My Life Story: How I Became an Intercessor and Prayer Warrior

Everything started when I left my native Panama in my early twenties. I was officially an adult and set out to fulfill my dreams in a new land (the United States). God blessed me and I was able to work and go to school to train for the career of my dreams in fashion design. Then I met some unforeseeable challenges not from strangers, but from family members that had settled in this country ahead of me. Even though some of them had experienced a level of success in business, they were still drawn to witchcraft and sorcery. I did not like that type of lifestyle, and at the time I did not see that as a threat to my calling and destiny. 

Then I met my husband. He seemed like any other person with dreams and aspirations and a drive to accomplish them, but in my very early walk with God, my level of discernment was little to none. I did not know that he too had a family background associated with witchcraft. After five years of marriage and much prayer, we had a son, and shortly after he was born, my walk with God took a hike. I became dissatisfied with the status quo and knew deep inside of me that there was more than what I knew and had experienced with God so far. I was hungry for truth.

Let me explain that I grew up as a Catholic and learned a lot from this faith. Even a lot of the leadership skills I have today came from a Catholic youth group in Panama where we were mentored by a priest that was very dedicated to us and trained us in leadership and outreach in our communities. I still communicate with some of the members of the group and have seen the fruit of the loving labor of this beloved Priest.

But in the year 2000, because of my hunger for truth, I realized that even though I had a walk with God, I had not asked Jesus to become my Lord and Savior and I got saved on mother’s day of that year. Right away I also began to experience the evidence of the Holy Spirit living in me through my speaking in tongues. From that point on, my life took a series of turns that I can only describe as life changing which brought many shifts in the things I believed, how I viewed the traditions I was accustomed to, my Hispanic culture, my family story, and my life as a whole as well those around me because God was shaking my wrong foundations.

Then, as God started to satisfy some of my curiosities about Him, His Kingdom, and my relationship with Him, I began to feel empowered to tackle the circumstances around me. A lot of them involved persecution from people that were involved in the occult. This leads me to tell you about the family I married into. They seemed as normal and loving people, but as mentioned early in this post, they had a deep stronghold in the occult. Deep inside, they were hungry for love and looked for it in the wrong ways and in the wrong places which brought the deception of the enemy in their lives.

I did not know this at the beginning, and as a matter of fact, when I was preparing for my wedding which I knew was of God and my husband and I had been together for three years before we got married, I remember having a phone conversation with my mother. At this time the Spirit of the Lord came upon her and she began to prophesy over me about my marriage and one of the things she said was that “God had called me to become part of this family to get them close to God.” At the time I did not think that was going to be difficult since he and I went to a Catholic church and prayed together already. But when I left the Catholic faith in the year 2000 and joined a Christian church at the direction of the Lord, things that were tested before got tested even more between us. I will insert a disclaimer here to say that this post is not about Catholicism, but about God`s desire that all flesh call on His name and be saved (Joel 2:32).

While I was getting closer to God and was learning to walk in His ways, the challenges at home were getting worse. At the time I did not have permission from God to end the marriage because the manifestations of things from the occult were more evident. God would tell me not to give up, and keep pressing through. Let me acknowledge also that this family lived in a certain level of opulence and they guarded that. I saw that the demonic activity helped the strongholds of their belief system that was opposing God`s mandate for my life on their behalf.

My job from God was to pray for their salvation, their healing from whatever lured them to that lifestyle of the occult, and that every dysfunctional aspect of their family lifestyles would be turned around as it is in heaven. I also learned through my process with this family to engage in warfare for their salvation and sought God for every strategy and word that would empower me and give me the authority to come against the enemy on their behalf. All this was happening while they, in their twisted view of things because of the enemy’s deception, would turn against me with the weapons of witchcraft and sorcery.

The other thing I learned to do was give them unconditional love and at times tough love when directed by the Holy Spirit. God is a God of relationship, family, and unity, and I had to learn to fight against everything the enemy would do to bring family discord and be the light that shone in that darkness. Again, this came by interceding for them, warring as God would lead me, and do all the practical things God directed me to do. Many times this included lifting Him up in praise and adoration to bring heaven down to earth on behalf of our unity.

I must confess that this wasn’t always easy and there were times I wanted to give up and even get in my flesh to retaliate against them, but God would always remind me that I do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual forces of darkness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12) that had them in their grip but I counted on God`s strong power and might to overcome the enemy of their salvation and deliverance at every level of my process.

Then in 2008, I had a dream that let me know I was fighting against the spirits of Mammon, Religion, and Jezebel: the three spirits that form the deity of the Antichrist. I won’t go into much detail about it here because I mention this in my upcoming book. But I can say that things began to shake out of my life in every area and it seemed as if I was losing everything. This included my marriage to infidelity, my finances, other family relationships, and even our home. Our journey to overcome these strongholds had started and we moved from place to place as they became available to me, one of my sisters who came to help me, and my son. At some point, things got worse and we lived in my car for 13 days.

This trajectory happened during a time when I received a mandate from God to not work and trust Him in the area of finances and relationships whether personal or church relationships. All of this was to overcome these demonic strongholds and understand the ways of the Kingdom to cleanse my spiritual bloodline but also on behalf of the body of Christ and the generations. I have now seen many family members get saved and continue to confess that as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and worship Him only.

I also continued to deal with opposition from the occult and even death threats that came at us constantly. This includes my healing from cancer a few times and as I pray for others and see their healing manifested, I know that my own healing will soon follow. God has been faithful to me in this are as well. This way I have learned that no weapon formed against me will be able to prosper (Isaiah 54:17) and I continue to trust in the Lord for I know I will fulfill my assignment and death has no power over me for my life is in God`s hands alone.

In essence and to not make this post too long, my mandate for the family I once married into is not over although we are no longer together. This will happen until I know that they are saved and not used of the enemy anymore. God has a plan for all humanity and He wants them to not perish but have everlasting life. This process has made me stronger in prayer and intercession for others; especially for family and church unity, and also has helped me recognize that I had been prepared for such a time as this to let others know that there is no power in the occult for there is only one true God. Jesus is alive and He continues to make the invitation to all to open their hearts to Him and experience His love for them and the life in abundance He died for them to have. All other forms of seeking power and authority will eventually be shaken for His Kingdom is unshakable and without end.

If you have been involved in the occult at some point your life and even walk with God but still are attracted to this kind of lifestyle or have this type of generational background, I want to ask you to join me in this prayer. Heavenly Father, I come to you with a humble heart to ask you to forgive me for seeking love, acceptance, power, and authority from idols and demons. I now renounce all involvement with the occult, Santeria, sorcery, and divination, necromancy, voodoo, black magic, and the like. I now ask you, Jesus, to become my Lord and Savior, wash me with your blood and cleanse me from all unrighteousness, rebellion, and iniquity related to this sin. Take charge of all areas of my life, for you prefer mercy over judgment and that I have life everlasting, to the fullest till it overflows. So I confess my sin, and make you my Lord and Savior, in your name I pray. Amen

To Him alone is all power, and glory forever. Amen▪

How to Tell if you are Tolerating the Jezebel Spirit in your Life

Revelation 2:18-23

^18 ““Write this to the angel of the church in Thyatira:

“Here is a message from the Son of God, the one who has eyes that blaze like fire and feet like shining brass.

¹⁹ “I know what you do. I know about your love, your faith, your service, and your patience. I know that you are doing more now than you did at first. ²⁰ But I have this against you: You let that woman Jezebel do what she wants. She says that she is a prophet, but she is leading my people away with her teaching. Jezebel leads my people to commit sexual sins and to eat food that is offered to idols. ²¹ I have given her time to change her heart and turn away from her sin, but she does not want to change.

²² “So I will throw her on a bed of suffering. And all those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly. I will do this now if they don’t turn away from the things she does. ²³ I will also kill her followers. Then all the churches will see that I am the one who knows what people feel and think. And I will repay each of you for what you have done.”

This post is a warning to the body of Christ. Many have been suffering devastation and affliction, sickness and disease, and many even lost their lives before they could fulfill their calling and purpose from God. One main reason as stated in the passage above is their tolerance of the spirit of Jezebel in their life. Despite their love for the Lord and desire to worship and serve Him only (Matthew 4:10), just as the people of the church of Thyatira, who had a strong foundation of faith and love, service, and even patience, the Son of God Himself had something against them: their tolerance to the spirit of Jezebel, its seducing practices, and those who were influenced by it, who were allowed to entice others to commit acts of natural and spiritual idolatry and immorality.

According to Wikipedia, the ancient city of Thyatira was a prosperous city. It was known as the center for the dyeing purple cloth as a trade among others. Many in the city had joined guilds or associations of dyers and distributors of textiles and garments like a believer named Lydia in Acts 16:14. This city was also known to have more guilds than any other contemporary city in the Roman province of Asia, demonstrating this way its affluence and influence in commerce.¹ 

Yet, it was extremely difficult to trade in Thyatira if a merchant did not belong to a guild. It was also hard for a Christian merchant to not compromise his or her beliefs due to the pressure to participate in their pagan and idolatrous festivities whenever each guild celebrated its patron with practices that included sexual immorality. It was also revealed that the woman with a strong influence of the Jezebel spirit in the church of Thyatira was not a believer, but because of some powers she displayed probably through, divination, for she was not a true prophetess, she only had influence among certain members of the church which she used to charm them to be part of the guilds and of their pagan and immoral practices, saying that it would cause no harm to their Christian walk to be part of such associations, practices, and lifestyles.² 

But the truth is that in our day, this spirit is still pulling many Christians away from their devotion and loyalty to Christ, in order to be part of its rituals and traditional ways of the world. Many are living lifestyles that show their giving into its influence, which puts them among them who are warned will end up in a bed of affliction and even death for allowing such things. 

+For example, we cannot go to church on Sunday and as soon as we go home watch questionable TV programs that have a lot of overt and covert rudeness, violence, sexuality, and immorality. Some even engage in pornography and seeking sites to find friendships and “love.” Yet, some others still go to clubs and keep friendships that lure them away from God, prayer, reading the Bible, and in general, having a relationship with God which is very necessary in order to fulfill our purpose because He knows our purpose and how we should walk in it.

Others, go to church and sometimes read the Bible, but they also read other kinds of literature that kill the seeds planted by the word of God. They also spend more time on social media, than in the Word, listen to music with explicit rude and sexual language, and even dance to it at social events or at home. Yet, some think that having sex outside of the marriage covenant is normal. Others think that looking fashionable and trendy is more important than paying their bills on time or staying away from making money in illicit ways.

But there are others that involve themselves in seeking supernatural visitations that are nothing more than demonic activity released through the sorcery and witchcraft they practice and entice others to do the same with them like playing with the ouija board, visiting psychics to tell their fortune or their future when God is who holds their world in His hands. They also read tarot cards and horoscopes and the like, instead of seeking God`s presence and waiting for Him to choose to visit them with the revelations and visions that will help them understand His plan for their lives. 

There are some others who steal from the government, from the companies they work for, they steal hours they get paid for but do not perform their assigned duties, and call in sick to go shopping or just take a day off by telling lies to their boss. These are just some examples of ways in which people keep themselves from the will of God for them and stray away more and more from their life`s calling and purpose.

God is a God of relationship and wants to partner with us to develop our callings in order to reach our destiny planned and purposed by Heaven. He is also a God of honor and because of that, it is important how we treat our relationship with Him and with those around us. One way He will shake the wrong foundations in people`s lives when they have not learned to live a life that honors Him and others is by removing the things He gave them, but they turned them into idols. In other words, we are called and required to fulfill God`s command to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Luke 10:27). This includes our love for Him, our Creator and not put ourselves or other created things ahead of Him who created us.

That is one reason why Malachi 3:5 says, “⁵ Then I will bring you to justice. I will be an expert witness and testify about the evil things people do. I will speak out against those who do evil magic or commit adultery. I will speak out against those who make false promises and cheat their workers and don’t pay them the money they promised. I will testify against those who don’t help strangers, or widows and orphans. And I will testify against those who don’t respect me.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.” ERV

It has been mentioned before in other posts of this blog page how Jezebel entered the garden. It was through deception and by questioning what God has spoken. When God has given a word of promise or of instruction, the spirit of Jezebel will come to question it and say, “Did God really say that?” (Genesis 3:1). There is a fine line between the truth of God and the deception of this spirit when it comes with its charming and those that are not aware of the enemy`s devices fall prey to him because those devices are always designed to make a believer be disloyal to God and abandon His command to seek first the Kingdom of God (His ways and principles to live on this earth) and all other things we are believing to be added onto us.

We are also called to love what God loves and hate what He hates. The passage in Malachi gives us a clear explanation of the things God hates that we should also stay away from. And the initial passage in Revelation 2 explains to us in verses 22- 23 the devastating consequences of not repenting from tolerating the influence of this spirit as a lifestyle.  In other words, this is what happens when God is calling us to turn away from those practices and He finds no repentance or desire to do it. It says again,

“²¹ I have given her time to change her heart and turn away from her sin, but she does not want to change.

²² “So I will throw her on a bed of suffering. And all those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly. I will do this now if they don’t turn away from the things she does. ²³ I will also kill her followers. Then all the churches will see that I am the one who knows what people feel and think. And I will repay each of you for what you have done.” ERV

Finally, I want to leave you all with the chance to ask and contemplate if the devastation, sickness, or other circumstances that are less than God`s will for you, could have their origin in your tolerating the influence of the spirit of Jezebel as a lifestyle.  If your answer is yes, then I want to invite you to pray according to 2 Chronicles 7:14- 18 so that you can partake of the blessings of obeying His Commands, honoring Him and others around you, and worshiping Him as a lifestyle,

“¹⁴ and if my people who are called by my name become humble and pray, and look for me, and turn away from their evil ways, then I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now, my eyes are open, and my ears will pay attention to the prayers prayed in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen this Temple, and I have made it a holy place. So I will be honored there forever. I will watch over it and think of it always. ¹⁷ You must serve me with a pure and honest heart, just as your father David did. You must obey my laws and do everything that I commanded you. If you obey all I have commanded, and if you obey my laws and rules, ¹⁸ then I will make you a strong king and your kingdom will be great. That is the agreement I made with David your father when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by one of his descendants. ERV

To Him Alone be all the glory. ▪

 

Endnotes:

1.       Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyatira

2.       Bible.org. https://bible.org/seriespage/6-message-thyatira-rev-218-29

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