Kim. I am glad it is over. One thing that is very important to remember
that the enemy goes around roaring like a lion. The operative word here is
the word "like". Meaning he isn't but acts like it. He has no power over
you other than persuading you to fear. However, if you remember he is not a
lion, is just a toothless loud mouth trying to put fear into you, or entice
you to bring fear upon yourself, you have power over it because Christ is
already in you. We don't have to wait for Christ to come out of where he
is to save the day, he is already in you, you have the mind of Christ. I
have the mind of a musician, sometimes I can work out music with ease and
excitement that I've never known before, and sometimes there are times I
lay my hands on the fret board, scrub the strings and seriously think...
"What am I doing pretending I can write anything, I've been fooling
myself based on a couple happenstances." In those times is when I, me, in
my mind, need to consciously be aware of what is happening and take action
and realize the gift I've been given by God has not gone away, it is there,
the ability is there and I only need to press in and not buy into the
thoughts the went from momentary to monumental thoughts. They are not
monumental truths , they are over inflated lies and fears based on things
of which could be many that have my mind preoccupied with other things than
being creative or artistic. Such is similar with the enemy and his inflated
hot air, giving foot hold to the enemy is not necessarily a knowing or
purposed thing. I picture the enemy as a door to door salesman, sorry if
any of you are in cold call sales, no harm intended, but I picture him as a
boisterous, over bearing and pushy bit of a salesman who knocks at the door
and announcing himself through a closed door. If I crack the door to look
at him to tell him to go away, I've just opened up the door enough for him
to get his foot wedged between the door and the jam which I'll have a
harder time now to close it. Sometimes in our lives we forget to latch the
door, we think it is shut and locked, but it isn't, we didn't purposefully
intend to leave it unlatched. We walked in, swung the door behind us,
thought we heard it shut, but if we go up to the door and pull it without
having need to turn the knob, to our surprise it will swing open. This too
is sometimes the case when the enemy approaches the door, knocks on it and
the door will open some and we are caught a bit off guard. Nonetheless
the surprise or startling doesn't have to be continual. He might start
yapping right away with lies and persuasion to make you believe things
about yourself, but you can shut him up just in knowing truth. If I for
instance, told you that I have signed you up to a public speaking contest,
I use that instance because that is one of the most fearful things for many
people, but if I told you I signed you up to a public speaking contest, one
of a few things would happen. Either you'd become fearful and panic
wondering what you are going to do. Which is based off of feeling you have
no control over the situation, or that you believe yourself to be a poor
public speaker and now you will make a fool of yourself all because of what
I put upon you. That is one response. Another might be you would set there
with arms crossed and say "Oh. Really? Is that so? Well sorry pal but I
ain't going." And you'd stand secure knowing that I have no power over you
to make you go even if I tried to get a whole audience to expect you and if
you don't show, it would make you look bad. You'd stand confident with no
fear at all because you know there is no truth in the fact you have to show
up for anything I signed you up for. Or perhaps another response could be
that you are an excellent public speaker and you've taken what I've done to
try to put fear into you, and you've used it against me and showed me up
giving a speech on how folks can try to manipulate others and reduce my
efforts to nothing. You'd be excited about that opportunity because you
stood in the truth that you are an excellent public speaker and you have
no fear of it being otherwise. Just as we are to pray without ceasing, we
do not always mumble to ourselves or do not stop thinking about our daily
tasks to survive this world, but we have a heart attitude of prayer, that
when an issue comes up prayer is immediate on that particular situation and
even prior to that we have a almost involuntary prayer happening similar to
our breathing. We don't consciously think, "breathe in, breathe out,
breathe in, breathe out" nor do we think to make our heart beat the 60 to
70 times a minute it does, it is without effort or thought we do these
things. And so ought our prayer be, and so ought our ability to stomp on
the enemy at times when we find him approaching. Now we are humans, have
choices, are not perfect in our decisions or thoughts and so we find
ourselves vulnerable, but working the muscle of recognition so the response
time of truth comes in and wipes the lie and fear away like a marker on a
white board or an eraser to chalk, we'll be better off. This is nothing in
of our selves but the Holy Spirit sent by Christ to live within us that
gives us the ability to do these things but we do have to choose to which
to give control, Christ or the enemy. You made mention of your fears of
someone watching, lurking, spying, your relatives doing this as kids and
that brought fear to you. I think you have already identified in part, the
opening to the lie which caused you the fear you experienced. I might
recommend, if you aren't already doing so, looking into prayer counseling
to help expose the lies and bring freedom to you and we happened to have
just such a fellow on the list :) by the name of Phil.
I'm glad it has passed and with the same immediate self assuredness of
your aunt walking in and scaring off the darkness, all the more with Christ
who is the one with the true power to bring permanent disbursement through
healing in those areas.
Brad
At 06:17 AM 6/19/2007, you wrote:
>Thanks. Anyway, I told him to flee from me in the name of Jesus. I swear,
>though, it felt as if someone was hiding in the shadows watching me. Ugh,
>scary!
>
>In a small way, it reminded me of spy movies, or about a trick my niece
>and my cousin's daughter pulled on me awhile back, when they were spying on me
>
>and scaring me. Oh, it was awful! I don't ever want to experience anything
>remotely like that again. Thanks to Jesus for allowing my aunt to come home
>
>when she did. Otherwise, woo! I don't want to think about it. Trust me,
>you don't want to experience anything like it. When I was walking toward
>the den
>
>and had the feeling that I was going to fall right into hell, I was almost
>paralyzed with fear, almost scared to take another step. Ugh! It just sent
>chills
>
>up and down my spine, like a chilly and cold finger. Bugh! Oh Lord Jesus,
>don't ever let me experience a feeling like that again. I'm one of Your
>children.
>
>I plead Your blood over me. Thank You.
>
>I even quoted Scripture from Psalm 91, and even sang a few hymns. The
>feeling didn't leave me until my aunt got home and I finally crashed.
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Cecily Ballenger" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 2:36 PM
>Subject: Re: panic attack
>
>
>>Quote Scripture and rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus Christ.
>>
>>Cecily
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: The Electronic Church [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>>Behalf Of Kim Etheridge
>>Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 12:03 PM
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: panic attack
>>
>>Hi. I was in the bathtub awhile ago, and all of a sudden, it felt like an
>>evil person or spirit was in the bathroom with me. Chills went up and down
>>my back. It scared me. I started singing hymns to make it go away, but when
>>it didn't work, I quoted a few sentences from psalm 91. It was like
>>something just stepped into the room and grabbed me. A feeling of dread came
>>
>>over me. It's like something terrible is about to happen. Pray please. Dear
>>Father in Heaven, take this feeling away from me, or help me understand what
>>
>>it means. I haven't slept a wink all night, and I've been awake all day, can
>>
>>you believe it? Plus, I had a bad feeling as I walked toward the den that if
>>
>>I stepped forward, I'd step through an opening in the floor and land right
>>into hell. I know that sounds silly, since I'm a Christian, but you know the
>>
>>devil will use any trick in the book to make someone afraid. He steals,
>>kills, and destroys. Note, the only reason I capitalized the word he is
>>because it was the first word in the sentence. To not do that would violate
>>grammar's rules. I wish I didn't have to capitalize it when talking about
>>the devil. However, when talking about Jesus, I could put it in big bold,
>>italicized, capitalized letters. Okay, I know, I'm being overdramatic, but
>>please pray for me.
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