Delivered from the need to be delivered: The importance of Discipleship

Delivered from the need to be delivered: The importance of Discipleship

July 8, 2025

Some people stay stuck in an endless cycle of needing deliverance. But there is a moment where one that comes by love, truth, and proper training when you get delivered from the very need to be delivered.

The prerequisite is that you have to be truly free and healed. It is possible.

Let that sink in.

This does not mean you’ll never face spiritual warfare again. It does not mean you won’t encounter pressure, resistance, or the reality of demonic activity in the world. It simply means that not everything you feel is about you. Some of what you’re sensing is environmental. Some of it is relational. Some of it is the burden of intercession. And some of it is not yours to carry at all.


People who are often around deliverance ministries may start to confuse sensitivity with oppression. They begin to believe that every weight they feel must mean they are still bound. In some cases, they are not battling the demonic within, but they have not yet matured enough to rightly discern what is within and what is around. Without the right relational discipleship and eldership, they can spend years misdiagnosing their own growth as a spiritual problem.

This is why I believe deeply in the role of kingdom elders at varying levels and with various functions.

In a kingdom community modeled after Acts, elders are not just board members or organizational placeholders. They are the “mature ones.” They have expertise in key areas. They know how to walk in council with others. They help set standards, not with a religious ruler, but with righteous rhythm. They have earned the right to lead, not because they are perfect, but because they are faithful and proven. And they are still very human.


Elders help anchor deliverance inside discipleship. They understand that deliverance is not the whole journey. It is an important part of the journey and it can occur in a multitude of different ways. It is never about a method, it is always about THE MAN, Jesus Christ.

You can disciple someone faithfully. You can build relationship. But when that person hits a wall because there is a spiritual stronghold or demonic legal right standing in the way, deliverance must step in. That is not a failure of discipleship. It is the ministry of Jesus in fuller expression.

Deliverance is not only about casting something out. It is about calling someone forward. It is a “deliverance from” and a “deliverance to.” From bondage to purpose. From fear to fullness. From deception to destiny.


But here is the danger: when deliverance ministry becomes the primary expression of maturity, and discipleship is lacking, even the most sincere people begin to internalize everything. They live in constant introspection. They are always measuring their spiritual temperature. They take their own pulse every time the room shifts. And what was once a moment of freedom becomes a lifelong suspicion of themselves, and then of others. 

Ironically, this posture itself can become an open door. Why? Because the underlying condition is fear. And fear tolerated is always fear accommodated. 

“There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.”

So in a loving, Spirit-filled community, where agape rules the day, fear can no longer hide. The closer we get, the more those hiding places are exposed. And that exposure is not rejection. It is invitation. It is healing. 


Let me say it plainly. Some of you need to be delivered from the needto be delivered.


Here are some signs that might be you:

• You constantly internalize spiritual pressure and assume it must be personal bondage. Nobody else verifies.

• You are always taking your spiritual pulse to measure if something is still wrong. Nobody else sets the pace.

• You expect to manifest at every ministry time.

• You feel disqualified from leading because of your past even though you’ve repented and been restored. Nobody laid hands and openly declared it.

• You resist relational accountability because it feels too exposing. Nobody challenged it.

• You struggle to trust your discernment, always second-guessing whether what you sense is from God or from your wounds. Nobody helped heal them.

• You see yourself as a problem to be fixed rather than a person being formed. Nobody else is prioritized more than how you feel about yourself.


If that’s you, hear this. Deliverance is not a punishment. It is a grace. But when that grace has done its work, it is time to walk forward in faith, not backward in fear. I call this “deliverance to” and it ends in destiny.


Jesus didn’t say, “Come out and stay in recovery forever.” He said, “Come out,” and then He said, “Go and sin no more.” He healed people and then told them to walk. To return to family. To take up their bed. To follow Him.

It is time to stop circling the same mountain. It is time to grow into your authority. And that starts by being delivered… sometimes from the very felt need of being delivered.