Discussion From Friday

Happy Monday, BGs (that’s Blogees, for you newcomers).

Well. My story from last Thursday and Friday unleashed quite a number of comments. I’m feeling we should take a day to discuss this issue a little more, as a number of you have undergone situations like mine and/or would like to know about these kinds of things.

Before I launch into a few thoughts, first let me remind you what I’m doing today. I’m in our home at the lake in Idaho, and the crew from The 700 Club has flown out to film me for the day regarding the miracle of my healing from Lyme Disease (occurred two years ago now). They’ll be here from about 9:00 to 3:00 or 4:00. From that will come a segment that’s, I don’t know, 5-10 minutes in length. They’ll shoot the main interview, plus perhaps set up some re-creation shots, and then shoot “B roll”—background shots of me and perhaps some of my family members doing this or that.

If any of you have not read the story of this healing, you can do so at my Web site.

I don’t know when this segment will air. It may be some time, as they want to send a crew to California and also interview my doctor. But I’ll keep y’all posted.

Now. Question from ValMarie yesterday regarding can a Christian be called to write fiction for the secular market. Absolutely! We’ve got to have Christians out in the world. I think it’s great to see Christians in all sectors of the entertainment world—books, movies and music. If you’ve got the strength to remain true to biblical principles and feel an urge to write for that market, go for it. However, I will add—if you’re thinking of writing for the secular market only because you think your novel’s subject matter is too much for Christian publishers, you may be wrong. Christian fiction is changing rapidly, and there really aren’t many topics out there that can’t be addressed if the book is done well.

Okay, back to our topic of dealing with spiritual warfare (which may come in all kinds of forms). It’s always good to pray for our protection and our strength and ability to hear God’s leading. But in times of direct attack, I’ve learned it’s important to change the prayers to more directly pray against the spirits that may be behind the attack. I learned during my period of illness with Lyme two years ago to pray the Psalms. Satan and his forces hate scripture. There are many psalms that you can pray against the spirits during time of attack. I do this by generally following the psalm, but putting myself in the place of the psalmist, and changing any words that may have originally been against actual people (like Saul chasing David) to be against the spirits that are trying to oppress me. I’d suggest these psalms:

25:16-22; 27; 31; 55; 56; 71; 86; 91; 121; 140

In the midst of troubled times, it’s also important to praise God, for He’s worthy to be praised, regardless. And Satan hates for us to praise God. There are plenty of wonderful praise psalms. A few are:

34; 63; 96; 103; 111; 133; 116; 137; 138; 145-150

Also it’s important to find others who will commit to praying for you. And sometimes if you feel the sense that you should fast for a day, do it.

I found that even with doing all these things, the spiritual warfare against me did not go away right away. After this friend’s dream (last Friday’s post), I began praying against the attack, and some of my friends helped. But it was still about six weeks before it went away. When it did, it went suddenly. There’s a phrase I see again and again in the psalms about praying against the wicked—that they will be “suddenly ashamed.” (New American Standard Bible.) Sometimes these situations seems to go on for a while, even with all the best prayers in the world. Then, boom, it’s gone. Just like that. It may be something within ourselves that we need to release first. This was true in my case.

I’ll tell you the details in my next “How I Got Here” installment.

Questions/Comments?