Friday, June 20, 2008

What took you so long, Lorie?

Just an update: I'm still alive. I was just busy running around trying to make a living and trying to find a source of living. I finally got tired of twisting people's arms to get what I want. I forgot that the weapons with which we face the battles we slug on throughout our lives isn't similar, AT ALL, to the way things are fought in literal battles.

If an enemy throws you a stone, throw him back a piece of bread... In love.

What took me so long to learn that?

What took me so long to learn that deception, suspicion, etc., fear, are not the weapons I should fight with? What took me so long to realize that I have to obey God and be like Him: react like Him in every which way I could muster? And even then, I could only react like Him when He ENABLES me to..

What took me so long to shed my ego?

What took me so long to stop performing?

I asked the Lord before whether any of these pains I bore were in vain. He told me that not one of these pains were wasted.

It took me a while to realize why He said that none of my pains and travails were wasted...

Right now I realize: that my pains were dealt me in order to glorify Him.

In my wounds and my recovery from them, He is most glorified. Because I had not overcome on my own. He carried me. He healed me. Changed my heart of stone into flesh.

From my scars, people can learn and realize that someone else went through these things too.

Thank You, Lord that You didn't let me go through what I could not bear. But thank You that every single thing that ailed me, that pained me... You will use all of them.

Thank You, Father, that You are turning me more like Your Son, perfect in every way.

Each overcoming, each moment that I get driven closer to being like the Lord is such pain for me, because His character is so unlike mine. In moments of calm like this... I appreciate having been born.


LOVE YOU LORD!!!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Gossip, Fault-finding, Witchcraft Prayerz... Jezzie, is that you?!

We women want the best for each other, and in so doing, we tend to urge each other to do the things we wish we were doing.

I was recently listening to an mp3 about Overcoming the Spirit of Jezebel. But before you declare that this is another loony mystical chuvaness, I would like to emphasize how practical this actually is.

If you are struggling with:

  • fault-finding
  • having a pattern of creating a small following for yourself and ensuring that the dependence is on you
  • initiating and letting gossip proliferate
  • dishonoring your parents and other hallmarks of disobedience and lawlessness/despising authority
  • using your feminine charms to reassure yourself of your worth
  • trying to control the situations and the people around you (which is borne out of fear)
  • witchcraft (if not explicit witchcraft, trying to direct God’s hand by praying directive prayers for the ones you love, instead of asking for His will to be done)
  • opening up to the seductive nature of media and of people, men and women, around you
  • willful deception
  • immorality
  • compromise
  • the “Ahab nature” which is turning a blind eye to injustice and sin,

...then you may well have, or be affected by, or attacked by the Jezebel spirit also.

It was so weird because I had “carried” this spirit for so long, and I wasn’t aware of it until my last Victory Weekend. Then in recent weeks, God had been leading me to Revelation 2:18-29, and I’ve been noticing how severe the Jezebel spirit had been affecting me, and the people around me.

We cannot pray it away, folks. As long as Hollywood and media agree with and perpetuate it, and people sin because they think it’s okay, Jezebel and her minions will proliferate. If we walk blindly into spiritual battles then be caught unaware, then we will always be at the losing end in the wrestling match with that principality.

If you note that there is conflict around you, and that you seem to be in the middle of it, if you note the above traits in yourself, then you can be sure that either you are under attack, or are condoning that spirit.

Unlike other spirits, it cannot easily be bound and cast out. You have to make a decision:

  • Not to accuse your brethren (cellmates, friends, family).
  • Not to start with fault-finding.
  • Not to agree with sins that defile, and separate you from God.

I cannot be a Pharisee-hypocrite hybrid and say that I was fully delivered from this. I can only say that I was devastated recently by how seriously flogged I’ve been by this spirit. Worse was that until I had my awareness today, I had actually agreed with it. Which makes me all the more grieved about it.

The only solution is to:

  • repent
  • pray
  • pray more for others around you
  • pray for protection for you, and others around you
  • put on the Armor of God (references: here and here)
  • fast if you need to
  • recognize where Jezebel operates in your life.

And when you sin, repent, put on the Armor, then ask Jesus to be a Seal upon your heart and your life. “Jezebel bleeding,” in my experience, is manifested in accusation and in talking way too much. For this, I notice that when I repent and ask for the Armor of God, these are not enough. In these cases, I ask Jesus to be a seal upon my heart and seal my spiritual wounds once more.

Sin is like a spiritual wound dealt upon you. Because of sin, you lose your boundaries, and you lose self-control. When things get too out of hand, and no amount of prayer seems to work, or it just seems laborious, I pray that someone listens to my tip with asking Jesus to be a Seal upon your heart and life once more.

Spiritual warfare necessitates that we make use of the weapons God gave us: the Word. There are Words He’s said that could be used as tools to help keep us sane in this crazy unreal reality of existence. I pray you take heed.

Also, let’s avoid praying “witchcraft prayers” for each other. Let God and the person deal with the details in their lives. If you are a cell leader, make sure that you pray for the Fruit of the Holy Spirit (character and humility) and Christ’s love and likeness to be manifested more in their lives. These are what matter. The rest are shadows and not yours to intrude upon.

Let's also remember that only Praise for Jesus would infinitely chase those clouds of doom that Jezebel brought. Psalm 149 is what seems to be the prayer of the season for me. If you got shot down, get up. Get up and praise God! Do not give in to those feelings of discouragement, those are not your own feelings! Separate yourself from that and hold on to the fact that Jesus loves you and would never leave you nor forsake you, and neither is there condemnation in Him.

God bless your day.