This is crazy, that I know. Anything in the spiritual realm is always questionable or too wild to think about but I believe that once you enter into a deeply close relationship with Jesus, you will also enter more into the spiritual realm. So bear with me because what I am about to share is crazy to the simple ear but life on the race is filled with outrageous things, to wild to even conceive. So bear with me, please.
These past 2 weeks in Cali have been hard BUT so good. We have met so many people and heard all of their stories of death, heartache and anger. My team and I have felt the pressure of every emotion as we have interacted daily with different kinds of people. To say we have had emotionally draining days is an understatement but each day as we connect with people, we dive deeper into community with Jesus. It’s the only way to not want to give up during the race. Jesus sustains us each day. With growing closer to the Lord comes new levels and new challenges, just like any relationship.
This past Sunday my team leader challenged us to fast from technology. We were entering our last week of ministry here in Cali, Colombia and wanted to be fully in. So if that meant we would give up technology in order for us to focus on the present than we would.
As we spent the next few minutes praying, the Lord spoke to me and said that spiritual warfare is coming and we need to prepare for it.
I immediately told my team of what was to come. We took it in and knew that we were going to be entering into a new aspect of our relationship with the Lord. We were going into battle with Satan. To win people back from his captivity. We needed to prepare.
That night I had a dream. A dream so life like it shot me out of my bed.
I dreamt that I was rebuking demons out of people. I was doing it but I was still afraid. I could feel the fear oozing out of me in my dream. I woke up abruptly and was immediately overcome by fear. I felt something in our room. Something out of the norm. But weirdly this felt personal to me. I felt as if Satan was trying to destroy me, that he was coming for me.
As soon as I woke up the Lord told me to wake up my team. I immediately told him, “no I am not going to wake up my team. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. They are literally asleep. I can’t wake them up.”
My hands started to tingle and so did my tongue. I was so afraid. I asked Jesus what was happening. He said, “It’s the Holy Spirit. He is in your hands and on your tongue. Don’t fear”
I literally can’t even describe it. It was crazy.
But still I couldn’t move because of my fear. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t do anything. But I also couldn’t stay laying there knowing I have the Holy Spirit in my hands and tongue. I needed to act but I couldn’t in the way Jesus had asked me too. So I did it my way.
I went to a teammate and woke her up and told her all that I dreamt about and how I was feeling. She said, “we are going to pray” and I told her I didn’t want to pray because I was so afraid.
If you are ever feeling too afraid to pray that means you need to stop what you are doing and pray because that is Satan telling you not to. And he knows absolutely nothing. Always pray.
After we prayed, I went back to my bed and was still a bit fearful. I laid in bed and repeated the same thing over and over again,
“I will sleep in peace for the Lord of Lords and the God of the universe makes me dwell in safety.”
I was still afraid. So afraid that I wanted to ask my teammate to cuddle with me (if you know me then you know that I am not a physical person. I don’t enjoy being physically close to other people. So the fact that I wanted to cuddle with someone for safety gives you a glimpse of how fearful I was)
Instead I asked Jesus to come down and cuddle me, to literally hold me because I needed physical safety from what I was feeling. That night I got to cuddle with Jesus. Through my fear He was there.
This night showed me that if Jesus wants something to happen and He ask you to do it and you don’t listen He will get His way. You either get to be a part of it or get to watch from the sidelines. I, out of my disobedience, had to watch from the sidelines.
An hour later, we had a lightning storm hit the city. No rain just extremely loud thunder. The kind that wakes up the whole house.
One powerful strike and our whole team shot up out of bed.
Like I said, if the Lord wants people awake He will get them awake.
What makes this story more insane are my teammates experiences that night. Below are details of how their night went:
Teammate 1: Had a dream of rebuking demons, immediately woke up when the lightning struck and was overcome by fear. Fear of the power of Jesus and also Satan. She wanted to wake us up and pray but fear left her motionless. So instead she laid afraid in her bed.
Teammate 2: Immediately woke up as me and my other teammate were praying because she felt uneasy. As we were praying she saw 2 shadows walk into the room. She was overcome by fear and remained in her bed.
Teammate 3: She was in the same bed as the one we were praying in but something told her not to listen to the prayer. She put her blanket over her head and even though she was laying right next to us she couldn’t hear a thing.
Teammate 4: She woke up because she could feel something wrong in the room. She immediately felt fearful even though nothing had happened to her. She wanted to join the 2 of us praying but something told her that she wasn’t wanted over there, to stay right where she was because we didn’t want her over there. (such a lie!)
Each one of us woke up the next morning and realized that the Lord was telling us to get up and fight but we didn’t listen. Instead we let fear dictate our actions. We let fear come into our room, we invited it to the table without even noticing.
We clearly know now that we are entering into a season of preparing for spiritual warfare.
To most people all of this seems scary, trust me it can be. But after years of having Satan personally destroy my life, I am now fired up and ready to prepare for this battle with him. He wanted to take my life from me and has taken the lives of Jesus’s people and I am coming to take it back from him. I will not lay down in fear because I will not let him take anymore people by his lies and schemes. No more. I am standing and fighting.
I am a warrior for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Risen Savior. I am a warrior preparing for a battle that has been 3 years in the making. No more Satan, Jesus and I are coming for you. I hope you are trembling in your boots because we won’t be gentle
Join me in prayer for this next season I am stepping into. Prayer for strength and boldness, to recognize the spirits and to continually be sacrificing for the Lord.
Your warrior for the Kingdom,
Andy Ramirez
