For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only
with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against
the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.
(Ephesians 6:12 Amplified
version)
Today’s post is quite different from the past 77 days in our journey of being thankful on purpose. See, right from the start I want to let you know that I am thankful (and you should be as well) for every bit of protection from spiritual attacks when we are in our ignorance and even in the times that WE THINK we have it all together. Before you go thinking I am off my rocker, trust me I am very much sane. Even when I was a child behind my quiet demeanor my waters ran deep, but I was and am very much sane and more in tune with my surroundings than I have been in the past. For some of us who have grown up going to church I feel we can become so flippant with reading and quoting scripture over time that we really do not connect with what we are saying. It can just become a ritual; too institutionalized. What we say may sound so spiritual but there is no real power or sense of genuineness behind what we are saying.
My very first encounter with the spiritual realm (of which I was aware) as it relates to the scripture above was some years ago while I was still living at home. I think I was in my early 20s. I was entering my bedroom and just as I was about to flip the light switch there were two or three (I can only recall 2) dark “somethings” that quickly rushed passed me to exit my bedroom. That is the best way I can describe them because they had no form that I can put into words for you. However, I know they rushed passed me so quickly as if I had interrupted something. I remember telling my mom and I know she did not really believe me; she wanted to reduce it being little mischievous spirits at the most. Uh?? Mischievous or not, I know what I saw and I did not just walk around seeing things like that…EVER. Now, I have to admit that over time I started thinking that maybe my mind was just overactive for some reason but in the back of my mind I could never shake what I saw as just being my mind. Then it happened a month ago… I was watching a broadcast of a woman ministering on TV while I was preparing for work. She was talking about spiritual warfare and she said, “…you’ll come to the point that when you walk into a room your presence will drive demons to run because you’ve entered…” I screamed, “That happened to me! That happened to me!” However, I had never made the connection that I had anything to do with why they were exiting my bedroom so quickly. I was just more in shock for the experience at the time it originally happened.
There is one other spiritual encounter I have to mention. It really drives me to thank God for His grace and mercy in my life. A little background. When I was seven or 8 years old The Book of Revelation drew me; it just fascinated me. It still does today. Also in my youth, I gravitated towards the shows like: Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Highlander, etc. In my stubbornness, off and on, I would stop watching them; I believe God was having me stay away from them. However, those shows fascinated me! I knew they were not good for my spirit. Just hard headed, until almost a year ago. I watched Fox 2’s Sleepy Hollow. I had been watching every episode and I recorded the ones I might miss. That one night there was this episode where the characters were saying incantations that in my spirit I KNEW (do not ask me how) they were real! I take that back…the Holy Spirit revealed to my inner self that they were real. Nevertheless, I kept watching and listening. After I had gone to bed sometime late in the night I know I was sleep. However, I am telling you my spirit could not have been sleep because I saw a dark silhouette standing on the left side of my bed; one was sitting or standing on the right side of my bed, and a third one was in the far corner of my bedroom near the entrance. It was as if that one did not want to get too close. The two on either sides of my bed were just watching me as if they wanted to do something but could not. I was trying my best to get myself up from sleeping. This was not a dream. I remember jolting up in bed and I quickly turned on my nightstand light. I just stared around the room. I recall it was around three or 3:30 a.m. I could not turn the light off until I went into my living room and found someone teaching the Bible on the television. I left the TV on, went back to my bedroom and closed the door to shut out the light, and then I turned on my radio to the station where I keep it tuned to BOT Radio. I filled my atmosphere with just talk of God’s word. I had no problem falling to sleep. When I woke in the morning I had my doubts about that not being a dream until I was checking my Fit bit for the day online to see my past days activity readings. I WAS SHOCKED to see activity for the same window of time that I had been sleep! I do not sleep walk and I do not wear my Fit bit to bed. So what is your explanation? I had no problem letting my Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, and Sleepy Hollow shows go, along with others that go against the character of being Christ like. Yes, I still have other areas of my life that God is fine-tuning like all my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Nevertheless, we have to be willing to die to self when His mercy is screaming, “let it go!” (Side note: I’ve been trying to recall the date of that morning because I don’t know why I didn’t print that activity as proof and a reminder!)
Okay…I have said a lot here today. I just felt I had to get that out. God’s grace and mercy reaches further than I could ever imagine. I glory not in who I am but Who He is inside me. “For I consider [from the standpoint of faith] that the sufferings of the present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us! For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed.” (Romans 8:18-19 Amplified)
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