"A Prayer for Deliverance"

PSALMS 70: [To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.] Call it whatever you want, but without the right perspective, there can be no deliverance at all! This Psalm might be short, but it is not weak or without substance. The greatest day of my life was the day that I gave my life to Jesus, there is no doubt about it; but how seldom do I think back to that day and remember how it was that God reached down and snatched me from the pit of hell; you have seen almost all of those times in these postings, and they might amount to about a dozen. Yet, what was so special about that day? Listening to Pastor Jon these last few days, it has reminded me how Jesus Christ is referred to as "The Author and Finisher of our faith," and how He is All that we need because He is the fulfillment of all things. Everything else was just a shadow of Him; from the sacred things in the Temple, to the customs of the Jewish laws, everything pointed to and was trumped over when Jesus was manifested; because the Real-Deal always takes precedence over the shadow. Jon gave this silly illustration of his wife falling on the ground when he comes home, not to worship him, but to try and kiss and hug on his shadow. It is silly to imagine anyone doing that, but that is what it is like when we put religion before relationship; we are never going to have the relationship that brings real deliverance if we are sticking to some sort of religion. Another example of that was demonstrated in the battle of Jericho, and how Jesus showed up for battle; as Pastor Jon told it, everything that Joshua was told to do for the battle to be won was against what the Law prescribed; the Law being the representation of the Jewish religion. In other words, when Jesus shows up, the shadow does not matter anymore! What was so special about that day, was not the place I was at, or even the message that was preached; it was Who showed up and delivered me...
"No, you have not come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God's firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge of all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!" (Hebrews 12:22-25) NLT