God Speaks I Listen

I feel the need to go further into spiritual warfare, so this is Spiritual Warfare part 2. Spiritual warfare has escalated in our world and has greatly affected all of us. We MUST know what we are dealing with so that we can get through our situations and so we can also get the victory over our situations. This information is not to scare you but to alert you to the enemy’s tactics and lets you know how to deal with this. You can be an overcomer in your daily run ins with him and his minions.

Here is a straightforward biblical answer on who satan is.  John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

People who are not Christians are at the devil’s mercy and control. The devil was bad from the beginning and is responsible for all lies. The lies are how he deceives people.

I want to tell you about my personal experiences with the devil and how God taught me how not to be afraid of him.

As a child, I was extremely afraid of scary movies. I don’t know why but I was. Movies like The Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula etc. used to terrify me. I was very scared of the dark too. I never thought much about the devil.  I did believe he existed, and I believe there is a hell. In 1984 when I became a committed Christian, I started going to church every Sunday and bible study. That exposed me to not only the good spiritual things like God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and angels, but it also let me know how real the satan is.

I was so terrified that I could not even go to the bathroom during the night. I would wake my husband up to take me to the bathroom!!! Now you know that was really bad. One night I had a dream of a dog running after me and when I woke up, I was terrified. I told the dream to an elder in my new church named Bro. Jack who was up on these kinds of things. He said satan was trying to scare me and he has no power over me to destroy me. He also told me this story about an account Smith Wigglesworth had with the devil.

“Smith Wigglesworth awoke during the night aware of a satanic presence. Looking across the room, he saw the devil himself standing there. Wigglesworth said to Satan, “Oh, it’s only you.” Then he turned over and went back to sleep.”

Well that story scared the mess out of me, and I was even more petrified. But Bro. Jack told me something else that changed my life. He told me not to fear satan because he doesn’t have that kind of power over me because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. He said to say to the devil, “be gone” and he will flee from you. A few days later I had a dream with that same dog running after me. Oh, let me tell you about why this dream scared me so. When I was a child, a German shepherd got loose from a neighbor’s yard and chased me in my backyard into my house. I had always feared dogs since then.

So, I had the dream again and the dog was looking at me growling. I looked at the dog and said, “be gone” and he turn and ran away. Ever since then I had no more fear. James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

My next encounter was another dream. I was on stage at a theater and there was a balcony with the most beautiful glowing angel on it. It was speaking to me saying, “I have something to tell you!”. But as I waited for the message to come it faded away. I was so upset because I though God was speaking to me. So yeah, the next Sunday at church I again sought out Bro. Jack. He told me that it was a dream from the devil. I was shocked! He said the fact that the vision was glowing like that, and the message was never given proved that it was not from God. God would never give me an incomplete message. Also, satan likes to try to outdo God so that’s why it was glowing.

2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

These unique lessons really taught me to be very careful about what I see and hear. That everything needs to line up with the word of God. Also, to test all things to make sure it’s from God. These Holy Spirit guided lessons have stayed with me my whole life.

I have only seen a few things in the dark side of the spirit world. Most of my spiritual life has been submitting myself to God, obeying Him, studying His word and worshipping Him. Ain’t nobody got time for the devil and his mess!

I know who I am in Christ. 1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

After Jesus shut the devil down when He was on earth the devil stopped messing with Jesus until he found other time to attack Him.

Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

He prowls around for an opportune time to try to take us down. But like Jesus, we have to know how to shut Him down too. We shut down the devil by knowing the word of God!!! We must have on the whole armor of God also!!!

1 John 3:8 The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy what the Devil has been doing.

Jesus already defeated the devil!!!! We should be doing a happy dance in our spirit! God truly had mercy on us!

The devil is still a formidable foe! Let’s keep it real here. He has and can interfere in our lives. We should also know that he does NOT have the power to destroy us!!! This is why we can sing “It is well with our soul” with assurance of our great outcome! There are things that can destroy our body…but NOTHING can destroy our soul, and no one can take us away from our Heavenly Father!!!

We CANNOT let the devil take away our Joy and our peace!!! The creator of ALL things is our Father, and nothing can take us out of His hands! He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit who is living inside of us. Wow wee!! Thank you, God!!!!! Thank you, Jesus!!!

Do things get hard sometimes? Yeah. Are we alone in this? NO! Gods got us! So what we’ve gotta do is to stay under His wings. Shelter in Him! Keep your mind on Him and not on your circumstances. If we’ve gotta cry out to God everyday because things are hard…then that is what we will do because our help comes from God!!! God never said things would be easy…but He said He would NEVER leave us out in the cold!!!!! We have got to hold on to Him for dear life! Don’t just touch the hem of His garment but climb into the deep pockets in His robe and hang out there until your deliverance from your situation takes place!!! Gather others to hang out there too. I will be there myself! We are all gonna be OK because we said yes to Jesus!!!!

Hebrew 13:6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.