Amen to a lot of your post Doug, and I was especially blessed by what you said about the kingdoms of this world and the reason for the seed of man not falling to the ground.
The only thing I can't agree with is God not removing the "tares", which is what Matt. 13 is dealing with in the harvest parable. The reason He would not remove the thorn in Paul's flesh I believe is because that "thorn" was the carnal mind and Paul was a man born out of season, in that it was not time yet for all the knowledge he had been given to fully manifest.
The frustrating thing to me is that I've heard many over the years belie the need for wisdom from the Lord, not realizing that this wisdom is given for the purpose of MANIFESTING it in and thru our mortal bodies (as well as the mortal bodies of others thru the gifts), as well as strengthening our inner man.
We're not learning for the sake of learning ANYTHING, we are to learn thru the Spirit of the Lord because it is the catalyst for CHANGE, culminating in the final transformation, ie. that mortality be swallowed up of immortality.
And onlytruth I agree those are some reasons deliverance doesn't come forth, but the main reason I think is unbelief and that they have never been taught about it in the first place.
And Doug, the reason why some are not "successful" to our eyes, is because that the spirit returns for some time to try to get back in, and not a lot of teaching is out there on how to stand against it. This is the same reason people who are healed of something by the Lord, later "lose" their healing; they didn't know it would come back, even with lying symptoms, to get them to accept it back.
However; once it is stood against in the power of His might and our authority and dominion given us over the "beasts of the field" is maintained, it will not return. This is why it says resist the devil and he will FLEE.
I'll share something out of my own experience. I had a severe back injury (4 ruptured discs in total) for about 4 years before I came to the Lord. About 3 months after I came to the Lord, I was slain in the Spirit (the falling backwards you see in some ministries) and felt a tremendous heat going up and down the paralyzed leg all the way up to my back, for about a half hour. When I could stand, it was obvious I was healed. I had been tested and diagnosed prior to this.
So to make a long story short, I asked the Lord how this could be? I had not asked for healing and no one laid hands on me and prayed for me. He reminded me of when they built the temple the Lord told them to go get the Egyptians and the Chaldeans (formerly their enemies, obviously), for them to do their part in the building of the temple to His specifications.
After their part in the temple building was done, they left and the priests cleansed the place with blood and the glory of the Lord came in. In other words, He uses the unclean things to build the temple and when their work is done (the person has overcome) He tells them to leave.
So He told me I had overcome the darkness that brought the injury in the first place, and so there was no need for the "workman" any further, and it left. However, a year later, I was standing in the kitchen and suddenly felt the all too familiar knife in my back type of pain and couldn't straighten up.
I was talking to myself, trying to figure out if I had done something as in lifting something heavy recently or what, and when I could come up with no natural reason for the pain again, I asked Him and He told me it was a "lying symptom". Just the thought that it would try to come back made me mad, and I stomped my foot on the floor (not recommended with back pain, LOL) and yelled at it to get off me, I was healed. It immediately left.
So I went from being told 26 years ago that I'd be in a wheelchair by age 30 (I was 26 at the time) to commanding the thing off me that was trying to put me there. In the past 26 years I have lifted plenty of heavy things, and have never had a day of pain like I experienced or any paralysis. Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed, but we must use the authority and dominion He has given us, "to till the ground."
Another incident of this type happened a year after He miraculously healed me of terminal cancer. The Lord told me to go to a particular meeting I had received notice of in the mail, and I met someone who ministered that night and she had a word from the Lord for me. She said, "The Lord is saying something about an issue of blood, but you are not to worry about it."
The NEXT DAY, I started to hemorrhage again. Again, it was a year later (not sure why it seems to be a year?). Of course, my mind and the minds of those around me, were trying their best to convince me I was not healed, as was my body. I literally was telling my mind and my body they were liars.
Again, 7 weeks later, He tells me to go to a particular meeting over in Ohio. I went, and the pastor whom I knew had an anointing, said that the Lord had told him that in that service he would be used particularly to touch those that needed physical healing. I thought, this is why He brought me, only to hear Him say "no" when I asked Him if I should go forward for healing.
So there I sat, wondering why I wasn't to go forward. I stayed to pray for others when it was over (in my seat), and as I was done and getting ready to leave, the woman who had the meeting, came up to me. The anointing hit both of us as she said, "I got a word from the Lord for you. He said, because of your obedience, you're healed!"
Now I had hemorrhaged for 7 weeks exactly at this point. It stopped by that evening. That was 13 years ago and I've never had to deal with it again. Blessings....
