The Soul Redeemer: From Victim to Victory (2 page)

Without looking up she answered, "Yeah, I can't find my keys and I had them just a minute ago."  Casie stood up to see who she was talking to.  "I must have dropped them…..Oh, here they are!  I don't know why I didn't see them sooner.…Silly me.  Hi, I'm Casie by the way," and she held out her hand to Nicole.

Nicole clasped her hand.  "And I'm Nicole.  Don't feel silly, things like that happen to me all the time.  Who knows?  Maybe there's a divine reason you were detained."

As the two ladies began talking, they both began to recognize the same heart in each other, the same desire for intercession, revival and discipleship.  Nicole found herself sharing what she had experienced in church that morning, and could hardly believe that she was sharing this with a stranger!  She was in even greater awe at Casie's response.

"Oh wow!  I think we've just found the divine reason that I was detained!" Casie commented.  "I have been praying for this church, all the churches in Samaria actually, and our little community for years!  I've been fighting discouragement because I've felt so alone.  I'm desperate for revival and I'm willing to do whatever it takes, whatever God wants me to do to help Him."

Tears were streaming down Nicole's face as she answered, "You have just spoken my heart, and I'd just add that discipleship that teaches God's Word, and that offers healing from emotional wounds and deliverance from bondage are just as important as revival."

Casie agreed.  "Revival is only the first step."

Nicole sighed in relief.  "I've been begging God to bring more intercessors.  The work is just too great for one.  And here you are!  I can't believe it!  I mean I do, but, oh you know what I mean!  Thank you God for answering our prayers!"

The two ladies hugged each other and a sisterhood was born. 

Casie said, "Satan hates it when intercessors gather together and pray, so he works overtime to keep them apart.  Well Satan, I'm putting you on notice that you won't keep us apart again.  In fact, I know there's got to be more out there, so Jesus, please bring them to us!"

Casie and Nicole both said "Amen" and made a date to get together and pray.

As Nicole was heading back to her car, Casie said, "Oh, hey sweetie, by the way, my husband is the highway patrol officer here in town; so if you run into him, tell him you're my friend."

"Thanks for the tip!" Nicole laughed.

T
he more Nicole and Casie talked
, the more they believed that Jesus had brought them together for a purpose.  He wanted them to reclaim Samaria for Himself, to take back their town that the enemy had stolen, and make it a city of refuge, a safe place, for those looking for true hope, healing and freedom. 

Revival was coming, and they both wanted to do everything they could to be ready.  They agreed to meet for prayer every week. 

The night before their first prayer meeting, as Nicole climbed into bed, she saw a tarantula sized black widow on the wall above her closet.  And then it was gone.  She knew it was a vision into the spiritual realm. 

"Lord, what does it mean?" she asked.  But all was silent, so she knew it wasn't time for the revelation.

Casie's first words to Nicole the next morning were, "You won't believe the dream I had last night!  There was a huge black widow hiding in a building like a doll house sized church, and it was killing the worker bees!  At first I thought that the bees were bad, but realized that bees are good.  It was so detailed that I know it means something!"

Nicole agreed and shared what she had seen.  "The Lord must be telling us something for us both to have witnessed a black widow.  Well, Lord," she prayed, "we trust You to reveal what we need to know.  Show us how to pray."

And He did.  They asked for angels of revival to come to Samaria; for angels of Light to shine on the things hidden in the darkness; for warrior and ministering angels. 

They began to look deeper into Samaria, its history, its problems, strengths and weaknesses, and asked God to reveal what they needed to know specifically in order to break down the generational curses and sin that gave Satan rights to claim the land. 

Every time they prayed together, the Lord gave them wisdom and helped them to target their prayers effectively into the spiritual realm.  They were declaring and claiming scripture and believed that God was hearing their prayers and was answering. 

IS
(short for Incubus Succubus, a demonic principality)
was not happy.  How had this happened?  He had thought that he had brought Nicole to his stronghold town of Samaria to tear down his enemy's work in her life and to begin using her to destroy His work in the churches.  But instead, Nicole was gaining strength and using it against him.  These two ladies were actually praying together with effective, targeted prayers, and his demons were more than restless! 

He was aware that a large band of holy angels had been dispatched from heaven and had settled high above the heart of Samaria.  They were not attacking yet, but just their stench that drifted down upon them was enough to provoke his underlings to fits of fear, confusion and chaos. 

As IS watched his band of demons dash back and forth from building to building unable to focus enough to function, he realized that it was definitely time to bring in reinforcements.  He would not risk loosing his stronghold over this region.  And those two women had to be stopped!  

"Every where you walk, you pour out the blood of Jesus."
  Nicole heard the phrase in her mind as clear as a bell in her sleep, and then woke up with the words still ringing in her ears.

"Lord, what are you trying to tell me?" she asked.  In the spirit she saw herself walking along a road with a bucket in her left hand.  As she went, she was pouring out the red liquid from the bucket behind her. 

"Every where you walk, you pour out the blood of Jesus.  Now ask the Holy Spirit to come and ignite the blood on fire,"
Jesus said.

Still in a sleepy state, Nicole obediently called out, "Holy Spirit please come and ignite this blood on fire."

The response was immediate.  She saw a flame ignite the blood that she had first poured out and the fire continued to burn, following its path until it was all consumed. 

Nicole was wide awake now.  She knew that God was teaching her about another key from His arsenal.  Blood and fire. 

In her natural mind, it didn't make sense.  Blood didn't burn did it?  This blood had ignited and burned like the little bit of old gasoline that Jake and the boys had poured out in a line along the driveway and ignited one time years ago. 

But then, Jesus' blood was not ordinary blood.  It was power, it was love, it was cleansing, it was redemption, it was healing, it was freedom for the captive and captivity for the enemy. 

And the Holy Spirit's fire was not ordinary fire.  It was power, it was purification, it was destruction of the old and creation of the new, it brought beauty out of ashes, it provided supernatural wisdom, discernment and intervention.

And why did she see the bucket in her left hand instead of her right?  She suddenly knew that her right hand needed to be free to hold the Sword, and to be available for service.  The bucket in her left hand, her free hand, let her know that she was to carry the blood of Jesus and pour it out everywhere, all the time.

"Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, please show me where you want me to walk today," Nicole prayed. 

The phone rang and she assumed it was Casie.  They usually talked early in the morning. 

"Hey girl, I think God wants us to open up prayer time to others in our community.  We need revival here so badly.  What do you think?" Casie asked.

Nicole smiled at Casie's enthusiastic spirit.  "Good morning to you too," she yawned.

"Oh I'm sorry.  You know me, when I get something in my mind I just tend to jump right in."

"I'm teasing you.  I'm glad you called, because the Lord just told me something that might be confirmation." 

Nicole poured herself a cup of coffee while she explained the vision that had woken her up.  "I think that the more people we get pouring out the blood of Jesus, the better!  As for today, I was just thinking about going up to the church and pouring out the blood there.  You want to join me?"

Casie agreed, and several hours later, after they had walked around the outside of the church property and inside the sanctuary, they sat down and asked the Holy Spirit to come and set the blood on fire. 

After speaking with the pastor, two weeks later, the church was opened on Tuesday nights throughout the summer for prayer over Samaria.  The first night, eight people and the Holy Spirit showed up. 

It didn't go quite as they had planned, of course.  Instead of praying for the community, the Holy Spirit began to convict their own hearts, and a spirit of repentance broke out among them.  It made sense.  True revival had to be built on integrity and hearts that were right with God before they could effectively pray for others. 

James 5:16 came to Nicole's mind. 
"Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

The Holy Spirit also led them to read Mark 7:5-23.
"This people honors Me with their lips, But their hear is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men…
.
Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man."
 

They were engaging a key of protection through repentance and relationship with Jesus.  Nicole recognized this as the Breastplate of Righteousness.  Intercession for others would involve spiritual warfare, and because they would be sure targets for the enemy, they needed to be properly outfitted, spiritually protected.

The following week twelve people came and as they began to worship, the same thing happened again.  As this meeting came to a close, the Holy Spirit revealed the spirit of Jezebel who was enthroned in the balcony, the highest place in the church.  They began praying against it, renouncing it and destroying its rights. 

Nicole was leading the group in some worship songs, when she felt something tangible swirling around her. 

"Worship me.  I will make you great.  You will be able to lead this group and many others into a great revival…"

The dizziness and defilement made Nicole feel sick to her stomach.  She stopped playing the piano, walked off the platform and sat down in the circle with the others.  The moment she stepped down, the dizziness and swirling sensation stopped.  She didn't have the ability in that moment to understand the implication of what had transpired; she only knew that she didn't want any part of the presence she had felt.

Casie's husband, Gary was there that night.  After everyone left and just Gary, Casie, Jake and Nicole were left, Gary said, "I don't know where this is going, but I have to tell you that I'm not the same as when I came in here tonight.  I feel like I've been ignited with the fire of the Holy Spirit and it's changing the direction of my life even as I'm saying this!  God is not only doing a work in me, but I believe He's calling me to step out of the nice comfortable life and the plans I've made, and to minister here in Samaria."

"Now I get it!" Nicole said.  She explained why she had left the platform.  "Gary, I believe that God wants you to lead this revival.  Casie and I did our part up till now, but for either one of us to continue to try to lead it would be wrong and would open us up to the Jezebel spirit."

"I think I know the answer to this, but I'll pray about it," He said.

The following week, Gary led the prayer and worship time, and before the summer was over, revival had begun.  They began calling it BLAZE as the Holy Spirit was indeed faithful to ignite the blood and to set it ablaze. 

IS was frustrated beyond measure!  He had tried everything he could think of to break up the bond between Nicole and Casie, but to no avail.  He had sent Python in to cause miscommunication and division, but they had sought forgiveness and were tighter than two peas in a pod!  He had assigned Spirits of Death by accident, disease and infirmity but they were both so heavily guarded that it was impossible to break through.  He had sent Spirits of Harassment, but they had recognized even these and had taken authority over them.  IS had finally decided to go after their family members.  That hadn't gone the way he had planned either.  They were covered under the Blood. 

Casie's husband should have been a sure target.  In his job as CHP, there were plenty of opportunities for death, injury, or at least a crippling law suit.  But he was under the Blood as well, and all attempts failed.  And not only had they failed, but this case had progressed to a place of hazardous peril for his kingdom.  His attacks had backfired again!  The scales had been removed from Gary's eyes and he had recognized the spiritual realm like never before.  It had motivated him to seek God's face, and revival broke out as Gary began preaching the Kingdom of God!  The angels that had been stationed in the heavenlies descended and the battle for the lives of the people had begun.

IS was furious when Ray, the sheriff in town and also a Christian, joined Gary in prayer and fasting for Samaria and its residents.  More angels were intervening and the battle in the spiritual realm was heightened as drug dealers and addicts were arrested, and in some cases, turned themselves in!  It was inconceivable that some were even becoming Christians!

And then the worst possible scenario for IS happened.  Intercessors that he had isolated from one another began to show up at the midweek prayer meetings that had been dubbed "BLAZE."  This was way beyond bad.

Nicole and Casie were excited!  God was answering their prayers for intercessors.  Through BLAZE, they had discovered that there were other women who were praying for Samaria, and some had been faithfully praying for thirty years or more!  The sisterhood was growing in number and in power. 

Cheryl, Elizabeth, Deanne and Mary joined Casie and Nicole and they began praying together in addition to Tuesday night BLAZE.  The Lord bound their hearts together so that they were able to support one another as Satan tried to attack each of them in different ways.  They fought for each other and the result was a turning of weaknesses into strengths.  They were watching God tear down Satan's strongholds personally and in Samaria.  He was raising up an army. 

But the most amazing thing was that a brotherhood was also developing and growing in number and power.  The Holy Spirit was raising up men to take the leadership position that provided spiritual protection for the ladies as they prayed, and He was gifting them with spiritual discernment and knowledge, and men were being delivered from evil spirits. 

God was answering the prayer for unity in the body of Christ as well, and the ministers of the churches were getting together and working through their differences.  They had begun communicating and working together in unity!  Nicole had never seen anything like it! 

Nicole knew that God had placed Gary and Ray in law enforcement positions in Samaria for this specific time of revival.  She loved the way that Elizabeth, or Liz as she was often called, summed up Gary and Ray's jobs and ministry. 

She said, "It's incredible that the men who have the keys to lock people up in a physical prison, have the keys to unlock them from a spiritual one."