I had a strange experience a few nights ago that I feel like I need to share.  At the very least, I need to just write this down for my own sake.  If anyone else reads this, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions to it’s meaning to me, to yourself, to anyone.  All I know is what I experienced, and what it means to me.

I should preface my story of the experience a few nights ago with a statement that what I went through isn’t the first time I have had this experience.  The circumstances have been different each time, but the result is that same.  I’ll start with the events of Tuesday night and work my way backwards in time to prove my point.

Tuesday night my house came under attack.  This was not a physical attack, but a spiritual attack.  And I don’t mean spiritual in a metaphorical/metaphysical sense; I mean there was actually a malevolent supernatural presence in my home.  I had gone to bed a little early while Danielle and Colt were in the living room watching tv.  In my sleep, I was seeing Danielle and I in our kitchen, preparing some food at the island counter where we prep food.  From that vantage point, I can see clearly into the living room.  It was from there that I saw the shadow moving through the living room.

I can’t say it was a typical interpretation of “shadow” as of someone moving in front of a light, and it wasn’t a Hollywood movie-esque tangible shadow, but the best I can describe it was just a dark almost imperceptible form.  The sense of dread, fear, and terror at it’s presence was immediate.  The chill I experienced is something I won’t easily forget.  The worst part was the realization that the form’s destination was Danielle, not me. 

I take my role as head of my household seriously.  And I take my vow to Danielle to love and protect her even more seriously.  My fear at the presence of this spirit was supplanted by my anger that it was apparently coming after Danielle.  I knew that Danielle was completely unaware of the being’s presence, as she was happily cutting or chopping or whatever she was doing.  I knew God had put us together, and it was my job to protect Danielle at all costs. 

I managed to move my self between Danielle and the spirit, praying with a strength I didn’t know I had.  I want to believe I am a courageous guy, but truth is, I’ve never been really tested in that.  But somehow, there I was, in front of something far beyond me, facing it down with a courage and force that comes from way beyond my own self.  I know that the spirit stopped as I intervened, but I could feel it trying to push past me.  And despite my shouting at it to stop, it became a Mexican stand off.

Until I called upon the name of my Lord an Savior, and commanded it to leave my house and never return.  “In the Name of Jesus Christ, get out of this house and never return!” is what I believe I shouted, immediately followed by a continuous prayer to God to put a hedge of protection around the house.  And like a movie, the darkness faded away, and I do believe it was screaming in anger at me.

I’m sure someone would say that I was dreaming, that something I’d watched or read or listened to recently had influenced my dreams, and that it wasn’t a real experience.  I will say to those persons, “I do not believe that.”  I know that when I came awake once the spirit left, my room was freezing.  I need to explain something.  We don’t change the temperature settings on a daily basis.  Monday night’s temps are identical to Tuesday night’s and Wednesday night’s, and last night’s.  Tuesday night was the only night the room was freezing at that time.  Even with the furnace on.  Yes, I do believe a change in temperatures can and do indicate a spiritual presence.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve had something like this happen, which is why I truly do believe in a supernatural world and that there are forces that are aligned against us and there are forces that are aligned with us.

A few years ago, I was once again in my bedroom sleeping.  In my dream(?) I was in a television studio floor directing.  Apparently this was a dream based on a former career path of mine.  Things in the news studio were going normal, when suddenly everyone in the room except myself began speaking jibberish.  No one could form a sentence, and no one seemed to know why.  Except me, because I could see the spirit in the middle of the studio floor that was messing with everyone.  I recall grabbing my phone and calling my mom.  As soon as she answered, the spirit/demon took notice of me, screamed in murderous rage, and charged.  I only had time to tell mom one word, “Pray!” and held up a hand to ward off the attack.

Again, protected by a power that does not come from me (I am NOT a superhero), but comes from my Savior, the demon literally slammed into my hand.  It couldn’t get to me, and screamed in such a rage that I feared if it got past my hand, I would suffer horribly.  But in my ear, I heard mom praying, and I prayed as well.  And with a final scream of pain(?), it vanished away.

As that reality faded and my own came back, I found my arm was laying out from the bed, in the same direction as it had been in the dream, my hand curved as if it had been holding back someone by the head (as I had been keeping the demon at bay in the vision).  But the weird part was my hand actually FELT like it had been touching something.  that physical sensation was still there and that part scared me even more.

Taken by itself as a single instance, I would have chalked that up to a bad dream/nightmare, a one time instance.  But it was actually the third time I’d had an encounter of the spiritual attack nature.  I came under attack while in college one night, awakening to what I felt was something sitting on my chest attempting to crush me, preventing me from moving.  The first time was during a visit home just shortly after my freshman year of college.  I remember being in my room, I thought I was sleeping, but in my “dream”, I was in my room lying on my bed fully awake.  I felt a presence come up behind me and take my hand and begin trying to pull me out of bed, claiming it was time to go. 

I immediately knew two things.  First, I knew I didn’t want to turn over and look at this presence that was in my room.  I knew it wasn’t a family member, and it sure wasn’t a bright and shiny being.  I could feel and tell that it was a dark and malevolent presence.  Which told me the second thing I knew; that I DID NOT want to get up and go with this thing.  Again, a prayer for protection was whispered, and it let go.  I guess being the first time it wasn’t too angry, as I don’t recall that one screaming in rage or anger at being ousted from my location.

These four experiences, if each were taken individually, could be simply written off as nightmares, bad dreams, “a bit of underdone potato, more gravy than grave” to them.  But I can not take each of them individually.  I have lived through all four of them, and each time, the overall experience has given me an insight into a few things.

1) We are under attack by spiritual forces not of this world.  I have to believe that, as a Christian, I have been attacked, and will continue to be attacked by the opponent of my Lord and Savior.  Satan hates it when we get closer to God, and tries as hard as he can to pull us away.  Sometimes it is in subtle ways (addictions, distractions, etc).  and other times is much more direct, as these experiences have convinced me.

2) We must call on God and Jesus Christ in our times of troubles.  I can’t think of time of trouble worse than when we are under a direct assault.  As I experienced, praying to God, leaning on Him and trusting He will hear and help us forced the evil to flee. The Bible teaches us about the power of prayer, as demonstrated in Mark 9:20-29.  Prayer is very effective in defeating evil spirits.  Of course, praying in all times, not just in the bad, is taught. 

3) Attacks on us won’t always be directed at us.  The spirit from Tuesday was going after Danielle.  And since I am the one that could interact with it, I believe that it was trying to get to me, through her.  Not that Danielle’s faith is weak, or lacking, but I believe that Satan knows and has mastered the “indirect attack”.  He got to Adam through Eve, so why wouldn’t he try to get to me through Danielle?

4) Besides calling on God to help us in times of need, we must call on others to support us (and support others as they call on us).  In my third encounter, I called my mom and asked for her to pray along with me.  When things go south on us in life, we need others to pray for us and with us.  And we should be praying for others in their times of need as well. 

I suspect that I will come under attack again in the future.  My faith in God has only been strengthened by these past four attacks.  I have seen what God can do in my life and Danielle’s life during the good times.  I know what He’s done for me in my bad times, and I know how He’s been there for me at the worst possible times.  I wouldn’t consider myself a veteran in this spiritual war, but know that I am equipped with the tools to fight against the opponent, and I know that HE, the one true Living God, will ultimately win.  I can’t wait to see the beast thrown into the pit and locked away on that day.