I must confess: I am a skeptic when it comes to the unseen world and spiritual warfare. I have doubts and cynicism when I hear about about miracles or dreams. Don’t get me wrong: I know the spiritual battle is real. Scripture talks about it, and I have heard amazing experiences from people I know and trust. But my life experiences and “American-Christian Brain” cause me to still find it hard to wrap my mind around.

Lately, I have been walking through Steps to Freedom with the ladies in my discipleship group, and I am experiencing first-hand spiritual battles. Many of these  ladies have been in bondage to family history that includes cultural ceremonies, rituals to spirits, witchcraft, ancestral prayers, curses, etc. Many of them have battled culturally accepted rape, incest, and fornication. And several of them have built their identities on lies and have been trapped by fear. So as we go through these steps, my friends are renouncing evil and pronouncing God’s goodness; they are claiming His Truth.

And while this may seem exciting, simple, or harmless, there is serious spiritual warfare going on, which means protection is needed against evil spirits, curses, and retaliations for renouncing these evils.

In Matthew 12:43-45 (and Luke 11:24-26) Jesus talks about how when an evil spirit leaves someone, they look for some new place to make home. Our family (and even workers) experienced nightmares and restless sleep the night after I hosted my first Steps to Freedom meeting at our home. For real! Because I was naive, I didn’t even think to pray God’s protection against any retaliation that could happened from the process of freedom for my friend. So the next day, I began to understand the reality of this battle and my family prayed over our whole home and compound.

So I’ve learned some lessons: 1) Make sure my friends pray and continue to fill their hearts with the Holy Spirit so that they remain in Christ-centered spiritual freedom and that no spirits return to find “empty houses.” 2) Pray for God’s protection against any retaliations on our family, or anyone else, during this process. 3) While it is foreign to my previous life experiences and may seem “out there,” spiritual warfare is REAL.  4) I have peace because my God defeats ALL evil and I have not been given a spirit of fear.

So please join me in prayer as we continue this journey to freedom in Jesus Christ!