PART I

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”  Psalms 27:1

“Your words are a flashlight to light the path ahead of me, and keep me from stumbling.”  Psalms 119:105

“For their advice is a beam of light directed into the dark corners of your mind to warn you of danger and to give you a good life.”  Proverbs 6:23

“You have turned on my light!  The Lord my God has made my darkness turn to light.”  Psalms 18:28

“Not all who sound religious are really godly people.  They may refer to me as ‘Lord,” but still won’t get to  heaven.  For the decisive question is whether they obey My Father in heaven.”  Matthew 7:21

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.  When you cross rivers, you will not drown.  When you walk through fire, you will not  be burned, nor will the flames hurt you.”  Isaiah 43:2

“Look up to the skies.  Who created all these stars?  He leads out the army of heaven one by one and calls all the stars by name.  Because he is strong and powerful, not one of them is missing.”  Isaiah 40:26

She knelt by her bed as a last resort, hoping God might finally hear her cries of anguish and have compassion upon her weary soul.  Everyday was miserable, agonizing, and there was no quality to her life.  Her children despised her because of wicked father’s who spoke lies about her in their presence; her own parents threw dirt at her behind her back, and wouldn’t even speak to her openly, as if trying to protect the men who had hurt her the most through her children.  A face that had once been pretty was covered with acne and open pores, while dark circles sketched their way around her tired eyes. 

If things weren’t bad enough already, over the years, she’d become allergic to practically everything, with no answers and no hope to get better.  She oftentimes went to the doctor hoping he’d say something was wrong, because at least then she could know what to do to make herself feel better.  But she wasn’t lucky enough; she was told she had real allergies to ALL of these things, but no answers as to why, and no direction to make it better.

Everyday was hell on earth, and she didn’t want to die, she just wanted to feel normal.

“And so God, I don’t think I’m asking too much from you, am I?  I know I’m not perfect, Lord; but when the leper looked up at Your glorious face and said, “Lord, you could heal me, if only you wanted to,” You healed him right then and there!  I don’t want riches, and I don’t have to be perfect; I just want to be me,and I want to be able to function properly and live!  I want to laugh sometimes, but it seems all that I do anymore is cry because I am so miserable.  Could you please make me well?  Your Word promises this, and I know I’m not worthy…it was a gift given by the death of Jesus…nothing I earned.  Please, Lord, if  only You wanted to, you could heal me…”

She continued weeping, her eyes so swollen she could barely see, and her nose so stuffed up she could hardly breathe.  Looking into the mirror offered no hope; a face swollen and speckled with red welts stared back, almost mocking her. 

“I hate you!  Why do you punish me so, you stupid body?  Why!?”  She fled out of the room and toppled onto the couch in a heap where she cried some more as she clutched her promise book to her chest.  Still, there was no voice in her heart speaking, and no angel of light standing before her; silence was her only form of reassurance as she sat up long enough to stare at the room vacant of any sound.

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Does this story remind you of anything you’ve gone through in your life?  Granted, maybe the story is completely different, but the thoughts, the feelings, and the frustrations…the depression…are exactly the same. 

I don’t have all of the answers, only God does.  I am not sure why some people get delivered from things in their lives, whether it be sickness or a bad situation, almost immediately while others go years  without any relief. 

There are different ways I suppose we could look at things.  For one thing, God knows everything, including our futures.  Maybe that problem you’re going through is preventing something else from happening in your life.  How do you know if that problem didn’t exist, you wouldn’t have gone down some completely different road and gotten killed?  We never know, but we’re sure to find out someday.  Or, how do you  know that the thing that is bothering you isn’t spiritual?  Maybe there’s a specific thing you need to do, and the Lord’s laying it on your heart, but it’s either too simple, or something you don’t want to do because it involves sacrifice, and so you’re not being set free from it.  Maybe you have a specific calling on your life, and the sickness in your body is causing you to be more humble to where you are a more effective witness; whereas if you were totally well, you’d probably be busy ignoring God in your life because you would have everything you need.

Like it or not, when we don’t need anything, we forget about God. 

I saw a sign on a church once years ago, and it’s always stuck in my head.  “Is God your steering wheel or your spare tire?”  Think about that for a moment.

If He’s not in the driver’s seat, how’s He supposed to help us?  If you load junk into your computer, go on the internet without virus protection, and load stuff without reading it first, you’re bound to have a crash and lose important files that may never be replaced.  But that’s the chance you take.  Then, all of a sudden your computer crashes, and you’re panicking as you call everyone up on the phone you know to see if they know someone who can be your computer savior.  But wait a minute…weren’t you the one who carelessly did these things, knowing it wasn’t safe?  And now you want to go and take everyone else’s time and energy to fix something that resulted from your own laziness and carelessness?  Everyone warned you, but you shrugged it off saying, “Chances are slim; it’ll never happen to me.  By the time it does, I’ll have it taken care of.”  As you smiled and walked away.

God is warning you.  People are warning you.  The signs of the times are warning you.  You’re not listening.  You’re crying and you’re desperate for help, but the answer isn’t one you want to hear, let alone accept because it’s just too hard for you, or you can’t seem to let go of that thing….that thing you’ve made into your God, or idol.  So how’s God supposed to help you when you’re following the other god, Lucifer?

“Child, you came to Me and I gladly received you; but now you’ve turned and all I can see is you kneeling at the feet of the enemy, Satan.  You do not realize this, but as you’re praying to me, you’re kneeling at his very own feet as he laughs and scorns you.  How can I answer these prayers of yours when you’re at the feet of another?  Things get worse, My child, because you’re using my name, but you’re praying before him, and so he will be the one to answer your prayers, not I.  So when you cry out, ‘why are these things worse Lord?  Why?  Why have you done this to me?’  My dear, I haven’t; it is the one to whom you are really praying to.  You may not be praying to him in your mind or in your heart, but spiritually, you are subservient to him.  I’m sorry, but I can only do so much as long as you commit adultery against me with the prince of darkness.”

I am going to ask you to do something very hard, and I know it’s hard, because I’ve had to do it myself.  Step back for a moment.  Forget about what you want, what you need, or what you fear.  Look long and hard at your life.  Are there gray areas?  Are there black areas?  Don’t excuse them by trying to conform scripture to your lifestyle so that you deceive your own self into believing it’s alright.  Self-deception is the worst..actually lying to yourself, and believing it, in order to make it okay to sin.  Ask God to begin to reveal areas in your life that are hidden; oftentimes, these gray/black areas are the places where spiritual strongholds hide—yes, strongholds—demons. 

Let me just clarify one small thing here—possession and oppression are exactly the same exact for one thing; possession means to “own” and oppression means: to burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints; subject to a burdensome or harsh exercise of authority or power: a people oppressed by totalitarianism. 2 to lie heavily upon (the mind, a person, etc.) Care and sorrow oppressed them. 3  to weigh down, as sleep or weariness does 4 Archaic, to put down; subdue or suppress.  Archaic . to press upon or against; crush.

Both are exactly the same in every other way there is, except when one is oppressed, the spirit does not own the individual they are occupying.  In other words, they only reason they have a right to be there is because somehow, you are inviting them to stay.  These hidden areas can go back as far as in the mothers’ womb.  For example; let’s say all of your life you’ve suffered with rejection. Many people suffer from a spirit of rejection, and it is one of the most common demonic spirits there is.  We suffer from it for various reasons, but I’m only bringing up one of the possible reasons in order to explain.

A woman is pregnant with her child, and she does not want the child, yet she continues in the pregnancy and then gives birth; overtime, she loves this child and wouldn’t change it for nothing.  However, during pregnancy, she was one with that child and she suffered depression, guilt, worry, anxiety, bitterness, and resentment toward herself, the man she slept with, and the child.

That spirit manifests itself in the womb, and latches onto that child, though the child knows nothing about it whatsoever.  He/she doesn’t understand a thing you’ve said.  It’s a spirit.

I’m going to leave off with this point for now, and we’ll continue this article tomorrow.  For now, pray and ponder what I’ve said here so you can gain a full understanding by the end of this article.  Maybe this is just what you need to be on your road to recovery from whatever it is that ails you.

Categories: Christian Living, Forgiveness, God's Lovingkindness, Love, Spiritual Warfare

Tags: Christianity, God, Heavenly host, Isaiah, Jesu, Lord, Matthew, Psalm