Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Party Crasher
There’s an old song that says, ‘every party has a pooper that’s why we invited you…’ Well I haven’t invited the crasher of this party but the enemy of our soul seems determined to crash the party spreading his distortion. It almost seems to be a fact of life in the spirit realm that the greater the experience you have with the Lord the greater the battle will be coming against you almost immediately. We often see this as a reproach from Abba, surely we must have messed up, we must have invited the enemy in someway, somehow, oh no, we haven’t prayed enough, we should have fasted, we needed to be more vigilant…on and on it goes, this self deprecation. We are not supposed to be ignorant of the enemy’s devices but we often are because they seem so reasonable. Ever have anyone talk you out of a good mood by their gloom and doom? Ever have a great victory only to find yourself being thrown into the middle of someone else’s battle and suddenly you are depleted in strength and your victory seems to have slipped away?
Night before last I had what I call ‘night terrors’ no overt demonic visitation, just wild and crazy thoughts that on reflection in the light of day and thankfully for me in the ‘heat of the night’ it is very clear that they are not your thoughts. I was battled with thoughts so outrageous that one would laugh at them when fully awake and cognizant, but in the night when you are tired and alone well they seem; reasonable. It seems like you messed up for such a thing to come against you. You are not feeling the glorious Presence as you had been so you’ve done something to loose it. (Can one misplace God? I don’t think I have that kind of control over Him.) Then when that doesn’t work suddenly the thought comes, this is a warning from the Spirit, that all the bad things you were just thinking are going to happen and He is preparing you. Oh that one’s a real party crasher, for Abba is faithful to warn us of things that can be harmful so it seems well, reasonable.
It’s like a carnival, smokes and mirrors. The smoke screen of the enemy tries to hide the ‘glory cloud’ of His presence, and the mirrors are the distorted visions of terror we are having. Having these thoughts are not a sin, but to entertain them can lead one to disbelief and doubt and then sinful actions may spring from them.
What did I do in my night of terror? I prayed hard for discernment, I got relief but the enemy seemed relentless and the next terror thought would come on the heels of dispelling the last, suddenly I realized that this attack was not going to stop, not that I was buying into to it fully but I was fighting battles that were merely smoke and mirrors so there must be a real battle that needed fighting or a blessing that the enemy was trying to keep me from attaining. I then pulled out the big guns, I got up and went to the Word, as is my wont I said, ‘tell me now if there is any merit in these thoughts, any half truth that I need to be prayer covering.’ You must be prepared to believe what you are shown or doing this without the faith to back it up can lead only to more uncertainty. He gave me the Scripture about peace like a river. Whew, I can have peace about all those party pooper thoughts.
But now what is the real reason for this attack? For me it was two fold, to cover Gustav (not the person the hurricane), I knew that if enough people were taking the Abba given authority over these winds and waves we could cause the storm to diminish and even deplete completely. I’ve seen prayers answered for hurricanes before so I knew the effective prayer of righteous ones does indeed avail much. Next I knew that there was also a blessing in the offing that the convolutions of the night could diminish or cause me to miss out on completely, due to sleep depravation and if I bought into the fear. I went to bed declaring I accepted the peace and believed that He accepted the ‘storm lessening’ prayer. I woke to a good report about the storm, not all was abated but it was much diminished. The blessing came in being able to speak into peoples’ lives and see results. It’s like my dream come true to see, the plowman overtake the reaper (Amos 9:13). I saw instant reaping of what I was plowing up for others. I was approached by two different ones to do counseling and if I had been under the party crashers sway I would have avoided taking these on because it would have seemed like too much to bear; I would have not seen a connection in conformation of the words given to me and I would not have enjoyed myself so much.
Awhile back in one of the field prayers we are having the Spirit said, ‘ask of Me…’ I immediately knew where He was going ad said, ‘I want the heathen, the nations for my inheritance’. He queried, ‘what kind?’ I thought a moment and said, ‘the dreadful’. After yesterday I thought, okay the people that are being brought into my sphere to counsel are not dreadful, they are lovely wounded people. He told me ‘their wounds are dreadful’. Ah, revelation of my own prayer as interpreted in His heart. Someone asked me why I do this since I didn’t ask for monetary remuneration, I said, ‘I can’t bear others to feel alone in their struggles’.
Then came the confirmation of a word given me in one of the field prayers by someone else. The original word was that I was like flowers spilling over the wall attracting others to the One behind the wall. In conversation with one yesterday seeking counseling for themselves and a loved one this person said, ‘you are so easy to talk to, you are like an angel sent to earth to attract us to Him’. Then she said, ‘you make me feel more like a Christian when I’m around you.’ Okay, forget the angel part, I’m not getting a big head here but I thought what words of grace to give to me to combat the enemy’s attacks, my mission of drawing others to Him, of pointing others to Abba’s great love and grace, to our Big Brother, Yeshua and the wonderful friend we have in Ruach. Ahh, Abba confirmation of my hearts desire being walked out amongst those on the outside, for these I’m counseling are not members of our congregation, they are fruits in the world. Needless to say I had a party last night, of thanksgiving, of joy, of harvest and no party crasher!
k