Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
At the most unexpected time, my team and I encountered an experience of fighting against demons.
It was our first day as a new team (with our newest member Cathy), and we were walking around Granada, Nicaragua during debrief. While some of us were joking and taking pictures, a man approached Michelle C.
Michelle and Cathy talked to him for a bit, but the rest of us were preoccupied and didn’t think much of the encounter… Until we noticed that she had laid hands on him and was praying in tongues. Her spirit had visibly entered into fierce battle against some demons in this drunk man. All I knew of the situation was what I could see happening, so I just joined in on the fight. We stood out there for about an hour praying, singing, and reading Scripture aloud. At times, I heard bits of Spanish mixed into Michelle’s prayers, which amazed me. She knows how to speak some Spanish, but she was clearly empowered by the Holy Spirit in that moment. For the most part the man stood still, his eyes glazed over and unfocused, but sometimes he would violently clutch Michelle’s hand that was laid on him. But it wasn’t really him- it was a demon in him trying to fight back. Though I do not yet have the spiritual discernment to sense specific demonic presence and opposition, I’m learning more through witnessing and experiencing it…
So we received a lot of curious glances and stares from locals and passersby, but about half an hour in, another two men approached us. I wasn’t aware of it at the moment, but both Christopher and Michelle had sensed that these men were casting spells on us and trying to defend the demons inside this man. They were trying to thwart our efforts to effectively minister. While Michelle continued to focus on the fight against the demons in front of her, Christopher jumped in on the side to fight back in prayer against the evil spells. But in doing so, he made physical contact with one of the men and I saw from a distance that his arms were flailing, out of control, like he was fighting and shaking something off.
Eventually, we got the word from the Lord that it was time to leave, so we made our way back to the hostel. But when we arrived, Christopher couldn’t enter. He sat outside, not looking well, and asked for us to bring other squadmates from inside to pray for him. Laura and I hurried in, asked the Lord to point us to some people, and brought a few out. We laid hands on Christopher, who was now lying on the ground and had lost all feeling in one arm. It turns out that a demon from the man he’d interacted with had attached itself to Christopher. And Satan once again was overwhelming him with lies. So we continued to pray until and even after Christopher regained feeling in his arm and strength to go inside. We had him speak truth over himself as well, which I’ve been learning is a powerful tool to defend against the enemy.
And just when we though things had settled down a bit, that same demon was still lingering in the area, looking for a vulnerable soul. Michelle C and I started making our way to scheduled squad ladies’ night, and as we were crossing the first street, she stumbled, fell on the street, and rolled over. It looked like she’d hit a brick wall, and she immediately told me that it was the demon tripping her. We walked back to the hostel to clean up her hand and knees, and asked a few of the men on the squad to walk with us to ladies’ night for safety. Once we got there, the girls of our team debriefed the situation with squad leaders KK and Carly, and we prayed some more. Seriously, you can never pray enough!
Crazy experience, especially for Cathy, who had just joined our team that day. But God showed up, and He even united us through it! What the enemy schemes to bring us down is what God uses to strengthen our unity. So amazing. And truly, our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the cunning, invisible forces of darkness. But how awesome it is that our God is already victorious!!
