Guard your 'ear' gates and 'eye' gates

I felt impressed to share this experience I had. It was a totally unpleasant experience in which I fell sick and had senseless pain for at least a week.

It all started with a harmless book. This book was bought from Beijing. It is one of the timeless classics in Chinese literature. I bought this book because even though I read it in secondary school, I had no recollection of what it talked about. Not only that, because we were 'forced' to read this book, I remembered feeling so repulsed by it that I completely lost interest in Chinese as a language.  Only until recently my interest in Chinese was rekindled by God and I discovered what a beauttiful language it is.

After reading most of the book, I realised why I hated it in the first place. This story was so depressing. It did not have any heroic acts or any strong characters that would capture audience's attention. The storyline was weak and there were no turning points. It was like a downstream ride all the way till final destruction. The main characters were melancholic, pessimistic and they cried easily. They were victims of societal norms and eventually the lady died of an illness. She did not even get to see her lover for the last time. Her lover, on the other hand, was deceived into marrying another lady during those last moments of her life. How pathetic right!

Well, I guess maybe that is really the case for unbelievers. They really cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. They have no hope for the future. But this should not be so for us! We are children of the Most High God and our days are getting brighter as time passes.  Our hope is in Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us from the curse of the law and the sin of this world through His death on the cross! No wonder I totally cannot identify with the characters in that book. I am the blessed one!

However, unknowingly as I got deeper into the plot of this book, I opened my mind to the spirits of distress. Dear beloved, I can tell you that the spirit realm is more real than the physical realm. Everything that you see (whether good or bad) first happened in the spirit realm. It is in this realm that strongholds are set up or destroyed. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war accordingly to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ...'

When you find yourself caught in an endless cycle of depression or sickness or some bondage, go to the Lord and ask Him to show you what is happening in the spirit realm. You would be surprised to discover that the cause of all these things is not of the natural! And here you are running around in the natural trying to solve the problem which is not even natural...sounds familiar right?

This was what happened to me. After a few days of gum pain which refused to go away, I went to see a doctor but even after taking antibiotics, the pain still recurred after the effects of the painkiller wear off. I thought that this issue could be solved with medication. I finally sought the Lord for the reason and for the resolution.  The Lord showed me that I would not be able to get results from the world. John 3:6 says flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. The stronghold originated in the spirit realm and has to be destroyed in that realm.

When He revealed to me the source of the stronghold, I quickly took hold of that book and trashed it. I declared 'You foul spirits of distress, go in the Name of Jesus, along with this pain and swollen gums!' At that moment I felt a release and even though the pain was still there, I knew that this was a turning point and I would experience the manifestation of healing soon. True enough, by the next day the cycle of pain was broken even after I stopped taking painkillers. Praise God!

Dear brothers and sisters, I just wanted to share that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial (1 Corinthians 10:23). We really need to guard our 'ear' gates and 'eye' gates because sometimes the materials we read or hear take root in our heart unknowingly and slowly become a stronghold. This would eventually play out in our lives as physical manifestations because wrong believing leads to wrong living.  Conversely, if you let the Word of God take root in your life, you will surely bear fruit. Proverbs 12:12 says the root of the righteous yields fruit.