Just a little disclaimer before I get to the “meat” of my post today. There are some of you who will read this today, particularly those who know me, who are going to really have a field day of mocking my little “God hobby”. I am thinking I will be able to audibly hear eyeballs rolling all the way to my home as I go on with my day after I conclude writing this.
The thing is, I really don’t want to write this at all. Earlier this week, I suddenly found myself in a puddle of self pity because my feelings were hurt. I may have took it out of context, but I felt with every fiber of my being, that my faith and love of God were being mocked.
Like I said, I may have read something into this situation that wasn’t there, but the devil is great at creating scenarios for this to occur. I thought my “spiritual skin” was thicker than that, but alas, I crumbled like a “cry baby” in the face of this perceived taunting, and I have stayed paralyzed all week. Not physically paralyzed, I did not take to a wheelchair, of course. But my joy froze, my peace got chilled, sleep was elusive and every attempt at writing was whiny and served no purpose of edifying anyone.
There was no love in the ink, and I knew it .
In my last post, I talked about my step daughter recommitting herself to the Lord. Yesterday, I picked her up to take her to court as she had one of those fires from her “previous” life that needed to be extinguished. I dropped her and God off at the door, and told her to call me when They were done.
Sure enough, God brought His big hose up into that courtroom, flooded the atmosphere, and EVERYTHING was dropped! The only thing the judge required was for her to bring in proof of insurance for him to see within a month.
She was amazed. All of the other cases before hers, many for less offenses, had been punished with fines, and most of the defendants were ordered to, at the very least, attend driving school.
She was beaming about the Mercy that was shown on her behalf.
And then she reveals to me that since Sunday she had kinda slipped up and she felt bad and she couldn’t understand why she had allowed herself to “fall” so quickly after rededicating herself to God. I thought it was odd, too. Her repentance “looked” and felt genuine as I held her hand at the alter. I know the realties of backsliding, but something just smelled funny to me about her being compelled to do the wrong thing and acting on it, such a short time after her renewal.
Before my husband had left for work yesterday he said that he wanted me to pray about the possibility of his daughter and granddaughter moving in with us for awhile. Without even glancing in God’s direction, I say, “I do not think that I am up for that”. Which was met with a lob into my court, “we’ve done it for your kids”!
Game, match, set, point, etc. etc.
Of course, I have to say yes to this. I tell God I am sorry for being so selfish, and I had planned to call my husband and say the same thing to him. First, I begin to pray for the “strength” and a positive attitude for this new assignment of having my step daughter and grand daughter move in with us. God cuts me off mid sentence; he tells me that He doesn’t want me fretting about this anymore and that He had it taken care of.
Cool!!
We pick her up to take her to church with us last night. As we are waiting for worship to begin, she blurts out the “question”,”can me and Kiley move in with you guys?”
I was struck mute, so was my husband. There was an uncomfortable silence, and then out of my mouth the words, “I think we should believe God for your self sufficiency, as plan A and maybe we won’t even need the plan B of you needing to move in with us. It is never fun to move back in your parents”, I tell her.
Our associate Paster gives a stirring sermon and it seems he is about to close, when he declares that there is someone in the room who needs to run to the alter. My step daughter nearly trips over me and my husband as she believes that she is that “someone”.
Paster Dave says if there is anyone else that needs prayer, etc to come on up. My husband goes to stand behind his daughter for moral support and others start trickling up filling the front of the alter. All at once the paster calls for the ushers while exclaiming, “the power of God is upon me strong”, (which is church code for the ushers to get up there with the quickness because when he starts to pray, people just might start falling on the floor from the force of it).
I’m thinking, this is about to get real intense up in here tonight.
If ever my thoughts were understated, this would be the grand daddy of understated thoughts on an impending situation.
And so the Paster starts at one end of the alter with his hands outstretched shouting a variety of proclamations in “the name of Jesus”! People are crying, falling on the floor, the whole nine!!
He gets to my step daughter and I didn’t hear what he prayed over her because there was such a commotion. But suddenly I’m freezing and tingling and I see what I am guessing was a demon come up out of her. My husband is jolted backwards by the force of it and the paster is slammed to the floor as it hits him (he told us this later) in the arm.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. Ephesians 6:12
I am here to tell you, this satan business is no joke. Just an hour and a half earlier a demon looked through the precious soul of my step daughter at me and used her voice to ask me if “it” could move in with us.
Hmmm…
On the way home, newly filled with the light of God, my step daughter says, “I feel like myself again. My eye has twitched for years, (her face was crushed by a set of bleachers when she was a child and she has endured countless plastic surgeries, the doctors, however, had never been able to fix the constant twitch), and it has completely stopped”. This was a big deal to her.
I am awed by this whole encounter, to say the least. The title of this post, “Ding, Dong, The Demon Fled”, is meant to be both cautionary and empowering. The title does not say that the demon is dead, because it’s not. But by the Power of God, he was forced to flee! That is why we are in ever need of the “full armor of God” to protect us from these dark forces.
The devil is not a fable or a myth. He is as alive as God the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit. No matter how close you are walking with God, no matter how intimately you are acquainted with Him, you are not immune to the devil and his minions deceptive voices pleading for you to “let them move in”.
Please keep your ears open to God, your eyes on Him at all times. Never let your guard down, never think you can shed your “armor” for even a moment.
But be confident at all times, Never be afraid!! God wins! Demons must flee in His name. But be ever mindful, when they have been forced to flee from someone, they go somewhere else.
Walk in love, seal yourself up tight in Faith…
This is what God showed me in the Bible to end my post with, “But arise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, that I might appoint you to serve as [My] minister and to bear witness both to what you have seen of Me and to that in which I will appear to you…To open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God, so that they may thus receive forgiveness and release from their sins and a place and portion among those who are consecrated and purified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:16, 18).
I know, I know…I’m sensing the head shakes and eye rolls and the “who does she think she is’es”. Like I said, I didn’t want to write this. I didn’t really want to write about “God stuff”, anymore. But think what you may. Yes, I’m probably “crazy”, probably will always be in the eyes of some of you. But all of this happened, I encourage you to verify it. You should, if you doubt.
The devil is no joke.
But I intend to fight him like a warrior. I will be God’s cheerleader, but I will also be his Kung Fu Fighter.
And Kung Fu Fighters can’t be “cry babies”.
Be blessed and be careful.
whatafriendwehave 