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.
CHAPTER 2
THE PROMISE OF FIRE
The 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."
That is exactly what was happening. As they arrested people in the physical realm, it was like the Holy Spirit was arresting them in the spiritual realm and was then breaking the bonds that had held their souls captive.
As summer drew to a close, revival did not. The intercessors continued to pray. They perceived portals and fissures in the earth that were passageways for demonic spirits between hell and earth, but as they persevered in prayer, those began to diminish, and portals between heaven and earth began increasing in size and number all over Samaria, especially over the churches. Prayer and angels of breakthrough were pushing back the demonic interference, and God's presence and power was accessible and ready to be applied to every prayer.
But they could almost feel the strongman. The intercessors had pinpointed many of the demons, and yet there was something that was above all these that needed to be brought out of hiding so that they could bind the strongman in order to effectively plunder his house.
IS was becoming more and more agitated. As churches and Christians began to work and pray together in unity, his thrones that had been set up over Samaria, specifically at Sierra Crest and the Samaritan Inn, were becoming unstable as the heavenly portals were growing in number and volume. But he was working on a plan….
CHAPTER 3
REVELATION
Nicole woke from the nightmare gasping for breath and a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She prayed, Lord Jesus, what is this about? She was trying hard not to throw up! She couldn't get away from the thought that she was under the control of Incubus Succubus. But how was this possible? Hadn't she renounced everything?
As an intercessor, one of the lessons she had learned was that not every feeling she had was her own. Sometimes God would allow her to experience something that was attached to someone else so that she would be able to recognize the spirit behind them and know how to pray.
She had learned that lesson the hard way. If she claimed it as her own and it wasn't, this would result in someone else's demons attaching to her, along with whatever issue they were facing, whether physical symptoms, disease, emotional turmoil or mental attitudes.
"God, what is this? Is this just a bad dream? Or is this a revelation for me personally or for someone else?" She cried out, hoping that it was not for her.
In the dream, Nicole was in the kitchen of the house she had grown up in. She had opened the freezer door and saw what appeared to be a whole, newborn female calf stuffed inside. It slid out onto the floor and she watched as it moved just a bit.
She felt compassion for it and reached down to stroke its soft fur. The calf slowly began to stir and come to life, and then it stood and looked lovingly into Nicole's eyes as it nudged her hand, encouraging her to pet it some more, like her dog Jo did.
She didn't realize that the longer she stroked the soft fur, the more power over her mind the calf seemed to have. She didn't recognize that what seemed like innocent compassion on her part was opening her up to the deception of false love and comfort the calf was offering h
er.
The calf moved continually closer to her until it was leaning against her legs. The weight of it caused Nicole to sit down on the floor, and then it began crawling into her lap, wanting to be as close to her as possible. At first, Nicole laughed at its insistent intimacy and felt special that it had chosen her, but it seemed to be rapidly growing and gaining weight, and before she knew it, it had pushed her down until she was lying flat on the floor and it was sitting on top of her, holding her down.
"Hey, now that's enough. Get off of me!" Nicole said.
It did, but before she could get up, suddenly, a male calf moved in so quickly that Nicole had no time to get up before it too lay on top of her chest, holding her down so that she was unable to move at all. It was beautiful, dominating, controlling and strong, and it was familiar. Its influence over her mind was fulfilling in an enticing and empowering sort of way.
As Nicole was contemplating this, she began to feel as if the weight of the calf was crushing her and there was pressure around her neck that was making it difficult to breathe. Suddenly she knew that it held her in a strangle hold physically and spiritually.
Still believing that it cared about her, she told him that he was hurting her and asked it to get off of her and to release her, but he refused to move. He sat up tall and proud and powerful, looking away from her. She was beginning to choke and realized that he had no regard for her, except to conquer her.
In that moment of her dream, Nicole had a vision. She saw herself with the perfect body. She somehow knew the calf was telling her that if she would remain under his control that he would give her this body. It was an appealing temptation and yet there was a sense of defilement as well.
The Soul Redeemer: From Victim to Victory Page 2
