his Holy Spirit power to be transformed from the image of unrighteousness (sin) to the image of righteousness, becoming a (fruit-producing) tree of God, planted by the rivers of living water (Psalms 1:1–3 and Jeremiah 17:8). From practicing sin to practicing the righteousness of God, from being in bondage to our fleshly lusts and desires to being free to live holy, walk in love toward all, to maturity/perfection and produce the fruit of righteousness—this is the process that explains spiritual growth (Ephesians 4:13–15). Spiritual growth is the process by which believers become like Christ. This transformation into the image of Christ is the goal of Holy Spirit.

God puts a difference between holy and unholy and instructs his disciples to teach that difference to others (Leviticus 10:10 and Ezekiel 44:23). As believers, disciples in particular, we have been instructed to obtain the strength of God and to strengthen our brethren (Luke 22:31–34). While salvation is free, if we are to obtain this much-needed deliverance, we must seek for it. We have been instructed to enter the throne of grace with confidence and find grace to help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). This daily entry to the throne room of God is highly necessary if we are to learn how to exemplify the holiness believers are required to exemplify. This required holiness is obtained through daily intimacy with God and is the by-product of our quest for discipleship.

Each week in churches across America, hundreds—even thousands—of backsliders and sinners alike accept Christ, again and again. Few go on to become delivered from their fleshly lusts and the nagging, ungodly desires they were born with, acquired, and brought with them when they gave their hand to the preacher and their heart to the Lord.

We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We were all born in sin and shaped with iniquity (Psalm 51:5), and thus, there exists the necessity to be born again, out of sin. Marvel not, you must be born again (John 3:7). Failure to be born again leads to eternal damnation (John 5:29, Acts 13:40–41, 1 Peter 3:19, and Revelation 19:10, 14, and 20). There is no other way to escape the eternal flames of hell, except through the Person, Jesus Christ. Accepting Christ and allowing Holy Spirit to come inside and live in your heart is the only way to be saved from being controlled by the evil in this world and from eternal damnation.

The new birth is a process, an experience designed to transform the believer into the image of Christ. As the believer learns to feed himself from the body and blood of Jesus, the end result is deliverance from sin, spiritual growth into the images of Christ, and maturity. This maturity is the fruit of Holy Spirit manifesting in the believer’s life on a continual basis. Accepting Christ and receiving Holy Spirit inside your spirit is initial salvation (Acts 19:1–6). Growing to maturity in Christ (deliverance) is progressive salvation (Ephesians 4:16, Colossians 1:10, Hebrews 6:1, and 1 Peter 2:2). At the end of life, believers expect to hear Christ say, Well done, and this is eternal salvation (1 John 2:25).

The disciples of Christ have been given a charge to keep, a commission to fulfill (Matthew 28:19). We must go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every person (Mark 16:15). Failure to preach the salvation message of Jesus could lend us to the status of Ezekiel 3:18: God speaking, When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their lives, the wicked people will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. If we fail to warn the wicked of their unconfessed sin and their refusal to accept Jesus into their lives through faith, their blood could possibly be on our hands.

The world was turned right-side up by a few men who had experienced and preached salvation and the Holy Ghost empowerment through Jesus only. Jesus is looking for a few men who are willing to do the same, so will you be one? After all, what good does your faith do others if you fail to share it with them? Love isn’t love until you give it away.

In order to function outside the four walls of church and religious exercise, to win the lost to Christ, believers must grow past the infancy stage of development and become mature in their relationship with Christ and with others. Spiritual growth is a must. Holy Spirit placed inside your spirit will grow and reproduce fruit after its kind, fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).

The light of God must be shined on the spiritual growth concept in order to magnify it as a godly concept and the way of life for the believer who wants to become a true disciple of Jesus. A simple and firm foundation for spiritual growth is necessary for the believer whose desire and goals are to reach the perfection/spiritual maturity taught in the scripture. This is a simple yet profound way for believers who insist on being more than churchgoers to become disciples of Christ destined to reach the loss and change their worlds.

There are certain attributes of a true disciple of Christ. The major and most beneficial attribute is that he spends time with God. When you spend time with God, spiritual growth takes place. The power of sin is broken and destroyed off your life, and you develop into a mirror image of Father God. You will always become like the person you spend the most time with. Spend time with God and become like him.

Just as a seed cannot grow without earth, air, water, sunshine, and space, the seed of God planted inside your spirit won’t grow without proper nutrients and nourishment, eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus (John 6:54). In other words, growth takes place as we are being filled with Holy Spirit by reading and studying the Holy Scriptures, praying, fasting, being obedient to the Word of God, and witnessing to the lost. God sent his seed (Jesus) to die (to be planted into the earth) so that his fruit (Holy Spirit) could manifest (grow into a fruit-producing tree) and entice believers to eat of the fruit (accepting Christ as Savior), thereby causing the seed, from the fruit, to be planted inside earthen vessels (the spirit of man) to grow and become mature trees. These trees produce fruit (fruit of the Spirit). When unbelievers see the manifestation of the fruit of God on the lives of believers, they are enticed to approach and pick from the tree of life. Believers must dedicate themselves to the almighty Savior in order to entice others to approach, pick, and eat. This is a glorious cycle, one that will continue until the end of time as we know it (Psalms 1:3).

Through scripture, we learn how to successfully develop into a true disciple of Christ. Memorize and use this acronym as a reminder of the steps that lead you to transformation through spiritual GROWTH.

Get with God each day

Regularly read and study God’s Word

Ongoing obedience to the Word of God

Willingness to witness to the lost

Totally trust God to keep his promises

Honor the Holy Ghost power in the earth realm today

I heard the sad story of a couple who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. They were very happy to have this brand new little baby come home with them. They had no other children and were not aware of the fact that their baby was not growing and developing at a normal pace. After a few well-baby checkups, the pediatrician informed them that according to the other babies her age, she was developmentally delayed.

In as much as there was nothing these parents could do to correct this problem, there is something we can do when we are spiritually delayed and have failed to grow and mature in the things that produce spiritual growth and to obtaining eternal salvation.

No one has been given the ultimate responsibility to monitor your spiritual growth and development as a disciple of Christ except you. Do yourself a favor and pay strict attention to your ways, habits, thoughts, actions, attitude, and the way you respond when you are angry, stressed, or frustrated. In other words, locate yourself in God’s Word and then feed your spirit well so that you will be delivered and transformed into a true disciple of Christ. You must grow spiritually every day.

Getting Alone with God

The first step toward spiritual growth is spending time alone with God. We are told to live a life that is in constant connection to the Lord (John 15:4). As a newborn babe or as an undisciplined, self-centered believer, it might be difficult to program time alone with God into your busy daily schedule. As you insist on making this accomplishment, you will see that it becomes easier as time goes by.

When you get alone with God, you get with him for intimate fellowship, similar to that of two lovers. This is not for spiritual warfare; warfare takes place at a different time and we will discuss this topic later in this book. The more time you spend with the Lord, the more your appetite for sin diminishes and your desire for him and the righteousness of God increases. Intimate time with God leads to a humble takeover by God. Get alone with God on a daily basis.

As disciples, we are required to be intimate with the Father. Spending time with him causes us to become like him. Therefore, I ask you to look at yourself in light of the Word of God and in light of your former self, your former unsaved self. Are you different now than when you first believed? Is your tolerance level higher? Are you more patient and kind? Do you obey God’s Word and walk in love toward all? Have you learned to forgive? Are you in a state of constant and continuous transformation? If you answer no to either of these questions, I suggest that you do yourself and those you are connected with a favor—make a habit of getting alone with God on a daily basis.

Wrap your mind around the fact that the Lord enters the course of your life during those times of intimacy with him, just as men do when they copulate with women. Men make natural deposits of sperm into the vagina, which is designed to eventually intercourse with the egg and become a baby. The Lord deposits his Spirit into our spirits, and the end result is deliverance from sin, a renewed mind-set, spiritual growth, and Holy Spirit fruit along with the bling of Holy Spirit. The bling is the manifestation of the gifts of Holy Spirit in full operation. The bling is discussed at length in a later chapter. The end results of both types of deposits produce life. Men produce a natural life in women. God produces spiritual lives in all who believe. Both are fruit ordained by God. That’s why homosexual behaviors insult God. The tools being used are improper and incorrect and can never produce an offspring. There is no reproduction as the result of the homosexual sex act. The purpose of our natural birth is temporary, used to create an earthly existence, one that leads to or prepares us for a permanent heavenly existence. The purpose of our spiritual birth is for the permanent manifestation of the presence of Holy Spirit in our lives as believers, a presence that leads us to exalt God and make his presence known to everyone in the earth realm.

To make this fellowship with Father God productive, believers must get offstage, take their masks off, get naked, open up, and show themselves entirely to God, every flaw in their character, every habit of their flesh, every stain or gap in their soul.

The real you must be exposed in the presence of our loving Father. Locate yourself. Don’t use words and attitudes that cover or camouflage the true you or hide your exact location or level of spiritual growth. If you have lust in your heart, admit it and ask for forgiveness and power from him to overcome. He knows where you are and what’s inside you, but he wants you to be truthful and acknowledge your status, position, and condition. He can work with a truthful believer. Psalms 101:7 informs us that a liar won’t be allowed in the presence of God.

When you miss the mark, sin, or fall short of obedience, just admit it. When you are truthful and locate yourself, you uncover Satan in your life and bring light to the darkness in your soul and spirit, and you release the power of Holy Spirit into the cracks and crevices of the Lord’s temple, your natural body.

As you strengthen your intimacy with God, you learn to take all your concerns to him and trust him to be everything you need. Spending time with God leads you to let your guard down and rest. It also helps you walk in the truth of God. He is truth (John 14:6). Truth opens the door for you to be thoroughly purged and cleansed from dead works, the things that could hinder and cause you to be barren, unfruitful, and nonproductive. Dead works lead to rotten, diseased fruit, fruit that falls before its time and is incapable of reproduction (Malachi 3:11).

King David is described as a man after God’s heart. God loved David because David loved God and spent time with him. David kept God’s Word in the forefront of his mind (heart) (Psalm 119:11). When David’s’ flesh arrested and incarcerated him, he sinned and tried to hide it. Our loving Father sent the prophet Nathan to him with a message (2 Samuel 12:1–15). Nathan told David that God knew about his sin and would surely punish him. Yes! Our loving Father punishes sin. When Nathan pointed out David’s sin, David didn’t make an excuse for it; he repented and accepted his punishment. How many times do we mumble, grumble, complain, and blame God because we have yielded to the lusts of our flesh, made ungodly decisions, or sinned, things went south and we got caught? We did the sin, enjoyed it, and then blamed God for the outcome.

One of the best ways to get help from our Lord is to pray the prayer of repentance. Spending time alone with God is no guarantee that you will never sin willfully or never do or say something wrong. There is no such guarantee. It is a guarantee however that spending time with God gives you the confidence and the knowledge that when you sin, the forgiving power of God is available to you, just for the asking. When you ask for forgiveness, you will be forgiven, as long as you forgive others and remain in fellowship with the Lord.

The process of deliverance

Spending time with God is the key to victory and success in every area of your life. Once you overcome one thing, he shows you something else to overcome. You might find yourself thinking, Will I ever get right?

The answer is yes! As you spend time with God daily, the transformation continues. You will reach a day and a time when you search your flesh for the works that once dominated your life to find none. All of them will be gone, not hiding, but completely gone, never to be seen again, as long as you abide in the vine (John 15). Many remain in your bloodline and go to your children or other family members. When you are being delivered, make sure to address the demonic spirits and forbid them to go to your children or anyone connected to you. Send them back to the pits of hell!

When you get with God daily, you pray. Couples—boyfriends and girlfriends or husbands and wives who love each other—want to spend time together. The Creator God wants to spend time with us and teach us how to be intimate with him. Do we really want to be with him the same way he wants to be with us? If you love the Lord and want to be his disciple, you’ll want to spend time with him throughout each day. If you find that you enjoy television, talking to friends, pornography, or other pastimes as much or more than you enjoy spending time with God, I suggest that you question your salvation and your level of spiritual growth.

We go through cycles of being lax and complacent about our relationship with God, but complacency should be rebuked and denounced. It can never become the norm if we are to become delivered from the works of our flesh and grow into a true disciple of Jesus.

God wants to hear from you. He wants you to talk to him. He does not have stepchildren, only children. All of his children are instructed to get with him and pray daily. Prayer is an active effort on our part, to communicate with God, to listen as he speaks, to offer praise, to make requests or confess sins, to express thoughts, or to get our emotions healed and everything else we could possibly need.

Many great men and women of God do not know that it is possible for them to overcome the works of their flesh and live a life free from fleshly bondage. I assure you, it is possible to make a conscious decision to yield to Holy Spirit in every situation and deny your flesh the sinful things it desires. This is possible only through Holy Spirit’s presence as Lord of your life.

When you talk to people, it’s a conversation, but when you talk to God, it is prayer. To pray is to talk to God. Don’t let this little four-letter word scare you. Talk to him as if he is your best friend and is interested in everything you are interested in, because he is. He is into you as no one else in the world could ever be into you. He is into all of you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. He is interested in all of you.

Get into the habit of sharing all of you with him and he will share all of him with you. When you get with God every day in prayer and fellowship, he gives you the power you need to obey his Word, witness to the lost, and trust him completely.

Holy Spirit comes to comfort you in times of trouble and helps you with everyday decisions. He leads you on the path God has chosen for you. All of this happens when you get with God daily.

Daily prayer causes you to be transformed into a true disciple of Christ. As you get with God daily, the power of Holy Spirit subdues lusts and desires within your flesh. Prayer aligns you with the will and purpose of God for your life. Even if you have no head knowledge of what you need to do, when you spend time with Father, he supernaturally leads you in the right path and gives you victory and success in life, and he leads you to your preordained destiny.

Fellowshipping or being intimate with God or just praying to God takes on many different positions, postures, and forms. Prayer may be done privately, individually, or corporately in the presence of fellow believers. There are a variety of body postures that may be assumed while praying, standing, sitting, kneeling, prostrate on the floor, eyes opened, eyes closed, hands folded or clasped, hands upraised, holding hands with others, or laying hands on others. Prayers may be recited from memory, read from a book of prayers, or composed spontaneously as they are prayed. They may be said, chanted, or sung. You may choose to pray with or without music. It’s up to you. Prayer builds a relationship between the created and the Creator. If we are to be true disciples of Christ, we must get with God in prayer every day.

Building intimacy can be incorporated into your daily thought life called meditation. This is a way in which one is in constant communication with God. Some people pray throughout all that happens in their day; moment by moment during the day, they seek guidance as each problem arises. Some schedule time for fellowship during certain parts of the morning, day, evening, or night. Others only pray when things go wrong or when they sit to eat a meal, and I call this prostitution. There are many who forget to pray altogether, and then they wonder why their lives are out of order, out of control, and falling apart. I saw a billboard that said, Seven days without prayer makes one weak. When you find yourself falling under the pressures of life, check your relationship with God. Are you getting with him on a daily basis? Remember to abide in the vine (John 15:4).

It is difficult to detect malnutrition in the spirit. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell when your spirit man has been knocked down and has drifted into a coma. To keep him strong and alert, pray without ceasing as the scripture instructs in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. From the Message Bible, this scripture states that we should be cheerful no matter what, pray all the time, and thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants those of us who belong to Christ Jesus to live. In borrowed words, Don’t worry, be happy.

In order to bask in the joy of the Lord or enter into his rest (Hebrews 4:1–10), believers must learn to fellowship with the Lord, all the time. Let every breath you breathe be a prayer. Let your attitude be a prayer of some kind. Pray in every situation. No matter how things look in the natural realm or what your fate might seem to be, unceasing prayer is the will of God for those who are his disciples. God expects us to have confidence in him, his willingness and his ability to help us, by causing everything we encounter to result in something good for us, because we are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Luke 6:12 states, "And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God" (emphasis added). On this particular visit to the mountain, Jesus prayed all night. Have you ever prayed all night? Have you ever prayed for an hour? The disciples who do great exploits are the ones who give themselves to God during continual prayer—much prayer, much power; little prayer, little power; no prayer, no power.

Getting with God daily is mandatory for those who want to do the greater works that are assigned to this generation. Once you establish a foundation of prayer, there will be times when you don’t need to pull your mind into a conscious prayer mode. After programming or training your mind to be in prayer mode, your spirit will automatically take over and pray for the situation at hand, without your conscious consent. The intentional prayer times are for training and developing your spirit and mind to respond to life by conversing with Holy Spirit without the consent and involvement of your mind.

Regularly Read and Study the Word of God

The method by which God designed for believers to get to know who God is has been recorded in his written word, 2 Timothy 2:13. There is no substitute for the regular daily reading and study of the word of God. God’s word has life-giving and mind-changing power (Hebrews 4:12). Where the word of God is known, there exists an ample supply of direction, purpose, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and the will of God for the believer. If you fail to understand the word on your own, pray and ask God to help you yield to Holy Spirit as your teacher or lead you to the teacher he has designed for you to learn from. Romans 10:17 lets us know that the Word of God gives us faith in God. This faith will lead us to ask and receive.

Don’t get attached to one teacher, except Holy Spirit. Over the years, I’ve learned that God will use different teachers for different stages of development in our lives. Just like grade-school teachers, you should not expect to keep the same teacher from preschool to college. He has not instilled that much into one person. It takes the fivefold ministry to help believers develop into the fruit producers God intended us to be (Ephesians 4:12–14) for the perfecting of the saints. Study with the expectation that God will do several things, such as the following:

a. He will open your mind and cause you to understand his Word.

b. His Word will clean and purify you, starting with your mind-set.

c. Your spirit will be strengthened and capable of fighting against willful sin and ungodliness in you.

d. You will begin to live in obedience to God’s Word as your fleshly desires lose power over your flesh and die.

e. You will learn how to walk in love toward all.

f. You will obtain a desire to serve others.

g. You will witness to the lost and win souls to Christ.

I encourage you to study alone, in small groups, large groups, church groups, community groups, or family groups. It doesn’t matter how or with whom you study, but just study with those who know and love God and are open to the voice of Holy Spirit.

There is mega power in the Word of God, a super food, if you will. Even if you don’t understand what you read, when you make a commitment to read and study God’s Word, you will also be able to rely on God to open your mind to revelations of the scripture. You will begin a transformation that will continue as long as you feed yourself and seek to be a true disciple.

Insight

As I look back over my life, I reminisce about the adversities I faced from the time I accepted Christ as a young child to this time period in which I now live. I see how greatly my mind-set has transformed. I credit my transformation to the regular reading of God’s Word. I must admit, had I been more studious in the Word of God during the early times of my new life, I would be further along in the manifestation of the fruit of Holy Spirit and more skillful in the use of the gifts of Holy Spirit as well. The many pitfalls I fell into and distractions that took me away from the things of God would have been powerless against me had I been more consistent, tenacious, and focused.

Adversities come into