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Book Review: The Girl Who Sees Angels
I just found this new series of books that I have fallen in love with! If you’re a seer or you want to be a seer, these books will really encourage you. It’s a fictionalized story of a girl who has the gift of seeing, but doesn’t understand what she sees. The Girl Who Sees Angels by Jeffrey McClain Jones is the first book in the Sophie Ramos series.
Her mother takes her to doctors, psychiatrists and even a priest, trying to figure out how she can see things that nobody else can see. They think she’s very troubled, but instead she’s very gifted.
During the course of the first book, she meets some Pentecostal Christians that help to validate her gift. That’s really cool! If you’ve ever questioned your sanity because of the things that you see or hear or feel – this book will definitely encourage you! 😊
One of the things I really appreciated about these books was that the author writes from a place of authenticity. Some supernatural fiction that I’ve read (actually most) make gifts of the Spirit so unbelievable and they exaggerate things to such a degree that it detracts from the story. This author doesn’t do that.
Many of the things he writes about, I’ve experienced. The reaction of charismatic Christians to her gifts, I have seen. They encouraged her. They nurtured her. They taught her and helped her to understand what she was seeing. During the first book, she has an experience that shows her how she can help people with her gift. That amazes her and inspires her to learn how to use the gift with greater clarity in order to help others. She’s excited to unpack it and learn more – we get to follow her on that journey.
I’ve only read the first 2 books so far, but I was enjoying them so much that I didn’t want to wait until I finished them all to share them with you. There’s 4 books in the series. I encourage you to check them out. They are a lot of fun. I would call them “deliverance fiction”, a category I’ve never heard of but I wish existed. 😁 We get to see how her ability to see the unseen realm impacts her job, her relationships and every day life. If you are a seer, you will definitely relate!
This author has a lot of books and many of them have piqued my interest. You can check them out here. I’m especially curious about his series, Seeing Jesus. I’m hoping to read some of those next! (Update: I did a review of Seeing Jesus here.)
I love reading supernatural fiction that draws my heart closer to experiencing God in the here and now. Have you read any books that are like that? Please share the titles with us in the comments.
I love finding new authors and books that draw me closer to Jesus, don’t you? 🙂
Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. God bless you richly today. 💗
Door of Heaven Opened 🌈
A few nights ago as I was getting ready to go to bed something unusual happened during my bedtime prayers.
I normally pray before I go to sleep, “I close every open door to the enemy’s realm and I seal them shut with the blood of Jesus. I command every spirit not sent here by Jesus Christ to leave now.”
At the end of that prayer, I suddenly felt impressed to say, “And I open the door of heaven over us.” I had never done that before. It had never even occurred to me to do that before.
Immediately I could sense all kinds of goodness ready to be poured out on us. How fun! 😊
I could sense a bright colorful opening above me – kind of like when you open the attic door in your house. There’s a sense of space above you and unidentifiable objects piled up in there. Most attics are dark but this was full of light.
I was reminded of something a close friend said to me one night when we were praying at my house. She saw over herself a portal to heaven and the Lord showed her that wherever she went, she had this portal. She laughed and said, “It’s like a porta-portal!”
The next day I woke up with sore throat. I was miserable all day and when I went to bed that night, I desperately needed to rest. I thought of the open door and I sensed that I could receive from it so I thought of what I needed on a practical level. I asked for my sinuses to clear so I could breathe freely and I asked to be able to fall asleep peacefully. And I did! When I’m sick that rarely happens – I usually really struggle to sleep when my body hurts. And yes, I prayed for healing but didn’t sense that was being released yet.
What the Lord showed me was that this portal required a different kind of attitude of heart – one of resting and receiving instead of standing and declaring. This is preparing us to receive God’s goodness in ways we cannot imagine. In the past we learned how to reach into heaven and pull down what was needed by standing on His word and declaring His promises. It was a type of spiritual warfare and required a lot of courage and determination.
It reminded me of when the Israelites came out of the wilderness into the promised land. They had spent years fighting and conquering in battle. But when they finally entered the promised land, everything was already done for them – vineyards were ripe with grapes, houses were already built and furnished, fields were ready for harvest (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). It required a mindset shift to simply relax and receive.
Over the next week whenever I prayed before bed I could sense that open door. I tried to look into it to see if I could perceive anything specific but it was more of a general impression of goodness. It felt as though it was bursting with resources and assistance, ready to come down from heaven to earth for me. I could see or sense smiles too.
Imagine a well lit child’s playroom with smiling stuffed animals, toys, games, etc. in bright, happy colors.
Or like a beautiful bookstore full of curious objects, big comfy chairs and a delectable cafe full of smiling servers ready to help you.
Some scriptures came to mind regarding this open door of heaven.
Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29
I’m receiving God’s unshakable kingdom!
I will open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:10
I saw light, fluffy pink blessings falling out of the open door onto me the night I asked for specific help with my cold symptoms. It reminded me of the tsunami dream I had awhile back – it looked like bad things were going to happen but instead blessings were released.
Have you ever opened a door of heaven over yourself and your family? If so, please share what happened. If not, why not do that now? (if you feel the Lord’s leading) We are in transition to a new season of God’s favor and blessing being poured out without measure. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Thorn of Unbelief – Do You Have Any?
Did you know you can have a thorn in your heart and not even know it? This was a BIG surprise to me.
The other night we were praying for someone in our small group who was in pain. As we waited on the Lord, I saw the outline of a human body with a ball of conflict in one spot. It was like an angry ball of light trapped in the soul. Immediately the Lord showed me that disease or dysfunction in the body starts in the soul. It doesn’t start in the body.
He showed me that the way to expedite healing was to find the root of the conflict in the soul, minister to it, remove the thorn, receive His healing for the wound and it will manifest in the body as health and healing. Then what He said next blew my mind – Unbelief in God’s goodness is the number one root. Pull that out, resolve that wound and all the others will be minor by comparison.
Wow! Suddenly this Scripture made so much more sense: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:2 Look at that – I pray that you be in health just as your soul prospers.
After our small group was over, I spent some time pondering what the Lord showed me and He showed me more (isn’t He wonderful?). This is the original sin from Eve – unbelief in God’s goodness. This is the thorn in the flesh that each man and woman gets to overcome during their lifetime – to break the power of Unbelief, which is the root of all deception. When you remove this root of unbelief, this thorn in your soul, everything else falls into place. You are able to walk as Jesus walked; He never doubted the Father’s goodness. It was never in question.
So I immediately asked the Lord, How can I become convinced of God’s goodness on a deep soul level? What is the key? Holy Spirit, please show me.
I meditated on several scriptures about God’s goodness, to wash my mind with the water of the word. I personalized the verses to help me connect with the truth.
- God’s great goodness is prepared for me because I trust in Him. Psalm 31:19
- The goodness of God leads me to repentance, a changed mind and heart. Romans 2:4
- I see God’s goodness in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13
- The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 33:5
- We are satisfied with the goodness of God. Psalm 65:4, Jeremiah 31:14
- God will fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness toward me that Jesus Christ may be glorified. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
After I meditated on these scriptures, I was led by the Lord to find and remove the thorn of unbelief in my own heart. He highlighted four specific times in my life where this thorn pierced my heart. As Holy Spirit showed me each one, we processed it to remove the thorn and pain of unbelief. Then I received what I should have received during that time. It was a very deep and powerful healing experience. I had prayed through each of these painful life experiences previously, but this was a different focus and I could feel the positive effect in my heart.
After removing the thorns from my heart, I had such joy! I’ve always been an upbeat person but there was also a shadow of “what if” lurking underneath – a dread of bad things that might happen. That is now GONE! 😊
A few days later, just as I was getting ready to go to sleep, my stomach started bothering me with indigestion. That has prevented me from being able to go to sleep many times in the past. So I prayed for my digestion. I soon fell asleep with no problem and was not bothered by indigestion at all! Hallelujah!! 😊 That’s breakthrough! I’ve prayed for that many times in the past and still suffered – so this proves to my mind that something has definitely changed in my heart! Thank you, Lord!! ❤️ My soul is prospering and so is my body!
Unbelief in God’s goodness toward you is such a deep heart issue. I had never realized this until the Lord showed me. So many things happen in our lives that put that thorn in our hearts – disappointment, disillusionment, rejection and failure to name a few. And we don’t even realize those thorns are there.
Scripture talks about the power of unbelief:
- Jesus did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58
- Jesus marveled because of their unbelief. Mark 6:6
- Jesus rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart. Mark 16:14
- Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Hebrews 3:12
- But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
Would you be willing to ask the Lord to show you if you have any thorns of Unbelief in your heart? He asked me to share this very personal experience with you so I trust that He wants to do this for you too. I am so happy that I went through the process of removing those thorns! My life is changed! 😊💗
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Personal Attack – How to Overcome!
What do you do when you are under attack from a person in your life? Can you discern the true battle? How do you overcome?
A reader of this blog asked this question:
I served under another ministry and I was on good terms with the leader – I felt that I served them well, to the best of my ability. After the Lord led me to start the ministry where I am now, the other leader began to attack me and the ministry. I had a vision where I saw him summon all his members and he pointed at me and told them not to have anything to do with me – this was after he called me in front of his church and commended me about how I supported him when his ministry first started with just a small group. They have since grown and expanded and have built a larger facility. Why is he attacking me and what can I do about it?
We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
What does it mean that we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood? Who are we really wrestling with?
I have seen a strategic pattern that I want to share with you that will help you get the breakthrough to overcome any attack that is coming against you personally.
The enemy knows your weaknesses – oftentimes better than you know them yourself. The Lord allows him to reveal them to you and this can be a great gift if you take advantage of the situation. Think of him as a personal trainer – his attacks will make you stronger so you can overcome any situation that comes your way!
Proverbs 26:2 says “the curse causeless shall not come”. This means that if someone is cursing you, attacking you, saying bad things about you – their words have no power to hurt you if there is no cause for them.
What is the Cause, Holy Spirit?
So the very first thing you do is ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you, What is the cause? Did you do something you need to repent of? Even if it was unintentional, repent of anything you realize you did that could have given this curse a cause, a legal right. Did you judge the other person? Did you speak anything negative concerning this person? Did you spread a rumor about them? Anything at all – even if it was only in your heart and you didn’t say it to another person. Immediately repent and ask the Lord to wash you.
It’s never about the man or woman – the person who is fighting against you. It is always about the spirit behind it. Defeat that spirit and the person will stop bothering you. The spirit attacking you is revealing a weakness – allow the Lord to heal that weakness and suddenly the attack will disappear! I’ve seen this happen many, many times.
If the attack continues after you have repented – or if you truly cannot find anything that you did to repent of, then it’s time to look deeper. There is agreement in you that gives this attack a right to continue. We call this “legal ground”. The devil knows his legal rights and wherever there is deception or agreement with darkness, he has a right to attack or harass us.
How do you defeat that spirit? Remove the legal ground!
- Identify how the attack makes you feel. Do you feel intimidated? Does it make you have doubts about your own ministry (insecurity) or are you becoming discouraged? What exactly is it trying to do to you? This will help you identify which spirit is attacking you through this person.
- Ask God why you feel that way. This attack reveals a weakness in you – perhaps it is self-doubt, or perhaps it is fear of man or doubt in God’s ability to protect you. I have an exercise that can help you identify what lie you believe about God or about yourself that gives this spirit a legal right to harass you. It is below.
- Break your agreement with the lie you believe. It may be very deep – take time to really examine it. Then let it go!
- Forgive the person who is attacking you. Release blessing upon them.
- Continue to thank God for His protection and care for you.
The Lie Detector exercise helps people identify the legal ground that the enemy has. There are two versions of it. You can do them both or just do one, based on what you sense from Holy Spirit. One helps you identify lies you believe about yourself. The other one helps you identify lies you believe about God.
Lie Detector: Self Concept
Go to a place where you will not be interrupted. Take a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly to help you relax and to quiet your mind. Say these statements/questions out loud and then wait for an answer. An answer may come as a feeling, a thought, a picture in your mind, a word, a memory or just an inner knowing. If no answer comes to the first question, this may not be the right time for this step.
“Spirit of Truth, is there a lie I believe about myself?” (pause and wait for an answer)
“Who taught me that lie?” (pause and wait for an answer)
“I forgive (name) for teaching me this lie. I forgive myself for receiving this lie and allowing it to influence my thoughts. I release myself from this lie. I give it up and let it go.”
“What truth do I need to hear?” (pause and wait for an answer)
“I receive the truth that (the truth).”
Lie Detector: God Concept
Go to a place where you will not be interrupted. Turn off any devices that might distract you. Take a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly to help you relax and to quiet your mind. Say these statements/questions out loud and then wait for an answer. An answer may come as a feeling, a thought, a picture in your mind, a word, a memory or just an inner knowing. If no answer comes to the first question, this may not be the right time for this step.
“Spirit of Truth, is there a lie I believe about God?” (pause and wait for an answer)
“Who taught me that lie?” (pause and wait for an answer)
“I forgive (name) for teaching me this lie. I forgive myself for receiving this lie and allowing it to influence my thoughts. I release myself from this lie. I give it up and let it go.”
“What truth do I need to hear?” (pause and wait for an answer)
“I receive the truth that (the truth).
I encourage you to write down the answer you get to the last question, “What truth do I need to hear?” Put it on a post-it note where you can look at it each day. Meditate on it. Say it out loud to yourself. Really let it soak in – it might take awhile for it to become your new default way of perceiving God or yourself (especially if that lie was in there a long time).
Once you overcome and break through whatever agreement you had with darkness or deception, that attack will simply disappear! Where there is no legal ground, the enemy cannot take advantage of you. He cannot harm you. The curse causeless cannot come!
Forgive the person who was attacking you. Release blessing upon them. They were simply being used by the enemy – don’t take it personally. Let it go!
There have been so many stories of curses that were placed on Christians, but when there was no cause, the curse was powerless to harm them. I’m thinking of a specific story right now from the mission field. A Christian missionary family moved into a village where there was no church or any other Christians. They began to witness about Jesus and people in the village became interested to know more about Him. The local witch doctor became jealous of the influence the Christian missionaries were having in his village. People used to come to him and now they were going to the missionaries for help with their problems. He announced to the village leaders that he was going to curse them with his witchcraft power and that they would die in 3 days. This witch doctor was very powerful and they believed he could do it. Everyone was tense and waiting to see what would happen. Blissfully, the missionaries were unaware of this curse. They just continued loving people and praying for them. When they didn’t die after 3 days, the witch doctor came to ask them who this Jesus was! They delightfully explained how God has much more power than the devil and how Jesus defeated Satan on the cross by laying down His life for us all. As a result, the witch doctor renounced his witchcraft power and became a follower of Jesus, receiving forgiveness for his sins. The entire village rejoiced and a church was planted among them so they could learn to follow Jesus.
You have the power to overcome all the power of the enemy with the Truth that is in Jesus! You are not a victim of his attacks – you are more than a conqueror! Unleash the Light that is in you to dispel the darkness. Do not be afraid – greater is HE that is IN you, than he that is in the world.
Do you have an example of seeing an attack against you disappear when you overcame the deception within you? If so, please share below! That’s how we learn from each other.
By the way, the example I used above was about someone being attacked in ministry. But these kinds of attacks can come from anywhere – your neighbor, your family, someone at work or at church, etc.
Thank you for reading this blog and sharing it with others who might need this information – you are a blessing to me! 😊
Spiritual Authority – True or False? Part 2
This is the continuation of our discussion on spiritual authority. You can find Part 1 here.
What is spiritual authority? Who gets to decide who has it and who does not have it? Who determines the rules or boundaries of spiritual authority? Can you identify false spiritual authority?
When I was younger, I was taught that I needed to be under someone’s authority in order to be covered spiritually – like the pastor of a church. Is that true? Does spiritual authority protect you?
What other questions come to mind? Write them in the comments below and we will do our best to answer them!
In my decades of following Jesus, I have seen true and false spiritual authority. The false is much more common than the true, unfortunately. You know it in your gut, but as a young person you often don’t have the words to articulate what you are seeing. I’d like to share what I have learned – you may have a different opinion and that’s okay. This is a conversation – feel free to share your perspective in the comments. 🙂
False Authority
Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28
This is SO counter-intuitive to our natural thinking!!
Mighty men and women of power and authority often lord it over others, making sure that no one else has influence over what happens except them! They make sure that others feel small, weak or powerless around them. They expect deference in their presence – yes, sir! They are always right and they know better than you, so you better do what they want or suffer the consequences of their disfavor.
Unfortunately many leaders in the church follow this example of false authority. It’s the opposite of what Jesus taught about having authority. Why do you think that is?
When you have authority in the natural realm, it can easily go to your head and fill you with pride. That’s dangerous and foolish. Pride always leads to a fall because you are NOT all powerful. God resists the proud – He gives grace to the humble.
Jesus was trying to teach his disciples that humility and lowering yourself as a slave is the way to power in God’s Kingdom. Jesus described Himself as meek and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:29). It’s in your weakness that the power of Christ rests upon you (2 Corinthians 12:9).
One of the characteristics of true spiritual authority is humility. You can hear it in someone’s voice and see it in their actions. People with true spiritual authority inspire you to trust and follow them. You don’t feel intimidated or manipulated by them – they respect you and encourage you to make your own decisions. You feel free in their presence.
If a leader demands that you submit to them and respect their authority, chances are they are operating in false authority. Jesus never spoke that way to people and He warned His disciples from using their power and influence to lord it over others. Keep that in mind – it’s important.
When you feel weak, you look for power to protect you, to empower you to “feel strong”. People can experience a false sense of power that comes from the soul if they manipulate or intimidate people to do what they want them to do.
The authority that Jesus gives provides true power or influence and you can see it in the fruit you experience – love, joy, peace, righteousness, etc. Anything else is false authority, false power. Soulish authority may look very powerful but it is limited. When you have God’s power, your source is unlimited.
One way to protect yourself from developing false authority in your own life is to embrace your weaknesses. Become like a little child, completely dependent on your heavenly Father. Be fully aware that it’s not your power or influence that does anything. Give up any illusion you have of being in control of what God is doing in you or around you. God is in control – NOT YOU.
You are not required to submit to a spiritual leader who is using false authority to control or manipulate you to do what they want. You can treat them with respect, but you do not have to submit to their authority. You submit to Jesus and do what He shows you to do.
If they are trying to convince you to do something and you do not sense the Lord leading you to respond, say nothing. This frustrates most leaders because they know that words can bind you in agreements (that you will regret later). It is better to be silent and attentive to the Holy Spirit, rather than try and talk your way out of the situation. Being silent also means that you can’t be bullied – you are giving them nothing they can use against you, especially if you are feeling weak or overwhelmed in their presence. Jesus was silent in the face of His accusers and it was a very powerful way to respond. He did not argue with them. He simply allowed them to speak and He didn’t say anything unless the Father told Him to speak. It can be very hard to do this, but it is a very powerful strategy.
Who gets to decide who has spiritual authority over you? You do! Toxic leaders will tell you things to make you afraid to leave their church – that God will not bless you if you leave. Or that the devil will get you if you are not under someone’s spiritual covering. Whenever someone tries to motivate you by using fear, run away fast. That’s not God! God’s love casts out all fear (I John 4:18). Manipulation and Intimidation use fear to control your behavior – that’s false authority. Get away from them fast!
Spiritual Covering
One last topic I’d like to cover is the idea of spiritual covering. I have heard it taught that you must be under a local church pastor in order to be covered spiritually. There’s some merit to it, but it has been used to confuse people and cause them to be afraid of leaving bad churches. I want to help bring clarity.
When you are covered spiritually, it means that someone is looking after your spiritual growth and development. They pray for you and with you, helping you to discern God’s direction for your life. They mentor you and help you to avoid making unwise decisions or getting involved with the wrong people.
Many local pastors oversee large groups of people and they cannot possibly provide this level of covering for you. They preach sermons at church and probably pray for you in a general way. This does help protect you from the enemy if you follow what they teach you from the Bible. Their prayers can help you, in a general way.
Will the enemy still attack you? Absolutely! For some reason people feel like there’s some kind of magic about having a pastor’s covering. There is no magic. There is still spiritual warfare and you are in it whether you want to be or not.
It is better to develop a close relationship with a small group leader or spiritual mentor that can meet with you, get to know you personally and pray with you about the concerns in your life. As they get to know you, the Lord will give them insight to help you avoid making unwise decisions or getting involved in bad situations with the wrong people. You need the personal interaction. This is how Jesus interacted with his 12 disciples. He did life with them. Most pastors simply cannot do life with everybody in their congregation, it’s not humanly possible.
I encourage you to ask the Lord to bring two or three mature Christians into your life. They may not be leaders, but they know how to walk with the Lord and how to love others. Remember to look for humility. That’s key. And then just do life together. Spend time with each other. Share about what’s going on in your life and ask them to pray for you. Listen when they have things to tell you about God or the direction in your life. The Lord will bring the right people into your life. You can ask Him to do that.
To learn more about spiritual authority, check out some good books like
Authority in Prayer by Dutch Sheets
A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
What other questions come to mind regarding spiritual authority? Write them in the comments below and we will do our best to answer them!
Spiritual Authority – True or False? Part 1
I was reading an article in the news recently where it talked about restrictions that some religious organizations and churches place on their members. It made me start thinking about the topic of authority, specifically spiritual authority.
Where does spiritual authority come from? Who gets to decide who has it and who does not have it? Who determines the rules or boundaries of spiritual authority?
What does it mean if someone has spiritual authority? Who do they have authority over? What power does it give them?
What happens if there’s a distorted view of spiritual authority? How does that affect people?
When I was younger, I was taught that I needed to be under someone’s authority in order to be covered spiritually – like the pastor of a church. Is that true? Does spiritual authority protect you?
What other questions come to mind? Write them in the comments below and we will do our best to answer them!
In my decades of following Jesus, I have seen true and false spiritual authority. The false is much more common than the true, unfortunately. You know it in your gut, but as a young person you often don’t have the words to articulate what you are seeing. I’d like to share what I have learned – you may have a different opinion and that’s okay. This is a conversation – feel free to share your perspective in the comments. 🙂
I hope this article helps bring some clarity as you ponder this subject.
What is spiritual authority? Who has it? Where does it come from?
Spiritual authority is an ability to exert power or influence in the unseen realm. Spiritual authority can be given or earned (or both). True spiritual authority gives you power to stop the darkness and release the light of God’s love and goodness.
Jesus gave true spiritual authority to his disciples.
Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. Luke 9:1
He said, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19
Authority can also be earned as Jesus illustrated in the parable about being a faithful servant.
And he said to him, “Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.” Luke 19:17
Unfortunately the devil can also bestow authority to people.
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” Luke 4:5-7
Jesus had an authority that was astonishing – people were amazed by it. They’d never seen anything like it!
And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. They were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” Luke 4:32, 36
Jesus was very clear where His power came from.
“For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” John 12:49
[The Father] has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. John 5:27
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28:18
Pretty impressive, huh?
So how does this work in the real world – the earthly realm we live in?
How do you know what spiritual authority you have? Believe it or not, it’s pretty simple. The extent of your authority in the spiritual realm is equivalent to your authority in the natural realm. Consider what is under your direct authority and control. If you have children, they are under your authority. If you own a home, it is under your authority. If you own a business, it is under your authority. If you are in management at your job, you have a certain degree of authority. If you are a teacher, you have a certain degree of authority over the children in the classroom while they are under your care.
Authority can also be delegated to us by Jesus for specific assignments. There are intercessors who are given authority to pray over specific realms in the spirit over which they have no natural man-given authority. God will make this very clear to you if He gives you this kind of authority.
Authority can also come from great love or compassion. God can give you a deep compassion for a person or a group of people and as a result, He can give you authority in order to help them.
What do I do with this spiritual authority?
You ask God what kingdom business needs to be performed in your realm of authority. You are His representative in your little corner of the earth. Read His Word. What is under your authority that is not going the way He would like it to go? Ask Him for what needs to change. Ask for His Wisdom and Revelation to guide you. Ask Him what words to speak – just like Jesus did.
Then speak with His authority, the things that need to be changed. You must be convinced of who you are in God’s kingdom and then speak. God said, Let there be light and there was light. He gives us a similar type of authority in the spirit to speak those things that should be in existence. He also gives us the authority to bind up things that should not be operating around us.
Examples:
Your home – if your children are constantly bickering with each other, bind up pride and division and release peace, harmony, humility, unity, etc.
Your job – if communication is getting confused and projects never seem to get done. Bind miscommunication, confusion, apathy and loose clear communication, teamwork and diligence.
Your relationships – if there’s someone who tries to control you, bind fear and control, loose trust and freedom.
The key is to bind up what is bad and loose what you’d like to see. All the while, asking the Father what would be best. He will show you. You don’t have to have great discernment or know the names of specific spirits for this to work. Bind up bad fruit, loose good fruit.
At times, you will see immediate change in your surroundings. Other times, it may take some time. When you are in a place you have no authority, you can always loose good things around you like peace, light, truth, blessings, etc. You should not bind what has a right to be there, but you can loose God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done everywhere you go!
Warning: Do not take spiritual authority where it is not yours to take. Be very careful. Make sure you are certain you have been given authority. You can experience serious consequences if you overstep your boundaries. John Paul Jackson outlines this in his book, Needless Casualties of War.
There’s so much more we could talk about – I’ll continue this discussion in Part 2.
Generational Curses & Blessings
Everyone suffers from generational curses. Most people enjoy generational blessings too. Here’s a brief discussion about this topic. I get asked about this frequently so I decided it was time to write about it.
When someone describes negative patterns in their life, I often tell them to ask Holy Spirit if there’s a generational curse they need to break. Here are some examples
- Getting passed over for promotions in your job over and over
- Unable to stay employed (for various reasons)
- Whenever you are blessed financially, something comes to take it immediately
- Almost everyone in your family has been divorced
- Family history of addiction to alcohol, drugs, compulsive behaviors, etc.
- Family history of trauma and/or abuse
- Family history of severe anxiety or crippling depression
- Family history of mental illness, any kind
- Family history of cancer, arthritis, kidney disease, diabetes, etc.
- Family history of suicide or early death
- Chronic illness
- Accidents happen frequently to you
Generational curses come from choices that were made by previous generations – someone in your family made a bad choice and the consequences were passed down to you. You may or may not have made the same bad choice. You can see this very easily in family traits – your father had a bad temper and so do you. Some of it is learned behavior – you copied what you saw as a child. Some of it can be spiritual – a familiar spirit of anger or impatience that seems to push your buttons so that you get angry easily.
There are entire books written about this subject, if you want to know more. Many books that deal with inner healing and deliverance cover this topic. As you become more healed inside, you stop making bad choices. But when you are still suffering the consequences of other people’s bad choices, that’s when it’s time to consider generational curses.
You may not be aware of how generational curses affect you – most people aren’t. Whenever I see a pattern in someone’s life, that’s the first thing that comes to mind.
The only one who knows whether you are being affected by a generational curse is the Lord – so ask Him! He will show you whatever details you need to know in order to break the curse. It’s not complicated. Breaking the curse is easy. Recovering from the patterns of thinking or reacting that you have developed is what takes time to heal from usually – sometimes they stop immediately, other times it takes daily practice until they disappear from your life (i.e. learning how to respond with patience instead of anger is both mental and emotional).
How to Break a Generational Curse
- Ask the Lord what generational curse is affecting you. Wait quietly in His presence as He shows you. You might see a picture of someone or an event that occurred, you might hear words spoken to your mind or you might simply have a knowing about what happened. It can often help to have someone pray with you to hear from God. Since a generational curse is familiar to you, it can be easier for someone else to perceive them from the Lord.
- Repent and renounce the behavior that brought the curse. You can pray something like this, Lord, I repent and renounce on behalf of myself and my bloodline for participating in __________________. Please wash us of this sin and place your blood, Jesus, on my bloodline to break this generational curse. Thank you, Lord.
- If the Lord shows you anyone that you need to forgive, this is a good time to do that to clear away any bitterness or judgment you have held against someone in your family. You could pray, Lord, please forgive me for my judgment of __(name)__. I forgive them for how their ____(sin)____ affected me and influenced my choices. I release them from the harm they caused me and I let it go.
Generational Blessings
We tend to focus on generational curses because they cause us pain. But there are generational blessings too! These can be invisible to you and it might help to have someone help you discover them. Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight to you the way you have been blessed through your bloodline. Pay attention when older family members tell stories about past generations – there might be a hint in there!
For instance, ever since I was very small, I wanted to be a teacher. I studied to be a school teacher and during my internship, I discovered that I was not cut out for that kind of teaching. So I changed my focus and tried other career paths. Then one day I was going through a safety deposit box at the bank with my mother. She pulled out some really old papers and started telling me about my great grandmother and what an excellent Bible teacher she was. I sensed the Holy Spirit saying, “See? It’s in your bloodline to teach. You have a generational blessing passed down from her.” No one had ever mentioned to me that she was a teacher and no one in my family had followed in her steps. This was a generational blessing waiting to be claimed – I embraced it in my heart as being for me!
That gave me courage to explore how to teach about spiritual things – like through this blog. I have also written books and taught workshops on spiritual topics like cultivating the presence of God at home and at work. The more I have done this, the bolder I have become realizing that I have been blessed in order to BE a blessing to others. Thank you, Lord, and thank you, great grandma Emma, for your faithful service to the Lord to teach His word! 🙂
Another time the Lord showed me a generational blessing, I was at church with my dad. The minister said during the service that my father was a man of great wisdom and that whenever my dad spoke, the minister listened to him. I was surprised! In my family, I did not grow up going to church. It was a recent development that my father had started going to church. When I asked my father about it later, he said his mother had been very connected to God and was also known for her wisdom.
People have often commented on the wisdom I carry and share with others, but I had no idea it was a generational blessing! It was a beautiful surprise and I cannot wait to meet my grandmother in heaven.
We often take good things for granted so you probably have more generational blessings than you realize. Ask the Lord to highlight them for you and He will!
I hope this brief discussion on generational blessings and curses has been helpful. If you have experience with this, please comment below so we can learn from each other. If you have questions, feel free to post them and we will do our best to answer them. God bless you! 🙂
Freedom from Nightmares & Suicide – Adele’s Story
A reader of this blog contacted me recently with some very good questions! We have been corresponding on various topics, like how to know the voice of the Lord, how to minister using the spiritual gifts God has given her and how to interpret what you see in the spiritual realm.
I am impressed by her hunger for the Lord – she’s 18 years old and is getting water baptized this month. She shared her testimony with me and I wanted to share it with you.
The Tanlines of my Testimony: A Story of God’s Overwhelming Love and Grace
by Adele Chong
I was a kid who seemed to have it all together: I went to church every Sunday morning, rolled in the sandbox at my favorite playground, and waited fervently until Friday so I had an excuse to stay up past my bedtime. However, no one could see beyond the drawn curtains of my house. My house was full of demons.
Centuries of generational curses brought about slews of spiritual attacks in my life. I had nightmares almost every week. A voice in my head would try to convince me to end my own life, that no one loved me, that everyone around me hated me and wouldn’t care if I disappeared. Eventually these years of battling anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide drew me to competitive swimming. It was an outlet where I could get high on the rush of roaring water. I thought I had everything I ever wanted: Friends, recognition, love. But what I really had was an idol, a way to calm my demons without delivering me from them.
Everything changed after a swim meet on March 9-10, 2024, where my medals were misplaced. What seemed like a small issue, ignited into frustration and helplessness. Desperate, I turned to my Bible – not to find God, but to fix my problem. I was on His calendar… I just didn’t know it.
After months of silence from the organizers, I knew it was out of my hands. So I surrendered everything to God: My anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, and the medals. An overwhelming peace washed over me; it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was God’s love, and it was better than any accolade, any word of affirmation, or any time spent in the pool chasing personal records. And I knew I would be okay. Soon, the organizers wrote back to me telling me they found my medals. I decided to read the Bible after that, starting with the Book of Romans. Then, little by little, something was changing within me. My faith in God had skyrocketed. I had an insatiable hunger for His Word. I longed for His presence in ways unprecedented. The nightmares stopped. The voice in my head disappeared. The dark countenance that loomed over me for 18 years finally lifted.
I don’t write all of this for pity or validation. I write to glorify and honour the One who saved me when I couldn’t save myself. Life as a child of God doesn’t exempt me from suffering; I still have mental strongholds to dismantle. But through His peace and strength, I am dislodging every brick the enemy planted in my mind. I hope this testimony will encourage believers in bondage. If you’re struggling with fear, doubt, and darkness, know this: God’s love is greater than any pain. Surrender to Him, and you’ll find the peace your soul longs for. Only through Jesus can we truly be free.
I hope this inspires you – you don’t have to stay in a place of darkness and defeat. Surrender is the path to Freedom! Perhaps someone you know came to mind as you read this testimony – say a prayer for them and ask the Lord if you should share this post with them.
You CAN be free! You CAN experience God’s Love like Adele did. You can have hunger for God that’s insatiable and faith that lets you know, Everything’s going to be okay. This is totally possible – even for you.
If you have questions, feel free to post them below or contact me. What is God talking to you about that perhaps you need to surrender?
Angry Intercession – Can You Pray Angry?
The Power of Righteous Anger in Prayer
Have you ever heard to angry intercession? Can you pray while you are angry?
Some people are afraid of their anger. I am not. When you surrender all your heart to Jesus and ask Him to use your emotions for His good and His glory, amazing things can happen – even in anger.
The apostle James said, The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:16-18 NKJV
The effective, fervent prayer – fervency is passion and one form of passion is Anger. Does that disturb you? Is it okay as a Christian to get angry?
There comes a time and a place where the follower of Jesus says to the darkness, “ENOUGH!” This is usually said from a place of desperation to see God’s glory, to see His kingdom expand. It can also come from a heart of deep compassion for someone who is in bondage to darkness.
You might have a situation in your life where you have seen darkness prevail and you are tired of it. You have prayed, you have quoted Scripture, you may have even fasted or gotten counsel from a spiritual leader, but nothing seems to be changing.
Then one day, you snap. You say in your heart, “Enough is enough! It is time for this thing to shift now!!!”
Enough is enough! It is time for this thing to shift now!!!
I don’t think it’s something you can come up with on your own. I think it is a holy, divine disatisfaction given by the Holy Spirit that bubbles up within your spirit.
Imagine Jesus on the day he went to the temple in Jerusalem during the Passover feast (John 2). He had been going for years and had seen what the money changers were doing. He knew people were being oppressed by the high prices they charged for the sacrificial animals that were required to present to the priests. You’ve probably felt like those people when you go to the airport or to a concert and they charge $5 for a bottle of water or $6 for a can of soda. You know you can buy water and soda for much less than that at the grocery store so why are the prices so high? Because they know you are a captive audience and you don’t have any other options – they take advantage of your thirst. After years of seeing the corruption, one day Jesus simply said, “Enough!” and he drove the money changers from the temple with a whip! I don’t think He was smiling and saying, “Bless you” as he used that whip. I think He was likely angry or frustrated – the Bible uses the word “zeal”, another word for passion and action combined.
I have experienced the power of righteous anger in prayer and I have taught other people about it too. It occurred to me that this is probably a foreign concept for many people so I decided to write this post.
So many of us have only seen soulish, unholy anger that it hard for us to imagine what holy anger feels like or looks like. Ask Holy Spirit to show you – there is definitely a place for it. Let me give you some illustrations.
I know a woman who had a husband who was not treating her well and not walking with God. She was raised by a Christian family but she wasn’t really seeking the Lord. She turned her heart to God and the closer she got to Him, the more her husband’s behavior was bothering her. She was getting angry but didn’t want to fight with him – she wanted him to repent and turn to the Lord instead. She knew she was powerless to change her husband herself. She told me she took a child’s plastic bat and went outside to a big tree in their backyard. Whenever she got angry, she would swing at that tree and yell out her prayers to God. “You GET HIM, God! I am tired of his bad behavior!!” She just let it out – focused on God, allowing Him to do whatever He wanted to do to her husband. She told me she did it every time she got really angry at the darkness in his life and she didn’t care who heard her (they lived in a neighborhood where the houses were very close to each other). To make a long story short, God did get ahold of him and he later became completely sold out to God! By the time I knew them, he was the associate pastor of our church. He was a wonderful, gentle shepherd who really gave his life for people to come closer to God, both by his example and his willingness to teach them God’s ways. He is now with the Lord but I will never forget him. Her Angry Intercession brought him into his destiny, I believe. Fervent prayer has real power! Give God praise! 🙂
I have experienced this myself at times. I will feel the enemy pressing down on me, pushing me, oppressing me. I don’t usually know why – I just feel it. The longer it is going on, the more aggravated I get. Finally, something in me says, “ENOUGH OF THIS!” and I start yelling at the devil. Sometimes I have done this while driving (because that happened to be when it hit me to release it). Sometimes I have done this while in my living room (when no one is home so I don’t scare them). I let the anger I feel toward the oppression out of my mouth – I release the passion for righteousness that the Lord has placed in my heart. And I see things shift! If the oppression was specifically targeting me – it lifts and I feel at peace. Sometimes the oppression has been for someone else I am praying for in my family – and I see the shift in their life through their attitude or the choices they are making. It’s really quite stunning when it happens. So don’t be afraid of your anger in prayer – it might just be the exact thing that is needed for breakthrough.
Please pay attention to this fact – when you are praying angry, you are not directing your anger toward a person. You are directing it toward the darkness that is affecting you or someone you love.
There’s a Scripture that has always made me wonder what it means – “… the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12) I discovered that the English translation says “violence” but the original Greek says it more like this: “the kingdom of heaven is forcefully acquired and the forceful are snatching it up”. It’s a deep determination that you are going to get what God has for you and nothing is going to keep you from it!
One key I’ve noticed is that this anger is focused on righteousness. It is not the same as selfish anger, which tends to be focused on you and your own agenda. Does that make sense? You are praying for God’s will to be done, not your own.
So, how about you? Have you ever experienced this righteous anger in prayer? Does this concept bother you? Is it okay to get angry at injustice and then pray that way? What are your thoughts? Please comment below so we can all learn from each other.
By the way, before you are tempted to start quoting verses that tell you to stop being angry, remember that it also says, “Be angry, and do not sin.” (Ephesians 4:26) There is a place for Righteous Anger. Would you rather have a God who doesn’t care when injustice occurs? No, God is angry with wickedness every day (Psalm 7:11) and I’m glad because someone should be! Compassion is “love on fire” and when someone you love is being harmed by the darkness, you get angry. That’s holy anger in Love!
Now go be dangerous to the darkness – release God’s light of Love! 🙂
Learning to Hear God’s Voice
Whenever someone tells me they want to draw closer to God, one of my first questions is about whether they know how to discern God’s voice. Learning the language of the Spirit is like learning another language – it takes time and practice! You can pray all day and fast and read Scripture, but there has to be two way communication in order to build a RELATIONSHIP with God. It cannot be one sided!
In fact, I remember when I was a child and someone said from a pulpit that Jesus was our best friend and we should talk to him all day long. In my mind, my reply was, Well, He better talk to me too! No one talked about hearing from God so I didn’t say what I was thinking for fear of being labeled disrespectful. I guess most people just assumed it was a one way thing – you talk and God listens. I remember when I started to hear from God and I told my dad. He said, That’s preposterous! God only talks to holy men in the mountains. He was raised Greek Orthodox and there are special mountains where the priests go to hear from God.
Guess what? God still speaks! And you can know when God is speaking to you. Did you ever notice that almost every story in the Bible revolves around someone hearing from God? It’s important when God speaks to you and you should write down what He says! It also means He talks to a lot of people so why wouldn’t He talk to you too? 😊
If you want some step-by-step instructions, here is a course I can recommend to help you get started.
Developing a Close Relationship with God: A Simple Method – link to course
If you need encouragement and hope to develop a close relationship with God – that’s what this course provides. If you took the course, you’d learn how to focus so you can pay attention to God without distractions. You’d also learn to recognize His voice and become familiar with the different ways that God communicates. You’d practice recording what God has said to you each day. This would give you confidence to take action on what He tells you to do. That’s quite an adventure! Lastly, you’d have a new appreciation of what it means to really TRUST God.
It’s very short – like 15 minutes a week for 4 weeks. And it’s not expensive. You can listen to it while you drive or even when you exercise. It provides simple exercises to help you interact with God.
Recently a reader of this blog sent me this message about the course:
My husband and I just completed this course. It is concise and we feel so comforted and confirmed that our personal experiences with God are true! At our church, no one shares how they communicate personally with God. I learned by asking God to help me discern which voice is His, which voice is mine and which voice is the enemy (or accuser). This course gave us confirmation of our experience with Holy Spirit.
It is very important to learn how to tell the difference between God’s voice, your own voice and the enemy’s voice. If you need help with that, read this post: God’s Voice vs Other Voices: How Can You Tell the Difference?
If you have learned to hear God voice already, please comment on this post – that way we can all learn from each other!
Here are some related posts that might also help you:
How to Remove Blocks to Hearing God
Why Can’t I See or Hear in the Spirit?
Discernment of the Supernatural Realm 