Good article Phil.

Vicki

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 9:13 AM
Subject: Devices Of Demons


> I know some might think that this topic has nothing to do with Christmas.
> In light of all the things that happen as far as discouragement, stress,
> worry, anxiety, and concern during this time of year, I think it is very
> apropos.  Besides, what you are about to read just happened to me
yesterday,
> Christmas day, so I think it applies.
>
> Devices Of Demons
>
>                          By Phil Scovell
>
>
>      During an hour intercessory prayer session with one of my
> prayer partners, I experienced a great deal of emotional healing.
> It was one of the most powerful times I have ever experienced with
> the Lord in prayer and many exciting things occurred.
>
>      Two days later, on Christmas day, I awakened from having a
> nightmare.  I dreamed I was sleeping in a house I had never been
> in.  I was alone.  I heard a window break and was instantly
> awake.  I could hear someone moving around in another room of this
> unfamiliar house.  Getting up, I left the house and got some help
> and returned.  I do not know who came back to the house with me in
> my dream but it was someone I knew because I could feel that much.
> We entered the house and began searching each room together.  We
> finally found the room with the broken window.  Yet, nothing in
> the house had been stolen.
>
>      I awakened from this dream, which I refer to as a nightmare,
> because my heart was pounding and I was breathing heavily.  Plus,
> I felt strong raw fear that bordered on panic.  However, I was
> able to calm down and even go back to sleep within a few minutes.
> After all, it was just a dream, right?
>
>      When I got up that morning, I didn't feel well.  I felt
> somewhat disturbed by the dream but I felt more nervous and
> anxious about something and I could not determine the reason for
> this uneasiness.  The anxiety continued to build throughout the
> morning hours and I felt tightness in my chest.  It even seemed as
> if I could physically feel my heart.  At my age, you think about
> heart attacks but you don't talk about them.  It is like the time
> I visited my sister and her family when they were living in San
> Francisco.  I asked her if anybody ever talked about earthquakes.
> I asked because I was thinking about it every day we were there.
> She said, "Well, we think about them but nobody talks about them."
> I didn't really think I was having a heart attack Christmas day
> but one thing I knew for certain and that was the fear level was
> rising and I didn't seem to be able to figure out why even when I
> prayed.
>
>      Walking into the kitchen just before noon, I got a drink of
> water.  As I drank, I felt my entire chest flush with a tingling
> sensation.  Fear instantly jumped off the scale.  I had
> experience that feeling many times before in years past.  In my
> thoughts, "I heard, "I'm not going to make it.  It is all going
> to come back."  This may have been in reference to anxiety and
> panic attacks and nightmares and demonic attacks I had experienced
> many months earlier.  I had a feeling, however, that it was that
> and much more, including all the Lord had done two days earlier
> when praying with one of my intercessory partners.
>
>      I sat my glass down on the counter top and turned to leave
> the kitchen.  As I turned, I said to the Lord, "Where is this
> coming from because I am healed from that and I am not going
> back."  Instantly I knew what was wrong and the source.
>
>      I want you to read again what I heard in my mind or in my
> thoughts before I explain further.  Here it is again.  "I'm not
> going to make it.  It is all going to come back."  Since it was in
> the first person, I logically assumed these were my own thoughts.
> I also want to point out that the raw fear I felt, which had
> already started earlier in the day, if not actually during the
> night, rose instantly to a high level of anxiety at the same time
> the words were heard in my mind.  I honestly thought I was one
> step away from going into a full blown anxiety attack.  Please
> note that I keep saying this was all a feeling I was having; I
> cannot stress that enough.  You will understand why later.
>
>      As I said, after sitting my glass down, I turned from the
> sink and was prepared to walk out of the kitchen.  This is the
> very moment I prayed in my mind and asked the Lord where this was
> coming from, that is, what is its origin.  It was such a sudden
> and powerful response in my spirit, it almost felt like a physical
> blow to my body.  By that I mean, I thought I had been physically
> struck and almost took a step backwards to regain my balance.  The
> awareness of the answer to my prayer was all there was time for,
> apparently, because I had no impression, that I could recognize,
> or any thoughts in mind but one.  It was not a physical or
> emotional attack; it was demonic.  I almost laughed out loud.  Why
> hadn't I seen it before?  I knew why; because it was a demonic
> attack from the Enemy and a spiritual test by God.  The Lord was
> showing me that I was beyond a certain point in my walk with Him
> and what He had said to me in prayer two days earlier was His
> truth for me to live by.  That is, the area of my life where I had
> experienced a spiritual renewal was a place He had promised I
> would not be returning to because He, God, said it was so.
>
>      The split second I realized the truth of what was happening,
> the fear and anxiety immediately began to dissipate.  Why?  What I
> had thought I had spoken in my thoughts was not me speaking but a
> demonic presence speaking lies.  I have had this same thing happen
> a couple of times before over the years, that is, a demon speaking
> into my thoughts using the first person.  It is almost always
> preceded by fear or some other negative emotion such as anger,
> rage, guilt, or pride.  If it doesn't precede the thought, it
> instantly follows.  Again, why?  Demons have feelings, too, and
> they are not emotionless creatures.  Remember, they were once
> angelic beings ministering in the presence of the Creator God.
> Now they have no glory of their own.  They sinned against God and
> were cast from Heaven; the brightest and holiest spot in God's
> Kingdom.  Now they have nothing but evil and unholiness as their
> covering.  They are doomed and without hope.  They are going to
> burn forever, along with all those who reject Christ, and they
> will never be released from hell.  Their purpose?  It is the same
> as their master; to kill, steal, and to destroy.  their father,
> Satan, is the father of all lies and Jesus the Christ confirmed
> it, (John 8:44).  In short, they never tell the truth unless
> forced to do so by the Chief Shepherd; the True Lord Jesus Christ
> or when instructed to do so by the Lord God's servants under the
> direction of the Holy Spirit.  This means that they will use
> anything to try and fool even a Christian into believing a lie.
>
>      In my case, they used fear, which was jumped started by the
> nightmare I had, and confusion about events going on in my own
> life at the time.  They also used another unholy device in the art
> of deception and used the presence of their own evil feelings to
> place on me in order to make me think I was going to have an
> anxiety attack.  This was their way of distracting me.  At that
> moment, they took the opportunity to try and implant their
> thoughts into mine which was by speaking in the first person, "I'm
> not going to make it.  It is all going to come back."
>
>      When I said, "I have been healed of this," it was not the
> first time I had said it during those morning hours.  Satan also
> did not leave our Lord the first time Jesus told him to as well.
> If you doubt this, read the account of the forty days of
> temptation Jesus went through as recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
> (See Luke 4:1-13).  In Luke's account, Jesus told Satan to get
> behind him but Satan did not obey this first command and continued
> his assault of temptation for forty days.
>
>      Ephesians chapter 6 says we must stand against the wiles of
> the devil.  It does not say, by the way, that we have to chase
> the Enemy down or run and hide, bind or loose, command or demand,
> threaten or curse anybody or anything.  It says we just have to
> stand.  It even says we are to stand, above all, taking the shield
> of faith.  Why the shield of faith?  Because, such demonic attacks
> will bounce off of you as the Holy Spirit gives you awareness of
> the nature of the deception launched at you.
>
>      So then what is faith?  When I said, more than once that
> morning, "I am healed of that and the Lord told me I don't have to
> go back," it was my faith speaking.  How do I know?  Because it
> was what the Lord Jesus Christ told me during prayer two days
> earlier, that is, "We are leaving this place and not coming back."
> How did I know that was the Lord speaking to me?  There are two
> reasons.  First, my faith was given to me by the Author and
> Finisher of my faith; the True Lord Jesus Christ, (Hebrews 12:2).
> Secondly, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of
> God."  The two words rendered "comes by" in Romans 10:17 which I
> just quoted, means (it comes out of).  If you doubt this, look it
> up in any Greek lexicon.  Thus, even the confession of God's Word
> brings faith to the circumstances we face if our foundation is
> solid, that is, what we believe.  If we are being controlled, on
> the other hand, by lie based thinking through the implanting of
> lies into events of our lives, faith will not come because we have
> been deceived into believing another word.
>
>      In my case, when I was shown by the Holy Spirit what was
> happening, that is, it was an attack of the Enemy and a test of
> the Lord, the demons fled.  Why?  Because they had no right to
> stay.  What they were trying to do is to gain a foothold once
> again concerning issues in my life which the Lord had resolved
> with me, and for me, just two days earlier.  Why did the Lord, if
> I truly was healed, allow this attack against me?  Because, the
> Lord was testing me, which means, He, the Lord, was showing me a
> very valuable lesson.  He was reminding me that demons will use
> first person speech and thought to deceive us into thinking we are
> the source of such thoughts and that their lies are true and God's
> Word should not be believed.  Furthermore, the Lord was showing
> me they were attempting to fool me into believing their lies again
> by using both their own feelings and thoughts to confuse me into
> believing a lie.
>
>      Something which I think is important to point out in this
> experience is that no sin was involved.  I had no unconfessed sin
> to deal with in my life at that moment.  So, this demonic attack
> was not due to committed and unconfessed sin.  Additionally, this
> experience of the demonic oppression was orchestrated by God.  How
> do I know that?  Because, if I had fallen for the lies of the
> Enemy, it would have been due to being drawn away by my own lust
> and enticed.  (See James 1:14).  The word for "enticed," is the
> same word use as bate, as in to bate a hook to entice a fish to
> bite.  In my situation I have described, they tried, by trickery,
> enticement, beguilement, deception, and even physical deception,
> to make me think that God's Word was not really true.  "Yea, hath
> God said," is what the Enemy said to Eve in the garden.  God does
> not, therefore, tempt us with something that would cause of to
> fall.
>
>      Many think I place too great an emphasis on the demonic
> realm.  Often this is due to fear Christians have concerning
> demons.  Jesus said, however, that we are complete in Him, meaning
> Christ, who is the head of all principality and power.  (See
> Colossians 2:10).  Furthermore, we, as Believers of His Word, are
> joint heirs of all the Lord Jesus Christ has, (Romans 8:16-17).
> Jesus said all power in heaven and on earth had been given to him,
> according to Matthew 28:18, and since we are joint heirs with
> Christ, we share in his power and authority.
>
>      It is true I talk about demons and how they operate but we
> are told not to allow Satan to get an advantage of us because we
> are not ignorant of his devices, (2 Corinthians 2:11).
> Furthermore, we are commanded in Ephesians 4:27 not to give place
> to the devil.  The question is, therefore, are you ignorant of his
> devices or have you given place to him?
>
>      My ministry, to which the Lord has called me, just so happens
> to bring me into contact with the demonics more often than
> perhaps others.  Regardless, Peter said, Satan walks around as a
> roaring lion, seeking those he can devour, (1 Peter 5:8).  This
> means you.
>
>      I share my personal experiences to help others when the Enemy
> attacks and attack he most certainly will. When he does, where
> will you stand?  Are you aware of his devices?  Will you believe
> his lies and be fooled by his demons?  Will they gain a foothold
> in your mind because they distracted you and then implanted their
> thoughts secretly into your thoughts?  Will you know the
> difference between their voice and that of the Holy Spirit?  Do
> you know God's Word well enough to cut through their evil trickery
> and unholy schemes with the Sword of the Spirit?  Is your mind
> renewed so the Enemy has no spiritual right to come against you
> and when they do, they bounce harmlessly away?  These are all
> important questions every Christian must answer lest Satan gain
> the advantage.
>
> WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.COM
>