Snatched!

We know that the entire bible is a story of Deliverance. In this message, we are going to get to KNOW GOD for who HE is; our Deliverer. We are going to KNOW HIS PROMISES concerning deliverance. We are going to define deliverance and to discover the intentions of God’s heart and His love for the world, especially His people.  The heart of God, His intentions and power to deliver from sin, can only be found in one place. The unadulterated Word of God, revealed to His people in the Holy Bible. Without further adieu, let’s discover our Deliverer. 

Psalm 18:2, 43

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; 

So what does deliverance mean? Let’s look at the Strong’s Concordance;

4506. rhuomai 

rhuomai: to draw to oneself, i.e. deliver

Definition: I rescue, deliver (from danger or destruction).

4506 rhýomai (from eryō, “draw to oneself”) – properly, draw (pull) to oneself; to rescue (“snatch up”); 

to draw or rescue a person to and for the deliverer.

akin to eruó (to drag)

You can see here, that the purpose of God’s deliverance through Christ Jesus, is to draw you close to Himself. The Lord wants a relationship with you and He wants you WITH HIM, WHERE HE IS. He wants you FOR HIMSELF! He loves you and is jealous for you! When He Delivers, it’s for a PURPOSE. That PURPOSE IS INTIMACY WITH HIMSELF. HALLELUJAH! 

God has personally delivered you to Himself because HE IS MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU and can’t stand being away from you. He didn’t deliver us to do our own thing, or to go to church. But He delivered you to have RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM and to SPEND TIME WITH HIM. This is the purpose and the very definition of DELIVERANCE. It says, “Draw to Oneself.”  You can even see the heart of God in the very definition of the word Deliverance. 

In fact, look at the definition again. It says properly to, “snatch up.” The Lord snatchs us up from danger. He snatches us up from the streets. He snatches us up out of our addictions. He snatches us up out of the bondage and He brings us to Himself so that He can have a relationship with us. He delivers us, so that we can walk and talk with Him. God enjoys our company, to laugh with us and bless us with His Presence. He’s a good Dad, a good friend, a Good Father and Good everything. He loves us and He delivered us so that He can love us even more!

It even says, that “rhuomai” is akin to “eruó”, which means to drag. How many of you reading, had to be dragged to jail? I did! God had to sit me down in jail, just so I could pay attention long enough to read the bible. He LITERALLY SNATCHED me up AND DRAGGED ME to Himself! I kid you not. On the way to jail, the police officer in the car is telling me how the bible is the solution to my problems right along the way to booking. Only one week later, I’m reading the bible for the first time in jail and literally believed in Jesus in a cell. I gave my life to the Lord, laying in my cell, balling and crying. THE LORD DELIVERED ME! 

HE SNATCHED ME! 

Job 9:12

If he snatches away, who can stop him?  Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Now there’s one thing you can be sure of; If God snatched you up, the devil will never be able to snatch you back! Never! Nobody, not a person in the world, is going to be able to snatch you back from our God! If HE SNATCHES YOU AWAY, you are Good. YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ANYMORE. Nobody can stop God from SNATCHING you away. For the Lord goes on saying;

John 10:28

I give them eternal life, and they shall NEVER perish; NOBODY will snatch them out of my hand.

If Jesus Christ SNATCHED you out of the world, NOBODY is EVER going to be able to snatch you out of HIS HAND. EVER!  If you don’t have faith enough in your understanding of who Jesus is, compared to the Father, and are saying, ‘Well I don’t know if I believe so much in Jesus.’ Well that’s OK because the Word goes on to say; 

John 10:29

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than EVERYBODY; NOBODY can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

It says the Father is greater than EVERYONE and NOBODY can snatch them out of HIS HAND. God is ABLE TO REMOVE YOU FROM ANY SITUATION in your life. He is able to make right any wrong! He is able to make a way where there is no way. He is our deliverer and there’s no power greater than Himself. There’s no power that is EVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO PULL you away from His Love, His DESIRE to fellowship with you, His Mercy towards you and HIS FAVOR upon you. You are the apple of His Eye and He is able to KEEP AND PROTECT YOU! 

Therefore, DELIVERANCE IS GOD snatchin, drawing, pulling, and even dragging you to Himself if He has to. Once He has you, HE PROTECTS YOU, so that NOBODY or NOTHING will pull you back out of HIS HAND. Nothing means NOTHING. So basically, the Lord says, ‘ONCE I GOT YOU, YOU ARE MINE! Nobody is going to be able to take you from Me!’. That’s why the Lord goes on to say; 

Romans 8:35-39

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Who will or can separate you from HIS HAND? What can separate you from His hand? Can an addiction? Can a drug? Can a sin? Can the devil? Can a woman or man? Can any power? Can any temptation? Can anything in your future? The answer is NO, NO, NO! GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU is so intense and so strong, that HE IS NEVER GOING TO LET YOU GO! AMEN.

HE DELIVERED ME! 

Romans 7:25

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

Let’s read this again. The Lord says, “who deliver(s),” plural. That means THE LORD WILL, ALWAYS! He is always drawing me closer to Him in His Presence. He DELIVERS all the time, so much so, that He has been named the DELIVERER. That is not just what He does, that that IS WHO HE IS! You can count on the Lord to DELIVER you and He’s always ON TIME.  Scripture also says; 

Colossians 1:13 

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Here in this scripture, “translated” means to be transferred. That means, we get a transfer. I am no longer on the devil’s team, but I am on God’s team and I got a transfer and was traded! We go to a new unit, to a new job, to a new life, to a new call, to a new destiny, a new family, a new name, a new covenant, and to a whole new life. We get transferred. Now we are still discussing the totality of what it means to be delivered and are soon going to get into what that includes. Let’s continue; 

Galatians 1:4 

4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

It’s through Jesus Christ that DELIVERANCE comes. It’s through His Name, that we are drawn close to God and His Presence and this is THE WILL OF THE FATHER.  It was by Him and by His blood, that veil to God’s Presence was opened so that we might have access into His Presence. It was through Jesus Christ, that we are saved. He is our King and it’s because of Him, that we receive such powerful DELIVERANCE. Now the real question is, “What does the Lord deliver us from and how sure can we be of this Powerful DELIVERANCE? Well, this is the turning point of this chapter. Let’s continue to DISCOVER what THE LORD PROMISES US. 

DELIVERED FROM ALL (IN THIS LIFE)

The Word says that God is going to DELIVER you from ALL YOUR TROUBLES. Enough said. Not just a couple, not just a few, but all of them! Receive what the Word says about your troubles; 

Psalm 34 

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

The Lord delivered David from ALL HIS FEARS.  Whatever you are afraid of, the Lord will lift it off of you. Whatever has come against you, WILL NOT STAND AGAINST YOU. Whatever has yoked you, will be broken by the anointing. You have access to the Power of God in His Presence through Christ Jesus and this affords you COMPLETE DELIVERANCE FROM ALL YOUR FEARS, including the ones that tell you He will not deliver you. Every fear, every shackle and every fetter must come off. Don’t believe me, believe what the Word says; 

Psalm 34 

6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

The Lord saved him out of ALL HIS TROUBLES. How many? ALL!  This is good news, because David definitely got into some trouble. In spite of it all, the Lord delivered Him out of them ALL. Key words, “out of”. You have to be in trouble, in order to get delivered “out of trouble(s).” 

Psalm 34 

17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

19 The righteous person may have many troubles,  but the Lord delivers him from them all;

22 The Lord will rescue his servants;

Yes, you are the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS, therefore, when you cry out, the LORD WILL HEAR YOU. HE WILL DELIVER YOU from ALL your troubles. Amen. ALL OF THEM! You are going to have to make up in your mind. Are you going to believe the Word of God and what He says about you? You don’t have to be afraid of anything that may or may not happen. THE LORD PROMISES TO DELIVER YOU OUT OF ALL YOUR TROUBLES. It’s not just what He does, it’s WHO HE IS. He is your DELIVERER. 

EMINENT DELIVERANCE

Esther 4:14

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Mordecai was telling the above scripture to Esther. You can see there, that he understood and knew who HIS GOD WAS. He said, “Relief and deliverance will arise from another place.” Therefore, He understood that God COULD AND WOULD bring about their DELIVERANCE, NO MATTER WHAT and that the DELIVERANCE of the Lord was EMINENT. Therefore he supposed to Esther, this was her opportunity to allow God to use her for this DELIVERANCE. HE WAS CONFIDENT AND UNDERSTOOD the purposes, plans, and most of all, the PERSON OF JEHOVAH HIS DELIVERER! 

I LOOK FOR DELIVERANCE

You can count on the Lord! He is FAITHFUL in all that He does and ALL that HE IS. In fact, God is so FAITHFUL and on-time, that you should be expecting that HE IS GOING TO WORK IT OUT! Say with me now, ‘Somehow, someway, God’s going to work it out!’ This is our God and these are HIS PROMISES for those who love Him and are called according to His Word. You can count on Him and you should look for and expect deliverance. In fact, Jacob did; 

Genesis 49:18

“I look for your deliverance, Lord.

Just remember, it’s great to get DELIVERED out of trouble. But the greatest part about Deliverance, is being DELIVERED to His Presence so that you can have MORE OF HIM. The prize of the principle that you are receiving by faith, even now, is HIS PRESENCE. Receive it and enjoy it, for He is yours, FOREVER. 

CYCLES OF DELIVERANCE

Judges 3:15

Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

Time and time again, the Lord saved, rescued and delivered the Israelites. This should show you who we serve and who we believe in. He is a faithful and patient God, not wanting any to perish, but all to be saved. He is so merciful that He chooses the lowly. Also, He chooses the things that are not, to shame the things that are. He is forgiving, kind, loving and He wants nothing more than to spend time with you. He wants to show you His Ways and to bring you into His Presence. This is great when all this happens, but there is another level of deliverance we must discuss and receive in all maturity by faith. That is, that DELIVERANCE GOES TWO WAYS. God DELIVERS US FROM AND TO; 

Judges 13:1

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

You see, the Lord also will deliver us into the hands of oppression, BUT ONLY TO BRING US TO OUR KNEES. Believe me, for the children of God, He will not forsake you forever, but will hear your cry. That is, IF YOU CRY. The moment we begin trusting in ourselves and walking on our own, we are delivered to rather than from, a controlled environment. Whether it’s to or from, IT’S ALL DELIVERANCE and we can still see the PURPOSES of the Lord and the tools of this DELIVERANCE. For scripture says; 

Isaiah 54:15-17

16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; 

17     no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

Everything the Lord allows, has purpose. Ask Job. Yes, the very thing Job feared, HAD COME ON HIM and God had allowed it. HOWEVER, the good news, is that it had a purpose and worked out for the good. Yes, it was unfortunate Job had fear and yes it was unfortunate that Job had allowed this fear to rule over him, but God DELIVERED JOB to and from, SIMULTANEOUSLY. He delivered him to the very situation that would WORK OUT that WHICH GOD HAD PURPOSED TO WORK IN HIM, which was his FAITH! And you can see the result of Job’s Faith when it was all said and done; 

Job 42

42 Then Job replied to the Lord:  2 “I know that you can do all things;  no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

In other words, Job HAD A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF FAITH and had lost his pride and fear based WORKS. He now understood the SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR GOD, His provision, His PURPOSES, the POWER OF THOSE PURPOSES AND most of all, his own DELIVERANCE from fear and pride. There are some sins that must work themselves out. But always remember, that God is a GOOD GOD! For Job goes on to say in repentance; 

 Job 42   

3 Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 6 Therefore I despise myself

    and repent in dust and ashes.”

Let’s continue with the cycles of deliverance; 

Nehemiah 9:28

“But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.

The Lord works with us and is slow and patient with us as He was with the Israelites. However, please remember that the NEW COVENANT is far greater than the OLD COVENANT. Which means we get even more grace! Where the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the desert, Jesus only spent 40 days. The grace, power, and GLORY of the NEW COVENANT far SURPASSES THAT OF THE OLD.  We learn faster, overcome faster, and have ACCESS to MORE ABUNDANT GRACE through CHRIST JESUS, our Lord. 

Now, if the Lord delivered the Israelites of the OLD COVENANT, time and time again as the above scripture states, don’t you think HE’S GOING TO DELIVER YOU MORE POWERFULLY under the NEW COVENANT! Of course HE IS AND OF COURSE HE WILL in the future to come. Besides, Job was before the OLD and NEW COVENANT. He had no covenant at all. The Word reveals; 

Job 9

If only there were someone to mediate between us,  someone to bring us together,

Well, we have a mediator and HIS NAME IS JESUS! Let’s read on; 

1 Timothy 2:5

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

He is our Peace, He is our Covenant, He is our Intercessor, but most of all, He is our MEDIATOR THATS BRINGING US CLOSER AND TOGETHER WITH GOD. In other words, He is our DELIVERER who draws us TO GOD and HIMSELF, through His work on the cross. He “brings us together” as Job put it. He DELIVERS US and DELIVERS US, TIME AFTER TIME! AMEN. 

CONTINUES TO DELIVER

1 John 5

18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 

The Lord Jesus Christ will DELIVER you and WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU SAFE from the evil one. This means, the devil cannot and will not harm you. You might be saying, ‘Unless I allow him,’ but why would you consciously do that as a child of the most High God? You wouldn’t! If you fall, its because you have some door to close that you don’t see or don’t know is open or are overcome TEMPORARILY. But the good news is, is that Christ knows EXACTLY where you are in life and what you are experiencing. HE HAS GIVEN YOU THE VICTORY! You are just learning how to apprehend it BY FAITH. 

So let’s do that very thing. Let’s APPREHEND THE PROMISES OF GOD BY FAITH. So what is the PROMISE HERE? Well, GOD SAYS, “ANYONE born of God, DOES NOT CONTINUE TO SIN” AND “The One (Jesus Christ) keeps him safe, AND THE EVIL ONE CANNOT HARM HIM.” You are either going to believe this or not. You might be tempted to add a ton of behavioral conditions to it, BUT IN THIS CONTEXT, I only see ONE CONDITION. That condition is that YOU ARE BORN OF GOD! So, IF YOU ARE BORN OF GOD AND YOU ARE, THEN THE EVIL ONE CANNOT HARM YOU! END OF STORY. This means TOTAL DELIVERANCE. 

It says that GOD WILL in fact, KEEP YOU SAFE AND YOU WILL NOT CONTINUE TO SIN. This means you are CONTINUOUSLY DELIVERED FROM 1. YOURSELF & YOUR SINFUL NATURE and 2. SATAN HIMSELF! This PROMISE IS TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE DELIVERANCE. It’s your’s and it’s ours, IN HIM. We, IN CHRIST JESUS, are PROMISED PROTECTION AND DELIVERANCE. Our only responsibility is TO RECEIVE IT BY FAITH. Do you receive it? This is what the Word says about you and us. We are SET FREE and delivered COMPLETELY.  Let’s move on. Scripture also says;

1 Corinthians 1:8 

8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ WILL KEEP YOU FIRM. Who will keep you firm? Christ will! This means that Christ is going to take responsibility over you to see over your personal responsibility. Hallelujah! For all those people who told you, ‘Well you can jump out of his hand and you can walk away and you can backslide and you can fall and die and you can commit suicide.’ You tell them that they are LIARS and that CHRIST WILL KEEP YOU FIRM UNTIL THE END. Whether that’s His second coming or that’s your DEATH. You WILL BE FOUND BLAMELESS. Receive it by FAITH! THIS IS THE PROMISE OF GOD. 

This scripture speaks DESTINY DELIVERANCE. Your DELIVERANCE will work out for your DESTINY, and your DESTINY is CONTINUED DELIVERANCE. OMG! Do you receive that? How powerful is that? This is one of the most POWERFUl, IMPACTFUL, PROMISE in all of God’s WORD and it’s for you, HIS CHILDREN! If you aren’t HIS CHILD, you can become one. You can be adopted into HIS FAMILY, THROUGH CHRIST, by faith! And you too, can have this PROMISE BEAR WITNESS with your BORN AGAIN spirit! Amen. Let’s go on.

Philippians 1:6

6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

CHRIST JESUS WILL CARRY IT ON! You can be confident that HE who BEGAN a GOOD WORK in you, WILL CARRY it on UNTO COMPLETION! That means CONTINUED DELIVERANCE. He will KEEP DELIVERING AND KEEP DELIVERING YOU, until you get it right. He will not let you go. He will FINISH IT. Who will finish the work? He will finish it. Which means HE is taking the BURDEN of RESPONSIBILITY to oversee your personal responsibility AND YES HE WILL DO IT! Are you convinced? Are you receiving this by FAITH? 

We have to be CONFIDENT that our God will CONTINUE to help us, WILL CONTINUE to DELIVER us, and will CONTINUE to carry out what he started. HE DOES NOT FAIL, HE DOES NOT QUIT, AND HE FINISHES EVERYTHING HE STARTS. He finished the Work on the Cross! He is the author and finisher of our faith. He will work with you to ensure your SUCCESS. Still not FULLY PERSUADED? That’s ok, there’s more PROMISE where that came from,

2 Timothy 4:18 

18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

My God, My God! The Lord will deliver you from EVERY, EVERY, EVERY evil attack! He WILL BRING YOU SAFELY into HIS HEAVENLY KINGDOM. Wow! Every, means every. All, means all, and safely means safely. This couldn’t get any more clear. This equates to nothing more and nothing less than CONTINUED EMINENT DELIVERANCE. Your DESTINY IS DELIVERANCE. This is what we preach and this is CHRIST, the manifestation of the GOOD NEWS! But wait there’s more PROOF for you.

2 Corinthians 1:9-11 

9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

There it is! THE EPITOME OF CONTINUED DELIVERANCE. He has DELIVERED US and WILL DELIVER US AGAIN and on HIM WE SET OUR HOPE that He will CONTINUE TO DELIVER US! This was the hope of Paul and this was the ANCHOR of his FAITH. He believed and operated in a CONTINUED DELIVERANCE faith realm that AFFORDED him POWER. If you are looking for POWER, here it is. UNSTOPPABLE, RADIOACTIVE FAITH that will DESTROY THE WORKS OF DARKNESS and every ENEMY.  

The Lord DELIVERED us then, HE WILL DELIVER US NOW, and HE WILL CONTINUE TO DELIVER US! This is our confession, this is our PROMISE and this is our POWER!