Principalities and Powers

It ain't easy being green. Here is Brokerbelle's letter to the Emerald Prince on fighting against the spiritual evil that is around us :



Dearest Josh,

After our phone call visit last night I have thought a lot about our conversation. You are fighting a difficult fight and struggling to win. At the time we talked, you were getting beat up on pretty badly in your efforts to “keep the faith” and “run the race”. I am writing now to encourage and support you in this struggle, and to lend whatever aid I can from home.

You have studied assorted topics relating to the Christian faith. That is a very good thing. Without study we are ignorant of God’s will and purposes, so you are truly “studying to make yourself approved, a workman who need not be ashamed” and this is very good. However, it is just a small part of living a Christian life physically, mentally and spiritually.

You have made changes in your thinking through these past few years that have been hard to make. With God’s help and leadership, you have successfully altered your opinions and attitudes toward many things. You no longer “think as the unsaved think, being darkened in your understanding and separated from the life of God.” You are, indeed, a new creature in Christ.

Now it is time for you to begin to really understand that the weapons of your warfare are not carnal, but are mighty for the tearing down of spiritual strongholds and wickedness in high places. This is not a lesson the Father teaches the babies or youngsters in Christ. This is meat, for the mature Christian. He would not be bringing you to this if you were not ready for it. It’s a hard lesson, as you are already learning. It is one that you will walk through with little human assistance. However, the assistance you have from the Holy Spirit will be constant and is what He has ordained for you. He is your teacher. You may not feel His presence, but it is there. He is above you and beneath you, on either side of you, to protect and guide you. He is, indeed, an ever-present help in time of need.

This is a time in your life when you will finally begin to see God with your mind and spirit. You have prayed for this and desired to see Him, truly see Him. Now you will see Him. Just remember, that He is a spirit and those who see Him, worship Him, and know Him do so on a spirit level. It is seldom or never that you will hear His voice with your ear or see Him with your eye. But you will know His power as He works around you. Through this, you will know Him in a new and different way. You will no longer feel it necessary to prove Him to others. You will begin to understand your gift of discernment for it will guide you to know the presence…or absence…of the Spirit of God in others.

There will be times, and probably you are feeling them already, when it will seem that the enemy has prevailed and is defeating you, but this is only one round of a match which you are destined to win. You cannot fail because of who you are and Whose you are. He has you in the palm of His hand. You are the apple of His eye. You may feel bruised and battered, but the Healer is there with the salve of His mighty presence.

Do you remember how I taught you to fight “pit dreams” when you were small? You learned to rebuke those dreams “in the name of Jesus” when you wakened in the night afraid and alone. The dreams would go away. What you will be doing now is much the same, only the attacks come when waking as well as sleeping. Just remember, they are only attacks. Jesus said not to fear even one who can kill the body, but only to fear Him who can deliver our souls to hell. (That’s Almighty God. Remember…the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom).

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Always, always, always remember that you do not war against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and wickedness in high places. High places are in the spirit realm, not in the natural world. Angry men, angry guards, hateful people are not what you war against. You war against the spirit behind the man and controlling the situation. Men who are not yielded to the Holy Spirit can be controlled by the enemy, even though they do not know it. You will know this because of your discernment and will find the Holy Spirit aiding you to stand against the anger that would inflame and control you. You will learn, instead, to remain at peace and maintain spiritual authority over the enemy at these times.

Always remember that your weapons are spiritual weapons. Your weapons are the Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, the Power of Jesus, and the Authority of Jesus. Scripture is your weapon. When you pray over a situation, combat the enemy with what God has to say—pray scripture over it. Refuse to accept a defeat, because you are a winner. If you accept a defeat, you are conceding the fight before the final round which is when you are destined to win. Do not be afraid to remind God of what His word says.

It is not necessary to speak aloud to fight. Many times you will not be in a place to speak aloud or where it will be unwise to do so. Because we war spiritually, we can pray silently and fight silently. This is very, very effective.

When our kitchen burned in Houston, it was a terribly disaster. We couldn’t get the insurance company to pay what they should pay. I became very discouraged because it seemed hopeless and unfair. Finally, I went into the bedroom, got on my knees by the bed and railed at God. I told Him how we had read His Word, been faithful to His church, and tithed and that His word promised we would have more blessings than we could handle, but this has not happened. Our burned up kitchen was a cursing. A non-paying insurance company was a cursing. I told Him how He promised something and He said He was not a man that He should lie, so where was the blessing? I was very, very angry that day. I was hurt. I felt God had tricked us and turned His back on us. I was furious! And I didn’t care if God minded or not, I felt justified.

Well, when I cooled down I went back to the family room and saw a pair of your little white socks on the floor. They were covered in soot from your walking on the smoke-covered carpet. I picked up those socks, stuffed them in an envelope with a letter to the insurance adjuster and asked him to please explain how our house did not qualify for cleaning after a fire when your socks looked like that. Two days later, cleaners came to clean the house. The adjuster came back and re-evaluated. They allowed money for eating out and money to replace or repair things. From that day on, I knew I could count on God’s Word. He had not forsaken us, He was teaching me to really know Him.

When Abraham took Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice him, God was not testing Abraham. God knew Abraham. He could see his heart. He knew how much Abraham loved Isaac, but that Abraham feared God more. He knew that if He told Abraham to take Isaac up to the mountain and sacrifice him that Abraham would do it. God was revealing Himself to Abraham, not testing him. He provided the sacrifice in place of Isaac. He helped Abraham know that He could be trusted and would cause him no hurt.

You are now learning this. As you go through this time and come out of it, you will have a peace unlike any you have ever known. You will be able to be in the midst of terrible times and know that though ten thousand fall on your right and a thousand on your left, He will keep you safe. Read the first 3 chapters of Isaiah. In it God promises terrible wrath to those who turn against Him. Then He puts in a small sentence in the third chapter, about verse 10, that says, “but say to the righteous, it will go well with him.” And, Josh, you are one of the righteous because of the blood of Jesus. Never forget it and never doubt it. It will go well with you.

You are deeply and genuinely loved by me, Dad and ***. But you are loved more by God. He has given you marvelous gifts. He has put within you a pastoral gift so strong that when you speak it calms the troubled heart. He has blessed you with discernment so strong that you are not blind to the spiritual workings around you. He has placed in your heart a desire to know Him and see Him. He has given you a love for people that will be rekindled and tempered by His need to redeem each of us.

Do not be discouraged. Do not allow yourself to indulge in self-pity. Rebuke those feelings in the name of Jesus. Repent of the sin of entertaining those thoughts. Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit and heal you. And then move ahead. Let your studies venture into new areas—into the spiritual side of the Christian walk. Read the Book of John , as well as I, II, and III John. John, for whom you were named, was keenly aware of the spirit world. Paul also knew spiritual warfare. Jesus taught about spirit things in other NT books. This is not milk for babes, but exciting and necessary for the mature Christian.

When you are challenged by one who jibes and rails at you, do not accept the challenge. Withdraw into the place of peace within yourself that Jesus provides for you and take authority over the spirit which has blinded the challenger. Pray a covering of the blood of Jesus over your prison. Rebuke the foul spirits that would dominate the place. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill the prison and to reveal Jesus Christ to every person there.

In closing, I give you this: the Lord said to Joshua “I will give you every place where you set your foot…..no one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land ….be strong and very courageous….meditate on the Word of God day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:3-7



I love you,