CHAPTER 9 - SHEEP OR WOLF?

CHAPTER 9 -  SHEEP OR WOLF?

   Well as you recall, when I was having all those awesome miracles in Phoenix, at the Assembly of God Church; I was also battling the Jezebel spirit.  It is a very controlling, manipulating, dominating and intimidating spirit.  God taught me a lot about her when I asked Him, "what was that, is that you?"   And I remember telling one of the leaders there that I did not have fear until I came here.  There was a womens' group meeting for prayer, we were all sitting around in a circle and as the ladies needed prayer, they would gather around them and pray.  They would pray about the devil and what it was doing to the person and how miserable it made the person and how it has them bound and how long it has been doing it.  Ugh!!  And then I would pray like this,  "Thank you Father God that you are bigger than all those problems, and you are in control.  And I thank you that you have made us victorious in Jesus name."  And they all looked up at me with their mouths open, as if I were saying something bad.  And then they started saying things like "well some people don't believe there is a devil."  And I'm thinking, of course I do.  But I want to win.  And I want to magnify God, and make Him bigger than my problem.  Not make the devil big!  And give him all this credit for doing all these dirty deeds.  He doesn't care how you talk about him as long as your focus and attention is not on God!  And we only win and overcome by staying focused on God and His marvelous works and love and mercy and grace.  Revelation 12:11 - And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
   I have been supernaturally delivered several times.  And I am convinced that we do not have to know the deep things of satan in order to be delivered.  We need to have a repentant heart and willingness to change.  I said "God I don't want to pass on any generational curses to my daughter, and God orchestrated the whole thing to put me in the right place at the right time, with the right people."  He did teach me in the beginning that as Christians we can be oppressed by demons.  So I knew there was a devil and I knew what to do when I encounter one.  In the name of Jesus, get out!  And my focus was always on God, and WHAT GOD WAS DOING!  Not what satan was doing.
   Many times since I've been following the Holy Spirit, I have encountered the spirit of Jezebel.
Once again, as I am having so many wonderful miraculous things happen to us; the spiritual warfare is also going on.  I thought I had encountered big devils in Phoenix, but these are bearing down on me even more in Ohio.  Remember Daisy from chapter 7?  She was the woman that helped me when I first got to Columbus.  She was also the one who came knocking on my door when I got the eviction sticker on my door wanting her twin mattress and bowls back.  And she was not nice about it at all.  She had that same spirit of Jezebel that I encountered in the Phoenix church.  And she was also a lay pastor.  That spirit loves to get real close to the leadership to have more control.  So she made a big scene trying to make me look bad because she thought I was going to get evicted.  Then God showed up and showed off in my life.  And instead of her apologizing to me, she now has gotten very vengeful towards me.   She has four children, all girls.  One evening at a church function, Amanda and I walk into the church room filled with people and her oldest daughter points at us and starts crying.  She is pointing and crying while talking to one of the ladies.  Her daughters would constantly do things trying to provoke us.  And then one day, I was going to my car right outside my apartment and Daisy comes up to me screaming and bumping into me with her chest.  She was screaming, "you witch" and lots of other bad language.  Her friends and some teenage boys were near by watching.  I did not even know those teen boys and they started yelling at me too!  I stood my ground and looked her in the eye as she is bumping me trying to get me to hit her; I said "I am not going to hit you, I am just going to love you."  And her mouth fell open in surprise, and she backed off.  So I go in my apartment and a few minutes later the police are knocking on my door.  They could not tell me exactly why they were at my door, just that someone called them on me.  All I could say was that she was just trying to make a big scene, trying to ACCUSE me of something, anything.   I couldn't even think of why she would be calling me a witch, except that God was using me to expose those devils she was harboring.  John 10:20 And many of them said, He (Jesus) has a devil and is mad why do you listen to him?  The religious Pharisees were always trying to accuse Jesus and set traps for him.  Why are we so quick to believe another persons accusations against someone else.  I pray for our eyes to be open to all these tricks and schemes of the devil.  The wolf in sheeps clothes can be sitting right next to you in church.  A sure way to find a wolf, is get wounded.  All the wolfs start showing up, even people you would have never imagined.  They smell blood, and have come to finish you off!  I LOVE THE CHURCH.  I'm not talking about the church, I'm talking about the enemy of the church who can be an imposter, a wolf who comes in seeking someone to devour.  We still need to go to church.  God wants us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  You are still safest in church.
   I am also reminded of Mark 5.  This particular chapter comes to my mind often because I have had instances when a person will come up to me and just start manifesting evil behavior.   I took an exercise class at the gym and this instructor just did not like me from the moment I walked in.  She ended up acting out very badly towards me in front of the whole class.  She was having conversation with lots of people in the room while we were all exercising.  And she yells at me to put down the weights in my hand, of which we all had; so I did.  And several minutes later she still has not told me I could pick them back up or even why she yelled at me like that.  I thought okay maybe I was red in the face and she thought I was going to pass out.  So as I am still keeping up with them with no problem, I ask her can I pick them up now.  And no answer, she wont even look at me.  So I wait a while again.  By this time, I am sensing a spiritual battle going on.   As we are bending over in a position that she can very plainly see my face, if she would look at me, I said "excuse me, is there a reason why you can talk to all of them but you wont answer my question?"  And she yells at me (causing a big scene, sound familiar?) and says "see me after class!"  Oh my goodness, her class went on and on and on!  Two and a half hours of high impact aerobics.  I was exhausted, but I knew that I was going to stay and see her after class.
   So as she was saying bye to last few people, I walked up and said "hi, I'm Laurie.  What's your name?"  And she yelled again, "I don't have to tell you nothing!"  I said well you work here, I believe I am entitled to know your name."  She then yelled again, "I don't have to tell you nothing."  And I said "well you asked me to see you after class, was I doing something wrong?"  And again, "I don't have to tell you nothing"!  And she starts to walk away from me, and I walk with her and still trying to find out why she treated me so badly, I say "well I just wanted to find out what I did wrong so I don't do it again."  And she then gets very violent and screams at me "you better get out of my space, I'm warning you!"  I thought she was going to hit me.  Then as I go to my car, its late and dark outside, and she is standing out in the parking lot still going off about me to a few other women.   I cried when I got home, I felt so violated and attacked.  It really caught me off guard.  And no, I wasn't perfect either; I called her some names in my house that evening that I had to repent of.  So a week goes by, and every day I thought about her and prayed for her to be saved and delivered from those evil spirits that are controlling her.  About a week later, I was in a weight room right across the hall from her class that was just about to start, when I start talking to a woman and her mom I just met.  She was telling me how she just had cancer; so I said "why don't we pray about that" and we held hands and prayed for her.  And then spontaneously I went across the hall to her class, full of the same people that saw her act out at me.  I walked up to the front of the class slowly, while everyone was watching, and that instructors lip was quivering like a mad dog as I walked up.  I got just a few inches away from her face and said "about the other day", and I waited until she looked at me.  I said, "I forgive you."  And I walked slowly out of the classroom.  I prayed for her almost everyday afterwards for at least a couple months.  I wonder if anyone has ever prayed for her?  God wants to use us.  If we get so offended so easily and always think its about us, He can't use us to intercede and stand in the gap for others.  So looking back, I think of Mark chapter 5.  When the demon possessed man runs up to Jesus after he gets out of the boat and just starts manifesting evil behavior.  The man wanted to be saved, but the demons knew who Jesus was and asked Him not to cast them out.  They immediately started to manifest in the presence of Jesus.  The light exposes the darkness!  No longer can hide!
   Thank you Father God for setting us free!  You are the light of the world and I want to join you in your work as you cleanse and purify me first.  I submit to you now my mind, my body, my soul and my spirit and I invite you to come in, and CLEAN THIS HOUSE for your Holy Spirit to dwell.  And then I ask you to show me where you are working so I can join you in your work of setting the captives free!  God is at work to set us free!  Shining His light to expose all unclean spirits.  Do not keep resisting God. It is not the devil exposing your demons, it is God!  Repent and let the light, Gods mercy and love set you free!  And like a mother loves you enough to tell you the truth, I will tell you the truth.  Because it is only the truth that will set you free.