Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 - Major Serpent Stompage

I got a call late last night about one of my friends who had just gone through an immensely intense spiritual battle and was in need of prayer. For those who are unfamiliar with the term "spiritual battle," it is when Satan and his forces are fighting against God and His forces and influence over a certain area of our life; often, Satan is fighting to either hold a stronghold or establish a new one. I have been struggling in my relationship with God and have been bound by idols, so I happened to be playing a video game (no surprise) when I got this call.

God totally broke me through that - here I was, caught in idols, when He was calling me to prayer. I find it no coincidence that two nights ago, at Bible Study, I asked my brothers to pray that God would break me; I thank them for having my back, and God has been quickly faithful to those prayers. So back to last night, I shut my game off and headed to the study with my Bible. My heart just ached from missing God and for my friend who is going through spiritual warfare over strongholds.

Temporarily ignoring all the issues that I'm dealing with, I prayed for my friend. My heart ached for this person so much that I was brought to tears and began to tremble. I prayed for a binding of Satan in this stronghold, but as I did, I began to overwhelmingly feel a dark, evil presence all around me. God showed me that Satan's strongholds in my life were preventing me from pouring my heart out completely in prayer for my friend. I rebuked Satan in the name of Jesus Christ over and over, and as God struck down the evil surrounding me, He blessed me with a strong conviction and boldness.

I immediately marched down the hall, tears still in my eyes, back to my room where my roomy was thankfully still sleeping despite the phone call and my rummaging around. I went to my computer and went nuts in frustration with idols - I deleted every game that I could find or think of, I deleted every music folder that I had except for my Christian one, and put a post-it note on my computer screen that reads, "This computer is an instrument of worship, a tool to use for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom only!" I don't know all of the reasoning behind all of the deleting, but I was so convicted that that was what God wanted me to do.

I headed back to the study and was overwhelmed by God's presence. I knew without a doubt that He had been faithful to His promise of casting Satan out in the name of Jesus Christ. I could just sense and experience the victory God was having in reigning over my life in more areas, so I continued to pour out my heart in prayer and the Word in interceding for my friend. Having been awake for two full days, having low hygiene and energy, and being emotionally exhausted all last night, I knew that everything that happened and all strength received came directly from God and was absolutely nothing of myself or my own doing.

I had some awesome time alone with God again today going through some stuff mainly in Romans but a few other places as well. God is continuing to teach me about sharing my faith and how to effectively communicate basic ideas of His truths; I know that He still is going to reach the guys on my floor in some way with the little time that is left in the semester and am excitedly anticipating what He's going to do when I'm fully available and willing when He brings the opportunity(ies) along.

I don't know any details of what my friend is going through, but I am getting the impression that God is conquering that stronghold and making this area all new. He is so faithful and builds us and prepares us always at exactly the right times. I stand in brokenness and awe of all the serpent stompage and everything that He is doing, yet I only know a tidbit of all that He is.

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