Being a prophetic Intercessor who is given a life of prayer and entrusted with the call to repentance I have written so many articles on the power of prayer. Likewise seen and read testimonies of God’s visitation in answer to prayers in many difficult situations, issues, and circumstances in human life and revival in many churches and nations which ordinarily are impossible.
I want to trust God today for His visitation on your situation, the Word of God says, Phil. 4:6-8 “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.
When we pray according to God’s will, with the right motives, He hears us, problems are solved, and evil spirits take their leave. Satan trembles with trepidation. More also, God reveals His plans and purposes for our lives, communities, churches, and nations. God reveals His glory in answer to prayers.
*The end of 38 years of captivity .*
You are acquainted with the story of a man who was afflicted with infirmity for 38 years. Who was
behind this man’s captivity? What caused this? How did he get delivered? What lesson can we learn from this man?
The Bible says in
John 5:1-9 that, ” Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.2. Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a [a]pool, which is called in Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic) Bethesda, having five porticoes (alcoves, colonnades).3. In these porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, [b][waiting for the stirring of the water;4. For an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.]5. There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.6. When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”7. The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.”8. Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk.”9. Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and [c]picked up his pallet and walked.
*Now, let us answer those questions.*
Satan was behind this man’s problem: When Satan and billions of angels lost their position in heaven they were cast down to the earth because of sin. God hates sin passionately. When Satan landed on earth, he took over the earth by delegating his high-ranking members among the league of his evil spirits to control every nation and other significant social networks of human beings throughout the world.
Their major assignments are to prevent God from being glorified in their territories, to steal, kill, afflict like the case of the man at the pool of Bethesda, and destroy one’s life. They do this by directing the activity of the lower-ranking demons. God says in Rev.12.7 -11,” Then there was war in heaven. Michael and the angels under his command fought the dragon and his angels.
And the dragon lost the battle and was forced out of heaven.
This great dragon–the ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world–was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.
Paul says in Eph.6.12 -For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
Satan and his evil spirits have always been responsible for all the evil vices that are ravaging the world. He has put billions of people into different afflictions, captivities, deceptions, and lies by exchanging their souls for power, positions, wealth, fame, sex, etc.
Read also: Fasting and praying, keys to set the captive free: https://churchtimesnigeria.net/prayer-fasting-captives-free/
*God’s glory revealed through Jesus Christ:*
But I have good news for you. God out of His love for us, sent Jesus Christ His only begotten Son to the earth to reveal God’s Glory, destroy Satan’s evil works, take over his fortified territories, and set his captives free. Praise God.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
*His Encounter with Jesus brought his absolute deliverance:*
If you can pray today if you can cry out to Jesus to help you. If you can ask Him to save your soul. He will answer and speak to your situation and you will be delivered as He did to that man at the pool of Bethesda who was a captive of Satan for 38 years.
With just one encounter with Jesus, his present situation was overturned. His life changed tremendously.
I don’t know your situation, are you discouraged and downcast? Are you weeping or complaining in your marriage, business, ministry, or job? Are you tired of life and you’re at your last option: suicide? What is your present situation, hopelessness? Has your sickness resisted medications and, is death looming already? Are you being cheated or disappointed by those you trusted? Have you lost anything or something and it seems there is no hope of recovery?
Have you tried all humanly possible avenues to get out of that captivity?
Do you know God could actually forgive and pardon your numerous and abominable hidden sins? Do you know you can get out of that overwhelming addiction? Do you want deliverance from the spirits of witchcraft, occultism, ritual practice, idol worshipping?
Do you know you can be free from unforgiveness and have back your peace? Do you know your lost vision, calling, mandate can be restored back? Do you know you can have revival in your family, community church, and nation? The needs are endless.
Notwithstanding, I have good news for you. And the good news is… DON’T GIVE UP THERE IS HOPE IN CHRIST. Jesus Christ is the solution to all human problems. He wants to save you, heal you, and deliver you. I speak to you now that your weeping has come to a halt. Your joy is here already.
No matter the obscurity of your darkness, Jesus has come to give you light.
*His request brought his deliverance;*
Are you ready to speak to Jesus like that man told Jesus in the passage? He asked for help and through Christ’s compassion and impeccable love his deliverance came instantaneously. Scripture says we should ask God for all we need believing in our hearts that he hears us. This particular man may have never known the scripture stating that we should ask. But you have the knowledge.
1. In the Scripture we read, verse 14 says, “Afterward, when Jesus found him in the temple, He said to him, See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
*The main cause of this man’s paralysis was sin.* It was sin that gave Satan and his demons the audacity to make him captive for a whopping 38 years. God said in 1 John.3.8 – But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the Devil.
*My deliverance from captivity and the shadow of death :*
I remember many years ago within the space of three years, death laid siege on my family, it claimed members of my extended family one after the other, as we cried and watched helplessly, hoping it was a dream but alas it was no dream, we were actually burying our closest relatives unexpectedly.
This went on unchecked until l was the next to be swallowed up by death. But the mighty hands of the great deliverer, Jesus Christ delivered me. He made me experience the miraculous healing power of God. My mother of blessed memory passed on at age 65, this was after a protracted illness. Before my mother’s death, she complained bitterly of backaches, members of my family took her to the hospitals they could, yet her sickness was never cured, and she eventually died.
After her death, three years elapsed, then my Nephew, Israel suddenly took ill. The devil struck him with high fever and within seven days the boy died in a private hospital. He was about 4 years old then. Once again we buried another corpse.
Exactly twenty-one days later, while we were still mourning my Nephew, his father who happened to be my elder brother, Olusegun Adejumo was struck down by a strange illness on his right leg, before day-break the leg became as black as charcoal and started decaying.
I placed him on my back and took him to the pentecostal church where I worship to be prayed for by pastors. But to my surprise, no one attended to him. We took him from there to his company hospital which was reputed as one of the best around. He received the best medical attention (prior to this illness, he worked at one of the multinational companies, Sheraton and Towers hotel), yet his condition worsened. There was no improvement.
On May 25, 1996, at precisely 8.15 am after I led him to Christ, he confessed Jesus as his Saviour before the cold hands of death struck again and my brother, Olusegun Adejumo died.
His death came at the period he was processing his traveling documents to America. Unfortunately, he never slept in his personal house which was under construction. Later on, this house was taken by the pastor of a White garment church where he worshiped.
Segun was the dream and hope of the family. But death without pity shattered his destiny and took him at the age of 35, leaving us with so many unanswered questions on our minds. Tears flowed on and on, and our hearts bled for our loved ones who had died.
Three days after my elder brother’s burial, the devil struck again. This time I was his target, I was down with chronic appendicitis (which I discovered to be ruptured in my stomach)/. Though I had this problem all along and had been managing it with pain relief drugs, this time, it came with an indescribable intensity and unexplainable excruciating torture. I writhed in pain, members of my extended family saw me in pain, and they were totally helpless as I was. As a result of my previous experiences, at this time I almost lost my faith in the healing power of Jesus, I was afraid.
The pain tormented me day and night with an acute stomach ache and constant stooling and urinating. I urinated blood and passed out yellowish liquids. Sleep was impossible, gradually my life was ebbing away as each new day came. At this time I had enrolled in one month Bible Institute for June’s Certificate Bible course, so I continued to attend the school in this miserable condition.
My immediate elder sister approached me on behalf of the other members of the family and advised me to seek help the traditional way, that is consulting a traditional healer ( Babalawo) who she usually consults for help, this I consented to because as explained earlier, I had nearly totally lost hope in my faith. So, from school I started the treatment, the treatment was to last for three days.
On the first visit, My sister paid the bills to the traditional healer. He asked me to eat yam cooked without water and a blackish powder which I did on three stones that served as a stove. He also assured me of relief, but this was a lie as the pain worsened.
At this stage, I couldn’t walk straight but bent down to walk. The next day, I was asked to appeal to his god by having my bath by 12 midnight in a basket at a T- junction which I did. On the third day, I complained that I didn’t notice any improvement.
He then asked me to bring six yards of white cloth, which after he had worked on it, I would be using as cover clothe. I can’t explain what came upon me to reject it immediately. At this moment, I knew I could not escape death because I had sought help where there is none.
When I got home, I told my sister everything the man said and declared plainly that I would not go back to him. My sister instilled fear of death in me and tried all she could to persuade me to go back. But I never succumbed. I confessed my sins to God, asked for forgiveness and mercy, and vowed that if I couldn’t get healed by Jesus Christ, I would rather die and go to heaven than die as a backslider and end up in hell. I never returned to the traditional healer.
Obviously, after this declaration, Satan was furious and tripled my pain. While lectures went on, I would be outside the classroom jotting down notes, it was either I laid down flat on the ground or I stood.
Meanwhile, I frequently visited the restroom at five minutes intervals, yet I never took any day off from class. I was ready to die in the hands of God than in the devil’s hands. I was in this dilemma till the 28th day of June 1996 which happened to be the period I was to graduate. On this day, while in class, I heard a voice say to me, ‘ *Pray for yourself now’,* The voice said further, ‘Lay hands on your stomach and pray now’.
I obeyed the voice and used the little strength I had on me to pray. I cried unto Jesus with all heart and suddenly I felt God’s presence, His power filled the hall. I was covered with a cloud and felt a drop of water on my forehead like dew from heaven. Thankfully, this marked the end of my illness. I appreciate Jesus Christ for this miraculous healing and deliverance from captivity. When all hope is gone, cry to Jesus. Are you ready to pray with all your heart?
Prayer goes a long way because to have adequate and complete deliverance you need persistence. Persistence brings results.
The more you travail in prayer the higher you conquer the works of Satan.
*Suggested prayers:*
The prerequisite to accessing God’s forgiveness is to change, change is to turn, to stop committing sin. To turn means to change direction, and changing direction is to repent. Therefore, if you are a sinner, tell Jesus to come into you life and save your soul, and ask Him to be your Lord and Saviour.
Or are you a Christian and you have backslidden, and you are now living in habitual sin, if you want to be free from the power of sin and iniquity, confess known sins to Jesus and ask Him to show you mercy and forgive you and restore you back in communion with him. Tell Him to give you power and grace never to go back to your sins again, and also deliver you from the spirit of iniquities.
2. Ask Jesus to deliver you from the powers of darkness that have held you bound for several years.
3. Tell Jesus to touch you, and also speak to your situation now.
4. Have faith that God has heard you and give thanks to Jesus for your visitation and answer to your prayers.
John AbiolaRevive Us Again series 76.Revive Us Again, a global prayer movement for revival.
