This was written in Feb. 2010
“Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.”
Ephesians 6:10-13
More obvious today than ever that the city of Rockland is infested with drug abuse, alcoholism, sexual immorality and witchcraft. A woman with her two grown kids stopped by the house in distress and as I opened the door, I felt a sense of being invaded-but put the thought aside as the woman said,
“Can the priest or the pastor come to our house and bless it? Because there are bad things going on and I can’t tell you in front of your children.”
I asked her what she was talking about—and she explains to me that her sister is involved in a ‘church’ in Tulsa and that her sister and the ‘church’ have been tormenting them for a long time and tearing her and her kids apart through anger and hatred. Maybe even tried to kill them. She also asked me if there was anything I could do to help her since the pastor was at work.
So, I was able to ask her if she believed in God and she said, “Yes, I believe in God.” I said again, “No, what I mean is, do you have a relationship with God? This all starts from here about having a relationship with God. You see, evil is everywhere, but when you have a relationship with God-He teaches you how to be prepared to fight such battles…this is important to know…so again, do you have a relationship with God?” The woman says, “Well, I pray sometimes…” She then proceeds to just listen, because she didn’t really understand what I meant-so I was able to share the gospel with three very distressed people. While I was talking before I prayed with her, the woman looks at me and her face seemed to change and she got scared all of a sudden and said, “I don’t think whoever doesn’t like me and my family likes you talking about God because I feel it coming on me.” At this point, I was flaming mad inside because I understood the feeling of invasion. I look at the woman and say directly to her, “You(The spirit in the woman) have no right to be here, this is my house, God is here and this is my family and you have no right to be here! We are children of God!” The woman’s face changed to somewhat normal and she began to cry…she said, “I want to pray the prayer with you and my kids do too.” We then prayed.
Before they left, they asked if the evil would follow them if they left town, I said, I didn’t know because evil is everywhere, but I encouraged them to go home and pray over their house and give it to God because now, they were children of God. We prayed that whatever evil was in the house (physical house and their bodies-spiritual house) would go away in Jesus name and I encouraged them to come to church.
God reminded me today that we should always be on our guard, to be mindful of our surroundings, to always be in prayer at all times because you never know when the enemy will pull a fast one on you-just to see if you can take it. All week, I had the same thought in my head running continuously, “Don’t feel defeated because God is on your side. Be on your guard, be prepared, and don’t back down.” I have sort of had this kind of righteous anger towards the feelings of indifference towards things, more importantly God—that He does exist but my wants are more important right now-apathy-has become a bad word to me.
How can we feel like we don’t need God when all this junk is happening around us on a constant basis?! The presence of evil seem more prevalent when you go out on the mission field because there is seemingly more mysticism there but the fact of the matter is, evil is rampant around our country but we are so blinded by the things of this world like politics, global warming, what’s happening in the Hollywood star’s lives , etc. to be concerned about our walk with the Lord. Many are living for just the temporary feelings but not for the Eternal Hope and Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! I am so sick of it! We have people we meet on a daily basis that struggle with the attacks of the devil and many shrug it off and say that they’re simply crazy.
There is a battle for all our souls and we need to see it—be aware that there are lost people who don’t really want to be lost. They are seeking us out and wanting to hear the Good News—are we ready to share it? Or are we too busy trying to live our own lives by letting the evils of this world replace what God wants for our lives?
