Sallie Dawkins

I was standing at the kitchen sink yesterday, ready to start washing dishes. A regular day. And yet, it was not. 

I had not prayed for deliverance in that moment. I had not even identified the full weight of what had been lingering. Yet God knew the need.

Salvation means we are saved, healed, and delivered. Sometimes we actively contend in prayer. Sometimes we stand in faith, speak truth, and resist darkness. And sometimes, in His mercy, God moves before we even know how to ask.

“The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14:14

“‘Because he loves me,’ says the LORD, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’” – Psalm 91:14

“For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” – Deuteronomy 20:4

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

In that moment at the sink, I was caught up in the spirit and able to see beyond and behind where I was still standing. The Lord’s angel armies stood in massive numbers all around, forming a semi-circle.

Quickly, quietly, and easily, they swooped in and lifted off darkness of oppression that had been lingering. Poof. Just like that, gone.

I turned to prophetically join the battle to push back darkness. Doing so filled my heart with joy and unlocked my voice to pray in tongues for the next several hours.

Before I arrived in Kentucky, it felt like there were days I prayed in tongues almost nonstop. I hate to admit that I have been unable to pray in tongues for any reasonable length of time for quite a while.

Praying in tongues is a gift. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 14 that speaking in tongues is a way of communicating directly with God: “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God” (1 Corinthians 14:2). In Acts 2, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out and the apostles spoke in various languages as the Spirit enabled them.

There is much we do not understand in the spirit realm. But we do know this: God sees what we cannot see. He knows what has been pressing against us. He knows where oppression has tried to settle in. He knows how to bring freedom, peace, healing, and restoration.

We do not need to be afraid of what we cannot see. We belong to Jesus.

Demons and disembodied beings are real, but deliverance is not meant to be scary. It’s a gift for those who believe in Jesus.

Sometimes we get so busy asking God to “come,” we forget He is already here.  

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”  Romans 8:11

The Lord knows how to fight for us. He knows how to rescue us. He knows how to restore our voice when we have struggled to pray, strengthen us when we have grown weary, and bring deliverance before we even realize how deeply we need it.

Do not assume that silence means God is absent. He is present. He is working. He is fighting for you. Be still enough to recognize Him.

We’re exposed to a constant drip of negative newsfeeds, and this can be depressing, but the truth hit me this morning in the form of a song. It’s actually the first line and title of an old hymn published in 1901: “This is My Father’s World.”

A simple and loving reminder that God is Creator of all, and there is no thing that takes Him by surprise. We are His beloved children and we don’t have to beg Him for provision.

For readers who would like to spend more time in Scripture, I have gathered a few resources that may be helpful.

God’s Promises of Abundance for Healing includes more than 800 Scriptures related to healing and God’s promises.

Spirit World Truths offers Scriptures and reflections to help Christians grow in spiritual discernment.

And When Faith Is Shaken: Discovering Wholeness in the Midst of Chronic Illness shares dream-inspired stories intended to gently guide readers from survival and self-protection toward renewed trust and restored faith in God.