Do It Now
>> Thursday, September 4, 2008
This subject can be a little different, even creepy or scary to some. Some of the scriptures Elderedge references includes James 4:7, Acts 16:18 and Luke 4:35. Go back and re-read these if you need to. What is your response to what Eldredge says in this section of his book? Have you ever experienced anything like this in your personal life?
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This kind of falls back to my previous comment on the "fruits" section. I will say though, that what was most awesome to me was the fact that after I stopped and prayed ("resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Draw close to God and He will draw close to you" James 4:7). The next Sunday God wrapped me in his arms with a beautiful sermon about God's plans for us (For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.......Jeremiah29:11-13). My heart is at peace again.
This was a very scary thing to me at first, as I mentioned earlier. Zach and I have noticed a pattern in our lives. It seems that we are especially prone to attacks during times when we are starting up something new in ministry or right after God leads us down a new road that would be a threat to the enemy.
Sometimes these attacks where in our children having nightmares all through the night, other times I felt fearful about various things - which is not of God - among some other forms of attack. Some of the times that we noticed these things were when I started working for Kids Day Out at Oso (both when we started up the school and when the second semester started up), when I started up this blog, when we got the go ahead to start life groups, etc. We quickly noticed the pattern and are now on guard at times like these.
At first I was very troubled by this, especially when C was having some terrible nightmares, and suspected that our family was under attack. Two dear friends of mine that I had confided in really put me at ease. What they told me was very similar to the way Eldredge describes it - the fruit was not of God. To be honest, it really kind of made me even more fearful at first, but then just angry at the enemy. One of them told me that there would be no reason for the attack if we were not a threat. Through lots of prayer and loving help from my friends, I was able to "resist" and I feel like now I am better able to analize what is going on in my life and do periodic "fruit checks".
I thought Eldridge brought up some interesting ideas that I had never really thought about. I was familiar with "casting Satan out" but hadn't really gotten specific about it. It makes perfect sense that Satan will not give up without a fight.
I had never really gotten specific about the spirit I was trying to get rid of. I would speak generally like "Satan, you have no place here, I cast you out in the name of Jesus Christ." Sometimes it would work, but other times I just got frustrated because it didn't seem to work. Since reading this section, I've gotten better about pinpointing the attack and praying specifically about that. One day I was feeling discontented. I specifically prayed for the spirit of discontent to leave me and it was so great to see positive results. I loved this section. It really helped me to realize just how big of a battle we are in.
On a side note. Jaxon was always prone to nightmares too. It was a weekly thing if not more often. He would get so scared that he would be shaking and it was almost impossible to calm him down. Jeff and I came together and prayed over his room. We prayed that the spirit of fear that was present would flee. We taught Jaxon the verse that says "Perfect love casts out fear and Jesus is perfect love." We encouraged him to repeat this over and over when he was afraid. We are still very committed to praying outside their bedroom doors after they've gone to sleep for protection over their dreams and their sleep. It has been very powerful in our family and we had seen much victory in this area. I can't even remember the last time Jaxon had a nightmare!
One last comment and then I promise to quit rambling! A friend once told me that one of the ways God speaks to us is through our dreams and Satan knows this. If he can cloud our dreams with fear then there's no room for us to hear the voice of God. Pretty powerful stuff.
I just wanted to thank you both for sharing this. As a mother it scares me to death to think that Satan might take up with my children....and it makes me so incredibly angry! Thank you for sharing your experiences so that I might recognize "the fruits" and not make agreements when my family might actually be under "attack."
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