Too many Christians believe that deliverance is something that needs to happen for other people, but that surely they themselves do not need it. They’re wrong. We all need deliverance from something. We all need the Holy Spirit to change us.
You can change your life to the degree that you let the Holy Spirit help you. “Let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy” (Ephesians 4:23-24 CEV).
Malice, as used in Scripture, means to desire and carry ill will towards another person. It means to have an ongoing evil and wicked hope that someone would be hurt. It is born out of revenge, fed with an inner hatred, and founded on the darkness in hell.
Stop putting off to tomorrow what you should have changed years ago. “Rid yourselves of all malice…” (1 Peter 2:1 NIV).
You may have someone in your life who carries malice in their heart towards you. They may believe you harmed them in some way, whether what you did was right or wrong. They believe you deserve the harm they hope will come your way.
You cannot allow a little cancer to remain and expect to live in complete health. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). “…keep the feast, not with…the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV).
You cannot change the malice that others may have for you, but you can pray to God to help them. You don’t need to name them to God, for God alone knows what lies in the heart of another. Just pray for anyone who might carry malice toward you.
When you pray for those who are against you, you’ll be on God’s side. Jesus said, “…You should love the people who want to hurt you. If people want to give you pain, pray for them. Pray that God would help them. If you live like this, you will show that you really are children of your Father above…” (Matthew 5:44-45 EASY).
What you can change is the malice you carry in your own heart. You may know of some malice in you that you carry towards some people. These people may be wrong and may deserve to be dealt with by God, but you have no business carrying hatred.
Stop grieving the Holy Spirit by the way you live your life. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…Get rid of…every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:30-32 NIV).
No matter what someone has done against you, it is God alone who is equipped to judge them and deal with them from the perfect and holy perspective from heaven. Don’t root for the demise of another, lest you find yourself arm in arm with the devil.
Let the headwind of those that oppose you lift you higher. “Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable” (Romans 12:17 NLT).
When people come against us, we may see any harm that happens to them with our prideful heart that applauds the difficult situation they’re in as if it were God’s justification for our malice. God never approves of our malice.
Don’t love your doctrine more than your neighbor. “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14 NKJV).
Jesus taught us to love our enemies. He taught us to be forgiving of those who do us wrong. You can be sure we serve a holy and just God, and that He will make right everything that is wrong, but He wants us to operate from a loving heart, not a hateful heart.
The measure of God’s love in us can be seen in how much we love those who are against us. “…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5 NKJV).
The devil wins in the ranks of our churches by stirring up malice in our hearts as we justify our thoughts on the altar of our self-justified life. Malice is destructive, evil, hateful, and everything that is against God. How dare we carry it, thinking we are justified.
Those that harbor malice in their hearts towards others bring malice on themselves. “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3 NKJV).
You need deliverance from malice. We all do. Ask God to show you the malice you’re carrying against someone right now. Be daring enough to let God reveal to you the darkness that still lingers in the inner recesses of your heart.
There are some things in your life that you need to sacrifice on the altar, so that they would no longer remain alive in you. “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth” (Colossians 3:8 NKJV).
If you want the Holy Spirit to deliver you from darkness, then you must first recognize that darkness, confess that darkness, and be willing to let the Lord help you. The most difficult surgery God must do in us is to deliver us from bad attitudes.
It takes a greater strength to let something go than to pick something up. “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life…Instead, let the [Holy] Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes” (Ephesians 4:22-23 NLT).
Child of God, what malice is simmering in your soul? What little grins do you have in the darkness of your secret life when you find out some harm has happened to someone you carry malice towards? Rebuke that evil thought right out of your mind.
When you love your enemies, you remove the hold they have on you, which is your anger towards them. Jesus taught, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44 NKJV).
Blessings to you always,
Paul Balius
The Lord put this blog on my heart as I was thinking of someone who I believe carries malice towards me. I was thinking how pleased they would be for my current suffering, for the lifelong autistic pain I suffer daily, for my autoimmune disease that is eating away at my joints, and for my recent back injury I got when my house was flooded.
I thought to myself, they very well may be pleased with all I now have to endure. But I know that these bad things that have happened to me are not punishments, but are blessings, for my God is using them for good. Revelation is born out of adversity.
Recently my wife told me that with all the suffering I am having, surely it proves I am God’s favorite. I know I am not His favorite, but I know He is hardest on those that are closest to Him. He prunes, cleans, and polishes the utensils He plans to use.
If anyone relishes in the painful processes we are going through, it is not to our harm, but for theirs. Malice is a sin that only hurts the one who is carrying it. The greater your malice towards another, the less of God’s love you can carry in your heart.
The Lord showed me the malice I am carrying in my heart. There are many people who come against me, and it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that I can hope to be delivered from the malice, no matter how small, I hold against them. Let God convict you.
Forgive each other. Pray for those who are against you. Love your enemies. When you do these things, it will prove that the life of Christ lives in you. Be delivered from all malice and choose instead to walk in the love that comes from God.
God’s very best to you,
Paul
Go deeper
If this spoke to you, there is more. Paul Balius has written a book called “The Promise of the Holy Spirit”. It goes deeper into all of this, for anyone who senses they were meant for something more.
Paul has written three books. See them all
During the year 1994 Nelson Mandela became the President of South Africa, the channel tunnel opened connecting the United Kingdom to France by rail, and John Bevere wrote a best selling book titled (The Bait of Satan)
Personally speaking I avoided Facebook for decades and it was only through a word of knowledge that I asked a friend to get me on Facebook. I do not question a clear leading of the Holy Spirit. God used Facebook to connect me to what would become my future wife that very night in March 2018. Why did I resist FB? The world taking offence and slandering may somewhat be expected. But I had read that Believers where attacking other believers on FB and I knew it was true, because of some printed proof put before my eyes. Then along comes Covid and the mandates that divided and in some cases still do. This is all about taking and holding a spirit of offence. If malice is the crop then the spirit of offence is the seed, and replaying the offence in the mind is the irrigation of the field. “Matthew 10:21 NASB Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death” This is malice fully matured and it’s a hideous sight. Avoid the spirit of offence as John Bevere’s book the Bait of Satan explains so well.
Thank you so much for this message. I think most Christians greatly underestimate the destructive power that is hidden within the subtle malice they carry and justify within their hearts. The verse 1 Corinthians 5:8 warns against holding onto the “leaven of malice,” where it is the small amount of leaven that causes the dough to dramatically expand. I started my writing ministry on Facebook in July 2013 and have been called the devil and worse along the way. Jesus told us they would hate us becasue the world hates Him. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how hateful believers can be, if they really are believers. God bless you and thank you again for your insightful reply.
Esteemed brother Paul, privileged I am to pray daily for you, spirit, soul, and body, and for your beloveds; pleased I am to continue doing so. I see your writings splendorously saturated with the Spirit.
Thank you my brother. I know you too are struggling and I pray that the Lord would lift your spirit high even in the midst of everything that you’re going through. We both have a Lord who loves us perfectly.