Spiritual Warfare- Real or just a good imagination?

Whoa! What a scary topic. Definitely something for the charismatic church. You don't hear about it too much in the conservative churches. Some Christians don't even believe much in demons, spiritual warfare, all that hocus-pocus stuff. Seems too New-Agish.

Why is it that this topic is hardly discussed in the average church today? Do we fear the obsession that may come? Do we fear our own ignorance? There are so few people that openly discuss this topic, even fewer that greatly understand it.

But when you start having visions, dreams, or open visions, when demons start attacking you in your sleep, during the day when you're eyes are wide open,WELL...things start to look a little differently. It's hard to kid yourself that this stuff isn't real. I've been feeling like it's time to come out of the hole. To not ignore this gift that God has given me. What is the use of a talent if it is only put in the ground and buried?

I've had two very interesting nights, last night and the one before. It's been a while. A while since I've had a spiritual dream, or vision, or whatever you want to call them. A while since I've seen either an angel or demon. God always seems to know how much I can handle, and to be honest, I've had my plate full. He always knows when I need a rest from all the spiritual battles, and He covers me. Protects me. But I'll talk about all that in another blog. Honestly, I didn't grow up charismatic. I grew up in a church that NEVER talked about this stuff. And no one ever talked about it with me. Most of what I know is from...experience. Since childhood. But like I said, that's for another blog.

But I felt like it was time to head back into the battle. I felt ready to fight again, and was talking to God about that last week. So I guess you could say that I asked for it :)

Saturday night's dream felt so real, I don't think it was a dream. I've started to realize this past year that what I thought were dreams, were in fact, open visions. They were real...but that's for another blog and time.

I felt restless. It has been a tiring month. We've had 26 straight days of sickness, of vomiting, colds, fevers, diarrhea, you name it. There was an entire week in which we were ALL sick. All 5 of us. In the middle of all that, we moved. Physically speaking, it's been a long month.

But this was different. I could feel in my spirit that something was happening in the spirit realm. I finally drifted to sleep, after praying for a few hours. Suddenly, I was in the hallway of the house.

And I saw Satan walking in front of me. He was peering into the rooms, and when he came into our room, I saw him whispering. Whispering words of defeat, of wrath, of bitterness, of resentment and pride. Thoughts that had flitted into my brain only hours before. Slowly he moved on to my sons' room and did the same thing.

I saw him with such clarity and I suddenly realized that I wasn't afraid. This may not mean much to you, but to ME, this was amazing. I've had quite a few dreams throughout the years, with demons and with Satan in them, and I've always struggled against fear. They always appeared so menacing, so dark and full of power, evil power. There were times I would wake up shaking from the fear.

But it seemed that I saw him as he was. I couldn't believe that I had been afraid of him for so many years. But I also realized that this is somebody who tries to poison our minds against our spouses, our families and our friends. Even against our enemies. And instead of realizing who the true enemy is, we point our fingers and carelessly toss injurious words at each other, spewing forth venom, HIS venom, not realizing the whole time that behind the stage there is the real enemy.

Has it ever occurred to you that the thoughts going through your head may not be from you? Are you aware that Satan can talk to you, but so subtly that you think it is YOUR thoughts? Are your thoughts full of guilt, shame, bitterness, condemnation, hatred? This is exactly what Satan wants you to think about. Do you think this is God talking to you? NEVER. The Holy Spirit convicts, but Paul states clearly, There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

He doesn't want you to reconcile with your spouse, or love your children, or extend peace to a neighbor. He wants you out of the way, down for the count. And one of his best attacks is through the mind.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that every single bad thought we have is from Satan. We certainly don't help ourselves. But I think we take too much of the credit sometimes.

Last night's dream was so real, I can still feel my heart racing when I think of it. I had just fallen asleep, restless again. I went to bed praying. Suddenly, I felt a large body land on our bed. The bed shook from the weight. I shot up out of bed, certain we were being robbed. After a minute, my heart still pounding, I heard nothing. I then thought that it was perhaps one of the kids who had come over, perhaps all 3 of them, from the way the bed had shaken. I waited to hear a little boy voice ask to come sleep with us, but still, nothing. The silence was deafening. I knew somebody, or something, was in that room. The shaking of the bed had woken me from a dead sleep. I could tell there was a demon in that room, trying to bring a spirit of fear onto me.

And how did Jesus spar with Satan? Quoting Scripture. I still think that is one of the best ways to fight Satan and his demons. I spoke Timothy aloud,

For he has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of self-control.

And after a couple hours of quoting Scripture and praying, I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The truth is, we are at war. Whether you want to believe it or not, there is an enemy prowling around, learning your weaknesses and doing his best to take you out. Whether it's through ignorance, apathy, loneliness or the use of other people, he will try his best.

So I'm keeping my Bible close, and talking to God...a LOT. And if you're interested in getting off the sidelines and joining the battle, I suggest you do the same.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.

El Tuma Coffee Farm

The green beans are coffee. Look like green cranberries, don't they? They will be ready to harvest between October and December, when they turn red.



Today we had the pleasure of visiting a coffee farm in El Tuma, a small sleepy town about 1 hour north of us.

The farm was beautiful, with acres and acres of coffee on a gently sloping mountainside.

We were close to the farm when we came upon bridge construction. Now, bridge construction is different here in Nicaragua, in the way that when they are working on the bridge, the only way to get across is either to swim across or drive across and hope your vehicle is high enough to make it without stalling. Most rivers are dry enough during the dry season for it to not be an issue, but this is the rainy season. and it has been a VERY rainy season in this neck of the woods.



BUT...we really wanted to see the farm. So, after reviewing our options and talking to a guy that directed us, we first drove halfway across the river and then pointed our way upstream for a bit before getting back onto dry land. The women washing their clothes and the naked boys playing in the river stared at us as though they had never seen white people before.



The coffee was fairly dense at times and it felt like we were explorers lost in a jungle.


A view of the valley below the farm.

Steve's male

Here is one of Steve's latest acquisitions...he was quite proud of this strong, male goat he found. Actually, he's not ours. The goat, I mean. The buck is part of the project.

Some other good news is that after traversing Nicaragua's northern mountains for 8 hours he was able to locate the last 12 goats that he needs to complete that phase of the project. And the goats look quite nice, so he was happy about that. The goats will be delivered after we get back from Honduras in about a week and a half.

The only major part left is to complete the construction of the tanks and finish delivering worms.

5 weeks from today...

Time is going by so fast. I blink and another day has come and gone. There seems to be no way to slow the rapid flow of time, the growing nearness of our departure date.

Steve has been working like a crazy man to get his project done before we leave. This last month he has spent most of his time on designing and constructing a larger ferrocement tank. This tank holds 1500 gallons and will be shared by several families. Quite an impressive structure, eh?

The first day Steve spent on the tank they were not able to get a decent cover and were soaked to the bone. But they quickly learned how to construct a tarp over the 7.5 foot tall structure. You can see here the wire mesh that helps to reinforce the concrete. Hence, ferrocement.



What’s more impressive is that Steve completely designed the mold of this tank, using nothing but his brain. And surprisingly, he discovered, once again, how much he enjoys design.



Before we came to Nicaragua, he worked as a design engineer and thoroughly enjoyed his work. Once again, he had the chance to design something from nothing. The work has been a bit hampered by the rainy season, which started early and is a bit ferocious this year. In one sense, all the rain is good. We had a severe shortage of rain last year due to El Niño, so hopefully all this excess will help us catch up. However, it is difficult to build a cement tank when it pours all day. The one good thing is that the cement will cure slower, ensuring more strength for the tank.

On another note, Steve has delivered all the materials needed to finish up the tanks and the latrines. It feels good to be done with that part of the project, to never again be figuring out the material lists and going to the hardware store to order the materials. Most of the animals have been delivered, except for the goats. Steve will be going up to a town called Somoto today to look at some goats. Hopefully he will be able to find the remaining 12 that he needs. A few people also need worms and rabbits, but the majority have already been delivered.

All the chickens have been delivered except to one person. So we are finally seeing an end to this 3 yr project. There were some failures (most of the rabbits died), but there have also been some successes. The worms have done really well, and the people are impressed with the results they are seeing from applying the “worm dirt” to their gardens. And the people are enjoying the goat’s milk. Already we are hearing stories of malnourished children who are getting stronger from receiving a daily supply of milk, where before they never drank milk or any sort of dairy product.

Pray that we would be able to get all the things done that need to be finished and also know how to balance our priorities.

In the next 5 weeks, we need to:
Decide if we are staying or going back to the States.
Pack up our house.
Decide on where Steve is going to work, school options for Zach, and where exactly we are going to live.
Finish up a pile of paperwork for MCC and complete several doctors’ appointments.