A Spiritual Battle

We spent hours chatting over coffee, then over dinner, and before we parted for the night, I offered to pray for her, which she readily accepted. As I prayed for her, her body began to tremble, then she let out a cry which turned into a little scream. So, I told her to call out to Jesus, to call out His name. She struggled to say His name, her mouth seemed to be slammed shut, but she continued to try - and as she did, she eventually managed to blurt out, "Jesus...Jesus... forgive me, forgive me!". I knew she was fighting with the spirit of Islam. As much as I would have loved to cast it out of her, to do so would put her in grave danger - without accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour, she would not have had the Holy Spirit to protect her when it tries to return. So, I just prayed to bind its powers, and allowing it to reside in her body until a more opportune time for deliverance could present itself.

As my prayer came to an end, I had a vision of a rough and cloudy diamond with black impurities in it. I told her about it, and explained that she was that rough diamond; the impurities were all the evil spirits that were residing in her body. I continued to say that God was waiting to cut and polish this rough diamond, so that it can shine bright and beautiful; free from impurities. I conveyed to her that this was God's immediate plan for her life. In hearing this, the woman then described to me what she saw as I prayed over her, how she saw a bright light trying to shine upon her, but that darkness came and got in the way. She felt the power of that darkness and told me that it was very, very strong. She tried to fight it but couldn't. It first overwhelmed, and then took over the light. I knew then that one day I would have to fight this strong dark evil spirit with the power of the Holy Spirit, but I had to wait for God's perfect timing.

Jesus Calling

The young woman's journey towards finding Jesus continued in the weeks following. She experienced many more encounters with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Two such events happened at a Ladies gathering and during a Night Prayer. I shall quote here the relevant parts:

• • Taken from "In the Upper Room":

"The final testimony came from a woman who is currently following the Muslim faith, but has been fellowshipping with us for some time now. When the Holy Spirit made His round, she felt some kind of tingling coming from the top of her head going right down to her feet. She wanted to shout the name "Jesus", but a voice in her mind said "No!". Then she felt a dark destructive power trying to engulf her (which would be the spirit of Islam/Antichrist). Again, she wanted to scream the name "Jesus", but somehow she couldn't, it was preventing her, so all she could do instead was to cry. Later that night as I gave her a lift home, she said that when she was crying during the Holy Spirit visitation, she could almost see the face of Jesus among us, in our circle -- just like how she had seen Him in the film "Risen" when He sat among His disciples after His resurrection. She saw His face so clearly and could also hear Him calling her."

• • Taken from "A Night to Remember":

"Then as we approached dawn, when we prayed for one lady, some evil spirits inside her began to manifest. With screams and shouts, she held her hands up to her ears as if the prayers were hurting her. I had to take control of the situation, it was not the time or place to be doing deliverance, so I bound the powers of the evil spirits and told them to calm down. After some minutes, the lady began to calm, and she came back to herself....

Then a third incident happened while she was at church. When an altar call was made, something inside her began to feel uncomfortable, so she made her way to the front door to go out of the church in order to avoid the alter call. However, as she turned the handle of the door, she inadvertently locked the door (rather than opened it). She twiddled with the handle several times, but could not find a way to make the door open. Realising she was still stuck in the church, she quickly made her way to the toilets - to wait there until the alter call was over.

After waiting for some time in the toilets, and making an educated guess as to when the alter call was likely to be over, she came out to go back to her seat. In her horror, she realised that the alter call was still going on. Suddenly, she felt limp and began to fall to the ground like a leaf. Her friend who saw her, came quickly to catch her, and in the minutes following, she cried and cried on the floor.

The pastor was quickly called to help, he prayed over her and asked her to accept Jesus Christ, but again she couldn't. Words just wouldn't come out of her mouth, only the sound of her cries. She cried for some time before things turned calm and she was able to be herself again, and went home.

The Commitment

Shortly after the incident at the church, unbeknownst to me, she went through her books at home, and felt a strong urge to throw away her Islam-related books and literature. As she did so, she knew in her heart that she was ready... ready to accept Jesus Christ, she just didn't know how to, and when yet.

A few days later, she came to visit me with her friend. She shared with me what happened at the church (but not yet shared that she had thrown away her Islam-related books, so I had no idea she was actually ready to accept Jesus). As she spoke about the incident at the church, I felt the strong urge to ask her if she wanted to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour, and so I did.

As she heard my question, she looked at me - her face frozen! She was finally confronted with THE question that she had always feared, yet at the same time, a question which she had wanted to hear and answer "Yes" to. I could see it in her eyes. The spiritual battle began again. Her mouth froze, there were no words coming out. Then suddenly her head nodded. My heart rejoiced immediately! I saw hope on the horizon, the battle was almost won -- she just needed to take one more step further -- that was to say the word "Yes".

So, I asked her again to say, "Yes". As before, her mouth froze and no words came out, but I could see her struggling against the dark power within her. After some minutes, she eventually said the word "Yes!" As soon as she did this, I came to where she was sitting, bound the power of Islam in Jesus Name, and asked her to repeat the prayer of Salvation after me. With struggles and cries, she repeated the prayer after me, again with a trembling body as the dark power tried to prevent her from saying the prayer. Eventually she finished the prayer, and as she did so, she cried out Jesus's name and asked again for His forgiveness.

It was dramatic to see, but so powerful and beautiful. Her ordeal was over, she now belongs to Jesus Christ - hallelujah!

Two weeks later at the usual Life Group gathering, she came forward in front of everyone to make the all-important announcement that she had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. Everyone clapped, rejoicing, as she smiled the hugest smile with tears of joy.

It was now time for her deliverance.

Deliverance Day

It was a beautiful sunny morning on the day of her deliverance. A good friend of the young woman wanted to prepare breakfast for her that day, so she made a trip to the supermarket to buy some breakfast essentials. While on her way, she was met by a stranger who asked for directions to the open market. As she gave instructions, the stranger asked what her nationality was, to which she replied that she was from the Philippines. The stranger immediately switched to speaking in Tagalog and explained that he was a missionary from Germany. The friend was surprised but enjoyed the conversation with him in Tagalog. After a few minutes, he bid her farewell and said in Tagalog,

"Today is going to be a great day, Ingat!".

In Tagalog, ingat means "Take Care", but funnily enough in Indonesian (my language), it means "Remember".

Later that day, as this friend shared the story with all of us, we realised that this stranger may have been an angel, who would confidently say "Today is going to be a great day". This could only be a heavenly encounter. We were all very encouraged by this, and knew in our hearts that it was going to be a successful deliverance. The friend of the young woman (to be delivered) attended the deliverance session to help support us all in prayer as we battle.

The session began, and as sins were confessed and repented of by the young woman, one of our team members saw (in the spirit) flashes of lightening on the head of the woman. The woman stated that she felt light - usually an indication that her sins have been forgiven (probably confirmed by the vision of flashes of lightening in that the sins were zapped by them).

For the next 3 hours, the Holy Spirit worked through us in which 22 evil spirits were identified and cast out. Each and every one of these evil spirits manifested - some in such an aggressive way that at times the young woman had to be held back in her seat. Other times the spirits would speak words of hatred to all of us, the attacking team, kicking and screaming as they reluctantly left her body. Like other deliverances we had done before, white foam and clear slime were often vomited as the spirits left.

Amongst the most challenging spirits, was the spirit of Islam (I now have that "opportune time" I was waiting for!). This spirit took over the woman's body as it manifested with hatred, refusing to leave. We continued our attack despite its extremely strong resistance. Then suddenly, the spirit of the woman rose up and took over her own body and cried out,

"Lord, help me, help me, Lord... Lord, please Help me... please help me! ... Please forgive me..."

But then the spirit of Islam would take over again, and started its hate speech at us again. The spiritual battle was fierce inside her. Finally after some time, the spirit of Islam gave up its hold on the woman and left. Indeed, as the Bible says:

Joel 2:32

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said ....

Angelic Assistance

Then the friend of the woman who was there to support us in prayers saw what looked like a white feather floating in mid-air. The feather went past her face, and disappeared into thin air. As she described this to us, we were sure that that was a sign of a fierce spiritual battle - the angels were fighting with us against the evil spirits in the room, and one angel lost a feather. It was surreal, even for me -- do I believe such things? -- but yet, that was the reality! The world in the spiritual realm is just as real as it is in the physical realm. And so yes, I do believe!

Amongst all the evil spirits that were cast out, the spirit of Islam was the only spirit that caused the spirit of the woman to rise up and shout to the Lord Jesus Christ for help, after which it was defeated. (To me, this was a most interesting observation as it illustrated the intensity of the battle in the spiritual realm -- a battle which is also ongoing in the world today as many Christians and Jews fall under the persecutions of Islamic terror groups.)

Coming Back Home

After a total of five hours, the session ended. Now the young woman is free and is in Christ! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord Jesus who made all this possible. In the excitement of her newfound freedom, the woman exclaimed that all the aches and pains she had on her neck and shoulders were gone. She felt light and free. Her countenance was bright - as if she had just been given a brand-new skin over her face - she was radiant, flawless, and just beautiful!

Then I remembered my vision of the impure, cloudy, rough diamond all those weeks ago when I first prayed for her. Oh, how true! Jesus has now cut and polished her, having saved her, and delivered her from the power of darkness. No wonder she is now truly shining bright and beautiful! Oh my! How true, how true!! All that has now come to pass!!! Thank you Lord Jesus for what you have done for her!

That night after the deliverance, the woman had a dream. Her clothes had become dirty, filthy as rags, and so she threw it all away! Indeed, that dirty cloth was her life full of sins, and as she repented, she threw all that away. Now that she had been forgiven and delivered, a new life of freedom and fine garments await her. She is finally home! Hallelujah! Thank you Lord for your faithfulness for always calling her, and for welcoming her back home!

Isaiah 64:6

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Zechariah 3:4

The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

© Elma Larsen. All rights reserved.