is not that things are broken.
The tragedy is that they are not mended
again.”
Alan Paton in Cry the Beloved Country
Let me take
you back with me two years. A woman came into my office at the church where I
served as the youth pastor. In our conversation, she shared with me a vision
her husband had had, a vision where a spirit hung over the church. As he prayed
into the vision, the Lord revealed to him that the spirit was a spirit of will
that the Lord wouldn’t force himself through, that revival could come to our
church, but that this spirit hung there, and we had to choose to deal with it and rid it first.
Immediately,
that first paragraph might offend or startle some. I mentioned visions –
assuming the Lord still speaks to His children today, and in ways besides, but
never contrary to, His Word. I mentioned spirits – assuming there is a war in
the heavens, and also assuming we walk through life almost completely oblivious to this war. I also
mentioned that the spirit looming in Groton had to be dealt with. We like to pretend we can be
the solution to our own problems, or that they are just normal issues people
need to ‘get over.’ We’d rather err to that side than “over-spiritualizing” life. But there in lies the problem, everything is spiritual.
learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural
and expected thing.
In my next
blog I’m going to talk specifically about a spirit hanging over Ukraine, the spirit of (lust / image) but I
wanted to first explain the power I’ve come to believe that spirits have. It’s funny,
because only to Americans does the concept of spirits need explanation.
Africans completely believe in and understand a spiritual world. Often times,
they take it too far and worship the spirits. Asians take the opposite extreme of fear, and often try to appease the spirits they know to exist. I used the word
‘know,’ because it’s a matter-of-fact knowledge. Haiti was well aware of the
power of witch doctors, and even in Europe, there’s an understanding of a
spiritual world.
Ephesians gives a very interesting name to Satan; it calls him the Ruler of the
Kingdom of the Air. It’s not a secret that Adam handed over the keys of
authority in the world to Satan in the Garden. Christ, when crucified,
descended into hell to reclaim that stolen authority, and like prophesied in Genesis
3, stomped on Satan’s head so hard that he bruised his heel. Christ has the authority in this World, it is his Kingdom, and we need to be better at claiming it back for Him.
But Satan is still at
work trying to stay the Ruler of the Kingdom of the Air. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Every
country we’ve gone into, we’ve prayed into and understood the spiritual
strongholds in certain areas. As we arrive, there is almost always a spirit that looms over our squad in an entire
country, in a specific city, or even in a specific home that begins to affect us. It affects us until we are able to recognize
that Christ regained all authority, until we ask for him to send His Spirit, and let him
regain the dominion in that area.
For
example, below is a list of countries we’ve been to, followed by spiritual
strongholds. These are subtle (or not so subtle) ways Satan is trying to rob
Christ of his inheritance and his Bride.
DR – spirit
of lust, spirit of laziness, of fear and of frustrationHAITI – a
spirit of laziness, of witchcraft, of confusion, and of worthlessnessCAMBODIA – a
spirit of anger, of betrayal, of loneliness, and of doubtTHAILAND – a
spirit of lust, of worthlessness, of fear, of rejection, and of depressionMALAYSIA – a
spirit of control, of pride and of displacementMOZAMBIQUE –
a spirit of laziness, and of confusionBOTSWANA – a
spirit of alcoholism, and of distrustSOUTH
AFRICA – a spirit of anger, of greed, of fear, and of hatredROMANIA – a
spirit of unforgiveness, of insecurity, of pride, and of rebellionUKRAINE – a
spirit of lust, of distraction or busyness, and of bitterness
These
spirits are very real, and very dangerous. And I challenge you to pray into
what spirits might be subtly
stealing you away from being the person the Lord
needs you to be where you are. Maybe it’s a spirit of control that’s so common
in America – a need to know everything and be the one making the decisions. Maybe it’s a spirit of religion – clinging too tightly to legalism or tradition
to cling to Christ and die upon His cross with Him. Maybe it’s a spirit of
comparison, or a spirit of anger.
moments, I challenge you to pray that the God of all peace, the God who
promised to send us the Spirit of Christ, would send His Spirit to us. Where a
spirit of lust is prevalent, usher in his Spirit of Purity. Where a spirit of
hatred is prevalent, pray in His Spirit of Love. Where a spirit of greed is
prevalent, pray into the present His Spirit of Generosity.
