What happens when you get a fresh shepherd’s anointing?
Often I feel led to do what Jesus did so often, and head out to an isolated place to pray. I really like doing this just before dawn, but it’s not always possible. Over the past few years, the vast majority of my quiet prayer times have been out on bike rides. Recently, since getting a car, I’ve used that as a way to visit places where it’s easier to stay longer. I take a camp chair with me.
But when this fresh anointing came over me, I didn’t want that so much. Instead, sometime during the early morning, I’ve gone out to a spot on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. The ground slopes away toward the curb, and because a tree was removed some years ago, there’s a low spot next to the sidewalk. I can sit down and get back up with ease.
I sit here most mornings now and pray. Anyone bothering to look at me can probably surmise that’s what I’m doing. The focus of this prayer time is that the Presence of the Lord will be manifested in this area.
You should know that’s a two-edged sword. When you ask the Lord to visit, it usually means wrath on sin. So, as a matter of principle, I always ask Him to start with me: Cleanse me first, O Lord. Then bring Your Spirit to bear upon this place, and the people here.
It’s not as if He’s been absent. The request is for Him to start working strongly in you. But with that often comes a significant spill-over effect. He uses you as the vector for touching people around you. Some few will be blessed in some way. In my case, a number of them will be struck with conviction on various levels. It tends to destabilize people with a significant demon presence.
The best way to envision this is that the angels and demons are poked into a more active profile. When they start getting busy, people can’t ignore them. Angels are a little harder to understand, but Scripture gives us lots of warnings about demons. If your own demons get provoked into activity, it should serve to make you aware of the gaps in your covering. It helps you to clarify things enough to reinforce your covenant obedience. For people without covering, it gets really rough. You have to be ready to do the extra work to handle the inevitable changes in people around you. But it’s all in your best interest.
That’s when you begin to see the power of your spiritual dominion. If these people in your vicinity are ill-disposed to seek your covering, their lives can be turned upside down. If they have tried to be at peace with you, then it works rather like a revival. Somehow, they are going to know they need to talk to you, even if they have no idea why they feel driven to seek your fellowship.
Where His Spirit is active, so are the demons. The latter have no choice; the Lord cracks the whip. They know that being extra active is going to polarize things where the Children of the Covenant reside. The net effect is to work toward strengthening your shalom. Your Covenant peace is so important to Him that He’ll turn a lot of things upside to make it strong around you. It means you’ll have to be ready to handle the extra spiritual activity, to build up His dominion in your life.
This is more of that Spiritual Warfare. We’ve already seen some interesting results in just three days of this prayer effort. Care to come out and join me?
I do.