I gave the devil a foothold....Oh my!

A couple months ago I completed my book on InnerPeace.  Per a suggestion with Zondervan.com I created an account with authonomy.com.  While there  I discovered some other books for myself to read and one of them was on spiritual warfare. After completing it I was in conversations with God over what I had read.  The thing that stood out the most to me was his emphasis on being sure to say "In the name of Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God."- when you sense, what he called, unclean spirits.  As Christians we are covered by the blood of the Lamb-God protects us daily from our enemy.

Revelation 12:11 says,

They triumphed over him [satan]
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

Following my folder of things that help me to stay in the midst of peace with God.  I have a prayer where I ask Him everyday to hasten me if I need to pray against any unclean spirits.  I hadn't had any days so far, but I believe we are protected by God--but be warned--only when we follow His commands.  Last week I had a couple days I didn't do my routine.  I started to hear the eloquent prayers of the woman at Bible study--felt that I should be able to do the same.  Rather than reading my scripture prayers, I started to attempt eloquent prayers on my own.  My attention span and praying began to fall apart.  Now- I know I should have prayed from my heart additional prayers, while still continuing with the powerful scripture prayers-as this would have kept me in my routine.  Getting out of the routine led to other bad choices, causing many things to escalate by Saturday.

My shoulder and back have been hurting me-the plan was to take a couple easy days-letting it rest.  We have Netflix and for some crazy reason I chose to have a marathon day of "Heroes."  Kat and I also went to the library to pick up a couple books the next day.  In this time I started to feel I was in a "dark place".  That is the only way I can describe it.  Saturday morning I began reading one of the books I picked up the day before.  I like Sci-Fy | Fantasy, but you have to be cautious- as I was reminded that day- because this book had some pure evil-real like witchcraft stuff in it.  By the time I got to the third chapter, I put the book down and said to my husband, "I am not reading that book any longer, we have to take it back today."

That day, from the get go, was off to a bad start.  The spirit within me acknowledged that God was worthy of praise and my faith in Him didn't waiver, but I was clearly in a "dark place" and had no ability of anything positive on the outside.  The negativity began even before I started reading the book, continuing for 3-4 hours that day. I was not very nice to my family, unusually worse, than what any of us have done.  Finally it was time for me to take a shower, where I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, to claim the blood of the Lamb, against evil spirits.  I felt freed from being bound, but still in a dark place and quieted to ponder throughout the rest of the day.  We had community group that night,where I only spoke when spoken to and asked a question.  Throughout the evening things gradually became lighter, but it wasn't until we were getting ready to sleep that Owen looked at me and said, "Now that is beautiful."  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't even realize that I had a big smile on my face for the first time that day.  He said, "You are smiling."
From that moment, I was able to talk about what I was experiencing that day.  I said to my husband, "God tells us to think of things excellent and praiseworthy, pure, lovely and put it into practice--for a good reason.  Today I believe its a command, in fact, that is what God convicted me of first thing when I woke the next morning.

I experienced first hand, loud, and clear about the foothold which the dictionary states: "is a firm or secure position that provides a base for further advancement."-boy did satan advance on me for a couple days.  This hard lesson taught me to be very choosy of what I am going to watch and read.  I think back to many times in my past, where I felt in a dark place, but I couldn't explain it.  I know now--the answer is that I was filling my mind with the things that God has warned us not to ponder on.  The horrible show that I watched, was  for Nine hours, yes NINE.  I believe that is why- I had such a strong bond keeping me in darkness.

I care about everyone who reads this entry.  Please take to heart God's command to be careful of what you are filling your mind with.  Ask God to convict you, to stop watching the TV show or reading a certain book, if its needed.  Ask Him to show you excellent and praiseworthy things to replace it with-He will.  Don't give satan a foothold to run havoc in your life.  Today's bible study was on satan's lies and I believe one of his lies is about various TV shows, many of us all watch.  He can convince us that they are not that bad, but they ARE.
The other statement that stood out to me when re-reading the devotion by Proverbs 31 was:

 "God never meant for us to be in control, strong in and of ourselves. We were meant to show His strength in our weakness as He provides for our needs. We were created to live like little children, dependent on the care of our heavenly Father."

Don't rely on your own strength to overcome your desires for TV shows that don't line up with the Word of God, surrender to Him, Who will give you strength.  The same applies to every area of your life.

Go in Christ's strength today!!