Spiritual Warfare Series:Spiritual Warfare in Real Time - This is no Joke

INTRODUCING MY MOM AGAIN

To all those who follow my blog or Facebook posts and those who are new, I have been writing from my mom's hospital room, where I "lived" for 5 of the 8 nights she was there. Now she is in rehab. This could potentially be a long post but I will try to keep the main thing in view and not get lost in the details. I do so love to tell a full story. Where to begin?

Ok, for the 3rd time in about 19 months, my mom has come down with a mystery illness that looks like seizures but have no physical evidence of anything wrong. From all of her tests, including multiple MRI's, she is perfectly normal for an 88 years old with her history. After a 3rd time, which occurred the day after her 88th birthday celebration this month, the doctor(s) are finally willing to admit that the cause might be spiritual. Now, for a scientist that is HUGE! Even when the scientist is a Christian one. I had witnessed the 1st episode and even and told the doctor then that it was a spiritual attack, but there was no indication that I was taken seriously. I suppose that's to be expected. After a third time, the second being only 2 months ago, they are again baffled by all of the normal vitals and willing to admit that the problem cannot be explained by science. I know this. I have experienced seasons of multiple visits to emergency rooms only to reveal that everything is normal. So I have history and experience in the area. For more information, please check out my first book, Walking in Fulfillment of Prophetic Revelation: The Naturally Supernatural Life , (or see AMAZON TAP AT TOP OF THIS POST).

This is what spiritual warfare often looks like. You don't feel well, it gets worse, you go to the emergency room, they run a battery of tests and find nothing. Sometimes, it could be that the cause is evading the medical team for a season. I am not referring to those times. However, what is often overlooked even by medical professionals who are believers, is that the affliction is a spiritual attack meant to kill the afflicted. Why do I say this, because the Bible tells us that the thief (Satan) comes ONLY "to steal, to kill, and to destroy...but that [Jesus] come(s) to give life and to give it more abundantly." John 10:10. So picture this; the enemy comes and strikes a person hoping to cause total destruction. Then Jesus, Who has been there for His child all along, goes before AND responds with a sharp rebuke.
Sometimes, the believers own ignorance may have opened up a door or given a toehold to the affliction where the devil comes to totally annihilate the believer. But friend, we have to pray. That is the first act in protecting, repentance might be involved. Get intercessors you trust to co-labor with you in prayer. Yes, God protects! Yes, God is there to pick us up again, but we engage Him in prayer, worship, and a total given over of self. I, for one, know I do not pray enough; and frankly, I only know one person who prays for hours on end. Yet, God is faithful, loving, and merciful.

Back to my mom. She experienced what I truly thought would be the end with this latest episode. She knows the Lord, so I was not worried about her destination. Yet, she clearly has some more work to do.

GOD'S STEALTH SOLDIER

At 88, my mom as been a follower of Jesus Christ for over 60 years, yet I see her increasing in her connection to God and her availability to speak forth in recent months than I have see before. And, incidentally, it was just around when we were experiencing some amazing times in God's presence, more specifically after she had spent 2 morning speaking to me as an oracle of God without knowing any of my "questions" before God. It was amazing! So amazing I asked her permission to start a blog in her name, sharing with people what God has saying through her. She had said, "yes." The next day after that, she had this recent attack. The amazing thing is, and this just demonstrates how God uses what the enemy does to strengthen us and make our walk more effective, every time his happens, she advances in her walk in the Spirit. I will demonstrate that towards the end of this post.

My mom has spent her Christian walk, evangelizing, interceding, and starting Bible studies are work where she could. Sharing about Jesus was just like breathing to her, and this was more prevalent in her mid-life to early senior years before the memory problems began. [I refuse to call it dementia as I do not believe the child of God has to accept something such a diagnosis because as children of God, we have constant access to power, love, and sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7.]

My mom has gladly operated in obscurity for all of her Christian life. No big name, no big ministry, no big following. Yet, the devil seems to "have it in for her." You might argue that he has it in for all of God's children. I would argue that some of us experience more warfare than others. My mom has had to endure her fair share of ailments and since the enemy could not get her with 2 bouts of cancer, he is now trying with demonic afflictions. Well, we who are in Christ are never victims as the world wants us to believe, but we are victors in Christ. In Romans 8:37, Paul says "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

PRAYER REQUEST: As you are lead, please pray for my mom's continued deliverance from memory and other problems that have been manifesting. I believe we can beat this. Thank you.

WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS YET THE BATTLE IS REAL

We are the victors and more than conquerors. However, the enemy never gives up. Why is it so important to him that my mom is taken away from here? What does her life stand for.    I blogged about this here.  Whatever the reasons he is fighting you, no devil in hell can make the decision on when a submitted child of God goes to be with the Lover of her soul. All of the enemy's tactics, therefore, result in furthering  her connection to, and love for, God and elevating her gifting. See my post on suffering here.

Jesus said in this world we will suffer but that He has overcome the world. That means, since He overcame the world, we, too, are overcomers. As He has been, so are we to be. That is the only option for His followers. Therefore, we keep going "through the valley of the shadow of death." (Psalm 23:4). We don't set up house there -- not even a campsite. We go through it following the Good Shepherd. In addition, shadows are not substantive; they can only be cast when there is a Greater Light. We know Who is that Greater Light, the Light of the World: "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12). So shadows will come and go but as we walk in the light following the Light of the World Who now lives in us, we will not die unless it is on His terms. Otherwise, according to ...

Psalm 118:15-17

¹⁵ The voice of rejoicing and salvation
Is in the tents of the righteous;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
¹⁶ The right hand of the Lord is exalted;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
¹⁷ I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord.

PROOF IN THE MAIN

It's taken me a while to get here to the spiritual warfare that happened in real time a few nights ago. What I am about to share, some will tune out because this is well outside of their paradigm, theological constructs, or realm of possibilities. Remember Ephesians 6:10-20 (We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the demonic spirits [paraphrased]), and Daniel 10:13, (when the arch angel Michael who had been engaged in battle in the heavenlies with a principality called the prince of Persia delaying the answer to Daniel's prayer.) We are not alone but there are indeed, more with us in the Kingdom of Light than in the kingdom of darkness.

 NOTE TO SKEPTICS AND UNBELIEVING "BELIEVERS" OF WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ

For those who will receive it, I must share this latest experience. Friends, God is real! God's power is real, and He is not to be played with. To a much lesser degree, Satan is also real, and he does have a measure of power.  Yet everything Satan does is subject to God and he is always and in every way subordinate to God. This is hard to understand, especially with all of the suffering in the world. I will say that, we live in a fallen, sinful, and corrupted world all because of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden. God has a timetable for complete redemption of His creation but it is His timetable and it must play out in His order in time before the redemption of that which became corrupt. Jesus' death on the Cross was the single-most important event in that redemption. Everything that must occur afterwards in supplemental to that sacrificial act.

As shared before, my mom seemed to have come very close to death. I say seemed because there was no medical indication but her demeanor was as one preparing for death, even her language. I know, I spend time with her in the hospital room night after night when it sounded as if she was drowning yet when they listened to her lungs they were clear. I won't go through the litany of bad experiences, I am simply thankful to God for His marvelous works. Yet, she took a very long time to bounce back; and it was long enough that I had thoughts this perhaps, this was it. I am being honest. But it only seemed that way. [It was different this time, and I now know why.]

Although mom made progress at the hospital, she still had not returned to her normal self by the time she got to rehab, and I did not know what last night* meant until I returned that night and saw her.

     WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?*

There are several things that occurred last night, my mom's first night at the rehab facility. She was very restless and I did not feel released to leave her alone so I stayed in the recliner, hunkering down for the night. However, like the mother she is, she waking up to make sure I was okay, and so on. We did not sleep through the night. At some point, a person, with a dark presence, came to the doorway and just stood there. She was dressed in her overcoat and bag and seemed very interested in us. I thought it was odd that she just stood there. I asked if I could help her, with something and there was no response. I thought, "How rude!"

Later on, I heard a commotion and it was a worker yelling at a crippled man whose bed alarm had gone off because he moved that warned that he was out of bed. It was terrible to hear and it seemed like one of those documentaries you see of how some old people are treated in homes. Yet, this is not that kind of place so I was shocked. She was using the Lord's name in vane and was very condescending. I know she was not one of God's and whatever she was carrying was very interested in who was in this room.  I decided I could not let this persist. I would have to say something to her. I gently encouraged her to show more patience and grace to the patients (hello, "patience!"), as they are not here for their enjoyment. I assured her that as human, circumstances sometimes test our patience, but that is never okay to speak in such a manner to an elderly person who is already suffering. She claimed I did not understand. Blah. Blah. Blah. I decided then and there, she was not caring for my mother. I even told the night nurse not to let her care for my mom. [Who told me to say that?]  I, then, headed back to my mom's room to settle down while she rested.

    AWOKEN BY "VISITORS" 

I was resting on the recliner when I heard my mom exclaiming about what she was seeing. And no, she is not on any medication that would make her see things. My mom was seeing in the spirit what I was not. She kept telling me there was something above my head yet to get her to describe it proved fruitless. What color is it? What does it look like? She kept responding with the location. Then it was over where she was. Well, clearly there was more than one entity in the room. One was like fire. I only know this because she was afraid something would catch on fire. I asked her if what she saw was dark, she said, "yes." I have not idea what she saw exactly. But I now know, that what God showed her was spiritual warfare over her health. She saw an angel or angels that were sent to set her free, and a demon or demons that were afflicting her. I would not know that had happened until later on that day.

   MY RESPONSE DURING THE COMMOTION

In the meantime, during the commotion, which lasted a good 15 to 20 minutes, my tired response was something like, "Ok, mommy. It's okay. Lets just get back to sleep." I was fine because God had not given me any unction to pray or press in or war on her behalf. She seemed fine and more fascinated with a sense of urgency. She thought I was somehow in danger. I knew God had it and just wanted to get some sleep. But my mom was seeing so clearly, she could not settle down. She thought her baby was in danger, did not feel any although the room was not very light I just chalked it up to the spiritual condition of the place with so many people and things happening. I had not idea it was a continuation of the trouble surrounding my mom and the warfare being waged on her behalf. We so often underestimate God. We pray and pray and when God shows up to deliver, we want to sleep. Again, I felt no danger but the disturbance from the dark figure in the doorway.

   MOM HEALED - GOD PREVAILS - AGAIN!

I had mostly forgotten about the previous evening's events described above until I saw my mom again that evening. I was not ready for what I would see. My mom was walking normally, speaking normally, and reasoning normally and praying in strength, to boot. I was shocked, to say the least. My sister had been with her during the day after I left around midday and she just said mom was walking stronger. She had not prepared me for what I would find. It was then that I knew, that the battle that had ensued the previous night had been over this latest affliction of the soul and body by the evil one. God had dispatched an angel or angels with the mission of warfare and deliverance. The atmosphere in the room is clean and she is sleeping soundly as I tap away at my computer. Yet, I believe we are to continue to pray for her protection and to encourage her to continually speak life over herself. That goes for all of us if and when we become afflicted with either an actual or a mystery disease. As we pray and speak life God will dispatch angels of deliverance so that we can sing Psalm 118:15-17. More and more, I believe diseases of the body, mind, and soul, do not have to result in death. We know the One Who is the Giver of Life and we need to use the authority He has given us to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received. Freely give." Matthew 10:8. There's no time like the present.

CONCLUSION

Why do I share these things that to some might seem imaginary, nonsensical, and unrealistic. You see, the spiritual realm is more real that the natural because the unseen world will outlast the seen world. God is merciful and in His mercy He is releasing as much revelation as it takes to gain new family members and to encourage the old ones. We need to know that this life in Christ is real, and signs, wonders, miracles, healings, and more are to be the norm. We have to question when they are not. Whatever Jesus did, we can too since we died to Him and He lives in and through us. (Matthew 14:12: Galatians 2:20). God shows me a lot, directly and through others, and I believe it's at least in part because He knows I need it and that I will share it. I still have a long way to go. Time is short! There is no time to make it sound or look pretty. It's time for action. What are you going to do with the information He has given you to disseminate for expanding His Kingdom!

SIDE NOTE: The very lady I did not want to care for my mom is the very one that turned up to do so twice during the night. God is not intimidated by those who are clearly "crying out" in some way for Him. She commented on what a nice lady my mom is. Still, I was glad I was there. 

Friends, I believe Jesus' return is very close, yet He waits so that none should perish. (2 Peter 3:9). That means the Father is seeking to include as many as would receive His Son and He is pulling out all of the stops to do so. As with my mom, He is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, the old are dreaming dreams and seeing visions. He is pouring out His Spirit on the menservants and maidservants. Ask for eyes to see and ears to hear what He is making available to all in these days. (See Joel 2:28-32).

I LEAVE YOU WITH GOD'S PROMISES TO CARE FOR YOU IN THE WORST OF TIMES

The Lord the Shepherd of His People

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell^[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.

* 2 nights ago

God's Attributes Series: When We Call God a Liar

Who Us?

Such a shocking title. Who would ever call God a liar? Surely that could never be the case. Well, I hate to break it to you but we do. When do we do it? When we doubt, when we disobey, when we worry, when we forget the vision and promise of provision, we are calling God a liar. We can go on and on. What is a lie?  The definition of a lie, according to dictionary.com is, "a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood." Sounds pretty bad doesn't it? Yet, people do it all the time, even categorizing them into colors and sizes. Some people claim to only tell "little white lies." Yet, you would not expect God to be One Who would lie, but we do, at times, "call" Him a liar.  But not to worry, you are not the first and you certainly will not be the last to experience this. Thankfully, God is kind, gracious, and faithful even when we are not. The purpose of this blog post is to explain how we tend to call God a liar along with encouragement to stop.


When did all of this start?

So when did this all start? This started In the beginning of the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. Do you remember how God made the man and woman and placed them in the most beautiful Garden where they had no needs or wants that He had not provided for? The only stipulation was they could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything else was for their use and all they were asked to do in return was to tend the garden and have dominion over everything on earth. In other words, they were charged with ruling over the earthly dominion. That was not a bad deal at all.

Of course, you know the story of what happened. That honor turned out not to be enough for Adam and Eve, our fore parents. The first instance of calling God a liar was when they believed the devil above what God had already told them. They varied from the Truth and in so doing called God a liar. Let's roll the tape, shall we:

Genesis 2:15-17: "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 Genesis 3:3-9 - The Temptation and Fall of Man

3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
⁹ Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

Satan's Beguiling Started With a Cunningly Asked Question

So this is pretty big. It's where it all began to go south. Let's take this in slow motion. First, look at how Satan phrased the question. He asked it negatively as if to say, God did not give you as much as you think He did. Satan was essentially saying to them about God: "He said you cannot eat of every tree. He is holding something back from you." Yet, the truth of the matter is, there was only one tree He told them not to even touch, much less eat from it. And of course, Eve made it worse by proving she had not forgotten God's warning but chose to disbelieve it. She even stated the command positively. "Yes, we may eat of the tress but there is only the one tree in the middle of the garden that we are not even supposed to touch, or we'd die that very day." She was clear on what God had said, but chose to rebel against it anyway.

After Eve's Answer, Devil Shot Back Accusing God

First of all, the minute the serpent spoke in this questioning manner of God, proving by the way that He knew fully well what God had spoken to them, she should have ended the conversation right there. Instead, she kept listening and engaging in conversation. Yet, even if she continued to speak past that point, once the devil's response to her explanation was "You will not surely die...," accusing God of lying to them, she should have ended it.That would have been the prefect time to excuse herself after making the mistake of entering into conversation with the deceiver. But no, not only did she continue this deadly discourse, she noticed the fruit looked quite appetizing, took a bite and offered some to her husband. Notice the "progression," going to the forbidden tree, speaking to an accuser, doubting God, the fruit begins to look good, they acted on their desire. And it all began so well, too.

That Day We Began to Die

Isn't it interesting that the day we sinned was the day we began to die? It went exactly the way God said. Before sin, God's plan was for man to live together with Him in perfect harmony. Otherwise, there would be no need of a warning of death from sin, if death was not a reality before. No, before sin, death was not a reality. Not only did man become corrupted by sin, God then cursed the serpent, the woman, and that ground.  And since through the woman everyone else was birthed, all of mankind was cursed because of that one sinful act. Did you notice how simple and easy it was to sin? It was as casual as eating fruit, yet that fruit had been forbidden. And to think, these people hung out with God on a daily basis. It makes you wonder, which one of us is unable to sin? The answer is one, if we continue to follow the first Adam, the natural man -- our flesh. Everything was cursed after that. And we know the first slaughter happened as a result of man's sin when God had to shed the blood of an animal to obtain the covering for the man and the woman. After that point, sin would always need to require a blood covering for its atonement. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Precautionary Measures

After the man and woman sinned in the Garden, the earth fell under a curse. However, God had already put certain measures in place so that mankind would not be lost for eternity and would have a chance at redemption. He already knew Eve and Adam would sin. So what did He do? He evicted Adam and Eve from the Garden and placed security at the gate and, furthermore, He placed security at the Tree of Life.

Genesis 3:22-24

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. 

A Foreshadowing of Hope Restored

Isn't God amazingly good? He gave man free will with which he sinned. Then God secured the entrance to the Garden and the Tree of Life to prevent them from eating and living in a sinful state for eternity. Man would have been hopeless forever. But God keep them away from the Tree of Life until He sent Jesus as our new tree of life so that all who chose to could eat of His body and drink of His blood, spiritually and symbolically, and thereby live a sin-free life forever.

Our Part in Accusing God

But Adam and Eve were not the only ones accusing God of lying. We do, too. I mentioned this in my opening sentences. We accuse God of being a liar when we doubt that He will do as He promised, when we disregard, when we disobey, and anything that is inconsistent with trusting that He will do as He has said. Yet, God cannot tell a lie. If He speaks it, it must come to life.

Numbers 23:19

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Then in Isaiah we learn that God cannot lie because anything He speaks cannot go undone:

Isaiah 55:11-12

¹⁰ “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
¹¹ So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 

God simply cannot lie. So let's remain consistent with His Word and His promises to us. Let's do this no matter what life looks like. Let's stay in faith and though it may not have come, wait for it, it will surely come. (Habakkuk 2:2-4).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please watch for a future post on how God's consistency throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Please Keep an eye out for the connection between the Fall in Genesis and eternal life in Revelation. God is a Keeper of His promises, His consistency, love, and faithfulness in keeping His promises never ceases to amaze me. Praise Him!