Wind and Demons

I think God is in the wind.

John 3:8.

This started years and years ago, during an Easter vigil as I was praying in a friend's backyard.  When I asked God to come and be with us, to be near to us, the wind began to blow violently.  There were wind chimes in the trees.

Today whenever the wind blows, I hear our Father say, "I am here.  So close.  I am right here with you."

Today in Kentucky the wind has not stopped blowing.  Even right now as I'm writing this, the wind is blowing so wild outside that someone's car alarm just went off.  (Well.  Maybe that wasn't the wind's fault.  You should come hang out in my neighborhood!)

There was a specific reason why God chose to be so loud and obvious today, however.  He knew I would desperately, desperately need His presence and His strength.

At some point I want to share with you what God's been speaking over me about the body of Christ and the church; the different "body parts" and the functions they serve.  The way we know God uses us in unity.  But all you really need to know right now is that He has been calling special attention to my eyes.  My prayer for years now has been "open my eyes".  Whether it was "open my eyes to the risks you want me to take" or "open my eyes so I can see what you see".  He's fixated on my eyes, for some reason.  And I wonder what scales are about to fall off.

I am not one to see satan and his demons lurking behind every bush.  But I know my Father and so I have grown much more quick in the last few years to recognize what is not holy, what is not of Him.  The faster I am able to identify a tactic of the enemy, the faster the battle is won.  Usually it is my self esteem/self worth, which is attacked.  A spirit of timidity or discouragement or insecurity or anxiety is not uncommon.

Today, something was going on inside of me that I didn't recognize.  I was on my way to a job interview with a great company here in Lexington, which is owned by some friends of mine.  Last week God helped me overcome my pride and fill out the application, as He began to speak to me about how healthy it would be to phase out of my current, toxic work environment.

I sat in my car for about an hour before the interview today.  Reading This Present Darkness by Peretti with the windows rolled down in my car.  I was having to literally push all my doubt and discouragement and fear and nerves deeper into a pit in my stomach.  I did not want to go in for the interview.  And I had no idea why.

I am just a few chapters into the book, but began to read a chapter in which the pastor is engaged in spiritual warfare.  And in the midst of being beaten up by unseen demons, he rebukes them in the name of Jesus and they flee.

In that every moment, the wind blew.  And I heard our precious Father say, "call to Me.  Call to Me."

So I shut the book.  

I began what I would later be able to recognize as a serious battle.

Which ended in my tears and the rebuking of every demon, which had tried to latch onto me.  In the name of Jesus I sent them away.  Whatever they were.

Then I got out of the car and went and landed the job.  What was supposed to be a three-tiered interview process turned into a "hey, Anna, can we just hire you right now?".

I ended my evening with two beautiful friends of mine who gave me my second donation towards this amazing journey.  Right now I am carrying the light burden and easy yoke of the Lamb.  There are only some tears left in my eyes from the faces of some unfamiliar children who filled my mind while I was praying.  

Now I'm home.  And the wind is about to blow the house down.