How Do You Keep Your Deliverance

Now, we come to the question, once you have been delivered, how do you keep your deliverance? And I’ve got a series of instructions up there which we’ll go through in order. I always feel a kind of sense of relief when I arrive at the number seven. I hope that’s not superstition.

All right, first of all, the primary and the most important principle: When you have been delivered, if possible before you leave the room, deliberately yield every area of your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. By a specific act of your will and a declaration of your mouth, say, “Jesus, be Lord in every area of my life. My emotions, my attitudes, my sex life, my money affairs, my home life. I deliberately choose you to be my Lord. I submit every area to you.”

It’s like taking every key in your house, to every room and every closet, saying, “Jesus, here you are.” That’s the most important single thing. You see, Jesus said, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, we’ve read it already, he’s going around looking for somewhere else. And after a while, he says, “I think I’ll go back to my house.” And when he comes, Jesus said, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished, which means furnished.

Now, what was the mistake? Nothing wrong with having the house swept, is there? Good to have it cleaned out. And deliverance will help you to clean your house out. Nothing wrong with having it nicely furnished. What was the man’s mistake? It was empty, vacant. There was no other occupant taken in to replace the vacancy created by the evil spirit going out.

You know, I drive often through this country on my way to preaching assignments, and sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 days. So, around about 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening, when I want to find somewhere to spend the night as I drive through a city, my eye is looking for a neon sign outside a motel, and I’m looking for one word. You know what it is? Vacancy. And when I see that word, I know I can get in there. And if you are delivered, but do not yield yourself without reservation to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, in the spiritual realm, you’ve got a bright neon sign out which says vacancy. And it won’t be long before somebody will be knocking at the door.

Is that clear? I don’t know how to say it more clearly. Deliberately yield yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You are not strong enough to keep the devil out, but Jesus is. And where Jesus is Lord, no demon can come in. You are as safe as the Rock of Ages, but only on that basic condition.

Secondly, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

“Ephesians 5:18, ‘Be continually maintained full of’ the Holy Spirit.”

That means get baptized in the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, and keep on speaking in tongues. Keep on praising the Lord. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a puddle, it’s a river. A lot of people have a puddle experience. “Oh, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues in 1958.” Well, we aren’t living in 1958 now.

“Ephesians 5:18” says, “‘Be maintained continually full.’”

And that’s an obligation. How many of you believe it’s wrong for a Christian to be drunk with wine?

All right. Well, logically, it must be equally wrong for a Christian not to be filled with the Holy Spirit, because the same verse says both. And I believe it’s probably more serious not to be filled with the Holy Spirit than it is to be drunk with wine. I mean that. It doesn’t fit in with some theology, but I actually mean it. I think God can more easily help a person who got drunk once or twice than he can help a person who’s never filled with the Holy Spirit.

That’s the way I view it, on the basis of scripture and experience. The third principle is live by the Word of God. This cannot be emphasized too strongly. You do not live by your feelings. You’re not right because you feel right. This is so true about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “How do you know you got the baptism of the Holy Spirit?” “Oh, brother, I know I got it. I feel wonderful.”

Yeah, but tomorrow morning, you’ll feel awful, and then you’ll know you didn’t get it. Never let feelings be decisive. “How do I know I’ve got the Holy Spirit?” “‘Cause I asked God for the Holy Spirit, and he promised if I asked for bread, I’d never get a stone.” That’s how I know. I know by scripture. I have the scriptural testimony. I have the promise,

“Luke 11:13.”

I have the evidence,

“Acts 2:4.”

That’s how I know. What I feel is secondary.