25.6.08

spiritual warfare...

recently, Paul and i have been experiencing some weird phenomena in our home, and we are sure that what we are facing has been spiritual...we are not sure if it is an attack on our marriage or what, but this is not the first time i have experienced something like it...

a couple of days ago, while i was upstairs by myself (Paul had not yet gotten home from his 2-week training in Alexandria), i heard a loud crash and ran down to see what had happened

our beautiful giant wall clock had come off the wall and crashed down into a million peices, and it landed on two of my standing crosses and broke both of those in half

a few nights later, right after Paul came home, we heard another crash and i was scared to death, so Paul ran downstairs to see what had happened

he came back upstairs with a worried look on his face and said, "look at this"...

on our mantle above our fireplace, we have a statue of Jesus, washing the feet of a disciple...it was a wedding gift from my grandfather and a symbol of our relationship because Paul proposed to me by washing my feet...the statue, which was sitting on the mantle when we went to bed, had somehow ended up on the floor and the heads of both the disciple and of Jesus were perfectly cut in half...

then, last night, about 1 am, we heard another crash...once again, Paul got out of bed to go see what had happened...this time, when he came back to our bedroom, he was extremely upset and wanted me to come see what it was

going upstairs, next to the staircase, i have about 10 decorative crosses hanging on the wall...2 of these crosses had come off of the wall and fallen down the stairs, again shattering into a million peices on the hard floor...the nails in the wall, where the crosses were hanging, are still in place...

i did not for one second believe this is all a coincidence, so Paul and i spent the next hour praying over our home and for each other and against any presence other than that of God which may be in our home or in our lives

compared to what i have seen in other countries, like Mexico and Guatemala, and what Paul has seen in other places as well, we consider this mild...however, it is important that it be dealt with accordingly

when dealing with spiritual warfare, Christians usually either under-emphasize (i.e. pretend it does not exist, usually because they are not in tune with the spiritual world) or over-emphasize (i.e. go about casting out demons everywhere and out of everyone) this issue...there should be a proper balance here when dealing with Satan and his forces, because it is absolutely real and God commands us to stand up to and resist evil...

Jesus did not give us Christians all of the authority...He is the only One who has all authority under heaven and on earth...however, we were sent the Holy Spirit by Jesus himself in order to be of direct help to us and to give us power to use when it is necessary

the Bible mentions biblical warfare several times:

"We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's stronghold's... break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God... conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ." (2 Cor 10:3-5 NLT)

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph 6:110-12 NKJV)

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
"In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints...” (Ephesians 6:13-17 NIV)


God has given us the tools by which to resist Satan...He knows that if we are Christians on this earth, we are going to face the powers of darkness eventually

we need to be ready for the attacks that will come, and we need to stand up and defend those who are helpless against Satan's schemes as well, esp. those who do not know Him...for a follower of Christ, its part of the job description

i encourage you, if you are a Christian, to batten down the hatches...stay in prayer and in the Word of God constantly...continue to minister to others who are held captive and are in bondage...read up on the topic of spiritual warfare and continue to learn all you can...

we need to be prepared...

remember, a bigger battle is coming...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

hi! i found your site through beautyfromashes... she's friends with my sister's husband, andy. anyways, what an amazing post. i have never experienced anything like that. but you and your husband know exactly what you're doing, using your strongest force of prayer, and coating yourselves in scripture, such as the armor of God.

I look forward to hearing what God does in this situation. we will be praying for you and your husband and your home!