Tag: #spiritualinvaders

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Infected?

As we prayed this morning, I felt directed to pay attention to the state of the spiritual environment. I have learned that indulging in repeated acts (habits) draw or attract the spirits associated with that act. Additionally, things that appear in the physical realm are usually (1) a manifestation of what is occurring in the spiritual realm OR (2) an illusion that the adversary is propagating to deceive many.

In either case, what I see, hear, smell, feel – what I sense in the physical – is connected to an entity in the spiritual realm. So, although my household has been protected so far from the COVID-19 infection, it does not negate that the infection and all things resulting from its effect on the earth are manifesting and have manifested.

I need to look at this virus and its effects so as to trace the spirits that have been unleashed and are actively working in our world at this time:
– UNEMPLOYMENT = lack, poverty, hopelessness/despair, suicide, loss, homelessness;
– SHUT-DOWN = quarantine, shelter-in-place, isolation, separation, loneliness, fear, anxiety, abandonment;
– SICKNESS & DEATHS = sorrow, loss, grief, lostness, doubt, mistrust
– RACIAL PROTESTS = anger, violence, hatred, malice, murder, injustice

As I stop and look, really look, I see how I have taken the state of the spiritual environment for granted. My lack of attention to it has exposed my family and me to spiritual infection.

Masks are being required more and more as a defense against this virus. Countries are pushing for their people to wear masks as their personal protective equipment (PPE). But what spiritual PPE have we put on as a spiritual defense against those spirits that have accompanied the pandemic?

In my studies and subsequent teachings on “Overcoming Emotions”, I realized that our senses as well as our emotions were given to us as organs of perception that will help us navigate and survive in this world. Moreover, we saw that this perception is not just limited to the physical realm but is also connected to the spiritual realm. With the onslaught of issues arising from the effects of this pandemic, our emotions are functioning as God designed them, attempting to convey to us changes in our spiritual environment. They are doing so in an effort to help us navigate and survive this pandemic; to protect and preserve not just our physical lives but our spiritual lives as well.

With this in mind, I ask myself, “Could it be that what I have been feeling these past weeks was me actually sensing activities or pulses in the spiritual realm? Could it be that the symptoms of feeling mentally, emotionally and spiritually faint or tired/fatigued/exhausted are an indication that I have been spiritually exposed?”

If so, I need to QUARANTINE. I need to stay home and monitor my spiritual health. I need to spiritually distance myself from every evil spirit that is seeking to infect me with Lack, Loneliness, Despair, Anxiety, Fear, Anger, Doubt, and every other spirit that is actively working through this pandemic. I need to go to my place of refuge – God – and find shelter under His wings (Psalms 46:1; Psalms 91:1). I need to take the time that I need to be spiritually recovered and be back to full strength again.

Holy Spirit, You are ever-working, ever-active. You know just how to get our attention and how to lead and guide us into our truth, that is, the truth we need for today. You are my parakletos indeed – the One who walks alongside me as my Help. May I connect with you once more in the place of prayer and find strength for the battle. May Your all-sufficient grace be realized in me as I fight for my survival and that of my family. May I walk with the sight of the Spirit, knowing that my steps are ordered by You. – AMEN!

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Allergens

…to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:14 KJV).

I have never been diagnosed with sinusitis nor a sinus infection but, I have had some serious allergy problems during certain seasons. A few years ago, I was out of school for a couple of days because of allergies. My allergic reaction was so bad that my usual dose of Zyrtec could not relieve the symptoms. I had to get a butt shot (OUCH!!) to be able to return to school.

During the spring and summer months, my immune system goes into major battle mode. For at least half of the year, my body wages war against allergens. An allergen is any substance that triggers the immune system, causing an allergic reaction. Some allergens include dust, mold, pollen, and pet dander. Although harmless, they are recognized by my immune system as harmful. Whenever they are present in my environment, my immune system overreacts producing antibodies to attack and destroy them, thus defending the body from this invasion.

The battle is evident by the symptoms manifesting in my body: sneezing, watery eyes, itching eyes, ears, roof of mouth, throat and nose, congestion, runny nose, and sometimes wheezing. The severity of the symptoms are determined by the type and amount of allergens encountered and by how my immune system decides to react to them. So now, I can tell when there is an allergen in my environment. I may not be able to identify its source or what exactly it is, but I know it is present. How do I know? The symptoms.

However, although these allergens are harmless, there are microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi that do pose a real threat to the body. The immune system is given to us to defend the body, by keeping these invaders out or by destroying infections caused by those invaders that successfully gain entrance.

As in the natural so it is in the spiritual. There are things in our spiritual environment that triggers our spiritual immune system to go into battle-mode. I want my spiritual system to be so sensitive that I can detect when the adversary or his agents are in my environment. I want to be acquainted with the symptoms that will inform my understanding that a battle is raging in my spiritual atmosphere. I want to be aware of when there is a need to launch an attack, neutralize the potency of every would-be invader, and stop their advancement, causing them to retreat. This sensitivity will guarantee maintenance of my spiritual health and wellbeing.

One of the ways that I can gain such sensitivity is by growing from being a babe in Christ that can only handle milk into the woman that God had designed and equipped me to be; that perfected woman – one who is of full age – skilful in the word of righteousness. This acquired skill develops by reason of use, that is by having my senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5: 13-14 KJV).

Heavenly Father, please help me to grow up. Help me in this discovery of who I am to find myself in Your word and be transformed. May I become able to handle the strong meat of Your word. Help me to practice living by Your word daily so that by reason of use, I can have my senses exercised to detect the invaders in my atmosphere and be successful as a warrior in Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!

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SCENT MANAGEMENT

My second daughter turned 14 years old over this past weekend. As I watched her enjoy her birthday celebrations, I was reminded of her as a newborn infant, clutching to only me at first, rooting for my breast. Her actions were that of one who could detect the unique signature odor of her mother and rested in the comfort and trust which that scent represented.

I woke this morning being instructed by the Holy Spirit. As I slowly awoke, I heard the statements:
• “Sin multiplies.”
• “Sin carries a stench.”
• “Unclean spirits are attracted to that scent.”
• “Sin, when it is full blown, leads to death.”

I not only heard the statements but saw scripture references simultaneously: Genesis 6; Genesis 4; Romans 6; James 1. So I hopped out of bed, grabbed my study tools and, with the memory of my daughter as an infant and those 4 statements as my focal points, went to studying. I found out something very important: spirits are attracted by the spiritual odor I exude. My scent attracts and repels. Managing my spiritual scent then is another strategy of spiritual warfare.

In my research, I found out that each person has a distinct odor, a natural scent called their signature odor. For newborn infants, though they can’t recognize their mother by sight, their highly sensitive sense of smell causes them to recognize their mother by her natural scent, by her signature odor. I also discovered that my infant becomes so familiar with my scent that she can even detect the difference, in odor, between my breast milk and that of another mother’s. This is why mothers of newborn infants are often cautioned against wearing strong scents such as perfumes or fragrance skin products. The baby’s sense of smell is so sensitive that strong scents/odors can become overwhelming and interfere with their sense of taste.

Wanting to understand what the Spirit was teaching me, I delved further into my research on body odor. You see, I have learned from the word and from experience that the natural, physical world mirrors the spiritual world in some ways. If we exude scents/odors from our bodies from which others can detect and extract accurate information, then our spirits also exude scents/odors from which other spirits can detect and extract accurate information about our condition or state. Our body odor can inform a sensitive or highly trained individual of various body conditions (like problems with specific organs, hormonal changes, disorders), choices (like diet), emotional state, and life stages.

As I thought on this and its parallel in the spiritual realm, I was reminded of the fact that not only am I an ‘ezer, a watcher, but I am also being watched and being targeted. After all, I am in a war. Just as I am studying warfare, so that I would not be ignorant of my adversary’s devices, even so he is studying me as prey (1 Peter 5:8). The clues I give, through the scents my spirit exude, inform that predator of my state. Then he chooses whether to retreat or attack.

But this doesn’t only apply to me. It applies to everyone, even my children who may not be as skilled in the warfare as I am. I thought of my 14-year old daughter, her current stage in life and her hormonal shifts which will likely affect her emotional state. I thought of what “odor” she may be emitting spiritually that may get the attention and “favor” of unwanted spirits. I pictured them, just like the beast who crouched at Cain’s door, waiting for a foothold to enter in and master/overpower him (Genesis 4:5-7).

I thought, “For the sake of my children, I need to manage my spiritual scent so that my children’s spirit can always locate my unique, signature odor AND find that place of safety, comfort and rest.” I cannot afford for my scent to be masked by the cares and stresses of life, lest they would not be able to find their ezer warrior that God has assigned to them for their “help”. For their sake, I must manage my scent so that I do not attract unwanted attention and cause them to have to fight unnecessary battles.

This Mother’s Day 2020, I want to encourage you, as an ezer warrior for your family, to manage your scent. Don’t let your children or those entrusted in your care smell the stench of anxiety or fear exuding from you. Don’t let the cares of life so overwhelm and overcharge you that your environment becomes a beacon for unclean spirits. Fill your space with the aroma of sacrificial praise and sacrificial worship. Attract the presence and favor of God and repel the crouching and stalking of the adversary. This Mother’s Day reproduce for your children the first gift they got from you, after birth, the gift of your scent.

DIG DEEPER:
Bible Study: What’s that Smell?

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TIME MANAGEMENT: Warfare Against The PRESS

I awoke this morning remembering a vision that I awoke to about a year ago. It was a vision showing the state of spiritual activity on Earth. In the vision, I did not see fixed bodily forms but rather an understanding of concepts and truths revealed to us in scripture. In this “vision”, there were three layers of activity in the Earth.

  1. In the first and uppermost layer, there was Jesus seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come, with all things under His feet (Ephesians 1:20-22).
  2. In the second layer, the one far below Jesus Christ’s, there were these principalities, powers, mights, dominions, and all sorts of names actively moving around, influencing the activities of humans on Earth.
  3. The third layer, the lowest of the three, had at its top (just below the bottom of the second layer) the things that consume our daily living: jobs/careers, marriage/relationships, finances, children, desires, emotions, and the list went on and on. They circled and amassed as a crowd at the upper area of that third layer to the point where they became a barrier, a wall. I stood on the floor, at the bottom, of this third layer, with my hands outstretched and my eyes lifted in prayer. Though at my core I am a spirit, my physical body with its dependence on my physical senses to understand and navigate this physical world, kept me grounded, earth-bound, limited in my ability to pierce through the barriers of the second and third layers so as to partner with Jesus Christ in victory, through prayer.

Why did I get this vision? At the time, for about 3 weeks, I had been consistently spending quality time with the Lord, early in the morning, at the beginning of each day. This communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit was so consistent that I would awake in the morning hearing words of advice, counsel, and admonition.

I experienced what the prophet Isaiah spoke about in Isaiah 50:4 – “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.” I like how the NIV translation states it: The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.However, the week prior to my awakening with this vision, the constancy in my communion with the Holy Spirit was broken. The cause? Busyness. That week I was super busy. The busyness so drained me that I became tired and weary. I was so exhausted from the many obligations that I had to fulfill that I would awake late in the morning and not be able to have that quality time with the Holy Spirit. Getting the children to school on time and my arriving to work also on time became a great effort because of how worn out I felt.

Nonetheless, I awoke that morning with this picture in my mind and realized that the Holy Spirit was being my Help. He had penetrated the barrier of tiredness and exhaustion to reveal to me the attack and strategy of the enemy. I later called this strategy The PRESS. You see, the enemy had filled up my atmosphere with busyness so as to cause excessive exertion and lack of sleep. His purpose was to use the PRESS of my daily activities to block my access to the heavenlies. I learned in my Science classes that the atmosphere is very important to life on Earth and does many things to help protect life and help life to survive. The enemy’s agents in the second layer were influencing the timing of these activities to create a PRESS.

That morning the Holy Spirit taught me the importance of being aware of the condition of my atmosphere; the importance of being intentional in my warfare against the PRESS, which manifests as crowdedness. Crowdedness speaks of filling a space almost completely, leaving little or no room for movement.

The enemy’s desire is to keep us Earth-bound by keeping us crowded. When we are blocked in, our movements in the spiritual realm becomes restricted and we are unable to access our true position where we will experience victory. He works with TIME and uses time to frustrate our purposes so as to keep us locked in. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that the weapon of warfare needed to counteract this attack of the PRESS is the discipline of time management. Learning how to be and becoming disciplined as a manager of the time I am given will defeat CROWDEDNESS in my life.

Now why did I awake to this one-year old memory? Because promotion is fast approaching and I will be faced with some new obligations and new battles for which I lack experience. If I am to make my way prosperous and have good success at that new level, then I need to become more skillful in my warfare against the PRESS.

Could it be that the exhaustion and frustrations that you have been feeling lately are a result of the PRESS? Have you been crying to the Lord because you can’t seem to find TIME for Him as you would like? Join me as I continue to explore principles associated with this warfare gleaned from the lives of Zaccheus and Martha.

DIG DEEPER:

  1. Devotional: Isn’t There Anyone to Help Me?
  2. Bible Study: Surrounded? Run Before!

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Good Seed, Crowded Soil

Luke 8: 7, 14: Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, … some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

For the past two weeks, we have been discussing the characteristics of the virtuous woman, the woman of valor. But I feel the need to pause in our explorations and minister to some women who do not see themselves as virtuous, victorious, or strong. I want to minister to my sisters who feel as if they have tried and tried but keep on failing. Those whose prayer lives seem to be a cycle of prayers of confession and pleas for forgiveness, because they seem to be always stumbling and falling down.

As I re-read some of my many journals that I have written over the years, I came across an entry where I had penned at the top of the page, “The environment (condition) of my heart determines the productivity of my life.” At the time, I was studying The Parable of the Sower, and the verses that talked about the seed that fell on thorny ground captured my attention. Let’s look at the verse from Luke’s account of that parable.

Notice a few things about what we learn in this parable:

1. The thorns, although not visible to the naked eye, were present in the soil/ground at the time that the sower scattered the seed on the ground.
2. The good seed fell on and germinated next to already existing thorn seeds.
3. The good seed produced a plant.
4. The plant became an adult plant; a plant capable of reproducing or bearing fruit.
5. While the plant was growing, the thorns were also growing.
6. Soon the area of land where they were both growing became overcrowded.
7. Eventually the thorns began to choke the plant that sprang up from the good seed. It deprived the plant of resources through crowding.
8. The thorns diverted the nutrients the plant needed to, not only produce fruit, but to sustain the growth of the fruit until it came to a place of maturity.

My sisters, part of our self-discovery involves a search for pre-existing thorns in our lives. We must identify those things that were deep-seated in our heart before we heard the call of God. Note, those thorns do not negate the fact that God called us and spoke the seed of His word into our hearts. However, those thorns will limit what we can do with what God has given to us.

For some, the thorns have been growing alongside the word of God in our hearts for years. Now that we have grown to a place in God where He wants to use us to reproduce, that is to make disciples, we are finding that we are not as mature as we thought. We are finding ourselves void of strength and stamina, making it difficult to bear fruit.

According to this passage of scripture, the thorns represent cares (worries and anxieties), deceitfulness of riches (going after making money), and the pleasures of life (going after just having fun). If our lives revolve around these three main areas, then we are causing the strength and life that comes from the word of God in our lives to be depleted, leaving us unable to come to maturity and reproduce much fruit.

As women, if we are not careful, we can allow the cares of life to so fill our days and eventually our hearts that the good seed of God’s word, will not be allowed to do its full work in us. What He says about who we are and what He has given to us will be choked out and not be able to bear any fruit in our lives.

My sisters, know that what God says about us as women is truth. What He has promised to do in us and through us is a certainty. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “He who calls you is faithful who also will do it.” The problem isn’t with the seed, with His word or what He said. The problem is if we received His word in hearts that have not been cleared of the remains of the thorns that were there previously, then what His word produces in us will eventually die out.

You don’t have to allow your life and consequently your heart to become overcrowded with the cares of life. You can be all that God says you are and bear fruit that testify to the same. Take some time to weed out the thorns from the soil of your heart and make room for the word of God spoken in your heart to grow and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundredfold.

DIG DEEPER:
Prayer Room – Be Rid of the Thorns