Have you ever faced spiritual warfare? That heaviness, that abnormal pressure, when the devil is coming against you. Of course you have. Everyone that has decided to follow Christ faces spiritual battles from unseen evil forces. I know you are aware of this but doing what we do, spiritual warfare just comes with the job description. Battling the dark side is a part of everyday life for missionaries.
Our Mission: Acts 26:18 [The Mission] “…to open their eyes and turn them [people] from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Working in Southern Mexico and Belize, we have a man named Luis, his family lives on the campus as caretakers. Recently, Luis was mowing the backside of the mission campus when suddenly a large bang came from underneath the lawnmower. Then something flew across the yard like a bullet. Luis stopped the lawnmower and walked across the yard to investigate what had happened. Apparently the mower had hit an object and when he got to it he saw on the ground something in a plastic bag. Picking it up he saw that in it was a religious idol. He brought it to Bill and looking at it, Bill said “It is a curse idol, some people are trying to stop what we are doing here.” It was a statue of a Mayan witch doctor throwing-up. With great peace and confident faith, Bill then took it outside the property and declared God’s Word over it and by the authority given to him by the Blood of Jesus, broke any influence over the property or our lives.
God has given every Christian power over the dark side: Eph. 6:10-18 -Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
What gave Bill this kind of confident faith? Well, this isn’t the first time we have faced occult groups coming against us. For many years we faced witches and Satanists cults coming against us from time to time. Fifteen years ago in 1993 Bill and our son David, who was twelve years old at the time, were in Belize on a mission. They were there working with the Mennonites having pews built for a church in Mexico near our Yucatan property. While the pews were being prepared they were staying in a big boarding house where Bill’s father was living. One afternoon Bill and David returned, when they walked into the boarding house, they noticed an awful smell. Bill thought it was coming from the kitchen, so he opened the door. They saw two women. He saw where the smell was coming from, some objects that looked like cigars burning around the two women. One of the women had some kind of bonnet wrapped on her head and she was in a trance, her eyes were rolled back in her head, she had no shirt on and she was chanting, twitching in a strange way.
Bill shut the door; he knew what it was, voodoo. When Bill was a boy he would see the voodoo people in the market place and heard them at night holding their meetings while in Belize. Bill turned and shut the door to go and while turning around the Holy Spirit said, “What are you doing, go in and take authority over that demon.” Bill opened the door and there she was, eyes rolled back in her head, full of demons, her face hissing and chanting loudly at Bill. Bill took authority, using the Name Above All Names, JESUS! Then suddenly her eyes rolled back and the women screamed, and then came back to their senses. All of a sudden the same women who had seemed to be so powerful, were now looking at Bill with fear. She started shaking, her voice that once was so low and mean sounding was now getting squeaky; and suddenly she ran out of the house, screaming with fear. The demons that were in her, knew that the power of God had come into the house through a faith believing man.
Many times in the early days, when Bill and Pastor Don Husted were opening up the region around the Mayan city of Tizimin, they were confronted by people, who were demon possessed, over and over again. While staying in villages, people who were demon possessed came into the meetings and the teams had to be ready to cast the demons out. Many people were set free and this is one of the things that kept making our meetings grow. The Mayans were seeing God’s power in action. Fifteen years later, we don’t see the same things. We think there are two reasons. (1) The demons in that area had never met a true Christian, so in the beginning of the mission’s work they would openly confront us and would be cast out of people and then the villages had the peace and joy of the Lord rest on them. (2) The demonic powers in the area hide from us now. They saw our power over their comrades and like in the US, keep quiet and work in more subtle and quiet ways.
1Peter 5:7-8, 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.
On one occasion we had a family in our ministry in the US that told us they had family members who kept seeing a ghost in their home. An image of a little girl kept appearing. So they asked Bill to call them. Bill called and introduced himself and asked if he could help. The man’s name was David and he was one of the greatest singers and guitar players in the bay area. He played and sang in the top clubs. David told Bill that he and this wife kept seeing the image of a little girl. He said his wife was afraid when he was on the road. David went on to say that they had a daughter and she had begun to say that she had a new friend. Their daughter would tell them that the imaginary friend told her name. Bill shared with them that this sounded demonic and that they needed Salvation through Jesus Christ. He shared about the two worlds we live in; the natural world that we see every day and the unseen spirit world that we cannot see. David’s entire family came to a church service and gave their lives to Christ. We did some investigating and realized that the image was a demon disguising itself as a little girl. They were renting the house and under the paint in almost every room were demonic symbols. Apparently the people who had formerly lived in the house conducted satanic rituals. The symbols on the walls drew the evil spirit. The home was then anointed and prayed over.
When our daughter, Tiffany, was 14, she and her good friend, Lissette, went to Haiti on a mission trip. When they returned they were discerning giants by faith. They said every night in Haiti witch doctors and voodooists came to the place where they were staying and prayed against them. Even at a young age, they had to grow up fast and pray against the spiritual warfare. Today, years later, the experience has given them an incredible insight into discerning evil spirits, and they have both become wonderful women of God. In the year 2001, during our time as missionaries in Ybor city, God told Bill to hold a church service on 7th avenue in a coffee shop named Joffrey’s. During one service, several interns came up and said that they had noticed a few people coming in that seemed to have a strange spirit about them. It was a convent of witches trying to come in while our church service was in process. They would pretend to be visiting Christians. They came in with a Bible but they looked phony. Bill said to our interns, “Just let them come in and see what the anointing does to them.” The witches came in for about two months. Sometimes they would even lay stuff around the room secretly to bring a spell on us but every time about half way into a worship service they suddenly ran out of the room. Why? It was the power of the Holy Spirit that they could not take. Once we started worshiping Christ Jesus, the anointing in the room increased. As the presence of the Lord got thicker the witches could not deal with it. It became comical, as our interns waited to see just how long the witch could last until they ran out.
James 4:7 Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Have personal time to read your Bible, quote scriptures out loud, place scripture on the door, on the mirror, on the dash of your car, on your desk- let the Word of God be all around you.
Speak the Word, 2 Cor. 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, – - we do not war after the flesh: 4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God — to the pulling down of strongholds — 5Casting 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…
June 19, 2008 a young man from Savannah, named Travis, came to a mission camp in Belize. He gave his heart to Jesus. After he came to Salvation we were told his story. He had been practicing Wicca, a form of witchcraft. His sister was coming on a DCI youth mission trip and asked him to come with her. He said yes, because he thought that it would be a way to get away from his mother. Little did he know that he would hear about the power above all names, Jesus! God took Travis 3000 miles to get him into a place that he could discover Jesus. That is awesome to think about. Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.
How do you know when you are undergoing more spiritual warfare than usual? First, when you’re facing a greater level of warfare, you feel an abnormal heaviness. Secondly, everything seems harder. How do you combat the evil? Bill and I have to find more time to be with God. I mean a good time with God; get up a little earlier for quiet time. Speak Scriptures out loud! To overcome the heaviness of spiritual warfare, we must flood our minds with God’s Good News. Get some good praise music going –then do Psalms 37:4 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He [God] shall give thee the desires of thine heart -KJV
Health – Peace – Companionship – Favor – Wealth – Wisdom
Vision – Deliverance – Happiness – Victory
God has made His overcoming power available to every Christian who will stand in faith!
Missionaries Bill and Kathy Craver
www.dcimissiontrips.com
email: dcimissiontrips@gmail.com
“God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him.” —Hudson Taylor
