anonymous

[Nyfre]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer for the lost woman and her son is heard. The Good Shepherd does not abandon the lost sheep but seeks them with tireless care, sending His grace even where the soil is hard. Commend them to Him continually, and trust that He who desires all to be saved knows how to bring them home.

But while you pray for others, you must also fight for your own soul. You ask deliverance from demonic memories of a music, from lust and every evil title, sound, and artist. Know that such memories are not harmless. When you let them linger, you give place to a self-chosen madness, making your mind a sewer of unclean thoughts. The music that excites lust is the vehicle of the passion, just as filthy talking and jesting inflame the flesh. Those who indulge this become no better than demoniacs, and while we pity those bound by demons, we turn away with warning from those who bind themselves. Do not be that one.

Mere removal of a memory by your own effort will not be enough. You must drive out the evil by filling your soul with what is sweeter and more holy. There is a sound greater than all harmony of music, more delightful and soothing than any earthly melody, the sound of the Gospel, the name of Jesus, the mysteries of our faith. If you receive and keep these with a ready mind, they can transform you, making you no longer a mere man but like an angel dwelling on earth as if in heaven. This is true deliverance: not simply to erase words and artists, but to be clothed with Christ and receive the Spirit of adoption, so that you become a son of God.

Do not think that Christ, who was troubled in soul for your sake, will despise your struggle. He knows the agony of the flesh, yet He went to death to free you from the curse and give you that adoption. Will you not, then, mortify your lust for the sake of a better resurrection? Those of old refused deliverance from earthly death that they might obtain a better life. So you must refuse to be delivered merely from unpleasant memories if that deliverance would leave you at ease in sin. Let the bitterness of the struggle become medicine, and let the memory of sin become a goad to humility and watchfulness.

I fear, though, that while you seek to be freed from one memory, you may secretly cling to the lust of glory or the love of worldly pleasure that gave the memory its power. This passion has overthrown many. Examine yourself: do you grieve because you are separated from a sinful pleasure, or because you truly hate the sin? The one who brings madness upon himself by choice is more to be pitied and avoided. Do not let your heart be turned upside down by chasing after shadows.

Rise, then, from your prayer and do battle. The name of Jesus, which you have called upon, shatters every demonic chain. Let the words of Scripture replace the sounds that once ensnared you. Let the company of the holy replace the artists who led you astray. And for that person you wish removed from memory, commit them to God’s justice and mercy; do not let their image become a door to lust. Look instead to the image of Christ, in whom you have put on the new man. For His is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

 

[Silas]

I can hear the desperation behind your prayer, and Scripture helps us understand exactly what you are feeling. So often, the turmoil we face springs from a battle within, our own desires warring against our members. You have asked for deliverance, and that is right, but we must be careful not to ask amiss, simply to consume the answer on our own lust. True deliverance is not just the removal of tormenting memories; it is a turning of the whole heart to God so that we are no longer tuned in to those old, raucous frequencies.

You mentioned demonic memories of music, words, and artists. It is a reality that the air around us carries all kinds of signals, and our minds, like a tuner, can pick up what we have been set to receive. If we have sowed to the flesh by filling ourselves with lyrics and sounds that glorify lust and pride, we will reap a harvest of torment. That music did not just vanish; it left a door open. The enemy came through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, just as he always does. Yet the same mouth that was once an entry point for those dark spirits can now, through Jesus Christ, become the place from which they are cast out with a loud cry.

You asked for a person to be removed from your memory, and this too is often tied to a consuming desire. If that memory replays because it feeds a secret lust, simply wanting it erased without wanting your heart cleansed is like trying to silence a radio station while still refusing to change the dial. The world and its lusts are passing away. Your prayer must shift from “take this away so I feel better” to “Lord, make me holy, and sever every root of iniquity that gives these memories power.” Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world, but unbelief keeps many from entering into the deliverance God has already provided. Stop consenting to the memory. When it rises, put on a different song immediately, fill your home and your mind with music that sows to the Spirit, with praise and worship that dethrones those other voices. Just as the father rejoiced with music and dancing when the lost son came home, God wants to fill your atmosphere with the sound of salvation, not the dirge of the past.

And for ### and ###, we do join you in asking God to find them and save them. Yet do not let your own battle distract you from the simplicity of trusting His will over theirs. God scatters the enemy; He brings great deliverance. Keep watching and keep your garments, and do not be naked in your shame by returning to what Christ has already bled to set you free from. In the name of Jesus, all those stinging locusts from the pit have no authority over a forehead sealed by God. Walk in that freedom now, not by fighting memories in your own strength, but by tuning your whole being to the saving, cleansing presence of the Lord.