Category Archives: Demons
Video: Experiences of the Unseen Realm
Rating: Educational
I found this episode of “It’s Supernatural” by Sid Roth where he interviews Jonathan Welton about his experiences of seeing the unseen realm. What’s cool is that they illustrate what he describes with actors playing out each scene. That really helps me to understand what Jonathan says he can see.
It’s a nice episode. I think you’ll enjoy it. Be prepared – it’s kinda “out there”.
Jonathan Welton: Seeing in the Spirit
Here’s the original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6je44kzcCgc
If you go to YouTube and watch the link, I’m sure you’ll find all kinds of other “related videos” too. 🙂
Spiritual Cleansing: Taking a Spiritual Shower Each Day
Rating: Educational
Spiritual cleansing is very important. Occasionally, I see a book that references house cleansing, but rarely do I see any instruction on a personal level. Let me share what I mean. I’ll start with examples of house cleansing and then conclude with personal cleansing.
I had a friend call me when he moved into a new place. He was renting a room from a Christian couple and he wanted to have the house “cleansed”. I don’t recall the details, but I believe the couple had been experiencing some unusual disturbances in the place. When they mentioned this to him, he asked me to come over and help them pray. He knew I was very sensitive to the unseen realm and that perhaps I could assist them.
We prayed prayers of cleansing all over the house. We played worship music while we did this. We put oil on our hands and anointed each window and door. We commanded that anything evil that was there would leave. After this process, both my friend and the couple that were living there said they felt more peace in their house.
I had another friend call and ask for a similar “house cleansing”. She had lived in this particular apartment for some time, but had recently had some bad experiences upstairs in her bedroom. She felt an oppressive darkness and felt something was there, but couldn’t see anything. She asked my brother and I to come and help her pray. We did many of the same things – anointed the doors and windows with oil, played some worship music while we prayed over the house. We even brought worship banners and waved them in different places of the house to remove any “spiritual dust”. Honestly, I don’t know exactly what this does, but it does seem to shift the atmosphere in the house.
Finally, we went up to her room. My brother and I immediately sensed a specific place of evil energy in her room. We went to it. She was amazed because she had not mentioned where it was in the room. My brother sensed there was an open door or portal above the foot of her bed. The Holy Spirit gave him some other insight into why it was there. She prayed some specific things in reference to this and then “closed” that door. We checked on her a week or so later and she said nothing else had happened since we prayed. She was at peace.
My husband and I often pray a general prayer of cleansing over our house before we go to sleep at night. “Lord, would you please remove anything from our house that doesn’t belong here.”
We also pray for personal cleansing, “Lord, please wash us off from anything we might have picked up today.” Believe it or not, most times I actually feel different after this simple prayer. I’ve also made it habit of praying this whenever I suddenly feel weird – irritable for no reason, heaviness without a cause, etc. In fact, we have become so accustomed to the feeling of peace in our home that if either of us gets a little cranky, we pray this for each other. It seems to “clear the air” and keeps us from being influenced by the enemy’s contaminants.
People who have never done this often ask me all kinds of questions about it. I tell them I just do it intuitively – whatever “feels” right as I listen to the Holy Spirit and pray. Because I am so sensitive, I know whether a prayer is effective or not. One minute I feel the tension in the air and then after we pray, it is gone. I don’t know exactly how it works. I just do it, like a little child.
On a humorous note, one night when my husband was very sleepy, he was praying and he said this: “Lord, please wash us off and wash off the house. Wash the cars, the yard and the dog.” I burst out laughing. I said, “Did you just tell the Lord to wash the dog?” I couldn’t believe it. I guess it makes sense – he was trying to cover all the bases. It just sounded very funny to me to ask God to wash our dog. 🙂 However, I remembered that there was a time when Jesus sent a bunch of demons into a herd of pigs so I guess that means you can have a dog that needs to be washed from any evil contaminant.
Do you have any specific ways you like to “wash” in the spirit? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
Spiritual Protection from Dark Forces & Evil Spirits
Rating: Educational
When I was new to the idea of confronting spiritual darkness, I met a couple who seemed to have a little more experience in this area. The wife could discern whether an object had a curse on it by holding it in her hand. The husband could discern spiritual activity (angels & demons) – he said he saw them like comic book characters.
When I met them (nearly 20 years ago), they reported having some experience in helping people get free of oppression from dark forces. I had very little experience so I listened to what they had to say. They seemed balanced – not flaky like other Christians I had known. They taught me some things that I still use to this day.
One of the principles they learned (from experience) was spiritual protection. They reported having really bad experiences of “backlash” after a ministry appointment unless they specifically prayed for spiritual protection. I have incorporated the prayer they taught me with other prayers the Holy Spirit has impressed on me from time to time.
Whenever you directly confront darkness or dark forces through prayer, intercession or in a ministry setting (i.e. praying for someone who is oppressed by evil), afterwards it is a good idea to pray something like this:
“I bind all Retaliation, Revenge, Retribution and Jealousy from off of me and everything associated with me. I cancel all witchcraft and any soulish prayers prayed concerning me or my family. I close every open door to the enemy’s realm and I seal them with the blood of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for your protection. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Obviously, there is no set formula – you can adapt or revise this prayer to suit your own needs. I have added some parts to it over the years based on my own experience. My friends used to call this “binding the three Rs”. Later they learned that they should add Jealousy. The 3 Rs is still a shortened way to refer to this. My husband and I have also found it helpful to pray this on a regular basis, regardless of what kind of ministry we have been doing lately.
Sometimes when we leave a specific location and are on the way home, I will feel impressed to “cancel any trailing or lingering spirits”. Sometimes I will get a specific impression to “cut off all communication devices of the enemy” and I may also cancel “any watchers or listeners”. A friend of mine has seen watchers and listeners – they are creepy. Just like in a real war in the natural, you might have these elements, right? So it makes sense to me that you might need to pray specifically against these in the spiritual war we are in.
Another couple I know have a habit of praying a “golden dome of protection”. This is particularly helpful if you are in a setting where you feel uncomfortable in your spirit, but you do not want to leave. I have prayed this at a restaurant, for instance. I ask God to fill this dome with His presence around our table and remove anything that does not come from Him. Immediately I feel at peace and I feel comfortable staying at the restaurant. It feels like a personal “force field”. I have found this very helpful and have used it when needed.
How about you? Have you found any specific prayers of protection that have been helpful? If so, please comment below. It is good for us to learn from each other – we all get stronger that way.
Many people are not aware of the importance of spiritual protection against “backlash” and they suffer from lack of knowledge – would you please share this post in your favorite social media as a way to bring awareness to this issue? Thank you! 🙂
Elements of the Unseen Realm
Rating: Educational
So what’s in the Unseen Realm? There are quite a few things. Perceiving them varies depending on the situation and your ability to discern them. Obviously, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to show us what is there and why.
Here’s what I think of when I think of the Unseen Realm.
Elements of the Unseen Realm
God the Father
Jesus
The Holy Spirit
Angels – guardian angels, warrior angels, worship angels, healing angels, etc.
Demons – evil spirits of every kind (i.e. unclean spirit, lying spirit, spirit of adultery, spirit of fear, etc.)
Powers – both good and evil ones
Principalities – both good and evil ones
Human spirits
Human souls
Soul-ties
Anointings, Giftings, Callings, Mantles, Spheres of authority
Blessings – current blessings or generational blessings
Curses or assignments – current curses (like a word curse) or generational curses from the past
Objects like listening devices, tracking devices, a sword, a scepter, a crown, armor or clothes, etc.
Structures like portals, doors, windows, etc from this realm to another one
Locations like Sheol, the Second Heaven, the Third Heaven, the Throne Room, etc.
Beings in heaven like the four living creatures, seraphim & cherubim, 24 elders, etc.
Other miscellaneous things like the Tree of Life, Living Water, the River of Life, etc.
I’m sure I’ve left something out – please feel free to add it in the comments below. There is so much in the Unseen Realm – people are often amazed to realize how much we are unaware of.
Backlash and Bloodshed – Freaky!
Rating: Creepy
This memory keeps standing out in my mind so I guess I should share it next. It’s a little “out there” – it creeps me out whenever I think of it.
I was traveling for business. My brother happened to be in the same city, attending the wedding of an extended family member. He called me and said he was very worried about a certain sister’s safety. She had been at the event and then disappeared without telling anyone she was leaving. They later found out she had boarded a bus to go back to her home. This concerned him greatly because she had been telling him she was relieved to be away from home because she was in a very abusive relationship and the man had recently threatened to kill her. No one could understand why she suddenly left to return to him.
My brother is a man of prayer – when he is worried, his first defense is to intercede and ask God to intervene. He asked me to meet him to pray for this sister. We decided to go for a walk – there were too many people in the house and everyone was upset about the situation. We figured being outside would help us clear our heads and enable us to focus better in prayer.
As we walked, he did most of the praying. I just agreed. At one point, I “saw” this very, very large being above us. In comparison to its size, we looked like ants. I could see its legs like large columns going up and up. I sensed that it looked down at us, specifically at my brother, and it was annoyed at his prayers. The attitude conveyed was, “You think you have a right to pray for her safety? She’s mine!”
My brother interceded harder, asking God to save her life and protect her from the violence of the man she was going home to. He’s very bold when he prays. He prays with great authority and obviously he annoyed some very large being that was watching over this situation.
We finished praying. He walked me back to my car and I drove to my hotel. Even though we had closed out our time with prayers of protection and covering for ourselves, I had the uncanny feeling that this being was going to manifest in some way the next day at my job. I prayed about it several times that night, but I could not shake that feeling. I didn’t know what to expect. We had been praying against violence, bloodshed, the spirit of death, etc – anything that seemed related to the attack against this sister.
The next day at work, I was on the alert. I prayed on the way and I prayed when I arrived. I didn’t like knowing that somehow this spirit was going to show itself in my work day, but I was glad I had advance warning. I didn’t feel afraid – I just prayed for grace to know how to deal with it when it happened. For some reason, I didn’t feel I had the authority to block it from manifesting.
I was managing a small office of people. They needed an extra pair of hands to get a job done so the district manager had approved for a temporary labor office to send someone over. The man who arrived surprised me. He looked kind of like Santa Claus – he was older, overweight and had a white beard. The work assignment was physical labor. I explained this to him and asked if he felt he could do the work. I was a little concerned because he looked about ready for retirement, not a full 8 hours of physical labor in the sun of a very hot climate. He said he was fine and I sent him outside to be trained by one of our regular personnel.
About an hour and half later, he came walking into the office holding his left hand in his right hand and said, “Can someone help me please?” We all turned to see him – blood was dripping from his hands as he walked across the floor. I was shocked. Thankfully, the rest of the staff responded immediately. One of the office clerks had nurses training in her background and steered him toward the bathroom so she could see how bad the wound was and clean it up. Another staff member had training in blood borne illnesses and notified me that he knew how to clean up a blood spill correctly and proceeded to do so.
We had never had someone injured in this office before – at least not to my knowledge. We were all quite puzzled in how he could have hurt himself – and after only working for a little over an hour by himself. Thankfully, his wound was not serious. The office clerk got the bleeding stopped and bandaged him up from the first aid kit. I called the temporary labor office and our district manager for instructions on where to send him for treatment. I gave him the information and off he went.
As he left, I could not stop shaking my head. As soon as I ‘d seen the blood dripping on the floor, I’d known. This was a manifestation of that spirit of bloodshed and violence. I was very thankful it had been minor. That spirit seemed intent on intimidating me more than anything else – no real harm was done. The man would recover with a few minor stitches. I don’t know why this played out the way it did, but it made a definite impression on me.
Has anything this strange ever happened to you? What did you do? I’d love to hear stories from other people. I don’t often share these because most people have no frame of reference for something so odd.
Spiritual Senses – Which one is your strongest?
Rating: Educational
When I began to perceive the spiritual realm, I wasn’t really sure how I “knew” the things I knew. Part of me was convinced that when I sensed something that it was really there and part of me tried to rationalize away the feeling and just dismiss it. We have all probably experienced that.
I learned from Arthur Burk in his series, Nurturing the Spirit, that our soul tends to rationalize away the impressions we get in our spirit because they don’t necessarily make logical sense. For instance, when I was a child and I sensed that there was something scary lurking at the end of the hall or under my bed, my natural eyes could turn on the light and see that there’s nothing there in the visible realm. “See, you’re just making things up!” my mind would tell me. Or as most children are told by adults, “There’s no boogey-man under the bed or in the closet. See?” They open the closet and look under the bed just to convince you. But as soon as they leave, what do you believe if you can still “feel” them in the room? Does it mean you are crazy?
Anyway, during my studies of trying to figure out how this “sensing” the unseen realm stuff works, I came across a book. I can’t recall the title, but the concept has stayed with me. The author suggested that since we have 5 senses in our physical body, perhaps we have 5 senses in our spiritual body. Since that time, I have met people who have experienced the unseen realm through their spiritual senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell or taste. Then there’s that “sixth sense” where you just have an inner knowing, but you can’t exactly explain why. Either your senses are picking something up and your brain comes to a conclusion so quickly that you are not conscious of it or perhaps the Holy Spirit gives you the information through a word of knowledge. Somehow you just know.
Some people who “see” in the spirit say they can see the unseen realm with their natural eyes just like they would look at you or me. Blake Healy in his book, The Veil, describes his sight that way. For me, I “see” things in my mind while my natural eyes are looking at the location where I sense a presence. It’s like I’m seeing in my mind the exact same picture I see with my natural eyes except there is an added element there, such as an angel. I learned this (or was strengthened in it) through Gary Oates’ teaching called “Open My Eyes, Lord”. Both of these materials are listed on the Resources tab above. In Blake’s book, he says he encourages people to increase their perception through whatever way they normally use to “hear” from God. Is it through pictures in their mind or a feeling or hearing words in their thoughts? Whichever way God speaks to them is a sense they have learned to trust, so he says that’s a good place to start when learning to sense the unseen realm. His book has exercises to help you “practice”.
I don’t often hear things, but I have met people who do. Touch is the one I guess I relate to the most – I “feel” things often, everywhere I go. I am also very sensitive to the presence of the Lord and often “feel” His presence. Taste and smell are the most unusual ones – not too many people mention these. I have smelled anointing oil in a service that was thick with the Presence of the Holy Spirit. I have read of people who get a bad “taste” in their mouth when certain demonic spirits are nearby. I’ve never experienced that one, have you?
One other thing I realized recently – I think we sense things differently in our spirit versus in our soul. For instance, my soul can easily detect anything that is evil or unclean. And it usually freaks me out – my soul doesn’t know what to do with the information. However, my spirit does know what to do – so I have to remember to consciously choose to connect with my spirit and then use my authority to remove anything evil that’s bothering me (in my home or near me in a public place).
I also have very sensitive discernment when it comes to dealing with people. That’s a gift in my spirit. When I look in someone’s eyes, 9 times out of 10 I can see their soul. My gift is emotional healing so I see clearly their soul wounds. I can often also see their gifting or original design from the Father. Sometimes I can also discern if there are evil spirits oppressing the person. As you can imagine, I have to be very cautious not to reveal all this information on my face when I’m introduced to someone I’ve never met. I get it all pretty quickly. Being in a party full of people can sometimes be pretty overwhelming to my senses, receiving all this information at once.
So, how do you sense the unseen realm? As I shared on another post, what helped me was finding someone who sensed things using a different method than I did. We would go places and share what we were each aware of. By comparing notes, we grew exponentially both in confidence and in accuracy in being able to identify what we were experiencing. So if you naturally “see” in the unseen realm, go find someone who “feels” and vice versa. You’ll be glad you did.
Giant Bat Encounter – the Unseen Realm
Rating: Creepy
I’ve had my share of creepy experiences. This is one that stands out in my memory.
For some reason, I have always “known” that there is a rule in the unseen realm. Beings in that realm are not supposed to cross over into the visible realm and show themselves. At least not often. I don’t know why I think this is true – it’s just one of those “rules” that seems to be in my mind. In other words, angels cannot just show themselves to people anytime they want to. They have to be on assignment or have permission to become visible. The same goes with the dark forces – they are not allowed to manifest into the visible realm whenever they choose. If they do so, it is “going against the rules”. Somehow I am convinced of this, but I have no idea where I got this idea.
Anyway, that “rule” is why this experience made such a strong impression on me.
One night, a couple of ladies came to my house. One of them had asked my brother to pray for her. He has a powerful gift of prophetic insight that enables people to get free of things that bother them. During this season in our lives, we often worked together as a team. He ministered and I interceded. The second lady was there to translate since the lady requesting prayer did not speak much English.
As he was asking her questions about what she wanted prayer for, they began to discuss her family history. It came to light that her father had dedicated her to a diety at her birth. As she was explaining this to him, I began to get a very distinct impression that something was standing about 2-3 feet in front of the woman, facing her and staring at her intently. The longer they talked, the clearer the impression came until I could literally “see” this thing in my mind.
It looked like a Giant Bat standing with it’s wings folded around it. It was about 7 feet tall. What was most disturbing to me was that it was right next to me! I was thankful it was not looking at me, but I could feel the evil nature of its presence. I was getting more and more creeped out the longer they talked.
The tension in the room was becoming palpable. I finally told my brother what I sensed. The other lady, the interpreter, was also very prophetically gifted and she confirmed what I was sensing. My brother asked the lady receiving prayer if she wanted to break her agreement with this diety that she had been dedicated to as a child. She said yes. He then led her in a prayer to break the covenant that was made on her behalf by her father.
As soon as she finished the prayer, the creature left. Thank God! I have never been so uncomfortable – and the thing was in MY house! Yuk!
They said a few more prayers and then they left. My brother and I walked them outside to their car. After they drove away, something flew toward my brother’s head. He ducked and it swooped near me and then immediately flew straight up into the branches of a tall palm tree that was in the center of my front yard.
I gasped when I realized what it was – a bat! I had NEVER seen a live bat in my neighborhood. In fact, in all the years I had lived in South Florida, I had never seen one. I have since heard that they are not uncommon, but for me it was a first.
What are the odds that I “see” a bat in my living room related to an evil curse put on this woman’s life and then after she breaks the covenant with it, a real bat flies right at my brother’s head just moments later. I immediately thought of the “rule” about the unseen realm staying invisible. Seeing this rule broken (or maybe bent?) made me a little more cautious. I paid a little more attention to the impressions I got. If there was something nearby that could affect me, I wanted to have advance warning. That bat swooping out of nowhere was really creepy!
So, does anyone know what the rules are concerning the unseen realm? When are they allowed to manifest in the visible realm? I’m going to add that to the questions page – it’s a good one!
Early Experiences with the Unseen Realm
Rating: Creepy (mostly), Pleasant (at the end)
I am not sure how to start this blog so I will begin at the beginning. I trust that as I recall my early experiences with the unseen realm, it might stir your heart to do the same. When did you first become aware that there was more to this world than your eyes could see?
When I was about 7-8 years old, we moved into a new house. My parents had the house built on an empty acre of land out in the country. After we moved in, I recall being afraid to walk to the end of the hall if the light was not on at the end. The fear was very tangible – I had never felt this way in our previous homes.
The specific fear that I had was that the devil would appear to me and scare me to death. Now where does a little child get that kind of specific fearful thought? I have never heard of this concept in books or movies, have you? To this day, it amazes me that the devil was so cruel as to put that idea into my mind. Obviously, he was trying to prevent me from wanting to use the gift of discernment in the future so he made me terrified of “seeing” in the spirit before I was even a Christian. That mean ol’ devil – I hate him, don’t you?
I often saw visions in my mind in specific places in our house. The headboard of my bed had two cutouts on either side – it was carved wood, I believe. I could literally “see” in my mind’s eye, two scary looking hands come out above my head – one on each side. The arms and hands were covered with long hair, like an animal, but the hands were somewhat human and had claws or long nails – kind of like you’d see on a werewolf, I guess.
There were times I was afraid to go to sleep because the presence of these things felt so real to me. I know I avoided walking down the hall if the light was not on. And I slept with the hall light on and my door open at night, because of fear. The worst thing is to wake up in the middle of the night, feel a scary presence in your room and there’s no light. Can you relate? To this day, I always have some light in the room where I sleep and a flashlight next to the bed. It is unsettling enough to feel these things at night, but when the room is pitch black with no light – that makes it so much worse.
Anyway, I do recall one positive experience I had. One night I woke up and saw a man standing at the foot of my bed with his arms crossed. Since the hall light was on behind him, I could not see his face. But I felt safe and comforted – this was not a scary presence. In my sleepy brain, I thought maybe it was my dad. I called out to him, “Daddy?” but the figure never moved or responded. I watched him for awhile and then fell back to sleep. I think it was an angel.
How about you? What early memories of the unseen realm do you have?
Discernment of the Supernatural Realm 