Overcoming Curses
This week God has been purifying some more of my soul and purging my conscience from dead works to serve the living God, and I am grateful to Him for that! God has been setting me free from unbelief and witchcraft in my life from years back (curses that came on my life for inquiring of the devil, to be exact - all the Jezebel). A few weeks ago, because of these curses still in my life, I had a wreck and a man hit me. The next day, Travis had a wreck - a lady pulled out in front of him. There were some things God started dealing with in our house by the Spirit of God, out of Doyle's mouth. But I was still not settled on this being all of why this had happened, and I told the Lord so. Then I mentioned this to JR and Doyle, and God started bringing some things up out of my heart about the occult. While I was vacuuming the carpet a couple of days ago, the Lord spoke to me and told me to share about my early years through my late teen years. All of these testimonies are things God has, and still is walking me through, and I am overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony in sharing them with you. I appreciate the Lord for opening up the internet for us to share what this gospel will do for you, if you dare to believe it - trust in, rely on and adhere to it daily.
I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and in these big cities are big time rulers that you come under. The mind cannot accept this, because it is an enemy to God, but your spirit knows this to be true. And when you walk in the Spirit, God will lead you to overcome these rulers and principalities that you were raised under, and then you will for sure be convinced of it. And it has taken my heart a long time to be totally convinced of the impact these spirits have had on my life, but I am getting there by the grace of God.
There was a period of time when I was growing up that my dad (and his partner) went in business for themselves - food brokerage business, and worked long hours and many nights he would 'wine and dine' his clients and would not get home until we were in bed. So he was rarely at home early on weeknights, and on weekends he spent much of his time (especially during football season) watching T.V. (That is probably why I have never been much of a T.V. watcher. I watch the news, and that is about it even to this day.) He later did much traveling on the road with companies he worked for in the food and restaurant equipment business. Dad was an only child, who was raised in Dallas. He was a man who was not afraid to tell you what he thought, and people either liked him or could not stand him. He was bound by the Jezebel, as well as me and the rest of my family. He was not a spiritual man by any means, but before he died, God brought his heart to repentance, and that has been a real comfort to me.
My mother stayed at home with us until my older sister and I turned school age. Mother was (and still is at the age of 70) a very active person. She never sat still for long - she always had some project going on in her life. She taught school and put in long hours because her work did not end when school was out for the day. She would bring papers home to grade and would spend a couple of hours or more each night grading them after taking care of me and my other two sisters. She gave it everything she had, and her principals always recognized her as a very dedicated and diligent teacher in their schools. My sisters and I, though, never had a desire to teach school because we saw how much of my mother's time it took up. But looking back, I can see that there were some benefits to this profession, because she was always out of school in the summers and on breaks when we were, which made it nice for her as well as us.
I was raised by a very self righteous mother who had many 'thou shalt not's', so naturally this was ingrained in me. We attended church on Sunday mornings, but other than that we did not go many other times. As I got older I attended MFY and went on several trips with the youth group at the Methodist church. There were always parties they would have at church for the young people, including Halloween parties. So it was a very worldly environment - little, if any, spirituality involved. You for sure could not tell this church from the world. But the church Jesus is coming back after is the body of Christ, and you will be able to tell it from the world!
My dad's parents lived in Dallas, and my grandfather was the Superintendent for the Dallas Transit System for years. They never went to church but they always were sure to 'mail' their tithes in to the Methodist church. They had little, if any, desire for God that I could tell, because there was rarely any conversation about the Lord, or spiritual things for that matter. My grandmother, in her younger years, went to fortune tellers - how many times I have no idea - but that brought curses on my life, as well as hers.
Mother's parents lived in the country on a farm and had lots of different animals and it was always a treat for people to go out there. My grandfather would entertain people with all of his 'beloved' animals by taking them on 'tours' of the farm. So even though I was born and raised in the city, I had some advantages of the country life. But I had more 'city' in me than country - which produced more pride and bondages. But I enjoyed all the times I spent at both sets of my grandparents. My mother's parents seemed to have more of a desire and respect for the Lord. They were what you would probably consider devout Methodist. I remember my grandfather reading the Bible through on more than one occasion, which seemed to be a big deal back then for anyone to do. But they just seemed to have a different spirit about them than my dad's parents (and I sure do not mean this as a put down, because God is the only one who knows what is in the heart of a person). My dad and both of my grandfather's were members of the Masonic Lodge, but I have been told recently that my mother's dad knew this was wrong and quit going. These second, third and fourth generation curses were passed on to me, and they are real.
Sometime in my years in elementary school, mother started reading her horoscope (in the newspaper) and got involved in 'yoga' and all of this was of the devil - she was blinded and deceived by what she was doing. In the late 60's, the ouija board was a popular 'game' (a tool of the devil to be exact), and we got one and played with it. There were some slumber parties my friends and I would have and we would do what we thought was 'innocent and fun' things that were nothing but the occult. There was nothing innocent about playing in the devil's territory. It was an abomination to the Lord - Deuteronomy 18 says this. In Isaiah 47 it says how we laboured from these things from our youth. We inquired of the devil instead of looking to the One who was raised from the dead. And it brought many curses on my life. Deuteronomy 28 talks about blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience.
After coming to Water of Life Church, Doyle Davidson, by the Spirit of God, starting delivering me from these curses. Not a one of these other churches I attended ever delivered me from anything. As a matter of fact, they just added to the bondage's I already had. It was because they were not walking in the power of God, and it was not until I came to Water of Life Church I even heard what the power of God was. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation - to deliver you from every hindering influence - and that is that Jesus died, He was buried, and He was raised from the dead. There also were not apostles and prophets (ordained by God) in these churches, which are the first ones God sets in the church, and they are the ones who pull down strongholds in a person's heart. None of this had taken place in my life before.
Sometime after we were born-again we took the ouija board out to my mother's parents farm and burned it instead of throwing it in the trash. We had been convinced by the Holy Spirit that this was all a work of the devil. I remember how those flames 'leaped' out at us - this did make the devil mad. There is no question of what I was raised in and around, and Acts 26:18 is an incredible verse that has been brought to my attention by the Spirit of God during these past 13 years. It says how God will "open our eyes and turn us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that we may receive forgiveness of sins, ..." You are either walking in darkness and the power of Satan, or you are walking in the light and in the power of God. There is no middle ground. And I was walking in darkness and the power of Satan. But thank God for His great mercy on my life, and how He has turned me around to the point He has. And when I became a 'new creature' (I was 14 when I received the Lord and was born-again), old things did not pass away and all things did not become new. And they never will until you live unto the One who was raised from the dead, and know no one after the flesh - not even Jesus (II Corinthians 5:14-17). Even though I quit doing all those 'demonic' activities, the works (or damage) they had done were still in my soul - which is the will, intellect and emotions. And they have had to be rooted out and overcome. If you have any honesty, it is a very humbling thing to know in your lifetime you were either serving Satan or God - walking in darkness or walking in light.
One month before I turn 16 my mother married a physician. They met at the Methodist church we had attended since I was a little girl. (My mother and dad had divorced a few years prior to this, and had been separated even years before they divorced). Anyway, their courtship lasted a short four months and then they were married. So we went from our small little family of my mother and two sisters to nine people living under one roof with totally different backgrounds and lifestyles. What an adjustment we were all headed for! But I loved my stepfather and basically got along with all of his children, although we had our differences - no question about it.
I was raised and bound by, as you have just previously read, much witchcraft- much Jezebel. And when we moved in with a man who had studied and practiced medicine - much of the same - the impact this had on my life was overwhelming. I came under the influence of even more of these spirits, which seemed even greater in strength, and my soul was absolutely over-powered by them. Things I had never experienced before, started happening - namely all kinds of fears, things I had never been afraid of, or had problems with before. Even the sickness that would attack me twice a year that I shared in my testimony "God Delivered Me From Sorcery", and then I would sleep alot after I would get home from school. Those were spirits oppressing me, and I had no idea that it was spirits, and secondly, that you could overcome them by believing the gospel - I didn't even know what the gospel was. It seems as if God let all these spirits bind me up from my childhood on up, and really even from my mother's womb, so that I could overcome them by faith years later by walking down these righteous paths he had ordained for my life. (And it is all the Jezebel spirit which God has been leading me to overcome for the past 13 years). Jesus did say that the victory that overcomes the world is our faith - and Satan is the prince of this world.
I have known that God has had much mercy on my life, but not to the degree that I do to this day. He could have just left me alone - still walking in darkness. All I can say is that God looks on the heart of an individual (I Samuel 16:7), and he knows what He can do with a person's heart - even with one that inquired of Satan. One thing I know is that God's grace is sufficient to overcome in every situation and every time. He has proven that to me time and time again. When these things start coming up out of your heart, it is not pleasant at all, but after you overcome, that peaceable fruit of righteousness is manifested every time - and that is what I look for! Praise God.
I thank God for revealing this gospel to Doyle, and for his obedience in bringing it to us because that is the only thing in this world that will ever bring us out from under these bondages. God has had much mercy and grace upon my life because of what I was raised in, and I thank Him for it, and look forward to the fulness of the blessing of the gospel being manifested in our lives.
Father, thank you in Jesus name, that the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, rest upon all flesh now. Thank you for convincing us of sin, because we believe not on you, of righteousness, because you have gone to the Father, and of judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. I thank you for it in Jesus' name.
Well, until next time, God bless you!
