our warfare
Chapter 3
The most valuable thing God has given me the last six years is the Parable of the Raccoon. With this parable God allowed me to understand spiritual warfare. I knew the scripture in Ephesians 6:12 that says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high places." So, I knew that our battle was spiritual, I just didn't know how to fight it. And somehow I always thought that the battle was in someone else. When God gave me this parable, it opened my eyes, not only to the battle, but how we fight it, and how to know if we have won. With this parable, I redefined sin and righteousness, and peace took on a whole new meaning.
THE PARABLE OF THE RACCOON
In September of 2011, Texas was in a severe drought. The temperatures were intense. During this time, my husband and I woke up one morning to find that our chickens had been attacked. Something had dug under the gate and killed and devoured two chickens. We later found out they were raccoons. That day Lyndyl, my husband, cemented under the gate to stop the attacks, but the raccoons now knew where the chickens were.
The next night the raccoons found a loose board, pulled it up, and got in. They killed and ate another couple of chickens. That day Lyndyl tightly nailed down all the boards. The next night, the raccoons climbed the chicken wire to the top of the coop, found a loose place in one of the seams, crawled down and ate several more chickens. By now my husband was determined to secure the chicken coop. He checked and secured all holes, seams, cracks, and crevices. He then dug down all around the building and buried chicken wire underground in an L-shape so that anywhere the raccoons dug, they would hit the wire.
The next morning there were paw prints all around the coop, but no dead chickens. However, the following day we were attacked again. In the space of five days, we went from twenty-two chickens to eight. My husband came in while I was cooking breakfast that morning and said, “We have had that chicken coop for over a year now, and we have never been attacked.”
When he said that, bells went off in my head. I could hear the LORD saying, “This is spiritual! This is spiritual!” I turned to Lyndyl and said, "This is spiritual!"
That morning I went to the Prayer Closet. Without knowing it, I had already written the Parable of the Raccoon on the
wall. The first thing I saw was when I entered the Prayer Closet was: BELIEVE followed by “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3) It had always fascinated me that our righteousness is not what we do, but what we believe. We can do the right thing without being right with God. Then underneath that scripture was Isaiah 32:17-19: "The work of righteousness will be peace, the affect of righteousness will be quiet assurance. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places, though hail comes down on the forest and the city is brought low in humiliation."
That morning I was thinking about the chicken coop. When I read the scripture in Isaiah, I realized that when we believe, God places chicken wire around us. I asked Him, “God, do You do that?” He said, “Yes, when you ask Jesus into your heart, I place a hedge of protection around you.” Then I said, “But we are being attacked from all sides: from above and below and around and through. Our hearts are not at peace. How are they getting in?” He said just as plain as could be, “A lie.”
It made sense. If Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, then when we believe a lie, it would be counted to us as unrighteousness or wickedness or sin. Oh, my goodness! It is what we believe! It is all about the TRUTH verses the LIE. Wow! When we believe God, we have peace, but a lie comes with anxieties, fears, insecurities, anger, and frustration. Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites. Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
Then the very next scripture I found on the Prayer Closet wall was Psalm 139:23-24. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I cried out to God, "Search me, God! Know me! Try my anxious thoughts and see if there is any wicked way in me. Lead me into paths of life everlasting.”
Then right after that it said: CONFESS. "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) For a sin to come out of our heart, it has to come out of our mouth. “We believe in our heart unto righteousness, but confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10) Then right underneath the scripture about confess your sins, there was a scripture found in Leviticus 26:40-41. “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt.” I said, “God! But I live in America. No one accepts his guilt. Everyone points his finger at someone else.”
While I was talking to God, a lady came into the Prayer Closet. She is a prayer warrior, but that day she was distraught. She came in and she said, “Ohhhh, you have to pray for my son. His wife puts him down something awful. She left him. She puts him down just like my husband puts me down. He is living my life. He will not let me advance in the Kingdom.”
I did not fully understand the Parable of the Raccoon at this point, but I knew that this lady needed help, and I knew Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy." So I sat her down and said, “You need some joy, so out of your mouth declare all the great things God has done for you.” She then said, “Oh, God has given me a good, Godly man, a good husband and father. He is a good provider. He takes care of the yard.” "Ohhh, but I’m not a very good housekeeper, and I’m not a very good wife.”
Now, I don’t know why I said what I did next, because it does not make sense in my mind, but when she got through, I said, “You have a spirit of self-pity. It is a sin. Accept your guilt and confess your sin.” She said, “Forgive me, LORD, for my self-pity.” Then I said, “You have a spirit of self-condemnation. It is a sin.” She said, “God, forgive me for condemning myself.” Before that moment I did not realize that self-pity or self-condemnation were sins, and I sure didn't know she had them.
Then I looked at her and said, “Look in your heart. Do you have any self-pity in there?” With wonder-filled eyes she looked up and said breathlessly, “No!” Then I said, “Look in your heart and see if there is any self-condemnation.” She looked down into her heart, and when she looked up at me, she had tears in her eyes. She said, “I can’t remember the last time I felt like this.”
It was then that it all clicked. I started jumping up and down and screaming. After a little while, I stopped, looked up and said, "You have got to be kidding, God! Is it really this easy?” When we confess our sin, God forgives us and washes us clean, and all the raccoons (sins) - along with the anxieties, fears, and insecurities - are shooed out of the chicken coop. The self-pity or self-condemnation or anger or lust or fear or bitterness or unforgiveness no longer controls us. They are on the outside of our chicken coop. Peace enters, and once more we are right with God. Self-pity and self-condemnation have no power. They then have to ask permission to come back in, and even if they know the right "buttons to push" to get back in - and they do, all we have to do is confess our sin again, and they have to leave.
Once we name our enemies, we recognize them. We can then look them in the face and say, “No, I choose to believe God and submit to Him. I will resist you, and you have to flee because it is written.” We then turn our back on our sin. We no longer pet the raccoons, no matter how comfortable or cute they may seem, because we now understand that when they get hungry, and they will, they are mean and vicious and they will turn on us to destroy us. That’s what they were created to do: “kill, steal, and destroy,” but Jesus came to “give us life and to give it to us abundantly.” (John 10:10)
So our LORD Jesus made a way of escape for us. We come to Him without excuse, guilty as charged, and we confess our sin. He then forgives us of our sin, and all the consequences of that sin - the fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, and insecurity go away. We escape the snares of the enemy, and we enter the abundant life. Wow! We are guilty, but when we come to God without excuse and say out loud, "I am a sinner,” Jesus takes our sin and the penalty of our sin upon Himself, and He says, “Not guilty! Penalty paid in full!" Peace then enters. Our conscience is clean. We are right with God once again.
So for about three or four months after God gave me this parable, I shared this story with dozens of people. All were delivered. Some were set free from burning lust, others from feelings of worthlessness, anger, jealousy, fear, worry, and unforgiveness. One day after confessing the sin of worry, I asked one woman to look in her heart and tell me what was there. She said, “It feels like half my heart is gone; I have lived with worry my whole life.” Wow! That is power!
For the first time in my life I watched the Kingdom advance with power. God had given me the keys. Matthew 16:19 says, “I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” I didn’t fully understand this verse until I read it in the New Living Translation. “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Oh my goodness! It starts with us. If we forbid anger, lust, jealousy, greed, worry, rebellion, etc. to happen on earth, it cannot happen in heaven. These spirits (demons) cannot move us. They cannot control us. The thief who is out to steal from us, kill us, and destroy us, is rendered powerless. This is amazing! And then if we permit kindness, gentleness, patience, love, faithfulness to happen on earth, these spirits (angels) are loosed in the heavens to fight for us. God gives us life abundantly. Wow! We get to choose. Every day we choose to be offended or we choose to make allowances for each other’s faults. We choose to worry, or we choose to trust God. We choose to demand our own way, or we choose to submit. I don’t know if anyone else is getting this, but this is good stuff, and it is revelation to me. However, we have wanted to do the right things for a long time, but the sin inside of us wouldn’t let us.
“The trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.” “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind (a lie). This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our LORD. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.” “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 7:14-8:2)
When God gave me the Parable of the Raccoon, God allowed me to see the spiritual battle that is raging inside of all of us. He showed me in simple terms that I could understand. He allowed me to see the TRUTH vs. a LIE. He allowed me to experience the power of the risen Savior who is called the Prince of Peace. I now had the keys to the Kingdom, and I could open the door for all who wanted to enter. This was what I had wanted my entire life. I have always wanted to help people, and now it was happening.
Then God said, "You can go through any door I open, but you cannot open a door yourself." I said, “O.K." Then He shut all doors. Not only did He close all the doors of ministry, but doors into the hearts of people closed to me as well. I knocked, but nothing opened. So after pouting and getting mad for a while, I crawled up into God's lap and let Him hold me. He held my heart in His hands, and He taught me. I sat at His feet, and for the first time in my life, I became a Mary instead of a Martha.
Then, God began to circumcise my heart. He cut away a judgmental spirit and selfish ambition. He freed me from trying to control situations. I no longer had to save anyone. I just rested in what God was doing. I began to submit to all authority, and I began to trust the decisions and judgments of others. I say all these things very flippantly, but each cut of the sword of the Spirit was huge. I found freedom that only comes from trusting God. I entered into a place I had never been before. All strivings ceased. I ceased from my own labors, and I entered into His. This place is glorious!
Now, I let peace guide my every move. If my heart has no peace, I turn my face toward Jesus, I open my heart wide, and I let Jesus come in. Whatever He brings to the surface, I go to Him without excuse, guilty-as-charged, and I say, "God, I am so sorry!" Then He does His magic! Peace enters, and I am right with God once again. God is so good to me! This is the power of the cross! This is the power of the resurrected Christ! This is the way of escape! THE POWER OF SIN IS BROKEN! I am free!
Once I began to see the Kingdom power at work, I set my heart to understand what I was witnessing. Before I share my insight with you, I want to tell you that there is a book written by Neil Anderson called THE BONDAGE BREAKER. The LORD put this book in my hands seventeen years ago. Although I didn't fully understand what I was reading at the time, I think my lessons in how to fight spiritual battles started with this book. Recently I revisited it, and I was amazed. I would encourage you to get this book and read it, but for now I want to share with you the understanding that the LORD has given me into how to fight the good fight and win.
I want to start with terminology. When the LORD gave me the Parable of the Raccoon, several words were redefined in my mind. I no longer think the way I thought before. Now, when I read the Bible, it takes on a whole new meaning. When God talks about enemies or nations, He is really talking about the principalities and powers in heavenly places who want to destroy us. When He talks about Jerusalem (the City of God) or Judah (praise) or the Temple (the place where His glory dwells) or Zion (His Holy Mountain), He is talking about me - and you. I am the City ofGod; I am the Mountain ofGod; I am the Temple of God; I am Praise. Now I read all things from a spiritual point of view. Read this and see if you do, too.
“The glory of Lebanon will be yours - the forests of cypress, fir, and pine - to beautify My sanctuary (that's us). My Temple will be glorious! The descendants of your tormentors will come and bow before you. Those who despised you will kiss your feet. They will call you the City of the LORD, and Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Though you were once despised and hated, with no one traveling through you, I will make you beautiful forever, a joy to all generations. Powerful kings and mighty nations will satisfy your every need, as though you were a child nursing at the breast of a queen. You will know at last that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. I will exchange your bronze for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze, and your stones for iron. I will make peace your leader and righteousness your ruler. Violence will disappear from your land; the desolation and destruction of war will end. Salvation will surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who enter there. No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end. All your people will be righteous. They will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there with My own hands in order to bring Myself glory. The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At that time, I, the LORD, will make it happen. (Isaiah 60:13-22) God has been talking to us all along. We just couldn’t understand what He was saying. Now we can.
MY NEW DICTIONARY:
RIGHTEOUSNESS: Righteousness is to believe, to trust, to obey, to rejoice Truth. The Word of God is Truth, and Jesus is Truth. To trust and believe in Jesus and in what He says (the Bible) makes us right with God. Through His Son and the words of His Son, God will bring all things into the light. Nothing will be hidden. Once we know and embrace the Truth, the Truth sets us free. This freedom makes us right with God.
SIN: Sin is to believe in, to trust in, to follow, to rejoice in a lie. Satan is the god of this world, and he is the Father of
Lies. He always appeals to our self-interest. When we follow a lie we: control, manipulate, judge, condemn, ridicule, mock, op- press others. We cover up and hide who we really are and what we are really doing. We live in darkness. This is sin. This is bondage - a prison of our own making. It is for this reason that Jesus had to come and die. Without His blood covering our sins, we would die in this condition - doomed forever to an eternity of torment.
ENEMY: An enemy is any lie that keeps us from knowing the Truth. These are spirits (demons). Once the lie enters a person's heart, it controls that person. The enemy then takes liberty to use that person to do its bidding. Moved by the lie, a person will do things he/she would never do on his/her own. Then that lie torments the person for the things he/she has done. These are some of the enemies we have allowed to enter our heart: envy, jealousy, selfish ambition, pride, lust, greed, covetousness, being offended, stubbornness, rebellion, worry, fear, unforgiveness, hatred, depression, hopelessness, rejection, abandonment, shame, self-pity, self-condemnation, feelings of worthlessness, anger, judgment, guilt, etc. Not only are these our enemies, but they are God's enemies as well.
REPENT: To repent is to reject the lie and to embrace the Truth. We must turn our back to what "self" wants to do and embrace and believe and obey the truth of God's Word. We have to change the way we think. Once we embrace the Truth, the rest is easy, but first we have to reject the lie. That's the hard part. We have lived with some lies our whole life.
HOW DOES A LIE ENTER?
Since we have now come to understand and embrace the concept that a lie is a spirit (a demon), we must set our heart to understand how that spirit enters. We can know when we are tempted, and we can know when we are accused, but we will not know when we are deceived. When we are deceived, we believe we are doing the right thing, that we are justified in our actions. Let me share with you several ways a lie can enter:
1. THROUGH WHAT WE SEE
When I was going to college, I had to do an interview in one of my classes. I chose to interview a pastor. At the end of the interview I asked an impromptu question, "Other than Jesus, has there ever been any other event in your life that changed you instantaneously?" He was startled. He averted his eyes. I said, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He looked at me and said, "No, I want to." "When I was in junior high, I was on my porch when a group of high school guys came streaking down the street. Something happened to me that day. A fascination for the human body entered me. By the time it was all over, I was into XXX pornography, and if Jesus had not rescued me, I would be a child molester right now."
Oh my goodness! One look. That's all it took. Then I started thinking about all the times a computer will flash something
that we don't want to see. Look at our commercials, our billboards, our movies. It is everywhere. Once the lie enters our heart, we have a choice. We can turn away from the lie and turn toward God and say, "God, I am sorry. Please forgive me,” or we can turn our eyes and our heart toward the lie and embrace it. It is our choice. We have to guard our eyes because they are the gateway to the heart. If we are looking at Jesus, holding nothing back, heart wide open, we are full of radiant light. This light shines brightly for all to see. But if we are looking at anything else, we are full of darkness. The light goes out. We can't see the Truth. The lie wins.
2. THROUGH WHAT WE HEAR
When I read the THE BONDAGE BREAKER seventeen years ago, I was exposed for the first time to the TRUTH vs. the LIE. I was teaching a junior high class for our church on Wednesday nights at that time. One night I passed out pieces of paper, and I said, "Write down anything on this paper that you think might be a lie, but you believe it anyway." The responses were overwhelmingly: "I'm stupid.” "I'm ugly.” "Nobody loves me.” "I'm not good enough.” "I'm worthless.” Where did this come from? Then I started to pay attention to what the kids were saying to one another. The digs. The cut-downs. The ridicule. The lies. The mockery. Once a lie is spoken, we have a choice to believe it or to reject it, but the truth of the matter is that we do not know what the Truth says, so we naturally believe the lies.
God says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. We are His workmanship, His masterpiece. He is the potter, and we are the clay. He knows what He is doing, and He makes all things beautiful in His own time. He is God! But there are an onslaught of lies that are bombarding who we are, and they are crippling God's people. Feelings of inadequacy, failure, self-condemnation, and worthlessness rule our lives, but not for much longer, because God is sending the Truth and the Truth is setting us free.
So we have to be careful what we hear. I no longer listen to secular radio. I don’t want those thoughts in my mind or in my heart. I don’t watch certain movies. I don’t read some books. I don’t listen to gossip. I am very careful about what and who I voluntarily listen to. “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore, take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (Luke 8:17-18) If we listen to truth, more truth will be given to us, but if we willfully listen to lies, the truth we think we have inside of us will be taken away. Yikes! So I have set my ears to discern the difference between the lie and the truth, between good and evil. I have learned to reject the lies and embrace the truth. This has made all the difference in the world. Be careful little ears what you hear.
3. THROUGH A TRAUMATIC EVENT
Several years ago we took a young lady into our home. She was sixteen at the time. Her parents had kicked her out of the house; they could no longer deal with her. Rebellion entered our house that day. That young girl could not stay between two lines. When she was seventeen, she snuck out of our house and moved in with her boyfriend. She ended up on the streets and into drugs. She left Texas and ended up in Alabama, pregnant. I only heard from her during times when she was trying to do better.
One day when she called, I said, "You know you are dealing with spirits, don't you?" She said, "Yes." "Name them." She began an extensive list that started with "rebellion" and “lust." I said, "I bind you, spirit of rebellion, in the name of Jesus." The Holy Spirit stopped me and said, "Have her say it." She couldn't. I said, "Say: Help me, Jesus!" She couldn't do that either.
Finally, in the spring of that year the raccoons became too large for her. She came to Texas and said, "I've had enough. I can't do this anymore." Sweet! I then led her into confessing her sins. When she got to lust, she said, "You don't know how many guys I have been with. I don't even want to, it is just what I do." I said, "Tell God you are guilty and sorry, sweet girl." When she did, peace entered, and she was free.
Later, I heard a preacher say that our soul and our spirit are so tightly woven together that nothing can get in unless we let it; however, in moments of trauma - such as a sudden death, a near accident, or molestations - the soul and the spirit momentarily split and a spirit is allowed to enter uninvited. He said, in the case of people who are molested, the spirit that enters is usually either a spirit of lust or homosexuality. Although I had no Biblical reference to this, it made sense to me. Certain things happen to us, and it opens the door for a lie to enter. From that moment on, we are not the same.
When I heard this, I went to the young lady and asked, "Were you molested when you were little?" She looked at me startled and said, "Yes, when I was five." So something entered that little girl when she was five. She had no way to fight it. It took control. The only way to get it out was to come to God without excuse, not pointing the finger at anyone else, and say, "I am guilty of lust. Please forgive me." At the moment of confession, the spirit leaves and peace enters.
However, if we do not willfully turn our face toward Jesus and away from the offensive lie, the spirit will come back in. It is at that point that we: "Exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." "Therefore, God gives us up to uncleanness, in the lusts of our hearts, to dishonor our bodies among ourselves." (Romans 1:25-26) Jesus has provided us a path to freedom, but we have to follow it. If we decide to take another road, He will let us.
4. THROUGH OUR EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO THINGS WE CAN'T CHANGE
Last summer a friend of mine had a very horrible week. She said, "I am lashing out at everyone I love. It's like I can't control it. It is not me. I yell at my husband and my daughter, my sister, even my friends. I can't stop it." I asked her, "Do you want to find out what is causing it?" "Yes," she said. So I prayed, "Lord, search her heart and know her try her anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in her and lead her into life everlasting. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen." Then I asked her, "What did God bring to your mind?' She said, "Jealousy. But that doesn't make any sense. I am not a jealous person." I said, "Tell God you are guilty and sorry any-way." She did, but I could see that there was no peace, so I asked her, “Do you want to know when jealousy entered?" She said, "Yes," so I began to pray. In the middle of the prayer she started sobbing, "It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault. I am so sorry, God, it wasn't her fault."
Then she went on to explain that when she was younger her dad had remarried and moved. They had another daughter. This sister had it so much easier than my friend had had it, and my friend was responsible for taking care of her younger sister. Jealousy entered. Once a spirit enters, it will not leave until it is forced to leave. Jealousy lay dormant for many years until finally the raccoon got hungry. God orchestrated a horrible week so that this enemy was exposed and defeated.
Once the jealousy was exposed, it was nothing for my friend to say, "God, I am guilty, and I am so sorry!" Then God worked His magic. As far as the east is from the west, her sins were cast from her. Our God is so good! Pay attention to emotions. If there is anything other than peace and joy and love, let God heal you.
NOTE: Since the writing of this book, I have come to realize that life happens. People die. Jobs are lost. Divorce. Rape. Abuse. Neglect. Things we can't control or change happen to us. These are the times the enemy comes in with a vengeance. Lies come at us from all directions, and most of the time we believe them. It is for this reason that Jesus had to die. He has come to heal the broken hearted, set at liberty those who are bound, open blind eyes and deaf ears, comfort those who mourn. He has come to set us free from the chains that bind.
5. THROUGH A THOUGHT
It is funny that all it takes is one thought, one doubt, one question to bring our world tumbling down. I have a dear friend - actually she is more than a friend to me, she is more like a daughter. Four years ago, in August of 2011, I got to lead Leia to the Lord. She came from a hard background: foster-care, abuse, promiscuity, and drugs, so she had many enemies.
About the same time Leia came to know Jesus, God gave me the Parable of the Raccoon. Leia and I walked out the truth of that parable together. I watched God deliver her from the spirits of abandonment, rejection, darkness, feelings of worthlessness and sorrow and depression. Over and over again, I watched Him set her free. He healed her heart. He became her provider. He protected her. He set her feet on solid ground. We saw miracle after miracle take place in her life and in the lives of her children and husband. Then one day she walked up on my porch, agitated and said, "How do we know that God is really God? What if He is not the real God? I need a sign."
I looked at her, not believing what I was hearing. I said, "What are you talking about? God parted the Red Sea for you. You walked over on dry ground. He fed you with manna in the wilderness, and you need a sign?" I then made her declare all the great things God had done for her, and the spirit left. But, “Wow!" She heard one person question that God was real, and the spirit of doubt entered her. Amazing.
Then a few months later, I had a get-together at my house. Some of the discussion centered around all the bad things that happen in the world, and how could a good God let all these bad things happen. I could tell that there was not peace in the room. We gave scripture after scripture to tell of the goodness of God, but I knew the issue had not been resolved when it was brought up in Sunday School the next morning. While they were talking, I asked God, "Will you tell me what is going on here?" He said, "They are questioning my good- ness. No one will understand anything I do if they don't understand that I am good."
I said, "Guys, we are questioning God's goodness. It is a sin (lie), we have to confess it and repent.” The lie was exposed and the sin dealt with, but it made me understand how easily we are deceived. Then my mind goes to a local lady, Peggy Joyce Ruth. She wrote a book TORMENTED: 8 Years and Back. In this book, she describes the torment of eight years after she went into a lady's house to witness to her. I think she was Hindu, but whatever religion she was, a thought entered Peggy Joyce that caused her to momentarily doubt that God is God. That spirit tormented her for eight years. Amazing.
We have to be on guard. There are many deceiving spirits, but we can always know if we are on the right track, because God said, "The work of righteousness will be peace, the affect of righteousness will be quiet assurance. My people will dwell in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places though hail comes down on the forest and the city is brought low in humiliation." (Isaiah 32:17-19) And "There is no peace for the wicked." (Isaiah 48:22) God is so good to place a barometer inside of us. We just have to listen to Him. If we do, the Truth will guide us. All we have to do is follow after what brings peace - Jesus.
6. THROUGH OUR ANCESTORS
The last year or two a group of ladies from our small town have met at the local restaurant for breakfast and fellowship every Tuesday morning. Most of these ladies are new converts, eager to know the truth. One morning one of them said that she had been reading out of Acts, and God would not let her get past a certain passage, but she did not understand what she was read- ing. The passage went like this: "Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (Acts 3:1-6)
After much discussion about this passage, the major theme that came up was that this man was lame in his mother's womb. Be- fore he was even born, there was something in him that was sick, not right. The Bible says, "I, the LORD, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." (Exodus 20:5) The sins of one generation are passed on to another generation until someone chooses to stop the curse. The only way to stop the cycle of sin is to come to God without excuse and say, "I did it." "It is not my father's fault, and it is not my mother's fault, I am the one who sinned." Even though the sin came down through our ancestors, we still chose to sin. We now have to willfully choose a different path. We have to turn our back to the sin, forgive our parents and our grandparents to the fourth generation, and open our heart wide to the Creator of the Universe so that He can heal us. Once we do that, the curse is broken. Then we begin to plant seeds of blessing, an inheritance that our children and grandchildren will harvest, but we have to do it God's way. The lame man could not heal himself, only Jesus could do that.
7. HOW DOES A LIE GROW? A lesson from Jodi Arias
A couple of years ago I was making a delivery to the panhandle when I went into McDonald's to get breakfast. While I was eat- ing the breakfast, I sat beside the TV. Jodi Arias was giving her testimony. I didn't know anything about her. We don't have cable TV, we just have Netflix and Roku, so our news sources come from the internet. I found out later that in 2008, she shot her boyfriend in the head, stabbed him 27 times and slit his throat. Gruesome stuff. Her trial made national news from January till March of 2013.
I knew nothing about Jodi Arias, but while in McDonald's that February, I heard her testimony. She gave a minute, detailed ac- count of what happened just before the murder. She said, "I picked up the gun, my fingers were on the trigger. I remember thinking, 'This will stop him.' Then I don't remember anything." The newscaster then came on and said, "Her testimony was just blown all to pieces, how are we to believe that she remembers all the details right up to the time of the murder, but she cannot remember the murder itself?” But I knew in my heart that she was telling the truth. In my past, I have been exposed to three people who had demons manifest. In all three cases, they did not remember what happened when the demon came up. When she said she couldn’t remember, and I saw the brutality of the crime, I knew that it was a demon that murdered this man.
While I sat there pondering what I had heard, I asked God, “Will You allow me to understand what happened?” He then dropped a scripture into my spirit: “If you have hate in your heart, you are a murderer.” (1 John 3:15) Then, I understood. Jodi Arias hated this man. Not only did she hate him, but she fixed her eyes on the hatred. She petted that “raccoon." I don’t know what he did to cause her to hate him, but it doesn’t matter, we are talking about how she responded to what he did. She hated him. When she allowed hate to enter her heart, she allowed the spirit of murder to enter. Then the spirit of murder got stronger and stronger as she fixed her eyes on how much she hated him.
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time understanding demons and demon possession, but I can understand hate en- tering a person's heart. Then with her thoughts - which were fixed continually on her hatred - she gave permission for the spirit of murder that was in her to grow bigger and to take over. Her sin was to hate. The result of her hatred was that when the occasion arose, a spirit was allowed to manifest and brutally do what it wanted to do. Wow!
Then another scripture came to mind. “If you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery.” (Matthew 5:28) This is the same thing. Once lust enters the heart, we have a choice. We can fix our eyes on it, or we can turn our back on it, confess our sin, and go on with our life. If we choose to fix our eyes on lust or hate or jealousy or greed or un- forgiveness or bitterness or revenge or selfish ambition, that spirit becomes stronger and stronger until at some point it takes over and acts out. That is why pornography is so destructive. It fixes our eyes on lust. And the more we fix our eyes on it, the stronger and more twisted it becomes until it has an opportunity, and then the spirit manifests, and the spirit is allowed to brutally do what it wants to do. That is why the crimes are becoming more heinous. We no longer control the direction our thoughts are taking.
We have been living in a time period where we are no longer restraining ourselves. We are doing whatever our flesh desires. We are fixing our eyes on things that will destroy us, and the more we embrace the lie, the more we pet the raccoon, the bigger and the more twisted he becomes. At some point this spirit will turn on us and destroy us, and he will destroy those we love. We can no longer coddle these emotions. We can no longer give place to the enemy. We have to come before a holy God and say, "Jesus, save me!" Jesus is our Savior and our Redeemer. He is the only one who can get us out of the mess we have gotten ourselves into. If we don't come to Him, the spirit that is inside of us will take liberty and kill us, steal from us, and destroy us. That is what he was created to do, and he will do it.
We are in a battle, and that battle is for our heart and our soul. That battle is between the TRUTH and the LIE, and the one we choose to believe will dictate our eternal destiny. If we choose to embrace a lie, we are actually choosing death, to spend eternity separated from God in a place of torment called Hell. But if we choose to believe the truth, the God of the Universe will rescue us from the penalties that we all so richly deserve. He takes our punishment so we don't have to, and He takes us to a place that He has prepared for us, a place that is so much more than we could ever ask or imagine, a place that the Bible says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it ever entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) This is a place where His glory dwells.
Don’t put it off. Don’t believe another lie. Today is the day of salvation. “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to us...it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:29-31)
Blessings, my friends. May your heart be wide open to the God who is mighty to save.
Terri Tidwell
THE PARABLE OF THE RACCOON
In September of 2011, Texas was in a severe drought. The temperatures were intense. During this time, my husband and I woke up one morning to find that our chickens had been attacked. Something had dug under the gate and killed and devoured two chickens. We later found out they were raccoons. That day Lyndyl, my husband, cemented under the gate to stop the attacks, but the raccoons now knew where the chickens were.
The next night the raccoons found a loose board, pulled it up, and got in. They killed and ate another couple of chickens. That day Lyndyl tightly nailed down all the boards. The next night, the raccoons climbed the chicken wire to the top of the coop, found a loose place in one of the seams, crawled down and ate several more chickens. By now my husband was determined to secure the chicken coop. He checked and secured all holes, seams, cracks, and crevices. He then dug down all around the building and buried chicken wire underground in an L-shape so that anywhere the raccoons dug, they would hit the wire.
The next morning there were paw prints all around the coop, but no dead chickens. However, the following day we were attacked again. In the space of five days, we went from twenty-two chickens to eight. My husband came in while I was cooking breakfast that morning and said, “We have had that chicken coop for over a year now, and we have never been attacked.”
When he said that, bells went off in my head. I could hear the LORD saying, “This is spiritual! This is spiritual!” I turned to Lyndyl and said, "This is spiritual!"
That morning I went to the Prayer Closet. Without knowing it, I had already written the Parable of the Raccoon on the
wall. The first thing I saw was when I entered the Prayer Closet was: BELIEVE followed by “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3) It had always fascinated me that our righteousness is not what we do, but what we believe. We can do the right thing without being right with God. Then underneath that scripture was Isaiah 32:17-19: "The work of righteousness will be peace, the affect of righteousness will be quiet assurance. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places, though hail comes down on the forest and the city is brought low in humiliation."
That morning I was thinking about the chicken coop. When I read the scripture in Isaiah, I realized that when we believe, God places chicken wire around us. I asked Him, “God, do You do that?” He said, “Yes, when you ask Jesus into your heart, I place a hedge of protection around you.” Then I said, “But we are being attacked from all sides: from above and below and around and through. Our hearts are not at peace. How are they getting in?” He said just as plain as could be, “A lie.”
It made sense. If Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, then when we believe a lie, it would be counted to us as unrighteousness or wickedness or sin. Oh, my goodness! It is what we believe! It is all about the TRUTH verses the LIE. Wow! When we believe God, we have peace, but a lie comes with anxieties, fears, insecurities, anger, and frustration. Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites. Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
Then the very next scripture I found on the Prayer Closet wall was Psalm 139:23-24. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I cried out to God, "Search me, God! Know me! Try my anxious thoughts and see if there is any wicked way in me. Lead me into paths of life everlasting.”
Then right after that it said: CONFESS. "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) For a sin to come out of our heart, it has to come out of our mouth. “We believe in our heart unto righteousness, but confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10) Then right underneath the scripture about confess your sins, there was a scripture found in Leviticus 26:40-41. “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt.” I said, “God! But I live in America. No one accepts his guilt. Everyone points his finger at someone else.”
While I was talking to God, a lady came into the Prayer Closet. She is a prayer warrior, but that day she was distraught. She came in and she said, “Ohhhh, you have to pray for my son. His wife puts him down something awful. She left him. She puts him down just like my husband puts me down. He is living my life. He will not let me advance in the Kingdom.”
I did not fully understand the Parable of the Raccoon at this point, but I knew that this lady needed help, and I knew Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy." So I sat her down and said, “You need some joy, so out of your mouth declare all the great things God has done for you.” She then said, “Oh, God has given me a good, Godly man, a good husband and father. He is a good provider. He takes care of the yard.” "Ohhh, but I’m not a very good housekeeper, and I’m not a very good wife.”
Now, I don’t know why I said what I did next, because it does not make sense in my mind, but when she got through, I said, “You have a spirit of self-pity. It is a sin. Accept your guilt and confess your sin.” She said, “Forgive me, LORD, for my self-pity.” Then I said, “You have a spirit of self-condemnation. It is a sin.” She said, “God, forgive me for condemning myself.” Before that moment I did not realize that self-pity or self-condemnation were sins, and I sure didn't know she had them.
Then I looked at her and said, “Look in your heart. Do you have any self-pity in there?” With wonder-filled eyes she looked up and said breathlessly, “No!” Then I said, “Look in your heart and see if there is any self-condemnation.” She looked down into her heart, and when she looked up at me, she had tears in her eyes. She said, “I can’t remember the last time I felt like this.”
It was then that it all clicked. I started jumping up and down and screaming. After a little while, I stopped, looked up and said, "You have got to be kidding, God! Is it really this easy?” When we confess our sin, God forgives us and washes us clean, and all the raccoons (sins) - along with the anxieties, fears, and insecurities - are shooed out of the chicken coop. The self-pity or self-condemnation or anger or lust or fear or bitterness or unforgiveness no longer controls us. They are on the outside of our chicken coop. Peace enters, and once more we are right with God. Self-pity and self-condemnation have no power. They then have to ask permission to come back in, and even if they know the right "buttons to push" to get back in - and they do, all we have to do is confess our sin again, and they have to leave.
Once we name our enemies, we recognize them. We can then look them in the face and say, “No, I choose to believe God and submit to Him. I will resist you, and you have to flee because it is written.” We then turn our back on our sin. We no longer pet the raccoons, no matter how comfortable or cute they may seem, because we now understand that when they get hungry, and they will, they are mean and vicious and they will turn on us to destroy us. That’s what they were created to do: “kill, steal, and destroy,” but Jesus came to “give us life and to give it to us abundantly.” (John 10:10)
So our LORD Jesus made a way of escape for us. We come to Him without excuse, guilty as charged, and we confess our sin. He then forgives us of our sin, and all the consequences of that sin - the fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, and insecurity go away. We escape the snares of the enemy, and we enter the abundant life. Wow! We are guilty, but when we come to God without excuse and say out loud, "I am a sinner,” Jesus takes our sin and the penalty of our sin upon Himself, and He says, “Not guilty! Penalty paid in full!" Peace then enters. Our conscience is clean. We are right with God once again.
So for about three or four months after God gave me this parable, I shared this story with dozens of people. All were delivered. Some were set free from burning lust, others from feelings of worthlessness, anger, jealousy, fear, worry, and unforgiveness. One day after confessing the sin of worry, I asked one woman to look in her heart and tell me what was there. She said, “It feels like half my heart is gone; I have lived with worry my whole life.” Wow! That is power!
For the first time in my life I watched the Kingdom advance with power. God had given me the keys. Matthew 16:19 says, “I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” I didn’t fully understand this verse until I read it in the New Living Translation. “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Oh my goodness! It starts with us. If we forbid anger, lust, jealousy, greed, worry, rebellion, etc. to happen on earth, it cannot happen in heaven. These spirits (demons) cannot move us. They cannot control us. The thief who is out to steal from us, kill us, and destroy us, is rendered powerless. This is amazing! And then if we permit kindness, gentleness, patience, love, faithfulness to happen on earth, these spirits (angels) are loosed in the heavens to fight for us. God gives us life abundantly. Wow! We get to choose. Every day we choose to be offended or we choose to make allowances for each other’s faults. We choose to worry, or we choose to trust God. We choose to demand our own way, or we choose to submit. I don’t know if anyone else is getting this, but this is good stuff, and it is revelation to me. However, we have wanted to do the right things for a long time, but the sin inside of us wouldn’t let us.
“The trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.” “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind (a lie). This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our LORD. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.” “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 7:14-8:2)
When God gave me the Parable of the Raccoon, God allowed me to see the spiritual battle that is raging inside of all of us. He showed me in simple terms that I could understand. He allowed me to see the TRUTH vs. a LIE. He allowed me to experience the power of the risen Savior who is called the Prince of Peace. I now had the keys to the Kingdom, and I could open the door for all who wanted to enter. This was what I had wanted my entire life. I have always wanted to help people, and now it was happening.
Then God said, "You can go through any door I open, but you cannot open a door yourself." I said, “O.K." Then He shut all doors. Not only did He close all the doors of ministry, but doors into the hearts of people closed to me as well. I knocked, but nothing opened. So after pouting and getting mad for a while, I crawled up into God's lap and let Him hold me. He held my heart in His hands, and He taught me. I sat at His feet, and for the first time in my life, I became a Mary instead of a Martha.
Then, God began to circumcise my heart. He cut away a judgmental spirit and selfish ambition. He freed me from trying to control situations. I no longer had to save anyone. I just rested in what God was doing. I began to submit to all authority, and I began to trust the decisions and judgments of others. I say all these things very flippantly, but each cut of the sword of the Spirit was huge. I found freedom that only comes from trusting God. I entered into a place I had never been before. All strivings ceased. I ceased from my own labors, and I entered into His. This place is glorious!
Now, I let peace guide my every move. If my heart has no peace, I turn my face toward Jesus, I open my heart wide, and I let Jesus come in. Whatever He brings to the surface, I go to Him without excuse, guilty-as-charged, and I say, "God, I am so sorry!" Then He does His magic! Peace enters, and I am right with God once again. God is so good to me! This is the power of the cross! This is the power of the resurrected Christ! This is the way of escape! THE POWER OF SIN IS BROKEN! I am free!
Once I began to see the Kingdom power at work, I set my heart to understand what I was witnessing. Before I share my insight with you, I want to tell you that there is a book written by Neil Anderson called THE BONDAGE BREAKER. The LORD put this book in my hands seventeen years ago. Although I didn't fully understand what I was reading at the time, I think my lessons in how to fight spiritual battles started with this book. Recently I revisited it, and I was amazed. I would encourage you to get this book and read it, but for now I want to share with you the understanding that the LORD has given me into how to fight the good fight and win.
I want to start with terminology. When the LORD gave me the Parable of the Raccoon, several words were redefined in my mind. I no longer think the way I thought before. Now, when I read the Bible, it takes on a whole new meaning. When God talks about enemies or nations, He is really talking about the principalities and powers in heavenly places who want to destroy us. When He talks about Jerusalem (the City of God) or Judah (praise) or the Temple (the place where His glory dwells) or Zion (His Holy Mountain), He is talking about me - and you. I am the City ofGod; I am the Mountain ofGod; I am the Temple of God; I am Praise. Now I read all things from a spiritual point of view. Read this and see if you do, too.
“The glory of Lebanon will be yours - the forests of cypress, fir, and pine - to beautify My sanctuary (that's us). My Temple will be glorious! The descendants of your tormentors will come and bow before you. Those who despised you will kiss your feet. They will call you the City of the LORD, and Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Though you were once despised and hated, with no one traveling through you, I will make you beautiful forever, a joy to all generations. Powerful kings and mighty nations will satisfy your every need, as though you were a child nursing at the breast of a queen. You will know at last that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. I will exchange your bronze for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze, and your stones for iron. I will make peace your leader and righteousness your ruler. Violence will disappear from your land; the desolation and destruction of war will end. Salvation will surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who enter there. No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end. All your people will be righteous. They will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there with My own hands in order to bring Myself glory. The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At that time, I, the LORD, will make it happen. (Isaiah 60:13-22) God has been talking to us all along. We just couldn’t understand what He was saying. Now we can.
MY NEW DICTIONARY:
RIGHTEOUSNESS: Righteousness is to believe, to trust, to obey, to rejoice Truth. The Word of God is Truth, and Jesus is Truth. To trust and believe in Jesus and in what He says (the Bible) makes us right with God. Through His Son and the words of His Son, God will bring all things into the light. Nothing will be hidden. Once we know and embrace the Truth, the Truth sets us free. This freedom makes us right with God.
SIN: Sin is to believe in, to trust in, to follow, to rejoice in a lie. Satan is the god of this world, and he is the Father of
Lies. He always appeals to our self-interest. When we follow a lie we: control, manipulate, judge, condemn, ridicule, mock, op- press others. We cover up and hide who we really are and what we are really doing. We live in darkness. This is sin. This is bondage - a prison of our own making. It is for this reason that Jesus had to come and die. Without His blood covering our sins, we would die in this condition - doomed forever to an eternity of torment.
ENEMY: An enemy is any lie that keeps us from knowing the Truth. These are spirits (demons). Once the lie enters a person's heart, it controls that person. The enemy then takes liberty to use that person to do its bidding. Moved by the lie, a person will do things he/she would never do on his/her own. Then that lie torments the person for the things he/she has done. These are some of the enemies we have allowed to enter our heart: envy, jealousy, selfish ambition, pride, lust, greed, covetousness, being offended, stubbornness, rebellion, worry, fear, unforgiveness, hatred, depression, hopelessness, rejection, abandonment, shame, self-pity, self-condemnation, feelings of worthlessness, anger, judgment, guilt, etc. Not only are these our enemies, but they are God's enemies as well.
REPENT: To repent is to reject the lie and to embrace the Truth. We must turn our back to what "self" wants to do and embrace and believe and obey the truth of God's Word. We have to change the way we think. Once we embrace the Truth, the rest is easy, but first we have to reject the lie. That's the hard part. We have lived with some lies our whole life.
HOW DOES A LIE ENTER?
Since we have now come to understand and embrace the concept that a lie is a spirit (a demon), we must set our heart to understand how that spirit enters. We can know when we are tempted, and we can know when we are accused, but we will not know when we are deceived. When we are deceived, we believe we are doing the right thing, that we are justified in our actions. Let me share with you several ways a lie can enter:
1. THROUGH WHAT WE SEE
When I was going to college, I had to do an interview in one of my classes. I chose to interview a pastor. At the end of the interview I asked an impromptu question, "Other than Jesus, has there ever been any other event in your life that changed you instantaneously?" He was startled. He averted his eyes. I said, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He looked at me and said, "No, I want to." "When I was in junior high, I was on my porch when a group of high school guys came streaking down the street. Something happened to me that day. A fascination for the human body entered me. By the time it was all over, I was into XXX pornography, and if Jesus had not rescued me, I would be a child molester right now."
Oh my goodness! One look. That's all it took. Then I started thinking about all the times a computer will flash something
that we don't want to see. Look at our commercials, our billboards, our movies. It is everywhere. Once the lie enters our heart, we have a choice. We can turn away from the lie and turn toward God and say, "God, I am sorry. Please forgive me,” or we can turn our eyes and our heart toward the lie and embrace it. It is our choice. We have to guard our eyes because they are the gateway to the heart. If we are looking at Jesus, holding nothing back, heart wide open, we are full of radiant light. This light shines brightly for all to see. But if we are looking at anything else, we are full of darkness. The light goes out. We can't see the Truth. The lie wins.
2. THROUGH WHAT WE HEAR
When I read the THE BONDAGE BREAKER seventeen years ago, I was exposed for the first time to the TRUTH vs. the LIE. I was teaching a junior high class for our church on Wednesday nights at that time. One night I passed out pieces of paper, and I said, "Write down anything on this paper that you think might be a lie, but you believe it anyway." The responses were overwhelmingly: "I'm stupid.” "I'm ugly.” "Nobody loves me.” "I'm not good enough.” "I'm worthless.” Where did this come from? Then I started to pay attention to what the kids were saying to one another. The digs. The cut-downs. The ridicule. The lies. The mockery. Once a lie is spoken, we have a choice to believe it or to reject it, but the truth of the matter is that we do not know what the Truth says, so we naturally believe the lies.
God says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. We are His workmanship, His masterpiece. He is the potter, and we are the clay. He knows what He is doing, and He makes all things beautiful in His own time. He is God! But there are an onslaught of lies that are bombarding who we are, and they are crippling God's people. Feelings of inadequacy, failure, self-condemnation, and worthlessness rule our lives, but not for much longer, because God is sending the Truth and the Truth is setting us free.
So we have to be careful what we hear. I no longer listen to secular radio. I don’t want those thoughts in my mind or in my heart. I don’t watch certain movies. I don’t read some books. I don’t listen to gossip. I am very careful about what and who I voluntarily listen to. “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore, take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (Luke 8:17-18) If we listen to truth, more truth will be given to us, but if we willfully listen to lies, the truth we think we have inside of us will be taken away. Yikes! So I have set my ears to discern the difference between the lie and the truth, between good and evil. I have learned to reject the lies and embrace the truth. This has made all the difference in the world. Be careful little ears what you hear.
3. THROUGH A TRAUMATIC EVENT
Several years ago we took a young lady into our home. She was sixteen at the time. Her parents had kicked her out of the house; they could no longer deal with her. Rebellion entered our house that day. That young girl could not stay between two lines. When she was seventeen, she snuck out of our house and moved in with her boyfriend. She ended up on the streets and into drugs. She left Texas and ended up in Alabama, pregnant. I only heard from her during times when she was trying to do better.
One day when she called, I said, "You know you are dealing with spirits, don't you?" She said, "Yes." "Name them." She began an extensive list that started with "rebellion" and “lust." I said, "I bind you, spirit of rebellion, in the name of Jesus." The Holy Spirit stopped me and said, "Have her say it." She couldn't. I said, "Say: Help me, Jesus!" She couldn't do that either.
Finally, in the spring of that year the raccoons became too large for her. She came to Texas and said, "I've had enough. I can't do this anymore." Sweet! I then led her into confessing her sins. When she got to lust, she said, "You don't know how many guys I have been with. I don't even want to, it is just what I do." I said, "Tell God you are guilty and sorry, sweet girl." When she did, peace entered, and she was free.
Later, I heard a preacher say that our soul and our spirit are so tightly woven together that nothing can get in unless we let it; however, in moments of trauma - such as a sudden death, a near accident, or molestations - the soul and the spirit momentarily split and a spirit is allowed to enter uninvited. He said, in the case of people who are molested, the spirit that enters is usually either a spirit of lust or homosexuality. Although I had no Biblical reference to this, it made sense to me. Certain things happen to us, and it opens the door for a lie to enter. From that moment on, we are not the same.
When I heard this, I went to the young lady and asked, "Were you molested when you were little?" She looked at me startled and said, "Yes, when I was five." So something entered that little girl when she was five. She had no way to fight it. It took control. The only way to get it out was to come to God without excuse, not pointing the finger at anyone else, and say, "I am guilty of lust. Please forgive me." At the moment of confession, the spirit leaves and peace enters.
However, if we do not willfully turn our face toward Jesus and away from the offensive lie, the spirit will come back in. It is at that point that we: "Exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." "Therefore, God gives us up to uncleanness, in the lusts of our hearts, to dishonor our bodies among ourselves." (Romans 1:25-26) Jesus has provided us a path to freedom, but we have to follow it. If we decide to take another road, He will let us.
4. THROUGH OUR EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO THINGS WE CAN'T CHANGE
Last summer a friend of mine had a very horrible week. She said, "I am lashing out at everyone I love. It's like I can't control it. It is not me. I yell at my husband and my daughter, my sister, even my friends. I can't stop it." I asked her, "Do you want to find out what is causing it?" "Yes," she said. So I prayed, "Lord, search her heart and know her try her anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in her and lead her into life everlasting. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen." Then I asked her, "What did God bring to your mind?' She said, "Jealousy. But that doesn't make any sense. I am not a jealous person." I said, "Tell God you are guilty and sorry any-way." She did, but I could see that there was no peace, so I asked her, “Do you want to know when jealousy entered?" She said, "Yes," so I began to pray. In the middle of the prayer she started sobbing, "It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault. I am so sorry, God, it wasn't her fault."
Then she went on to explain that when she was younger her dad had remarried and moved. They had another daughter. This sister had it so much easier than my friend had had it, and my friend was responsible for taking care of her younger sister. Jealousy entered. Once a spirit enters, it will not leave until it is forced to leave. Jealousy lay dormant for many years until finally the raccoon got hungry. God orchestrated a horrible week so that this enemy was exposed and defeated.
Once the jealousy was exposed, it was nothing for my friend to say, "God, I am guilty, and I am so sorry!" Then God worked His magic. As far as the east is from the west, her sins were cast from her. Our God is so good! Pay attention to emotions. If there is anything other than peace and joy and love, let God heal you.
NOTE: Since the writing of this book, I have come to realize that life happens. People die. Jobs are lost. Divorce. Rape. Abuse. Neglect. Things we can't control or change happen to us. These are the times the enemy comes in with a vengeance. Lies come at us from all directions, and most of the time we believe them. It is for this reason that Jesus had to die. He has come to heal the broken hearted, set at liberty those who are bound, open blind eyes and deaf ears, comfort those who mourn. He has come to set us free from the chains that bind.
5. THROUGH A THOUGHT
It is funny that all it takes is one thought, one doubt, one question to bring our world tumbling down. I have a dear friend - actually she is more than a friend to me, she is more like a daughter. Four years ago, in August of 2011, I got to lead Leia to the Lord. She came from a hard background: foster-care, abuse, promiscuity, and drugs, so she had many enemies.
About the same time Leia came to know Jesus, God gave me the Parable of the Raccoon. Leia and I walked out the truth of that parable together. I watched God deliver her from the spirits of abandonment, rejection, darkness, feelings of worthlessness and sorrow and depression. Over and over again, I watched Him set her free. He healed her heart. He became her provider. He protected her. He set her feet on solid ground. We saw miracle after miracle take place in her life and in the lives of her children and husband. Then one day she walked up on my porch, agitated and said, "How do we know that God is really God? What if He is not the real God? I need a sign."
I looked at her, not believing what I was hearing. I said, "What are you talking about? God parted the Red Sea for you. You walked over on dry ground. He fed you with manna in the wilderness, and you need a sign?" I then made her declare all the great things God had done for her, and the spirit left. But, “Wow!" She heard one person question that God was real, and the spirit of doubt entered her. Amazing.
Then a few months later, I had a get-together at my house. Some of the discussion centered around all the bad things that happen in the world, and how could a good God let all these bad things happen. I could tell that there was not peace in the room. We gave scripture after scripture to tell of the goodness of God, but I knew the issue had not been resolved when it was brought up in Sunday School the next morning. While they were talking, I asked God, "Will you tell me what is going on here?" He said, "They are questioning my good- ness. No one will understand anything I do if they don't understand that I am good."
I said, "Guys, we are questioning God's goodness. It is a sin (lie), we have to confess it and repent.” The lie was exposed and the sin dealt with, but it made me understand how easily we are deceived. Then my mind goes to a local lady, Peggy Joyce Ruth. She wrote a book TORMENTED: 8 Years and Back. In this book, she describes the torment of eight years after she went into a lady's house to witness to her. I think she was Hindu, but whatever religion she was, a thought entered Peggy Joyce that caused her to momentarily doubt that God is God. That spirit tormented her for eight years. Amazing.
We have to be on guard. There are many deceiving spirits, but we can always know if we are on the right track, because God said, "The work of righteousness will be peace, the affect of righteousness will be quiet assurance. My people will dwell in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places though hail comes down on the forest and the city is brought low in humiliation." (Isaiah 32:17-19) And "There is no peace for the wicked." (Isaiah 48:22) God is so good to place a barometer inside of us. We just have to listen to Him. If we do, the Truth will guide us. All we have to do is follow after what brings peace - Jesus.
6. THROUGH OUR ANCESTORS
The last year or two a group of ladies from our small town have met at the local restaurant for breakfast and fellowship every Tuesday morning. Most of these ladies are new converts, eager to know the truth. One morning one of them said that she had been reading out of Acts, and God would not let her get past a certain passage, but she did not understand what she was read- ing. The passage went like this: "Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (Acts 3:1-6)
After much discussion about this passage, the major theme that came up was that this man was lame in his mother's womb. Be- fore he was even born, there was something in him that was sick, not right. The Bible says, "I, the LORD, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." (Exodus 20:5) The sins of one generation are passed on to another generation until someone chooses to stop the curse. The only way to stop the cycle of sin is to come to God without excuse and say, "I did it." "It is not my father's fault, and it is not my mother's fault, I am the one who sinned." Even though the sin came down through our ancestors, we still chose to sin. We now have to willfully choose a different path. We have to turn our back to the sin, forgive our parents and our grandparents to the fourth generation, and open our heart wide to the Creator of the Universe so that He can heal us. Once we do that, the curse is broken. Then we begin to plant seeds of blessing, an inheritance that our children and grandchildren will harvest, but we have to do it God's way. The lame man could not heal himself, only Jesus could do that.
7. HOW DOES A LIE GROW? A lesson from Jodi Arias
A couple of years ago I was making a delivery to the panhandle when I went into McDonald's to get breakfast. While I was eat- ing the breakfast, I sat beside the TV. Jodi Arias was giving her testimony. I didn't know anything about her. We don't have cable TV, we just have Netflix and Roku, so our news sources come from the internet. I found out later that in 2008, she shot her boyfriend in the head, stabbed him 27 times and slit his throat. Gruesome stuff. Her trial made national news from January till March of 2013.
I knew nothing about Jodi Arias, but while in McDonald's that February, I heard her testimony. She gave a minute, detailed ac- count of what happened just before the murder. She said, "I picked up the gun, my fingers were on the trigger. I remember thinking, 'This will stop him.' Then I don't remember anything." The newscaster then came on and said, "Her testimony was just blown all to pieces, how are we to believe that she remembers all the details right up to the time of the murder, but she cannot remember the murder itself?” But I knew in my heart that she was telling the truth. In my past, I have been exposed to three people who had demons manifest. In all three cases, they did not remember what happened when the demon came up. When she said she couldn’t remember, and I saw the brutality of the crime, I knew that it was a demon that murdered this man.
While I sat there pondering what I had heard, I asked God, “Will You allow me to understand what happened?” He then dropped a scripture into my spirit: “If you have hate in your heart, you are a murderer.” (1 John 3:15) Then, I understood. Jodi Arias hated this man. Not only did she hate him, but she fixed her eyes on the hatred. She petted that “raccoon." I don’t know what he did to cause her to hate him, but it doesn’t matter, we are talking about how she responded to what he did. She hated him. When she allowed hate to enter her heart, she allowed the spirit of murder to enter. Then the spirit of murder got stronger and stronger as she fixed her eyes on how much she hated him.
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time understanding demons and demon possession, but I can understand hate en- tering a person's heart. Then with her thoughts - which were fixed continually on her hatred - she gave permission for the spirit of murder that was in her to grow bigger and to take over. Her sin was to hate. The result of her hatred was that when the occasion arose, a spirit was allowed to manifest and brutally do what it wanted to do. Wow!
Then another scripture came to mind. “If you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery.” (Matthew 5:28) This is the same thing. Once lust enters the heart, we have a choice. We can fix our eyes on it, or we can turn our back on it, confess our sin, and go on with our life. If we choose to fix our eyes on lust or hate or jealousy or greed or un- forgiveness or bitterness or revenge or selfish ambition, that spirit becomes stronger and stronger until at some point it takes over and acts out. That is why pornography is so destructive. It fixes our eyes on lust. And the more we fix our eyes on it, the stronger and more twisted it becomes until it has an opportunity, and then the spirit manifests, and the spirit is allowed to brutally do what it wants to do. That is why the crimes are becoming more heinous. We no longer control the direction our thoughts are taking.
We have been living in a time period where we are no longer restraining ourselves. We are doing whatever our flesh desires. We are fixing our eyes on things that will destroy us, and the more we embrace the lie, the more we pet the raccoon, the bigger and the more twisted he becomes. At some point this spirit will turn on us and destroy us, and he will destroy those we love. We can no longer coddle these emotions. We can no longer give place to the enemy. We have to come before a holy God and say, "Jesus, save me!" Jesus is our Savior and our Redeemer. He is the only one who can get us out of the mess we have gotten ourselves into. If we don't come to Him, the spirit that is inside of us will take liberty and kill us, steal from us, and destroy us. That is what he was created to do, and he will do it.
We are in a battle, and that battle is for our heart and our soul. That battle is between the TRUTH and the LIE, and the one we choose to believe will dictate our eternal destiny. If we choose to embrace a lie, we are actually choosing death, to spend eternity separated from God in a place of torment called Hell. But if we choose to believe the truth, the God of the Universe will rescue us from the penalties that we all so richly deserve. He takes our punishment so we don't have to, and He takes us to a place that He has prepared for us, a place that is so much more than we could ever ask or imagine, a place that the Bible says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it ever entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) This is a place where His glory dwells.
Don’t put it off. Don’t believe another lie. Today is the day of salvation. “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to us...it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:29-31)
Blessings, my friends. May your heart be wide open to the God who is mighty to save.
Terri Tidwell
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