Spiritual Warfare at the Garden House

By David Hobbs

The Garden House is a shed out back of my folk’s house in Ohio. Half used for tools and storage, and half fixed into a little apartment with bed, table and wood stove, it is my place of prayer when home visiting. Exciting things have happened there, the chief being meeting Jesus once in prayer in the dead of night (see blog post “Friday Night at the Garden House” posted 2-17-08). That’s the only time Jesus has visited me personally and even then I was kept from seeing Him or hearing Him audibly. Still that has forever made the garden house holy ground.

That had been in July 2007. Now it was 2 years later in July 2009 and I was back because of my book tour. I went out to pray the first night and it was very difficult. But prayer is sometimes like that, and I was tired from driving for several days straight…. But when the next night was just as hard, I took stock. Hmm. Different young people from the family had used the place in my absence. They went back there to smoke and drink and hang out at family reunions. I realized the demons had been let back in.
Many people, when they experience a difficult time in prayer, agree with thoughts the enemy puts in their minds like, “I’m just not good at prayer. Prayer is so dry, how do people do it? Prayer just isn’t my thing, etc.” Little do they know that those aren’t even their own thoughts, that they’re agreeing with the lies of the enemy, and that he has also bound them spiritually and put roadblocks in their way to keep them from breaking through in prayer. Our spirits do want to pray, because prayer is life-giving contact with God. Meeting with Him in prayer is like getting our spiritual extension cords plugged into His power outlet—we get quickened, rejuvenated, and re-energized in our Christian walk (see "The Nourishing Sap of the Holy Spirit, 7-6-08). The enemy is clever at hiding from us what he is doing to separate us from God. The enemy loves to hide in the darkness, but the Holy Spirit loves to come and overturn the rocks he is hiding under and see the demons flee .
I realized now it was not me, but that I was encountering spiritual resistance from an entrenched foe. Understanding is half the victory, because God has already given us the tools we need. I began to praise the Lord out loud, contrary to my feelings and the feelings of dry hardness in the garden house. “Glory to God! Praise the Lord! Jesus I proclaim Your victory on the cross!” I could feel the shackles on me letting go and the anointing arise from within me. I got louder and louder. Suddenly there arose a fierce spiritual battle as the demons, exposed and confronted by the Word of the Lord under the unction of the Holy Spirit, responded with ferocious hatred. They were all around the outside of the building in the dark while I was inside in the bright, spiritual light, walking back and forth in that little space, praising the Lord and declaring His victory at the top of my voice.
How did I know they were there? I could sense them in my spirit: their agitation and their hatred. Also, there were 4 windows in the room. Two went to the outside, the third was in a door that went to the outside, and the fourth was in the door that went to the storage side of the building. Often as I passed a window I would get a split-second glimpse in my spirit of an angry, ugly demonic face glaring at me.
As I’ve learned before, the Holy Spirit within me is not in the least bit intimidated by the demonic. In fact, it energizes Him. So now the Holy Spirit within me was fired up for action and we kept up a loud barrage of praising the Lord and declaring His victory and the devil’s defeat.
Now here’s the key. The demons were swirling outside like a swarm of bees whose nest had just been broken up. They had me surrounded inside the garden house off in the woods away from the house in the dark of the night. I couldn’t go outside, I couldn’t run, and I couldn’t escape. I had to remain there, stay on task, stay focused, and wait for the Lord to come and deliver me and defeat them. And so the battle raged. I had no fear, but it was also hairy because I knew they were stronger than I, and my victory depended on not yielding but remaining on attack. And there was no guarantee how long it might take!
After about half an hour of intense praise and declarations, suddenly it was over. They were gone, driven off by the heavenly hosts. Now I could go outside in the dark to relieve myself without fear.
There were no more hindrances to prayer the rest of my time there. In fact, praying in the garden house after that was so tame it became boring, so I began going out and walking around the property to pray.

Hindrances to God's Glory Being Poured Out

By Pastor Joy, as told to David Hobbs


Pastor Joy is one of the most spiritually in-tune people I know. She has pastored throughout the country with her husband, mostly in the Episcopal Church. They currently live in our area where they pastor an Anglican church. The following is her account, as well as I can remember it, as told to our prayer group on 3/24/2010.
Recently I was caught up to a face-to-face encounter with the Lord. He spoke with me and allowed me to ask Him questions. One of the questions I asked was "Lord, why don’t you pour out Your glory as You have promised? How long must we wait?"
The Lord answered, "I long for that even more than you do, but where can I pour it out?"
Not long after this I was driving early in the morning from Yuba City to the Rock of Roseville Church . It was winter, and as often happens here in the Valley in the cold mornings there were dense patches of valley fog. As I was driving, I felt the presence of the Lord fill my car and I noticed that strange things were happening to the fog. I realized Iwas having some kind of vision. The fog seemed to congeal into squares or blocks and they began taking on different colors. "What is this? What am I seeing?" I asked the Lord.
“The fog represents My glory" He responded.
I noticed off toward the horizon a block of gray, dark, dirty looking fog. "Why is that fog gray?" I wondered aloud.
“The gray fog is My glory contaminated with sin," He said. [When she said this I thought of Simon the Sorcerer who offered Peter money for the ability to lay hands on people and confer the gift of the Holy Spirit.]
A little farther I saw in another direction some brown fog. "What’s with the brown fog?" I asked.
“The brown fog is My glory contaminated by the flesh.” [When she said this, I thought of those who used their spiritual giftings and anointings to subtly promote themselves—building up their ministries, raising money, merchandising products, and boasting in their newsletters of their many accomplishments, all in the Name of Christ.]
Then I saw close at hand some pink fog, which looked unlike anything I had ever seen before. "Wow! What’s the pink fog?"
“The pink fog is My glory contaminated by false doctrine.” [When she said this I thought of those who teach that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not for today; that spiritual gifts and manifestations died out with the early church; that speaking in tongues is a manifestation of the devil; who question and criticize every present move of the Spirit….]
Then right before me, towering in the sky to a great height, was a pillar of dazzling white fog, stunning in its beauty and brilliance.
“That is My glory, pure and undefiled."
But even as I was watching in awe while trying to keep my car on the road, I noticed some tendrils of the pink fog beginning to drift toward the pillar of pure fog, as if to wrap themselves around it and intermingle with it.
“Even when I find a safe place to pour out My glory, there is ever-present danger of contamination by those who dwell on the earth," the Lord concluded and the vision ended.

MY COMMENTS: I absolutely believe the vision and bear witness to its message. But we need to be careful not to use the vision as a club to beat those who don’t agree with us doctrinally, or who we think are more corrupt or falsely motivated than we perceive ourselves to be. We all share in each of the contaminations of His glory, which is why it is not being poured out in spite of our longings and His.
I see this vision as a call for all of us in the church to repent. It’s not just “those guys!” It’s all of us. We need to repent, confess our sins and the faults of the church, humble ourselves and ask the Lord to purify us all, so He can pour His glory out.

Another Sign by Rain

By David Hobbs

Last spring I had what I took to be a supernatural sign with rain in the appearance of fire and fiery horses in the clouds over our church. This happened early one morning after a time of prayer. (See blog post “Angels and Fiery Rain” of 6/3/09)

It could all have been explained meteorologically in the natural scientific realm, but then most supernatural manifestations can, just as answered prayer can be explained as coincidence, wishful thinking, mind tricks, etc. If you are waiting for a “pure” supernatural manifestation that can’t possibly be explained any other way… you’ll probably be waiting a long time. That’s not how God does things. He always requires faith. Without faith it's impossible to please Him. Faith is what unlocks the door to the supernatural.

That’s what makes it so pathetic to hear “learned” people explaining away miracles like the walls of Jericho falling down as being caused by a fortuitously-timed earthquake, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead as being the result of a “swoon” whereby He never really died, but returned to consciousness in the tomb and then… and then... (however they explain how He was able to roll the heavy stone away in His debillitated condition, leave the tomb, roll the stone back, and escape in full view of the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb!). The natural mind can explain away any and everything supernatural, which might be why the Bible says the natural mind can never please God!
So last spring I was in a time of prayer, getting ready to launch the new initiative of my summer book tour which I had been preparing for all winter, and God gave me an encouraging sign of fiery rain and horses over the church. This sign was not only for me, but for the whole church, which has been given many prophesies, dreams, and visions through many different people of what is about to happen here, I being the latest in this long string.
But that was then. This is now.

Last Sunday I and some others went to the town of Live Oak north of the church to a facility we used to call an “Old Folk’s Home” to do a monthly service for the old folks. The fellow who was going to share the Word didn’t show up, so we ended up singing for nearly 2 hours to the appreciative audience. It was lively, from our hearts, and the level of the Holy Spirit’s anointing in the room kept rising. This I believe was the key for what happened next.
Driving home I had to pass our church, which owns the land for a half mile along Live Oak Bl. out in the country north of Yuba City. The sky was partly sunny and partly cloudy. A storm was passing 1000 miles to the north and these were the wispy clouds on its outer boundary.
As I drove south on Hwy. 99 a couple of raindrops appeared on my windshield."Rain? There’s no rain in the forecast for a week!” But nothing else happened until two miles later, when I turned off on Live Oak Bl. past the church. Just as I reached the northern edge of the church property it started to rain in earnest. I had to turn the wipers on; it was a good shower. But as I passed Eager Rd., the church's southern boundary, the rain suddenly quit, and there was no more for the rest of the trip home, nor for the rest of the day, nor anywhere else in the Valley nor up in the mountains where they usually get 3X as much rain as we do. It was only that one shower right as I passed the church after coming out from a strong anointing at the old folk’s home.