GOD AND SATAN ARE BOTH REAL

Once upon a time, I was angry because of the attacks against me by the enemy, through people I cared about and who I had been kind to.

So one night, I remember going out to take a stand for Jesus, knowing I would not turn against Him or change my mind about Him.  Although a believer in Jesus for many years, I still had a lot to learn, I was soon to discover.

I challenged Satan in a way I probably should regret, but I don’t.  Because it was a tremendous learning experience for me.  One that taught me new things and strengthened my faith in a mighty way.

It was late, a warm summer’s eve, so I went to a nearby park.  It is a small park so I knew I was the only one there and that no one would hear me.  Satisfied I was alone, I then got out of my car and walked into the middle of a huge grassy field there.  Raising an emphatic fist, I recall shouting in a loud, authoritative voice, “I will never turn from God, do you hear me, Satan?  Never!”

I can’t remember if I said anything else.  If I did, it might have been, “No matter what you do to me.”  Regardless, I had made my stand for Christ and returned home, satisfied I had made myself clear to the enemy.  I had also released my anger toward him at the same time, so I felt better.

Unfortunately, after that, it didn’t take long for Satan to up the ante against me.  Things started happening in my life that to this day boggle my mind.  So let me tell you, if you are one of those people who do not believe in Satan or God, let me tell you just how wrong you are in believing that.  Both are as real as you can ever imagine.  I have felt the power of God, through His Spirit, and the power of Satan as well.

SATANIC OPPRESSION

A few nights after taking my stand for Christ, I was having trouble sleeping.  I felt this incredible force atop me, pressing down on me, crushing me.  I had never felt anything like it before.  So, I got up and went outside of my apartment, to sit on the front stoop to contemplate what was going on.  I prayed while I sat there and came to understand that it was a form of demonic oppression that was weighing on me.

The next day, I discovered that my neighbors across the hall, who I had been so nice to, were stealing UPS packages from me.  When I discovered this, I left a note for UPS not to leave my packages with any of my neighbors.  But before the carrier got my note, the neighbors had come home and ripped the notice off my door, which made them furious upon reading it.

At any rate, things escalated from there.  I had to involve UPS, my landlord, and all numbers of other people to deal with this problem.  All of it instigated by Satan, my enemy.

Every time I walked by their window, these people, unbelievers who apparently despised me in secret, would verbally harass and antagonize me.  I called the police in to ask what I could do, receiving sound advice.  Although nothing worked against the threats being laid against me and my children.  So, I decided to try something I had not done before.

I decided to take Jesus Christ at His Word.

Now, I have been a strong believer since I was nine years old.  I had read the Bible through many times and spent a lot of time praying and going to church.  But unfortunately, none of the churches I attended had ever taught me what I really needed to survive in this evil world.

HOW TO PUT THE WORD OF GOD INTO PRACTICE

Perhaps you already know this, but it took me thirty or so years to actually learn what I finally did put into practice.  Why?  Not just because it wasn’t really taught me in church the way it should have been.  But mainly because, it was scary.  Plain and simple.

Seeing something on paper is not always the same as putting what it says into effect.  I am sure many of you have heard that before.  I used to work for a large corporation, and the workers experienced that many times.  One thing we all learned there is that everything looks good on paper.  But implementation may have disastrous results or cause other problems.

At any rate, here is what I started doing, as difficult for me and as scary as it was for me.  Because I wasn’t certain what the repercussions were going to be.  I had already been through a lot.  As a divorced, single parent, I was afraid for the safety of my children.  My car had been vandalized, my apartment robbed, and our lives threatened.

I began blessing my enemies.  Literally.  Every time I walked by them, and they started in on me.

If you haven’t done that already, you cannot imagine the power those words have on people.

Each time I walked by those people, I would say, “God bless you, my brother (or sister, as the case may have been).”  Then I just kept walking because, after I blessed them, they fell silent, apparently feeling convicted of their evil against me.

THE POWER IN JESUS’ NAME

Once I got used to blessing my enemies, for the Word of God says to bless and not to curse your enemies, I started putting it more into practice.  It is one thing to pray for your enemies.  But to literally bless them is an entirely different ball of wax.  (Romans 12:14)

One day, I was coming from a store, when I encountered another neighbor who had been causing me problems.  A teenager who talked her boy friend into harassing me.  Now, I barely knew this girl but went to school with her mother, who had told me that she had been recruited by a Satanic cult.  Which explained her immediate dislike of me.  When the power of God is strong in a person, that person will automatically be hated by someone who is against Him.

At any rate, I watched this girl shove her boy friend in my direction, whispering to him on what to say to me.  So, laughing, he said something to me that I won’t repeat here.  Then, taking a deep breath, I said, “May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you!”

Instantly, and I mean instantly, this young man fell silent and took a step back, gaping at me.  Then he says, rather sheepishly, I might add, “Well…I believe in Jesus.”

I just looked at him and said, “I see that you do.”  Then I walked away.  I had no trouble from him again, although the girl later tried getting a group of her other boy friends to vandalize my car, which I was able to prevent by just going out to watch them do it.  Upon seeing me, they immediately took off.

The power of God in a person does that.  While working in that corporation I told you of, sometimes I would just walk into the break room, and the entire group would suddenly stand up and rush out of the room, as if all the hounds of hell were after them.  I never could figure that out, unless of course the people were doing something they should not have been when I walked in.  Because I stand for Truth and Righteousness, I believe some people feel convicted by my mere presence sometimes.

EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW

Two apartments after these events, I moved to another house, which contained five apartments.  Unfortunately, my experiences there were similar to the others.  Only this time, I knew how to handle myself.

One of the neighbors, a family of cocaine dealers, I later discovered, and welfare frauders, apparently called the police on me, giving some lame reason.  So two policemen, a man and a woman, showed up at my door, accusing me falsely of slamming a door, which I did not know was against the law anyways, even if it were true.  But since the lawbreakers felt threatened by me, afraid I would turn them in for their crimes, they decided to try and rid themselves of my presence.

The male cop was extremely arrogant and very nasty to me, just assuming I was some evil person.  The female officer kept silent while this young man berated me.  So I stepped toward him and said what I told that other young man.  “May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you!”

Well, that cop took one step back at my words and banged into the wall behind him (It was a very narrow hallway.), hitting his head on the wall.

Immediately, he fell silent, dropped his head humbly, guiltily, and the two officers just left.  End of story.

So, folks.  If you haven’t experienced the incredible power in the name of Jesus, I guarantee you will not doubt the existence of Jesus Christ ever again.  If you have, know only that you can grow more confident in your weaponry, in the power of the Word of God, more than ever before.

I am at a point now in my life where God has told me that the enemy is nothing to me now.  I know the power in Jesus’ name, and I have been given the authority by God to use it when the enemy is coming against me.

Be assured, if you are a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian, that you, too, have that power and authority over all the works of darkness and over all evil and demonic spirits.

Jesus’ name also has the power to heal and perform miracles, but a believer must, of course, usually have those gifts for such things to happen.

Regardless, the Word of God is more powerful than many realize.  I strongly urge you to memorize it, study it, read it, and use it, putting it into practice…literally.

“PROVE ME,” SAITH THE LORD.  I WILL PROVIDE.

Following my divorce, I had to go on public assistance for awhile because I could not earn enough as a legal secretary to make ends meet.  So instead, I went back to school.

Meanwhile, it was a struggle every day.  Food was in short supply, and there were times I had absolutely nothing and was getting tired of it.  So, here is what I did.  Again, I put God’s Word into practice.

I parked myself at my kitchen table, after my children had gone off to school, and had a conversation with the Lord about my situation.  This time, I challenged Him to prove Himself to me.

“God,” I said.  “If your Word is true, then provide what I need.”  I can’t recall the exact words, but they were similar to these.  Now God already knew what I needed, but I gave Him a small list of what I wanted most.  That morning, I didn’t even have breakfast because there was nothing left to eat.

I swear to you, in a matter of seconds after I prayed, there came a knock at my door.  It was a neighbor who lived in another building of the apartment complex I was living in at the time.  (Yes, the one I mentioned earlier.)

My friend came in with a bag of donuts.  So there you have it.  Instantly.  God’s provision for my breakfast.

I thought that was pretty cool.  Why?   Because I had been raised Catholic, and such things just weren’t taught us while growing up, that God would ACTUALLY provide for us like that.

Then, as my friend and I were enjoying the donuts, the phone rang.  It was my parents.  They asked me to go to Sam’s Club with them.  They said they would give me half of whatever they bought there.  So, heck yeah.  I jumped at that opportunity.  So after breakfast, my parents arrived, and off we went.  And believe me, I came home with so much stuff, paper towels, toilet paper, basic supplies, foods, even a book I’d been wanting that my father said he’d buy me, I just could not believe it.  Talk about God’s provision.  I could not stop praising Him.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Later that day, another of my friends arrived.  With her came a ton of frozen foods she had brought from her freezer that she wasn’t going to use.  So I piled them into my freezer and…couldn’t shut the door because there was just so much.  My freezer was filled to overflowing.  As God’s Word promises.  “…Prove Me now, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”  Malachia 3:10  KJV

I would like to tell you that this story stops here, but it doesn’t.  That entire week, God continued providing for me in unexpected ways.  Some free strawberries from a fruit farm came my way, and one afternoon, I came home to find a letter under my door, containing a $100 bill from an anonymous gifter.

Is God cool or what?

I cannot tell you the joy, the disbelief, and the excitement I felt all that week.  I had challenged God to prove Himself.  And…He…Did!!  God be praised!  I still get all choked up when I think about that time in my life.  It was memorable and completely wonderful.  And it took away any further doubts I may have had.  I knew then I would never starve to death or have to go without anything again because God would keep His promises to me…and to all of His people.  He provides for and takes care of His own.  And He knows who they are.

So take God at His Word, folks.  Everything He says in the Bible is True.  I know firsthand because I have received and lived a life of blessing and provision.  And I can’t love Him enough for it.  He has indeed proven Himself to me, over and over again.  That’s not to say I haven’t had some rough times along the way because I have.  But God’s love for me overshadows all of the bad times.

So tell me.  Will you take your stand for Christ?  Trust Him to provide for you and protect you?  And love Him and be obedient to Him, because He desires that from us, too?

The time is short.  If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please accept Him into your heart, into your life, before AntiChrist comes to power.  You will be glad you did.

God bless you all!

 

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12 KJV)

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”  (Malachi 3:10 KJV)

“Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.”  Romans 12:14 KJV

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  (John 14:13 KJV)

 

For more information:

http://www.acts17-11.com/name.html

http://www.nairaland.com/445190/name-jesus-christ-carries-power

http://puteris-reflections.blogspot.com/2009/04/power-of-jesus-name.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1768427/posts

http://newlifeintl.org/power_in_the_name.htm

http://witnessed.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/the-power-in-the-name-of-jesus/

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