breakthroughmn

A Familiar Spirit, September 14th, 2015

This post is part 2 of what happened after I dropped Pastor Pete Couper off from Monday afternoon, September 14th and covers ground through Thursday, September 17th.  It has to do with a familiar spirit and how this affected me.

So what is a familiar spirit?

  • Dictionary.com –  “A supernatural spirit or demon supposed to attend on or serve a person.”
  • Google  – “A demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal.”

I did some more research on this topic to better understand what happened to me.  My source for the following information is from GotQuestions?.org.

  • Question: “What are familiar spirits?”Answer:

    The word familiar is from the Latin familiaris, meaning a “household servant,” and is intended to express the idea that sorcerers had spirits as their servants ready to obey their commands. Those attempting to contact the dead, even to this day, usually have some sort of spirit guide who communicates with them. These are familiar spirits.Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; and Deuteronomy 18:9-14 refer to “mediums and familiar spirits” and forbids being involved with them, as they are an abomination to the Lord. A medium is one who acts as a liaison to supposedly contact or communicate with the dead on behalf of the living. In reality mediums are contacting demons who convince the mediums that they are “familiar” and can be trusted and believed. The practices associated with mediums and familiar spirits were banned in Israel, and the punishment for practicing such things was death.

    Familiar spirits and spirit guides are under the control of their master, Satan. They influence people to spread lies and deceit in order to thwart the kingdom of God. To knowingly open oneself to the work of demons is an evil thing: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in [a] fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12a).

    Some avenues through which demons or “familiar spirits” can gain entrance into a person’s life are divination, transcendental meditation, visualization, necromancy, witchcraft, drugs, and alcohol. These are all activities that believers are exhorted to avoid. Instead, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, with love, with joy, and with the fullness of life that comes from Jesus Christ. We are also to be on guard, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

I wanted to lay the foundation of understanding for what I experienced after I dropped Pete off.  I have come to learn through Wisdom not to focus on the enemy rather, to keep my focus on Jesus.  However, we can’t ignore the enemy either.  We have to recognize that the enemy may be a defeated foe, but that will not stop him from wreaking havoc on our lives or on those we love.

When I dropped Pete off and drove away – I immediately started to feel an oppression come over me.  I can only describe it as a blanket that fell upon me.  It was heavy and I felt alone.  In an instant, everything changed.  I was agitated and feeling irritable.  This describes my nature over the next three days.  It had an impact on everything including my family.  Since I started my sabbatical almost two months ago, one of the benefits I have had the luxury of experiencing has been my mornings with the Lord.  Generally speaking, from 6 am to around noon I have simply been with the Lord praying, reading the Word, and writing.  But, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning last week it was different.  I tried but quite frankly, I simply lost the motivation.  This was scary.  I have never really experienced severe depression in my life, so all I can say is that this is the only way I can describe it – depression.

Is it possible that the seed of depression is demonic?  Look, I am not a Psychologist but if what I experienced was depression, and I can pinpoint the location where the seed was planted, and I can describe my experience in detail, and I can describe (As I will in my next post) how God pulled me out of it – then, as far as I am concerned it is.  You simply can’t deny my experience.  I believe God, in His sovereignty had something to show me.  Something I needed to see.

What I haven’t told you is that Pete dealt with this for at least two days before we went to North Branch.  And G dealt with this for at least two days after he went and prayed in North Branch.

Here is what I have concluded.  There is a powerful principality over this region and it now knows who we are.  God allowed us all to experience this so we would know who we are dealing with.  This familiar spirit is what we are up against.  Overcoming this spirit is the topic of my next post.

breakthroughmn

Tip of the Spear – Monday, September 14th

Still playing a bit of catch up.  In so much I am writing this post because it is so significant.

This post will cover Monday, September 14th.  It has to do with again with the sovereignty of God.  Now, as I have indicated in my last post, I will spend some time in upcoming posts teaching what I have learned on the subject of God’s sovereignty.  But, for those who are like me, you may want a sneak peak.

The definition of the word “Sovereign” – “A monarch; a king, a queen, or other supreme ruler. A person who has supreme power or authority.”  Sovereignty can be further defined as having supreme authority, control, and power over all that has happened, is happening, and will happen in the future in all times across all history.  Our God is in control of everything.

So, I have started to realize that nothing is by chance and everything including every circumstance is in the control of our sovereign God.  I really want to camp out here, but this understanding and further teaching on this subject will have to wait.  In the context of what happened last Monday, I wanted to lay a very firm foundation regarding God’s sovereignty.

The day – Monday, September 14th (Tip of the Spear)

Pete and I had agreed to meet for lunch again in North Branch to pray over the city on this Monday.  That day started early as I met Glen Myers for breakfast at 7:00 am.  We generally meet the first Monday of the month, but due to the Labor day weekend we moved it to today.  Glen is one of my mentors who prays for me.  I can’t say enough about the value of such relationships.  I have a number of them like this and recommend them whenever I get the chance.

Anyway, after my breakfast meeting I drove North and called Pete.  We agreed to meet next to the Dairy Queen in North Branch and when I arrived, Pete jumped into my car.  Before departing, we prayed that God would lead us to where He wanted us to go. We drove East and pulled into the parking lot of Main Street Church.  Here we got out and laid hands on and prayed over this building.  Being that it was a Monday, we didn’t figure to see to many people at any of the Churches we visited to pray and this Church was no exception.  We walked around the Church property praying as well.  From there we went up the block to Living Branch Lutheran Church and laid hands on the front doors and prayed.  As we were walking around the building we saw a man in the garage next store.  Pete being Pete, got the man’s attention and we walked over to chat with him.  His name was Roger, he was friendly and informed us that he and his wife moved to Florida but they were here to sell the house.  Roger owns the Ace Hardware in North Branch.  His wife, Cindy Lou drove up about 15 minutes into our conversation and we talked with the both of them for another 15 minutes.  Turns out she spends hours every day writing encouraging Christian posts on Facebook.

From there we drove to a restaurant for lunch. Pete had been in 2 Kings and wanted to talk about that.  So we read, and as we were talking Pete began to draw a picture.  It was a picture of the top of a spear.  As I looked at it, I sensed urgency.  I said to Pete, let’s go and find this spear.  I knew that it was significant because I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me in the sense of urgency.  God used this to help me understand a few  very important principles:

  1. When I sense urgency it is generally when the Holy Spirit comes upon me.
  2. Pay attention, there may be more to what the Holy Spirit is revealing.
  3. Just because I feel this sense of urgency, I still need be patient.
  4. Don’t set an expectation – God will surprise you.

Our entire life including every moment is a God thing.  When we start to recognize through the understanding of God’s sovereignty, we can begin the journey of partnering with God in every moment.  And in those moments when we have slowed down long enough to experience what God is doing – our spirits leap.  Those are “ah-ha” moments we begin to crave the more they occur.  To me, the Kingdom of God is like various levels of revelation.  It will grow according to the level of risk we are willing to take regarding that for which we hope for.  This is graduation into level one revelations.  These are moments when you start to hear the voice of God but question if it is God.  The only way to graduate to another level of revelation is to practice hearing the voice of God and then having the faith necessary to obey.  It is through many repetitions of obeying and then experiencing that we begin to trust enough to risk something that matters.  I really want to camp out here for a while as God has given me so much on this topic, but that will be for another time.

So, Pete and I started searching.  It was like a treasure hunt and we were excited!  Here is were God starts to teach me that I need to pay attention longer.  Seriously, we are like a couple of little kids who find a quarter and pick it up and run to the candy store.  If we would have only stopped long enough to look around, we would have seen an endless supply of quarters.  So, this is where God also starts to teach me patience.  When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, our spirits leap – and we get excited.  We want to go but, wisdom teaches us to wait upon the Lord for further instruction through prayer.  You see, I have hindsight to look back and recognize my over exuberance now, that I didn’t at the time.  We all have that luxury and should use it often.  This is called reflection.  But guess what?  We serve a sovereign God who is in control of everything.  He will use every moment of our life to accomplish His purpose through us, even our over exuberance!  Translation – we drove around for three hours before we found what we were looking for.  And even then, it was not what I was expecting.

Don’t get me wrong – It was worth it.  As a matter of fact, through my time of reflecting on this I have honestly come to realize that it was much better than what I was expecting.  The vision I have received regarding this is that when we set out with an intention to follow God, we are setting out to find gold.  He will always lead us to the gold, but it is up to us regarding just how much we take.  With God, the amount of gold is endless.  I find more gold during my reflection time with God than I can write about.  It’s like a river flowing with it – if I only slow down to reflect.

Pete and I spent three hours driving around from Church to Church praying over them.  God used that time to help us understand the lay of the land we are preparing to enter.  The last Church we visited was outside the city limits.  The setting of this Swedish Lutheran Church is right out of Heaven.  It sits on top of a hill overlooking a small lake and woods with the parking lot and cemetery across the winding road.  I pulled into the parking lot and as I was parking, Pastor George Marin from Albert Lea called.  He and his wife Jill were driving to Chicago to hear Bishop Tudor Bismark speak.  This was the first time in 11 years he had the privilege of seeing him in person and they were excited.  They were traveling just outside of Rockford when he called.  A side note – Pastor George or “G” as we call him is one of the most anointed men I have ever met.  When he preaches, he preaches with power and authority like few I have ever heard.  He is our ministry partner and the spiritual overseer of the Southern region of Minnesota.  So, G calls and while we are sitting in the parking lot he starts prophesying over us.  During this time, one of the things he says is that “each follower of Jesus is like an arrow in God’s quiver.”  He said that “Pete and I are each a powerful arrow and God is pulling us out of the quiver right now for such a time as this.  Together, the three of us are the “Tip of the spear” that God will use to destroy the powers and principalities over this Northern region.”  What?  Pete slaps my arm and points to the picture.  Did he just say “Tip of the spear?”.  Bam!  We are slammed by the Holy Spirit and in utter disbelief.

What are the odds?  It just so happens that we have been intentionally looking for this object for three hours.  There was an expectation that we would find the object.  I was looking to find an actual spear but God surprised us by giving us what we were looking for through prophecy.  The mysterious ways of the Lord never cease.

Incidentally, after over an hour with G on the phone we did go up and pray over this particular Church.  We met the grounds keeper and prayed with him as well.  I am sure there is more to this story, but we will just have to wait to see how it concludes.  We then went back to North Branch and I dropped Pete off.  What happens next scared me.

My next post will be about “A Familiar Spirit” – This spirit is powerful over this region in particular and has effected all three of us since September 3rd.

breakthroughmn

September 3rd, 2015

Well, I guess I will start here.  I needed to go back to September 3, 2015 primarily because something special happened that day.  Of course, at the time I didn’t realize it, but as the day unfolded it became obvious to me the Lord was showing me very clearly that I am hearing Him well.  This is the type of testimony that shows God’s sovereignty and that is a topic that I will talk a lot about in the upcoming posts.  For me, the last seven years clearly represent a season that has come to a close.  Those years birthed Breakthrough Ministries and served as training for what has now become the next season of my life and ministry.  It is here that I will attempt to record what the Lord shows me.

The Next Season – North Branch Minnesota

The backdrop of the following story is that a few months back I received a download from the Lord about planning for next year.  The idea was born out of our purpose to advance the gospel first in “our” Jerusalem, then Samaria, then to Judea, and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  For the better part of the last year I have been working on a project to better understand and organize Breakthrough.  Through the process, I have recognized the location of key people within the leadership of the organization and recognized that Pastor George was in Albert Lea and Pastor Pete was in Pine City.  These locations are hubs to the regions they represent.  Pastor George has been doing SoulFest in Albert Lea the last few years and we agreed to come alongside of him and pour into that city.  To me, it was an opportunity to partner with Grace Christian Church to bless the people of Albert Lea.  From there I asked the Lord if we should do this in other communities such as Pine City.  We started to talk about this and pray.  There was a check in our spirit about Pine City simply because of its small size.  So, if not there, then where?  We started to talk about North Branch.  Our plan is to do three SoulFest Tent Revivals in 2016.  In North Branch (June), Minneapolis (July), and Albert Lea (August).

I felt compelled to write about what happened on Thursday, September 3rd.

I woke up that morning having no idea what was in store for me that day.  It was a typical morning during my sabbatical which is to say that I was drawn in early to the Lord through prayer and study.  But, around 8:30 am I felt compelled to jump in the shower and get ready.  Get ready for what – I did not know.  During that time I prayed and asked the Lord if I should go to Albert Lea and see George or if He wanted me to go and see Pete in Pine City.  The prospect of driving all the way to Pete’s was not all that appealing for me, so when I was done getting ready I called Pastor George.  No answer, hmmm.  So, I called Pete.  No answer.  Alright Lord, am I supposed to visit someone?  Then I thought I would go to the person who called me back first.  Pete called within seconds of that thought.  We chatted and I asked him if he would meet me in North Branch for lunch to pray over the city.  He was busy with a delivery of wood and I sensed he was conflicted with the idea as he was rather vague with his response.  Finally, after a few minutes I was antsy and interrupted him with “Am I coming to North Branch or not?”  He agreed and I immediately got into my car and left.

As I drove and talked to Pete we started talking about next June and the possibility that North Branch may be the place we do SoulFest.  Today was the first anniversary of my father-in-laws death and as Pete and I were talking I was compelled to call my wife.  I agreed to call Pete at the 35W split and proceeded to call my wife to let her know I was thinking about her.  She was about to go into a meeting so our call only lasted a few minutes.  Then, I called my mother-in-law and then my sister-in-law to let them both know they were on my heart.  It is strange what stands out to me when I am in this kind of place with the Lord.  First, I should say that I was not entirely sure this was a monumental moment.  It was like most any other moment in so much as that I didn’t really realize what was coming.

I had called Pete to let him know that I was at the split and as I was driving I did notice a group of outlaw motorcyclists and wondered about the spiritual connection as I drove by them.  I even mentioned this to Pete and then realized that I needed to be praying before entering North Branch so Pete and I agreed to meet at a Mexican Restaurant.  After I hung up the phone I went to prayer.  I remember asking God to show me what I needed to see, and to direct me to who we needed to meet.  I also realized that the prayer was unusually succinct and clear.  As I was praying I soon realized that I was already coming into North Branch.  As I was exiting, I was seeing this town as if for the first time.  It seemed so perfect, so peaceful – like a place I wanted to be.  I had been to North Branch before, but I really couldn’t remember it at the time.  It seemed so clean.  I went in the direction I thought the restaurant was and thought I probably beat Pete to town, so I pulled over and asked God where He wanted me to go.  I pulled up a Church list on my phone and followed the directions to a Church named Access.  The link said it was a spirit filled church.  Although at the time I didn’t realize it, but this church represented the entrance point to North Branch from the West.  It is the “Western Gate” to the city.  I pulled into their lot and noticed the rather large and flat open area behind their building and thought about how we would set up our equipment there.  I then slowly rolled toward the front of the building and asked the Lord if He wanted me to go in.  “Not yet” was the thought I had, so I decided to call Pete and ask him where he was.  He was at the restaurant, so I hurried out of the church lot and met Pete.

Pete and I sat down and ordered lunch and talked.  It was good to see him as we hadn’t been together since Albert Lea.  At a certain point it seemed as though we needed to get to business in our discussion about why we were here in North Branch.  I remember telling Pete that I thought we were here to find a person or people of peace.  I specifically said we need to find the George Marin and Sheri Richards of North Branch.  Pete mentioned that he had been at a coffee shop a few weeks earlier and met a women wearing a “Revive Twin Cities” shirt.  A sense of urgency came over us as Pete said “let’s go!”

We arrived at this coffee shop and I followed Pete in.  He looked behind the counter and mumble something as he headed toward the back.  I immediately noticed a guy and a gal sitting at a table as I followed Pete.  I asked Pete what he was doing and he said “I need some coffee beans”.  Mind you, this all takes place in just a few seconds and so I turned around and walked back.  Just then I noticed the guy and gal getting up and again I felt this sense of urgency.  I can honestly say that I really didn’t have time to think – I just opened my mouth and asked the man if he was a Pastor.  He gave me a puzzled look and said “Yes, I am Pastor Frank Gomes of Northbrook Fellowship.”  Catch the awkwardness of the moment here.  It was at that very moment we all realized something was going on – but we weren’t really quite sure what it was.  In a few short seconds, everything seemed to change.  The women then said “How did you know he was a Pastor?”  To which I replied “The Holy Spirit sent me all the way from Apple Valley to meet you here this morning.”  She said “look at my arms, I have goose bumps all over me”.

We explained our morning and how we ended up here and that we were to pray over the city.  Then Pastor Frank said, “Look at my arms – now I have goosebumps.”  He then told us that he was leading a meeting in a few minutes to pray for the city with a group of Pastors and community leaders.  Pete asked him if we could come.  He said “Yes!”  To which I replied, “It just so happens that I was prompted to come all the way from the Twin Cities to pray for this city, and it just so happens we meet the one guy in a town of 8,000 who just so happens to be on his way to lead a prayer meeting for this city.”  Seems rather strange.

So we followed Pastor Frank to the public library where we met Pastor Steve Weihsmann of the Harris Covenant Church, Gloria a prayer warrior, and Marion (our Sheri Richards).  Pastor Frank tells this story to them and we all recognize the work of the Holy Spirit.  Marion tells us that just last week their prayer was that when people come to this city that they feel peace – the kind of peace I felt as I entered.

We talked about SoulFest next June and what that might look like.  We even talked about where it should be “Central Park” right in downtown.  Obviously at this point we are all pretty excited.  Pastor Steve suggests that Pastor Frank bring this before the Ministerial which Pastor Frank just so happens to chair.   Pastor Frank agrees.  We then went to prayer for the next 30 minutes offering all we had talked about up to the Lord.  The meeting adjourned and we traded contact information.

From there, Pete and I went directly to Central Park to pray over the land.  The first thing we noticed were seven silos adjacent to the park.  That gets our attention because Pete and I received revelation about silos at least 3 years prior to this and spent a lot of time talking about them.  The idea that we would pour into other ministries and churches to fill them up to overflowing.  While at the park Pete was drawn to a group of youth and talked with them as I walked the land and prayed.  We were there about an hour.

From there we drove through the city and prayed over it.  Then we went to the four “Gates” of the city to pray over each one.  I found a rock at each corner and took them with me as a memory stone.  The last “Gate” we visited was the western one.  The one I had started my day at.  What was interesting was after praying over that gate, I felt like the Lord wanted us to pray for the church on the corner called Access.  It was strange – I pulled up to the front of the Church and Pete asked me should we go in?  I wasn’t sure at that point, so we just walked up to it and then I felt like we were to just lay our hands on it and pray over it.  As we were praying a car pulled up and a guy got out and started to walk toward the door.  I watched as Pete approached him – I am not sure, but at this moment I sensed something.  Rather than join Pete in a conversation with this man, I just went back to the car and waited for Pete.  A few minutes later he got into the car and made a comment about what he sensed.  He said “Resistance.”  He asked me why I didn’t want to go inside.  I said initially that was the idea, but when I got there I felt we were only to lay our hands on the building and pray for them.  Pete and I talked about people of peace and that the guy he met was not one of them.  I don’t feel like this had anything to do with this Church – I honestly feel like God just wanted us to realize resistance and that it may come from the Church.  I think it was more than anything a reminder to us to work only with people of peace.  I drove back to drop off Pete and we prayed.

As I left him, I could hardly wait to call Pastor George and share with him the mysterious ways of the Lord and all that happened.  Pastor George reminded me that it just so happens that he was going to Sandstone tomorrow to preach this weekend and would be driving through North Branch.  Seriously, what are the odds of a Pastor from Albert Lea driving through North Branch the very next day?  On his way the next day Pastor George drove to Central Park and prayed over the land and with some folks in the park.  He even met a couple who were moving to South Minneapolis and wanted to attend Breakthrough Church.

Well, the story is not complete.  It is still being written.  I am excited to see what will come from this journey, excited to get to know Pastor Frank Gomes (The George Marin of North Branch) as well as pastor Steve, Marion, Gloria and everyone else the Lord will eventually lead us to..