photo #173918

I wrote this in July of 2019...EXPOSED & EVICTED - On Tuesday morning, I was squealing with joy to discover that some of my favorite living artists are coming to Scottsdale in 2020. I immediately put the dates in my calendar and created pages in my Dreams & Goals book to be able to attend their art workshops. After setting up these events into my calendars and book, I ate an early lunch and was heading to my canvas to paint. But something very weird happened; something out of my control. I suddenly was overwhelmed with weakness. I knew it wasn't the baked chicken and water I'd eaten. I didn't feel sick. I hadn't worked outside. I literally had been only painting and staying inside and out of the heat for weeks. I eat well, stay hydrated, live a very clean life, inside and out. What was going on?So I spent the afternoon of Tuesday and all day Wednesday and Thursday in this extremely weakened state. Didn't even eat dinner Wednesday or anything all day Thursday. Anyone who knows me knows how odd that is for me. When I was awake, I was seeking answers, both praying and looking online for potential causes. Was I dealing with something physical? Or spiritual? The answer came to me in a dream last night.As I slept, God showed me in a dream that I had been overcome by a spirit of weakness, lethargy, lack of ambition, fogginess, and overall not feeling right. Ahhhh, evil spirit, you've been EXPOSED! As I meditated on this, God showed me several instances in biblical stories where a human was tempted by an unclean, evil, demonic spirit in the bodily flesh in an attempt to get that human to speak against God, to come into agreement with lies. Jesus was tempted 40 days and nights, yet he did not come into agreement with Satan. Abraham could have rejected God's promises, but he wavered not and believed God at His word, even though everything about it looked impossible. After losing everything and being afflicted in his body (because of fear), Job had an aha moment and, through many discussions with friends with many opportunities to curse God, he stood firm in His love for God and wavered not in His belief in God. Moses, seeing the great waters in front of him with no manly way of passage for him and all of Israel, and seeing the vast and fierce army barreling down on them, trusted in God and never bought into the temptation of lies that the enemy was speaking, telling him that they were all doomed to death. I could go on and on, but the recurring message this:Whenever you have done all you can do to stand, stand. The evil, unclean, demonic spirits may come to you in weakness, even weakness caused by them, but you keep your faith in God and speak only what He speaks. Ask Him to reveal what's going on and KNOW that He answers. Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you; ask and you will receive. He is so, so faithful toward us.My next question to God was, "How and why was this spirit even allowed to come to me?" Afterall, I am hidden in Christ and seated at the right hand of the Father! So God answered that, too! The ONLY way that this spirit of weakness was even allowed to apprehend me is because God knows that I am steadfast in trusting Him, and no demon can ever take me down. It's as though this was an opportunity to be proven. God proved me. He proved Job. He proved Jesus. He proved Abraham. He proved Moses. It would be likely that He would prove those in whom He believes. And He believes in us!Much like a coach who believes in a team player that sends the player out onto the field, so can be the One Who believes in us. The player proves his beliefs, his strength, his essence on the field when a demand is placed on him... NOT while he is sitting on the sidelines. From battle to battle, we rise stronger, proven, more audacious and confident. From glory to glory, we are victorious. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!?So, how did I end this story today? Jesus says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. I did that. He says to bind up the strong man and cast him out. I did that, too. But before I knew what had come against me, I didn't know what to do because I didn't know if I was dealing with a physical or spiritual thing. After God revealed it was spiritual, and even gave me the name, I followed His commands and bound the spirit and cast it out to its death. Now I am set free! That unclean spirit has been exposed and evicted! Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. Let God be true (and every word of His be true)... forever and ever. Amen!Psalm 66:5