So we left off with me knowing that I was at the Reverend’s house for Brian, but I didn’t know why. Well as I talked to Reverend Isaac and Brian it became clear to me that Brian was not healed and that it had not been a simple physical illness. Brian was demon possessed. Reverend Isaac explained that Brian had undergone a witchcraft attack, at least that’s what was assumed to have happened. We saw the demon manifest some, Brian would roll his eyes back into his head, he would shake and writhe, that kind of stuff. But it wasn’t ever scary, I was never fearful. I don’t know why I thought I would be, but I felt completely at peace about having to deal with a demon possessed man.
So over the course of the next week or so I went back with a couple others and spoke to him, prayed over him, prayed with him, worshipped with him, talked to him, and tried to get a better picture of what happened. It was frustrating sometimes, praying and commanding the demon to leave but seeing it stay there. It was also frustrating because there is no guide book to that kind of thing. God doesn’t really do the same thing twice. No amount of past experience can help you know exactly what to do, because each demon is different, just like the way you cast it out. Even Jesus cast out demons in different ways, and sometimes he had to tell them twice.
We also underwent a lot of spiritual warfare during that, obviously. Brian tried to deflect questions, redirect conversation, distract us, placate us, sow doubts, sow guilt, and plenty of other things. Demons are crafty, I’ll give them that. Over all it was a process through which God grew me. I won’t lie, it felt almost like a test. It was as if God was giving me a push and saying it’s really time to step into the supernatural. It sounds weird, but I feel like most of us guys got that push, like God was saying it’s time to step up.
I think a lot of times we hear “supernatural” and we immediately think of fantasy and sci-fi. We think of fairy tales and myths. We think of the things we see in movies. Maybe we think, yeah sure there’s supernatural stuff out there, but it’s nowhere near that extreme, but the truth is that it really is that extreme. It’s really hard to doubt when you have your hand on the chest of a man who’s writhing on a couch because he can feel the Holy Spirit in the room. It’s hard to say it’s not that intense until you see a mans tongue catch as he tries to say Jesus is Lord. It’s pretty hard to say it doesn’t exist when you find out that there’s witchcraft on his mother’s side and that he has witchcraft tattoos.
In the end the demon wasn’t cast out. We couldn’t do it. It wasn’t our fault. It’s not that we didn’t command enough or have enough faith or speak with enough authority. In the end Brian simply wasn’t willing to let go. It happens. Failure is to be expected.
I think one of the most important things I’ve heard about Holy Spirit is this. Learning to listen to Holy Spirit is like learning an actual language, you have to be willing to speak it poorly but loud enough that it can be corrected. You don’t perfect a language by practicing it in your room to yourself. You have to speak it to people who are fluent, and you have to be willing to do it poorly. You have to be willing to fail.
That’s one thing that God really taught me to do, fail. If I think I hear Holy Spirit telling me to do something then do it. Unless it is in direct conflict with God’s will then what harm can it do except to your pride, which we’re called to lay down anyways. What harm does it do to go over and ask someone if their knee hurts only to find out that both knees are fine? What harm does it do to go over to someone and ask if they know Christ only to find out that they really do? None. And it’s worth it. It is worth learning to speak the language, because that’s when you really learn to step onto the front lines.
If you have any questions about any of this please feel free to ask or contact me however you feel best, I would love to talk about it. As far as prayer, please pray for boldness and action. And thank you to everyone who prays for me and my squad, it really does mean a lot.
