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"The Spirit of the Bride"

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"A Supernatural Love story"

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Abiding in Him

"The Lord blesses us with our mates to bring a form of satisfaction to this life;
He brings us one who can walk with us and help us along life’s journey, for He loves us through each other.
Our marriage should be a symbolic picture of our relationship with Him—a union of growing into everlasting perfection
and beauty that is only found as we “abide” in Him. The word “abide” means to take up residence or to remain stable and fixed.
As long as we remain stable and our eyes fixed on Him, our marriages can grow to become the beautiful union that Christ intended for His beloveds. It is only as we cleanse our minds with the washing of the Word of God that we become like Him; and therefore our natures, being transformed, bring forth the fruit of the Spirit that enables our marriages to be nurtured and sustained." - SM

Chapter 1
Praying For God's Man
(Excerpt from book)

My story begins in the year 1980 at the age of 29 as I prayed a simple prayer to God, “God, please bring a ‘Christian’ man into my life so I can ‘get my life right’.” That is the first time I really remember receiving an answer to my prayers. You see, I went forward for salvation around the age of five or six and distinctly remember the preacher questioning me on who Jesus was to me before he baptized me. I was such a shy child that it had to be the Holy Spirit who sent me forward for salvation because that would have been impossible for me to do on my own, as everything that caused any attention to be directed my way embarrassed me. However, as the years passed and the events of my life unfolded, Jesus was lost to my understanding, but somehow deep within me I continued to long for that which I did not understand. I could find no real joy or fulfillment in life. “Why am I here?” “Do I have purpose?” Those questions haunted me often.

I was brought up in a very unstable home life. My father was an alcoholic and very abusive, both emotionally and physically, to the members of my family. My precious mother tried hard to bring stability to our troubled family, but at the age of 42, she went home to be with the Lord after a short battle with cancer. I was only 13 when my mother died. Because of the abuse the family endured, my mother left my father a couple of years prior to her illness, and it was 19 years later before I saw my father again. After my mother died, an older sister took on the task of motherhood, and what a mother she was. (Pat, I love you.) God was with us, and somehow I knew God was in control—at least in the major events of life.

As I got older, I knew many times God had intervened in circumstances of my life. I recall to this day a story that was told to me by my two older sisters who believed an angel appeared to them when I was a baby, and they could have only been seven and nine. The story was that my mother, again separated from my father, was working nights and had no money for a babysitter, so we were all left alone (four sisters). She would attempt to come home and check on us one time during the night, but this particular night she was unable to come. So I was in my baby crib, and one sister was sleeping on the floor and the others on the bed. The “beautiful woman” came to the bed and said, “Isn’t it getting a little cool in here.” She then turned the air conditioner off and went to my bed and looked at me and said, “Everything is going to be just fine—yes, just fine.” She came back to their bed and smiled. One sister said her robe that touched her arm felt like fine mist and that she was very beautiful and kind. When my mother arrived the next day, my sisters asked her how she had gotten in the night before (thinking in their sleep the lady was my mother) because they had not moved the chair from under the door. (Mother instructed the girls to put a chair under the door in order to secure it.) She said she was unable to come home, and my mother was curiously stunned by the fact that the air conditioner, which was too high for the children to reach, had been turned off.

This story always touched my heart, and as a young child and even as I grew older, I always had a heart for the things of God; but I only knew Him to be a distant God who sometimes (at critical times) became involved in my life. For example, I knew He was involved in the timing of my mother’s death, as my oldest sister had just graduated from nursing school and was then working, which enabled her to finish rearing my sister and me.

Even though I knew the Lord became involved in my life at critical times, I still didn’t know that the Lord was so loving that He desired to commune with me continually and to have an ongoing, intimate relationship with me. But I always prayed and desired to know the purpose for my life. Even though I had lost my understanding of who Jesus was, I never quit believing there was a God who was in charge. So I continued searching—frustrated and anxious with my life. At the age of 28, I began my search, looking for my answer in reincarnation—anything that would bring peace to my troubled and anxious heart. Once on a psychological test, it was reported that “she is anxious and wants to go somewhere, but she doesn’t know where.” Of course, now I know that my quest was for the Lord Himself, and that is why nothing brought joy or peace to my heart. I always knew that something was missing in my life, but what I could not fathom.

I always wanted to be married even at a very early age, but somehow marriage seemed to be what happened to everyone else. By this time I was 29 years old, and even with all the numerous relationships I had had, marriage seemed to elude me. I was invariably in some strange and difficult relationship and later came to know the reason—God was not in those relationships; I was the one creating my own unhappiness and destruction by following a path that was not the Lord’s. So my walk with Jesus began in 1980 at age 29.

It was on my 30th birthday in September 1980 that God answered my prayer and brought a “Christian” man (Alvis) into my life. I knew he was different, and even on our first date, I somehow knew that my prayer was answered and that this man would be my husband. He indeed was to be my husband but not for twelve long, painful years down the road.

There was much growing in the spirit that the Lord desired to accomplish in my life, and as with all of us, that growth came with much pain. The walk of learning to wait, trust and believe in what I was beginning to learn was the voice of my Lord was very hard and lonely. The Father was requiring things of me that I did not understand but were necessary in order to arrive at His calling. That is where all of our walks begin; they begin in confusion with no answer as to why the Lord seems to allow everything to be so hard and painful. What was He saying to me?

I began to understand that He wanted me to ask Him what was wrong with me? You see I always thought that I was okay, that it was the men in my life who had all the problems. I felt I was a “good woman,” and I simply wanted a “good man” to make my life complete. God had to reveal to me that men were “idols,” and my finding fulfillment in life was to come from the Lord Himself—not from anything external, including men. Psalm 37:4 tells us to “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” I was to learn that as I found my delight in Him, the pieces of life’s puzzle would begin to come together. I came to understand that Jesus ordered my steps, for “The steps of a good man (or one who delights in Christ) are ordered of the Lord, and He delights in his way.” (Psalm 37:23)

The reason we struggle so to find true love in relationships is because the Father has created us to desire agape (unconditional) love. Man cannot truly give us this kind of love for which our hearts yearn. Have you ever offended a friend or even a family member and found how difficult it was to bring the relationship back to its former state? Sometimes, unfortunately, relationships are never restored. We have a hard time accepting and forgiving the flaws in our brethren. If we could only understand that most often the enemy has lied to us, twisted facts and deceived us concerning the offense, we would not allow the enemy to bring destruction to our relationships and our families.

How incredible and indescribable it is to know that our Lord never gets offended with us. He never walks away and says, “I’ve had it; it’s all over for you. I’ll never help you again.” No. Remember what the soldiers had done to Jesus. They spat on Him, they beat Him inflicting Him with 39 stripes, they pulled out His beard, they insulted Him and struck Him with their fists, and they crucified Him. The Scriptures indicate that He was so disfigured that the people were astonished that “His visage was marred more than any man.” (Isaiah 52:14) But what did our Lord say hanging on that cross. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

We marvel at this great love for us, and it is this kind of love that melts our hearts and draws us to the heart of the Father. Romans 12:20-21 states, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” If only we as Christians could get this right, it would seem the conversion of the lost would be so much easier, for in us they would see Jesus. “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do….For I know that in me (my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice….O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15-25) Praise the Lord—if we continue to abide in Him, He will transform us into His likeness, and the good that we “would” to do, we will do.

The Lord, of course, blesses us with our mates to bring a form of satisfaction to this life; He brings us one who can walk with us and help us along life’s journey, for He loves us through each other. Our marriage should be a symbolic picture of our relationship with Him—a union of growing into everlasting perfection and beauty that is only found as we “abide” in Him. The word “abide” means to take up residence or to remain stable and fixed. As long as we remain stable and our eyes fixed on Him, our marriages can grow to become the beautiful union that Christ intended for His beloveds. It is only as we cleanse our minds with the washing of the Word of God that we become like Him; and therefore our natures, being transformed, bring forth the fruit of the Spirit that enables our marriages to be nurtured and sustained.

We should understand that the natural marriage of love, security and happiness is symbolic of what Jesus Christ desires to give His bride. He desires to give His bride a marriage for all eternity that will far surpass all that we could ever desire in our earthly marriages. He wants to give us a love that far exceeds any love we could ever dream of—a relationship of forgiveness, understanding, love, patience, kindness, unselfishness, peace, joy unspeakable and faithfulness—a relationship where the Groom is totally enraptured with His bride. We cannot comprehend this type of marital bliss, but we get a sample of His love by reading the Song of Solomon (the Song of all Songs). This beautiful book so succinctly depicts Christ’s love for His bride and her love for Him.

“Love” is the key word. This love presents the passionate desire between man and woman or symbolically, Christ for His bride, and it celebrates the glorious potential of covenant marriage between us and our Maker. Song of Solomon also expresses the longing of the Bride to give herself totally to Jesus, her Groom. “He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes of raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am lovesick….When I found the one I loved, I held Him and would not let Him go.” (Song of Solomon 2:4-5 and 3:4) One day the mystery of “The Bride of Christ” will be revealed, as we celebrate the “Wedding of the Lamb.”

But you say I have never married—what about me? I truly believe that if we have a desire to be married, the Lord has that special mate for each of us whose calling will complement our own. After all we do not give ourselves our godly desires, for the Lord says in Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” So if there is a desire, He placed it there, and we should pray for that one who will walk along side of us that we might be able to perform God’s call for our lives; and then we should stand—believing, trusting, waiting and thanking Him for His gift.

The wait may be long, but our greatest decision in life, next to our decision for salvation, is the choice we make concerning our lifetime mate; so we shouldn’t become impatient in waiting upon the Lord. Satan knows that if he can deceive you and cause you to marry outside of God’s perfect will, he will have succeeded in thwarting God’s plan—if not totally destroying His plan and call for your life. Never settle for God’s permissive will, as all eternity we will pay the price for that erroneous decision. In other words, you will be unable to fully run the race that the Lord has called you to if you settle for a mate who is not the chosen one of the Lord. Because of this decision, opportunities you will miss will forfeit the crowns that could have been laid at the Master’s feet. The enemy of our souls will sound his fiendish laughter at his satisfaction of what he has accomplished. And the Lord will shed tears because of souls lost who could have been reached if only we had come in to our proper position in the Body of Christ with the mate of His choosing.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the one where Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham did not want his son marrying a Canaanite woman, so he sent his servant to go to his country to find Isaac a wife. Abraham told his servant, “The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land.’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.” (Genesis 24:7) The servant arrives in Mesopotamia and hasn’t a clue as to how to find this wife for Isaac, so he prays to the Lord, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac….And it happened, before he had finished speaking that behold, Rebekah…came out with her pitcher on her shoulder…And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” (Genesis 24:12-19)

Genesis 24:27 indicates that the servant knows God has shown him the wife of His choosing; and the servant then says, “…Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” I believe Abraham (representing a type of the Father) sent forth his servant (representing a type of the Holy Spirit) to pick a wife for Isaac. Notice how God ordered the steps of this servant, and by divine providence, he was in the right place at the right time. Our God is not a respecter of persons; He wants to do the same for us. The Father has created your mate to complement you and to walk with you to help you fulfill God’s high call for your life. He knows you have no knowledge of who would be best suited for you according to the gifts and talents He has given you. I am proof of that, as all my relationships ended in total frustration and futility. So if we learn to trust our Lord and wait, we will never be disappointed in the one He has chosen.

Continued...

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Married To The Wrong Person?

Now I would like to address the issue of drifting marriages—marriage relationships where there appears to be no hope. You might be one feeling that you missed God’s perfect plan for you; and now you’re married to the wrong one, and you’re stuck with no light appearing at the end of the tunnel. My friend, there is hope. As long as you are breathing and you learn the power of prayer, there is hope! But we must never, never give up. Our prayer must always be, “Lord, I know I’ve made many mistakes, but I want Your perfect will for my life. I don’t know what to do or how to arrive in this place with You, but I ask you to bring about the circumstances or whatever it takes so I might obtain Your perfect will.” I tell you I don’t believe it is ever too late as long as you are alive.

You see God knew before He created you what you would do with your life and every prayer that you would ever utter. So if He knew all of this and eventually that you would pray this prayer, couldn’t He have put in place all of the answers just waiting for your prayers so that the answers could be implemented? I believe so, as I have watched it happen in my own life when I have felt I had gone too far and gotten so out of His will that it was not His fault that I should fail, but it was my own because of wrong choices.

Our Father is always steps ahead of the enemy, for the Lord said, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son….” (Romans 8:28-29) I learned that God is not looking for your perfection. He knows that is impossible, but He is looking at your heart. In all the times I have missed God and known that I should have to pay the price for my sins, I have found Him to be so merciful. As I have gone before Him and repented and asked for His help to ensure that I would have His perfect will, He has continually worked on my behalf. And so will He work on yours! We cannot sin to such a degree that if we truly repent God will not be there with open arms of forgiveness and help us in our great need. I would like to share the following prophecy given to me in October 1988 while I was in the depths of despair when I felt I had made too many mistakes and could never have God’s perfect will because of these mistakes. My future seemed bleak and without hope:

“Thou shalt not be perturbed because of past happenings, past events. Thou shalt look beyond that that was, and thou shalt behold that that is, and in beholding that that is, you shall come to appreciate that that shall be. These are mysteries; these are mysteries, saith the Lord—mystery upon mystery and wonder upon wonder. Thou art My child, and thou are becoming My child. Fear not, for I am moving in your heart, moving in your life, developing you, maturing you. I have ordained good things for you. Be not afraid. Do not be afraid.

“There has been the fear of making a mistake. Don’t be afraid. Trust Me. Lean hard upon Me, saith the Lord. Lean hard upon Me. Let My understanding become your understanding. Let My thoughts become your thoughts. The future is good and not bad. Be not afraid of it. Embrace it; embrace it; embrace the future. I will lead thee into a new, a rich and a living way—a way that shall bring blessing to your heart and to your life. Be not afraid as to the measure of service ordained for thee, for thou shalt go far and wide and be a blessing to My people. Yea, I have put this in your heart. I will bring it to pass. None can stay it nor stop it.

“There is no measure unto the way in which I will use you and all those who lean hard upon Me, surrendering their all to My righteous cause. Yea, saith God, signs, wonders and miracles shall become the order of the day, but I desire more than that. I desire that you be like Me. I desire that you be with Me. It is the desire of My heart that we be as one even as I am one with My Father. In that day when you know that demons are subject unto you in My Name, rejoice not in that, but rejoice in the relationship that exists between Me and thee. Rejoice rather that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. For I am calling My people unto Me, not just into the field to labor and work, for it is in that sense that there are many laborers, but where are the worshippers? Where are those who will minister unto Me. And I am ordaining thee unto this. There shall be no end to the measure of the anointing that is within thee as you yield to Me, saith the Lord.”

You will note how many times the Lord told me not to fear. I was in great fear at the time. I was about to marry someone other than Alvis (the man God had appointed). I knew it was not the Lord’s will, but I found myself unable to break the engagement. (This man was and is a godly man and a minister of the gospel; we are today the greatest of friends. My purpose in pointing this out is to indicate that the Lord appoints us our mates to complement His particular call for each of us and to complement the special, unique gifts He has given us. Again, we don’t want His “permissive” will but His “perfect” will.) After this prophecy, God sent another one to tell me the following: “It is as a checkerboard game. You make the first move, and I will make the next.” I recognized that all I needed to do was ask the Lord to open the door for me to be able to make the first move. He did open the door, and we did realize that it was not God’s will that we marry.

Throughout my dating years, God sprang all the traps the enemy set for me, and I believe it was only because I had a heart for God’s will and His will only, for which I continually prayed. This is what I mean by the fact that God is looking at our hearts. Keep your heart pure in your desire for His will, and nothing can stop it. What is a pure heart? A pure heart is one that remains unchanged, or it is a heart that is steadfastly fixed on the Lord. In other words, you don’t love Him and walk with Him one day and the next day forget who He is.

The Fight Of Faith

Now then you need to learn how to fight the fight of faith once you have repented of your wrongdoing so that there are no “open” doors to the enemy. Satan has a right to bring confusion and destruction if you have any “open” doors of sin without repentance. We must realize that God moves according to our prayers. You don’t pray; He doesn’t move. Why? Faith only grows to the degree that you seek the Lord, wait for Him and then receive from Him. This is all because God knows it is only with the “shield of faith” that you can withstand the fierce attacks and fiery darts of the enemy. The devil has one thought and purpose in mind and that is to kill you, steal from you (spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally) and last to destroy you. If God can bring forth faith in you, He knows, and you will know, the battle has been won.

We come to understand this as we read Ephesians 6:11-18, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (schemes) of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance.”

We must learn to war in the spirit to be qualified to enter into God’s army. Let me encourage you to enter into God’s army. A person will either be crushed by this training if he doesn’t come to trust and believe his God, or he will rise up in spirit and become a warrior for Jesus Christ, a general in God’s army. The Lord is not coming back for a bride who is emotionally scarred, battered, devastated and giving up. No, He is coming back for a bride who is fighting, who knows the power of his/her God and walks in it, who understands that all our chastening in the end yields the fruit of righteousness. God chastens us for our good that we may be partakers of His holiness. This bride is one who says, “Come, Lord Jesus. I am ready because You have trained me to reign.”

Oh Hallelujah! Let us glory in our afflictions, as it is only momentary because in the end, the glory that we shall enter into will far exceed all that we have had to endure for a season. “Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2) DON’T GIVE UP—EVER. Fight the good fight of faith and enter in to all that our Father has prepared for those who love Him.

Spiritual Warfare

We must learn to hear the voice of the Lord in order that we can take our marching orders and understand the schemes of the enemy. God wants us to cause the enemy to flee from us rather than our fleeing from him. What are the conditions for his fleeing from you? “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:7-8) The devil always flees when we yield to our God, obey Him and draw near to Him. Then we learn to speak the Word of God to Satan. “For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword….” (Hebrews 4:12) We saw how Satan fled from Jesus every time the Lord said, “It is written….” We, too, must learn to say, “Satan, it is written.” The growing of our faith is the weapon necessary to defeat the wicked one. How do we acquire faith? “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Let’s look at what Hebrews says about the power of the faith of the “Patriarchs.” Hebrews 11:24-35 states, “By faith Moses, when be became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land; whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. By faith the wall of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again….”

Look at what the scripture said about “out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Now this is exciting. God wants you to become a “Warrior.” God wants you “to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.” But you must rise up in the spirit and become strong; you must be willing to fight the devil in the spirit.

I would like to share with you a testimony concerning my close friend, Trudy. I came to know Trudy in 1996. She worked for the business Alvis and I owned. Alvis’ general partner was running the business, as Alvis was too ill to offer much support. Six weeks after Alvis passed away, I received a call from his partner informing me that he had accepted a position with the bank, his former employer. He indicated that Trudy was capable of managing the business; however, in panic, I immediately went to the office to see if this woman could indeed handle this responsibility. God had a plan I was unaware of. One day as Trudy and I were talking, I asked her about her and her husband’s walk with the Lord. Trudy has a beautiful and sweet spirit, but I noticed a look of surprise and uncertainty as to how to respond to me. She indicated she knew the Lord, but behind that sweet smile and endearing personality, I saw no joy. I discerned in my spirit there were problems and that she didn’t have the closeness with the Lord that she needed in order to overcome her circumstances. It wasn’t too long before we became steadfast friends.

She grew rapidly in her walk, and I knew her desire for her Lord was sweet and precious, but Trudy didn’t have any idea how to fight the fight of faith on behalf of her husband. She had become discouraged and beaten down by the enemy of her soul, as Satan tormented her with hopelessness and despair, bringing havoc to her twenty-four-year marriage. Her husband Bob was a Christian, but like many Christians, he was walking in defeat. Because of hurts and life’s circumstances, Bob was not overcoming. He had succumbed to alcohol, and Satan had a hook he was using to destroy Bob and his marriage.

The Bible is very clear on what happens if we give in to temptation. Sin gives the enemy a “foothold” in our lives. “And do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:27) It is the soul (or the mind, emotions and will) of man where Satan seeks to enter and gain control over different areas of our lives. When we repeatedly sin in a particular area, we allow Satan to gain a bigger foothold or larger hook in that area, which then increases his control in that area. Then with ever so slight a tug on the hook that has been planted, we lose all control and yield to the demons of alcohol, lust, depression, fear, anger, etc. A good analogy is a small hook won’t hold a big fish, but increase the size of the hook and you have the fish. “The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.” (Proverbs 5:22)

In time, Trudy revealed Bob’s problem to me. In so many words and with anger in my spirit, I said, “We will fight this fight, Trudy. We will take back your treasure the enemy has stolen.” God has put anger in my spirit toward the evil workings of the enemy and his destructive work against God’s people. The Lord has taught me to fight. Now I was ready to teach Trudy how to go to war against the evil one. She learned how to speak the Word of God to the devil, to bind him, to call forth God’s wall of fire around Bob and to loose God’s warring angels to Bob’s aid. She learned how to “stand in the gap and make up the hedge” in the spirit to see her husband freed from the claws of the devil. I would like to quote Trudy’s “Warfare Prayer” that she used against the enemy:

Warfare Prayer

“Father God, I offer up this property to You; this home, this land and its residents. I declare Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of this household. I dedicate and consecrate this place to You and You only. Cause this place to be a holy ground. And, Satan, by the authority of Jesus Christ and His blood, I declare that you have no place here. I take authority over you through Jesus Christ and His blood and command that you leave this property. I command that you take all of your demons and spirits with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Demon of alcohol, be gone, in the name of Jesus Christ. Spirit of addiction, spirit of spiritual apathy and complacency, be gone, in the name of Jesus Christ. Spirit of defeat, of insecurity, of unworthiness, be gone, in the name of Jesus Christ and His shed blood. For it is written in God’s Holy Word, that whatever is bound on earth shall be bound in Heaven, so, Satan, I stand on God’s Word and bind you and cast you out in the mighty name of Jesus Christ and by His authority and shed blood. And, Father, I ask that you dispatch Your angels about this home—angels of peace. Lord, give us the strength to control our appetites and fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Cause our cups to overflow. In Jesus’ name we ask these things, and we thank You, knowing that You delight in helping Your children. Amen.”