Until I started experiencing Spiritual Warfare on a daily basis.
I finally understood that rituals, and words, were very important to God.
First, I will discuss how words are important to God.
Jesus is the Word, and He became flesh (John 1:1-18). God the Father SPOKE the universe into being (Genesis 1-2). God also emphasizes the importance of how His Word would be spoken by His people:
(Isaiah 6:5-6) Isaiah had cried out how “unclean” his lips were when he had seen God and His angels, and he was subsequently cleansed. To me, this is an emphasis on how a prophet/man or woman of God’s mouth should be clean before he/she can be trusted with speaking the Word.
No wonder the Holy Spirit is in the business of erasing blasphemies from our lips!
In the Old Testament, God had waited for an entire generation of Israelites to die off before He allowed them to enter the promised land, because they had sinned with their constant grumbling. I was once told by God, through a prophetess to “Stop saying curses on yourself, my daughter.” It is only now that I realize how offensive and self-damning it is to nurture the negative self-talk.
(Jeremiah 1:4-10) Jeremiah, in his seeming fear, was protesting being called by God to be a prophet, reasoning out how he did not know how to speak, being “only a child,” but God had insisted that He is putting His words into Jeremiah’s mouth. This, to me, means that God does not care whether we are young or old, simple or worldly-wise. When He calls a person to speak His truth, He does it, no matter what the person’s circumstance is.
(Ezekiel 3:1-4) Ezekiel was fed the Word of God in order to speak it. This is a model of how we Christians should be, even today. We are called to “eat” the Word, no less. God’s Word is our sustenance, and “feeding” on it is the only way we would be honed to be able to speak His Word. Besides, as Pastor Bong Mabilog of Iloilo once said in a Sunday sermon, try not reading the Bible for a month and watch yourself die slowly.
I used to reject the fact that I need to read the Bible. Today, I cannot live a few hours without a “refill.” Not that I’m being self-righteous; it’s just that it seems to be my fuel nowadays.
If you are at the point of your walk when the words of the Bible seem to bounce off your mind as you read it, most likely, there is unconfessed sin in your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to expose what the sin is, ask for forgiveness for it, renounce it, and God to tell an angel to toss the spirit behind it straight to hell.
Which brings me to one ritual that I have.
Whenever I notice that my mind is already cluttered, offended, or complaining, I try to remember who had offended me. Usually, the mantra that is reverberating in my mind (I hate her! I hate her! I hate her! OR I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!) makes it obvious whom had offended me at that stretch of time. So I forgive the person, and ask for forgiveness for growing mad at the person, then renounce the spirit behind it and then ask the Lord to make an angel spear the spirit straight to Sheol.
I realized that I can actually have the angels spear the spirits straight to Sheol just this week. I was just spending time with God and reading the Bible when it hit me that I can actually ask for that. That takes care of the spirit permanently. When you cast it out and just let it wander for another victim, you’re doing Satan a favor by leaving one fallen angel (or ten) angry enough at being displaced to torment another human victim. Please do Jesus a favor by asking Him to let an angel of His toss the critters straight into Sheol, where they belong.
If you still are hesitant on how to do it, here is a usual format:
Lord Holy Spirit, please show me what sin there is in my heart that keeps me from hearing You.
(If you are offended by another person): I forgive (name of person), in Jesus’ name.
(If the above is not applicable, go to the next step. If the above is applicable, ask for forgiveness, in a manner similar to the next step, and renounce the sin of Unforgiveness.)
(When you realize what the sin is): Lord, please forgive me for the sin of (name of sin, i.e. Pride), in Jesus’ name.
I renounce the spirit of (name of sin, i.e. Pride), in Jesus’ name.
Lord Jesus, please ask one of your angels to spear the spirit of Pride that just came out of me straight to hell. Thank you. (You can also say, Lord, please ask one of...In Jesus’ Name. Amen.)
Another ritual that I have is praying the Armor of God, based on Ephesians 6:14-17:
- Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace
- Belt of Truth
- Breastplate of Righteousness
- Helmet of Salvation
- Shield of Faith
- Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
I pray this, like dressing in the Spirit, when I feel like I got too tired, or felt an “energy loss” of sorts. Sometimes when I sin, I feel like I got an energy low or I feel suddenly sleepy or something. Around a month ago, I thought to experiment with praying like this. And wonder of wonders, I got a boost of energy after I confessed and renounced the sin, and finally asked for the Armor of God to be fitted onto me.
But what really gives me a major boost, after putting the Armor on, to prevent more “energy” loss (it’s actually the oil that is the Holy Spirit: Matthew 25:1-13), is reading the Word, or speaking in tongues. Either way, I put the Armor on first, because I really dislike being tired; being filled again, but there’s nothing to seal in the Holy Spirit because I am under severe attack or what.
Another thing that I pray for is that Jesus be a Seal upon my heart, my arm, my hands, my mouth, my tongue, my eyes, or any other parts of me that I can’t seem to control. I had taken that from the song I posted here, You Won’t Relent by Misty Edwards, and from the Song of Songs. I notice that I seem to be more in control of myself when I pray that.
I am also being led to ask for the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), because these are much more important than the Gifts, and because if a Christian has these, he or she can face the challenges of our stressful world:
- Love (The definition of LOVE is in 1 Corinthians 13)
- Joy
- Peace
- Patience
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Faithfulness
- Gentleness
- Self-Control
Just a disclaimer, I do not advocate empty rituals. I had balked at Beth Moore’s prayer series because it all felt too formatted, ritualistic. All these that I had shared today, you are free to say however you want: more flowery, or just as is. I just memorized the Armor, and the asking for forgiveness/releasing forgiveness ritual, because I easily get offended and I am much too sensitive to people around me for my own good sometimes. I did notice that as I spend more time with God, and as I read more of His Word, I have more of the Fruits of the Spirit; but when I have serious sin, then I get offended on top of it, I revert to my old, wailing, tantrumic, angry self.
You cannot avoid your stress triggers forever, surely. But you sure can fast from them. I have my own triggers, and I take extra measures to stay away from them. Even if it saddens me that I cannot be a perfect Christian, it’s just as well that I have my own blind spots, because unless a Christian has a “thorn on his side,” like Paul, or else leads himself to believe that he doesn’t, he or she is in danger of spiritual error and may die, perfect to the world, but an infidel to Jesus. Remember that our battle isn’t between flesh and blood, but against the spiritual horde of Satan’s cohorts(Ephesians 6:12). Meaning, your enemies are not your annoying boss, your family members who annoy you to no end (it’s there somewhere in Proverbs that siblings are naturally going to be in adversity), the traffic, the pollution, or even your own hair or “cursed” skin. Your true enemies are those who are in the spiritual realm who manifest as negative attitudes, negative self-talk, negative or even sinful thoughts, and sinful actions. Therefore, cling to Jesus, Who, even as these would prove helpful to your own walk, would enable you to stand your own battles, and carry you on to victory.
Shalom!
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