An Amazing Deliverance Testimony

About 5 years ago I began counseling a gal I’ll call Bex, and Bex, though not her real name, has given me free and full permission to share her story. Bex came to me with a lot of darkness. She was extremely depressed and could barely participate each day in serving her family. She was also a cutter and had a lot of suicidal thoughts. It was clear to me on our first encounter that she needed deliverance, but I wasn’t sure how she would receive that information, so I prayerfully asked the Lord how to proceed. I, at the time, also would not have known how to engage in deliverance ministry, nor did I know of anyone that did. I was, however, willing to try and see where God led. 

So as I prayed about what to do first, it became clear that though Bex was a believer, she had very little idea of who she was in Christ. So that is where I chose to dive in. I started by sharing the gospel in fresh ways so that I could get a read on Bex and see if she really did know Jesus… She did indeed. Then I pulled out a Neil Anderson list of ‘ Who I Am In Christ’ (always helpful to have on hand!) and we started praying through each item together (this was over several weeks). We discussed each item on the list but then I also made her pray each item out loud, declaring the truth, and rejecting the lies she was choosing to believe about who she was, but also who she thought God was. Bex did NOT appreciate this form of prayer! She thought she had her thoughts lined up with God and didn’t see the need to say things out loud nor did she think she had anything to confess and repent of! So she was reluctant but played along… because Bex was desperate. She couldn't dig herself out of the hole she was in, nor could she figure out how to hang onto Jesus in the midst of such turmoil. But part of the problem was that she was too attached to me. I remember one time she called me a ‘rockstar’ and something akin to a ‘gospel badass’... which may sound like a great compliment but was really her idolizing me, rather than seeing her overwhelming need to surrender to Jesus. It became really bad one day when she admitted to me that based on something I may have said or did not say… that she would go home and cut herself. This was really not good… but because I could see she needed help I wanted to keep trying. On one of our last visits together she also admitted to me that on the drive over she wanted to kill herself at least 5 or 6 times, by either driving into a lake or into a big tree with her car. I was really scared for her. Within a week her husband decided to put her into a full-time care facility because he was so concerned for her life. After her month-long stay there, she reached out again for counseling, and though I really wanted to help her, received a very clear STOP from the Lord and so I had to release her into His care. It felt awful, but I knew I needed to be obedient and let God do things His way. But truly I wondered if I would ever see her alive again. I caught sight of her once at church, waved, and she blew me off. But I was just glad she was alive. I never saw her again after that.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and she friended me on Facebook (it is good for a few things!) I was so glad to see her alive standing with her family in a photo! Then Bex Face Messaged me! She had some questions about my Dark Night of the Soul… which at the time I took as odd. So I prayed and asked God how to handle our interchange. He asked me to leave an open ended thought in my text back and see if she bit - so I did! And she did! I had said, “Back when we were meeting together that is not what I would have said you were struggling with… but here is the info you requested - hope it helps!” This began a rather deep texting conversation as she dove in and asked what I did think back then. I said that she was struggling with severe depression, and oppression. I said that suicidal ideation and cutting always go with oppression. I used the word ‘oppression’ because I knew that Bex was involved in a Baptist church, and the idea that a believer could have demons would have been totally rejected. And I knew she needed to be delivered from demons! (As an aside, believers can be demonized … all of my deliverance encounters have been with believers, if we can have disease living in our flesh then we can have demons, I would suggest reading more on this!) To my surprise she bit again and wanted to know more … So then I told her she needed to find a local charismatic church (notice I didn't say Reformed church … because quite frankly my peeps - we are not doing this work YET), ask if they do deliverance work, and get on someone’s calendar! She was probably pretty leery… but to her credit talked about it with her friends. One friend was very interested! Brit - I’ll call her - she is also a Baptist but had the privilege of helping deliver her brother from demons and lead him to the Lord through powerful prophetic dreams that led her into this ministry. She was anxious to help others! So she and another of Bex’s friends dove in and gave it a try. It did not go well at first… but one very important thing happened for Bex. While they were praying over her … Bex heard the demon in her head declaring that they would never get him out. She also felt her face whip up into a sneer many times … she knew that she was not conjuring that sneer … it was something else. 

I talked with her on the phone after this attempt and was able to tell her that both that voice and that sneer were clear evidence that she had demons living within her that needed to go. She was no longer in much doubt of that and now was totally on board with the process of deliverance. It became clear too, that as I chatted with Bex, that Brit needed some more information and I offered my assistance. We ended up talking on the phone and I was able to help her understand more about why this attempt hadn’t gone well, and why it was so different with her brother. There were some things they needed to change: they needed to fast beforehand, they needed more spiritual authority in the room, and Brit needed to know that  demons come out easier from unbelievers than they do believers (not sure why that is … but that has been the experience of many). They also needed to have Bex report what she was sensing and hearing all throughout the process and pray specifically against lies and sensations in her body. They also needed to not only have a power encounter (just plain old kicking the demon out) but they needed to have a truth encounter (a process of listening to the Spirit and walking through confession and repentance getting rid of the demon’s footholds). 

The team began to really prepare and fast to try again for Bex’s deliverance. This time Brit invited a friend who is strong in the Spirit to join (more spiritual authority - either more people or a leader who's been doing it longer will do!) and they all fasted in preparation, and did some reading. This time both Brit and the other woman worked in tandem, Brit doing the power encounter work, and the other gal, the truth encounter work. All during the prayer time, Bex felt herself being pulled up toward heaven! She kept hearing the Holy Spirit say to her, “More you're not done yet, more!” Bex and the team were obedient and she confessed and repented of many things and then finally, Bex fell over feeling a total release from the demons! 

Bex reports now afterwards feeling so free in Jesus! She said that since her year of hell - when she and I were first meeting - she had believed that God had abandoned her. She couldn’t see how her self-hatred had so clouded her. She was unable to see that she really did not believe the truth about herself, who she is in Christ, or about who the Lord says He is. She even confessed to me that she had an inappropriate attachment to me, and wanted me to save her. BUT NOW she has intimacy with Jesus again and can sense His presence and nearness. She is walking in the freedom of the truth and no longer has taunting voices! She said there was one ‘echo’ since then but she was easily able to dismiss it as a lie because she does not want to go back to the way it was ever - or let any demons back in! Brit says of Bex … “Aimee I have never seen her smile like she does now!” Bex is free! 

Good heavens, I am so grateful God let me be even a small part of this story! But more so, I am grateful Bex is alive and is thriving with Jesus. Praise God!