The Sunday Mail
Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi : Divine Appointments
IS there confusion among Christians about whether they should go for “deliverance” or “demon-checking” after accepting Christ? Should they be “delivered” first before they can confess Jesus as Lord and saviour?
| Some Christians out there are also bitter after being told to fast or sow seeds for certain results that never come out as promised. They are crying foul after ignorantly paying for what God already paid in full through Christ, thereby suffering double jeopardy. |
Our guest writer, Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi of New Gate Chapel – after engaging with Tendai Manzvanzike – , answers these questions concerning believers’ standing in Christ in the piece below. He assures every believer that in Christ they are complete and can pray with certainty.
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Christianity is a calling into liberty and not bondage. It’s a receiving and partaking of the finished works of Jesus Christ.
Believers do not work for righteousness and holiness, but they bear fruit of God’s righteousness and true holiness achieved by Jesus Christ who is in them and whose they are.
The Christian faith is not a struggle to accomplish, but a celebration of what Jesus accomplished. This is the reason why the gospel of Jesus Christ does not apportion glory and praise to people, neither to the preacher nor to the congregation.
Everything was achieved by Jesus and believers only acknowledge, believe and walk in it.
Should there be boasting and human glorification, then it’s not the gospel of Jesus and from such you should flee with your life.
The highlight of the gospel of Christ is that a believer is a new being in Christ. The crux of the New Testament message, which is grace, as succinctly epitomised by Apostle Paul, is that a believer is a new creature in Christ.
Getting into Christ is through confession of the Lord Jesus and this is called salvation.
Romans 10 v 9 teaches, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved,” (KJV).
Please note that one is not saved by confessing sin, but by confessing the Lord Jesus.
Sometimes, non-believers are instructed to repeat self-defeating structured prayers of negative and non-biblical confessions. They usually take the form of confession of sins committed knowingly and unknowingly, intentionally and unintentionally, willingly and unwillingly and by commission and omission.
Repentance leads a person to confess Jesus. The danger of teaching people to confess sin in order to be saved is that they will afterwards live in low self-esteem.
They will always work for righteousness and holiness, fighting a losing battle, thereby never enjoying peace and rest in the finished works of Christ Jesus.
The purpose of the preacher of the Gospel is to teach believers of the newness of life in Christ. It is not the preacher who delivers Christians. Deliverance is an accomplished positional truth in Christ.
Some weak and naïve believers run all over the show like decapitated chickens looking for their version of deliverance.
Sometimes it takes paying airfares to far off places, application of items and questionable practices. There’s a great schism in Christendom on what constitutes deliverance.
The completed works of Jesus are so complete that confession of Jesus as Lord carries you from darkness to light, therefore no requirement for deliverance is required after salvation, because you would have already been delivered.
It is so common these days to hear “born-again believers” enrolling in classes of deliverance and breaking of altars and evil foundations.
Please note that I have put born again believers in quotes. Christianity entails knowing the truth and enjoying the dividends.
There is a difference between deliverance and casting out demons. Deliverance is preached (Luke 4 v18), and demons are cast out (Mark 16 v 17).
At the point an unbeliever or a sinner confesses Jesus, he or she is moved from the kingdom of darkness (of Satan) to the kingdom of God.
There is no sitting on the fence or intermediary or transitional kingdom. The Bible in Colossians 1 v 12-14 states, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” (KJV)
Salvation, which is deliverance means being born again.
Should anyone be afflicted by devils, believers have the grace to cast out the devils. All that the preacher of the Gospel has to do is present this simple truth!
When the truth is deciphered, the mind is renewed and accedes to the truth of what was accomplished by Jesus.
There are many errors seen in the “church” meant to demean the finished works of Jesus. Followers are instructed to fast and sow special seeds for holiness and righteousness.
But, the preaching of the cross, which is called the gospel or the grace of God, is the power of God unto salvation.
It points the believer to Jesus whose death, burial, resurrection and ascension produced the new creation which you are, if you are a born again believer.
Ephesians 4 v 24 admonishes, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Let us break this. A believer is a new man (including woman.) If that being is new, surely generational curses don’t apply. The new creation is original.
His or her lineage traces only to God in Christ. That new being is not descendant from anyone. The new man is created, and that in God’s image, not the one born by human parentage.
A believer can execute his or her plans with newness of mind and point without fear of ancestral limits.
A born again believer is created in God’s image, not the image of anyone or anything.
It is very important to know that he or she is created in righteousness and true holiness.
There is no struggle with sin consciousness, because it is not part of his or her making.
Condemnation, guilt, fear, doubt and low self-esteem have no space. A believer walking in the knowledge of this truth prays with confidence and conviction that God hears them.
His or her holiness is true (it’s not fake human, legalistic religious “holiness”.) The holiness is not man-made, or human effort. It is straight from the bosom of God the Father.
As a born again believer, your thoughts have to align to your new nature.
The Amplified Bible in Ephesians 4 v 22 states, “Strip yourselves of your former nature (put off and discard your old unrenewed self) which characterised your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion.”
You’re in Christ, please put on the new man. How? Ephesians 4 v 23 answers, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”
Always know, remember, think and meditate on the truth that you are the new man, not the old person. Never waste time on thinking of the old nature, habits, failures and faults.
Don’t waste space in your mind by crowding it with negative thoughts. Never let the devil steal your liberty in Christ.
The knowledge of this truth is enough to make you jump, celebrate and worship God uncontrollably and unstoppably. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
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