A Declaration of War

Today I had the opportunity to share my testimony with the Hispanic ministry at my church. I've been going to the Hispanic Bible study and worship on Wednesday and Sunday to get my Spanish ready for Spain in March. As I was working on my testimony in Spanish I decided to include details of when I declared war.

You may have no idea what I'm talking about, but we'll get there in a moment. The week before my wreck at my training, we had to participate in "family" time. Since there's a bunch of us singles there, we are supposed to spend this time with our roommates. As my roommates (Brook and Pat) and I were meeting we discussed the spiritual warfare we were encountering. We had things we needed to clear up with one another and things we needed to clean up in our hearts. With very heavy hearts we prayed and prayed and prayed. As we prayed, I could hear the intensity and earnestness in my roommates voices. We had felt an attack, and we were fighting the best way we knew how... with prayer. After we had finished praying I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a declaration of war against Satan. I was so fed up with how the evil one works that I was determined to let him know that victory belongs to Christ alone. The following Sunday was when Brook and I had our accident.

Now I'm not saying that just because I made a declaration of war against Satan, that it's the reason I was in the wreck. I'm am saying, however, that Satan is at work and he had an intentional attack planned. This was not only an attack on me, but an attack on my family and many others. Satan wanted to so badly put a fear in us, but he has done quite the opposite. Instead I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in such a strong way. I believe that Satan asked to test us, and God for whatever reason allowed it. I know that suffering produces so many good things in our walk, and this experience had only solidified my belief and faith in Jesus Christ. I can honestly say that I believe my God is greater than Satan, and Satan has no victory. I REFUSE to let any of what I have encountered to bring fame to anyone but God.

It's really interesting because I had prepared myself in so many ways from the attacks of Satan, but he always seems to have a plan to attack us in an area where we least expect it. The good news that I have is that God is right there with us when the unexpected happens. Just this morning I was talking with my mom how God gives us the ability to deal with what happens. Sometimes we look at the trials someone goes through and wonder how they do it. The way they continue on is because of the Holy Spirit. Have we forgotten the power of the God we serve? I realize that my declaration of war against Satan is not the first declaration, but I know the end result of the war. Let us not allow him to have any glory until we get to that final victory.

Walking gets easier each day, even though I'm still slow. I'm about 2 weeks ahead of schedule because of your prayers. Please pray for strength in my ankles and that my muscles will loosen up. They are still tight, and I'm still sporting some bruises. It's been about 2 months; God continues in faithfulness. If you want one of my prayer cards please email me! Also if you have prayer requests let me know! taryneb@yahoo.com

Taryn