Tag: spiritual warfare

Do You Recognize the Voice Speaking to You?

gospel through artsI received a fun surprise in my inbox last week. A friend recommended that I be featured as the artist of the month with Make and Believe Productions, whose mission is to use the arts to share the gospel and to do it with excellence.

There was a part of me that wanted to reply, “Actually, I’m not really an artist. I’m kind of a lay dancer, and I don’t know if my work is excellent enough for those who read your posts” and go on to explain my lack of credentials.

But that would have been an insult to my friend who recommended me and to the Lord who has given me the measure of gifting He has and Who is allowing me to use it. It would be an insult to the amazing teachers who have invested in me over the past five years, allowing me to grow as a dancer and minister and gain credentials for teaching. (Thank you, Jocelyn Richard and Lynn Hayden) So, I simply thanked her for including me, sent in my bio, and said a quick prayer of thanks for the open door.

There is a familiar voice I hear so often in my head that I mistake it for my own voice. Sometimes I interpret it as humility, an accurate assessment of my weaknesses. Other times I interpret it as my own insecurities. But the truth is, it’s not my voice at all. It’s the voice of the Enemy. He disguises his voice as my own in order to keep me holding back, burying my talents instead of investing them. Can you relate?

I remember a time when I was teaching middle school, over 15 years ago, when I lamented to my dear friend and fellow teacher that I was struggling. I was feeling inadequate and even jealous of her (she was a dynamic, creative, and confident teacher). I described to her all the ways I felt I wasn’t measuring up. I patted myself on the back for being “honest,” but she would have none of it.

She said to me, “Amy, sometimes Satan overplays his hand. This is as spiritual attack. You are in ministry in the church and at this school, and he is trying to divert you from what you are called to do. You need to pray through putting on the weapons of your warfare every morning,” and she articulated this prayer based on Ephesians 6 for me that I have prayed over and over since then:

Lord, I place the belt of truth around my waist. Let everything I say and think be your truth.  I put on the breast plate of righteousness. May I trust in your righteousness today and may I walk in righteousness, so that my heart is protected. Let my feet be shod with the gospel of peace. May I bring your peace everywhere I walk today. I raise the shield of faith. Let me have more faith today than I had yesterday. I put on the helmet of salvation. May all my thoughts be taken captive to the salvation of Jesus. May your word be a sword in my hand that I use to set people free. I will pray in the Spirit today for your people, that the gospel will go out.

I experienced immediate relief from the spiritual attack and the “insecurity” no longer seemed valid.

We each are vulnerable to spiritual attack in different ways. Sometimes the enemy uses our pride, a physical weakness, or our tendency to overschedule our time. There are a multitude of ways we may be vulnerable. But the result is that we are immobilized. It’s the enemy’s strategy to seek to steal, kill and destroy, and he’s out to hinder what God wants to do in our lives. However, if we can recognize the voice as his and/or recognize the hit as a spiritual attack, then we can stand firm in the Lord and resist.

If you are feeling plagued by self doubt, or overwhelmed by discouragement, or just pestered by mishaps, to pray through the prayer from Ephesians 6. Say it out loud and gesture as you put on each piece of armor. Better yet, don’t wait for the attack. Make it a habit to put on your armor daily. Then you will be prepared to move forward, not burying your talents, but putting them to use, whenever He gives you an open door.

Join the discussion and respond in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

Can you relate?

How to you recognize spiritual attack and fight back, in the Lord?

Thank you for allowing me to be part of your life. Also, thank you for celebrating this joy with me. I’m grateful to be featured on Make and Believe Productions and look forward to any doors the Lord opens through it.

 

Movements of Breakthrough

movements of breakthrough
Through prayerful movements, we pull down strongholds.

Strongholds are anything that hinders the will of God in our lives. They can be long standing patterns of behavior or thought, even things that seem to be woven into the fabric of our personalities that keep us from doing God’s will or abiding in Him.

There are strongholds in families, strongholds over cities, institutions, and nations. They manifest in relational conflicts, in addiction, in injustice, crime, illness, and more. The outward symptoms are physical and material, but the root of the problem is in the spiritual realm.

The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 that God has given us authority in Christ to pull down these strongholds:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Our greatest weapon in pulling down these strongholds is prayer, and when we pray according to His will, we know He answers. As dancers, we intercede not just with our words, but with our movements.

In this 4 minutes video, I share movements you can use in your prayer and devotion to break down strongholds in your life, in the lives of your loved ones, and in your community.

This teaching comes from the DVD Weapons of Warfare/Movements of Breakthrough. The Weapons of Warfare/Movements of Breakthrough DVD contains four basic sections. In the first section, Pastor Lynn teaches out of the Dance, Dance, Dance! book on the Hebrew words associated with power movements.

In the second section, we learn how doing movements like circling, marching in procession, whirling, and shaking can bring deliverance by pulling down strongholds.

In the third section, Pastor Lynn gives four scriptures that describe the Lord bringing victory and deliverance through praise, and she gives movement ideas for each of these scriptures. She goes on to develop 8 counts of punch-kick movements that you can use in your own workout or to lead a group of dancers.

And, finally, in the fourth section, she demonstrates how to put all this together into a 20-minute time of movements in which a group of dancers can do spiritual warfare while also getting a cardio workout. Each section builds on the previous section, equipping the dancer with movements for intercession.

I love this DVD. One of my primary callings as a dancer is to intercede in my own prayer time and to equip others to intercede through movement. This DVD gives me strong movements for warfare (where my natural bent is towards fluid, gentle movements) and a strong biblical basis for using them.

Whether you purchase this DVD or just incorporate the movements for pulling down strongholds into your devotion (and create more movements of your own), I pray that you are encouraged and equipped by these in your prayer time.

Please share your thoughts in the comments:

Did you find this helpful?

How have you incorporated dance into your time of intercession?