The Soul Redeemer: From Victim to Victory (12 page)

"Hey!" Liz said.  "We just had a 'Thelma and Louis' adventure!  Wouldn't it be funny if the neighbor called the Sheriff and reported two ladies in a red truck littering up his neighborhood?"  They both laughed as they thought about how Ray might respond. 

Liz said, "I can just see Ray asking, 'What did you say these ladies looked like?  Uh huh.  Both had long brown hair… Red truck….What were they throwing out of the car?  Salt you say?  Uh huh….I think I know the two you are referring to.  Don't worry.  I'll take care of it." 

When they pulled up in front of Liz's house, Nicole said, "Thanks for the laugh.  And thank you for being my friend and my partner in salt!"

A couple hours later the phone rang.  It was Ray.  "Uh, Hello Nicole.  I'm calling on business.  A salt crime was reported this morning.  I need to ask if you were anywhere in the vicinity of Durango Lane around 10:30?"

Nicole snickered quietly to herself.  It looked like Liz's joke was prophetic.  Then she answered, "This sounds serious.  Yes sir I was."

"And did Liz happen to be in the truck with you?"

"Yes sir she was." 

"And were you littering?"

"No sir, we were not."

"But you were throwing salt out the window."

"Yes sir we were."

"So you were really cleaning up, not messing it up.  Is that correct?"

"Yes sir, that's exactly what we were doing.  I'm glad you understand."

"That's fine then.  This case is closed.  But Nicole?" 

"Yes sir?"

"Off the record.  Next time, try not to raise the suspicions of the neighbors."

"Ok.  Thank you Ray." 

"Later, Nicole."

That night at 3:00 am, Jake woke Nicole up.  He had had a nightmare, which was unusual for him, and he could remember every detail.  He knew that it was more than just a dream.  It was a warning.

"Nicole, get up and get dressed.  We have to get to the Inn.  Now!" he said as he shook her awake.

This was so uncharacteristic of Jake that Nicole's adrenaline started flowing, and in record time, they arrived on the outskirts of Samaria. 

"I'm going to drive past the Inn," Jake said.  "I want you to watch it closely."

She didn't see anything out of the ordinary until they had passed the building and she looked around back.

"There's a truck parked out back," Nicole told Jake.

"Then you need to pray and I'm calling Ray," he said as he pulled to a stop a block past the Inn.

Jake dialed Ray's number.  "Hey Ray, it's Jake.  We're here outside the Inn and I know this is going to sound crazy, but I had a dream that there were a couple of men inside the Inn setting a series of three bombs.  We came to check it out and there is a truck parked out back just like I saw in the dream…..Yeah, I'll call Gary too…..Ok, thanks."

Before Jake could punch in Gary's number, his patrol car drove past them and slowed in front of the Inn.  Two other vehicles came from the opposite direction and both of those slowed as they drove up close to the Inn.  They could see that Gary had rolled his window down and was saying something to them, and then they slowly moved past the Inn heading towards them. 

Jake got out and stood next to the truck, and they pulled up and stopped.  Rick and Larry, two of the men God was raising up as watchmen-warrior intercessors had dreamed the same thing that Jake had, and they had also felt compelled to come to the Inn.  Rick had called Gary. 

They watched as Ray's truck pulled up beside Gary's and the three "watchmen" prayed for the two "warriors" who were moving towards the Inn.

"This is a spiritual battle as well as a physical, you know," Nicole said as she joined the men.  She told them about Anak.  "I think that the spiritual giant has called in his physical counterparts.  He wants to destroy the Inn so that God can't have it."

Larry snorted.  "Well that's not going to happen!  We're going to storm the gates of heaven right now!  God didn't bring us here to just watch the enemy blow up God's heart!"

Rick agreed and the four of them formed a tight circle and began to intercede for Ray, for Gary, for the angels of warfare, and for God's plans for the Inn.

It didn't seem like any time at all before several other Sheriff cars arrived.  Those in the circle kept praying and they were so deep in prayer that they lost track of time and of what was happening at the Inn in the physical realm. 

But in the spiritual realm, they saw angels apprehending demons of destruction who were assigned to the Inn.  They prayed that the curses of destruction would be reversed and that the strongman, Anak, would be destroyed by his own devices.

There was the sound of an explosion and a flash of light that was so bright that they looked up and saw what appeared to be fireworks lighting the sky.  It wasn't coming from the building, but from the corner of the Inn's property where Anak's hiding place had been.

It was at that moment that Gary came toward them, motioning for them to join him.  "Oh man!" he exclaimed as he clapped the men on their backs while smiling from ear to ear.  "There was enough ammo in that place to blow up the whole block!"

"So nothing blew up?" Jake asked.

"Nope, we arrested the two men who were setting the bombs before they had a chance to activate anything and Ray is taking them in as we speak.  The bomb squad joined us and cleaned up the mess.  Everything's fine, thanks to the warning that the Holy Spirit gave you guys." 

"Then I guess that God answered our prayers and blew up Anak and his hiding place," Nicole said as she pointed to the place where the giant had been. 

Gary's eyes grew wide.  "Holy Smoke!  And I mean exactly that!" he said.  Even though the intensity of the fireworks had decreased, they were still visible.

"Amen to that!" Rick laughed.  "It looks like the enemy's plans backfired on him."  

"By the next morning, the seventh day, even though most of them had not slept much the night before, the intercessors were anxious to get started.  They had no idea what was going to happen.  They went through the routine, only this time, Casie carried her shofar and Liz carried anointing oil and was anointing the property as they went.  They marched around once, twice, three times, without incident.  They finished the sixth time around, and as they began the seventh, someone broke out singing a spiritual song and all joined in. 

As they finished the last lap and arrived back at the front of the Inn, Casie said, "I'm going to the highest point of the building," and she took off towards an outside staircase that led to the hotel rooms.  Nicole and Deanne followed her while Mary, Cheryl and Liz watched from below.  Casie blew the shofar seven times, and after the last call, the ladies all shouted out, "For the Lord and His plans for Samaria!" 

And then all was quiet.  Even the children playing in the park and those passing by on the sidewalk and the firemen in the firehouse across the street who had stepped outside to check out the noise were all quiet.  All were waiting just as they were for some unknown, unseen action. 

Nicole knew that the shofar was a trumpet sound that called angels to aid in spiritual warfare.  It was a sound of Christ's victory over the power of sin and death.  The sound of that shofar was so beautiful that it had given her chills. 

But all remained still and silent in the heavenlies as far as they could tell.  Gradually, the children resumed their play, the people continued their walking, and the firemen went back inside their house.  Only the intercessors stood still, with heads bowed waiting.  And still nothing was revealed. 

Nicole finally broke the silence.  "Does anyone sense anything?  Hear or see anything?"

They all shook their heads.  There was a feeling of disappointment among them.  Then Casie said, "We don't know what God has done.  Just because we can't see it doesn't mean that He hasn't done something great and awesome."

"You're right, Casie.  Our part was to be obedient no matter what the outcome, no matter whether we understand it or not," Rachel said.  "This is a matter of faith and obedience."

The ladies joined up and surrounded the old oak tree once again and began pouring out their hearts of love for the Lord and praise to their mighty, awesome God. 

No one saw the angel of Breakthrough as it finally fought its way through the dark angels that had been doing their best to guard the atmosphere around the Inn.  Peace began to descend on them, and joy, and hope and expectation.  It seemed as though a shadow or cloud had blocked the sun providing a refreshing coolness and breeze for the hot and tired ladies.  Deanne opened her eyes and exclaimed, "What is that?" 

It was a cloud, a thick fog that was hovering low to the ground, covering every inch of the Inn's property.  This cloud was different than any of them had seen before.  It seemed to be filled with energy, and even though it was cool, there was warmth radiating from it. 

"It's the Lord's Glory cloud!" one of them exclaimed.  Nicole heard the words and her spirit confirmed the fact, but she was too overwhelmed with awestruck wonder to know who had spoken.  The ladies fell to their knees, faces to the ground in reverence. 

The earth began to shake, and they all heard a voice say,
"You have poured out the blood of the Lamb upon the ground.  Now call for the Holy Spirit to ignite His fire."
 

They all began to cry out, inviting and imploring the Holy Spirit to come, to ignite His fire and do whatever He was going to do.  Some were praying in tongues.

There was a flash of light that was so bright that Nicole saw it through closed eyes.  Instantaneously as the ground was shaking a rumbling sound was heard.  Nicole opened her eyes.  She heard herself yell out, "Look!" 

At the top of the property where the giant Anak had been hiding, a spring of water had blown through the ground, through the pavement, and was running down the parking lot and into the street! 

The ladies ran to the head of the spring, and kneeling down, several of them touched the water.  It was fresh, spring water.  Living water!  They began jumping up and down, hugging each other, praising God loudly and celebrating His goodness openly.

Nicole realized that the cloud had gone and the ground was still again, and yet the spring was flowing freely.  A special miracle in the middle of the drought!  

Nicole didn't know if anyone in the community had seen the glory cloud or felt the earthquake, but they couldn't miss the water!  The street was beginning to flood and this got the attention of the firemen on duty.  They hurried across the street with frowns on their faces.  She could imagine their frustration as they must be thinking, "How did those crazy ladies manage to break a water line?" 

And in that moment, Nicole had a thought that threatened her faith.  What if it really was just a broken water line?  But as quickly as she heard it, she raised up her shield of faith and said, "In Jesus name I claim victory and living water!"

The fire chief leaned over the water hole inspecting it.  "This thing is flowing so fast and strong that I can't see the source of it.  Somebody go get the site map of all major water lines in town! ASAP!"  And then he added, "And call the water department!"

By this time a crowd was beginning to gather and the Sheriff had pulled up and was directing the children away from the river of water that was growing and running down the side of the street.

Another fire man said, "I don't know, Chief.  I don't think this is a broken pipe.  There's nothing around here that would suggest the need for a main water line in this area."

About that time, the site map arrived.  The Chief inspected it, looked up and around, scratched his head, looked back at the map, the water, and the area again.  He went through this routine several times like he just couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. 

Finally he said, "There doesn't appear to be a record of any water pipes or lines of any kind in this area.  The major line is 75 feet away, and according to this, all other small lines veering off of it are still a good 35-40 feet away."  He scratched his head again while trying to think of all other possibilities. 

Gary arrived on the scene smiling from ear to ear!  "Hey boys, you won't find any water line if that's what you are looking for.  That is a supernatural spring that will supply water for the town!  It's an answer to prayer and a blessing sent straight from God!"

The Chief knew Gary and was used to his talk about God.  But this.  This was something more than talk.  What did it mean?  He said, "Maybe.  But I'm going back to the station and do some more checking.  Has anybody called the water department?"

"Yes sir," answered one of the men.  "Five minutes ago." 

"Hey Chief," Gary said.  "Do all the checking you want to, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet you 100 to 1 that this is exactly what I said, a supernatural answer to our prayers."

The Chief just answered, "I hope you're right Gary."

When the water company arrived, they confirmed that this was indeed an artesian spring flowing with fresh water.  They had no record of anything like this happening in Samaria before.  Of course there were the soda springs that had been there forever down closer to the river, but this was fresh water.  A miracle?  They wouldn't go that far.  But they did concede that it was a blessing.  Because of the drought, there was only another two weeks or so of water left for the town.  They went to work capping and piping the spring so that they would be able to maximize its usage.