Satan bought me a Coke

I went out to the bar street expecting to do the same thing I do every night. Love the bar girls. But Satan had a different plan for me. He thought he had my night planned, but little did he know I wasn’t about to go down without a fight! It's a long story about how a demon possessed man stared into my soul with the intention to “put me in fetal position, in a black ditch too scared to get up,” but that isn't the part of the story I want to share with you. I want to share the part where Christ took over my thoughts even when I couldn’t formulate a thought – He was still there. Jesus Christ was the only thing I could think in the moment. So every time that demon cast fear into me with his words, I sat up a little more and stared into his eyes more intently because I knew he saw Christ in my eyes and I knew that pissed him off. Once I finished talking to this man, all I wanted to do was run back to Zion so I could have prayer showered over me…I knew I was going to need a lot of it. On the walk home I felt followed, scared, confused, frustrated, comforted, loved, and attacked. I felt like Satan was throwing everything he could at me. I couldn’t feel my feet, I was dizzy, my body ached, and so on… but again, that isn't the part I want to share with you.

This is the prayer I prayed once I got back to Zion:

I pray against him.

I pray against his face.

I pray against the way he stood over me.

I pray against the way he spit in my face.

I pray against the way he belittled me.

I pray against the way I could smell his breath.

I pray against the way he spoke to me.

I pray against the way he shoved that little boy selling flowers.

I pray against the way he talked about your people.

I pray against the way he declared who he was.

I pray against the way he declared who I was.

I pray against the way he spoke “truth” into me.

I pray against the things he told me that he had done to people.

I pray against the way he told me who I wasn’t.

I pray against the way he told me there's no hope.

I pray against the detail in his words.

I pray against the way he talked about You.

I pray against the way he shook me to my core.

I pray against the way he instilled fear into me.

Then a shift happened in my prayers…all I could say was:

You love him

You love him

You love him

You love him

You love him

You love him

You love him

I praise you for the way You equipped me with Your strength.

I praise You for the way You held my head up.

I praise You for the way he saw You in my eyes.

I praise You for how he saw Your face shook him to his core.

I praise You for the way I felt You.

I praise You for the way I felt no fear in the moment.

I praise You for the way You stood over him.

I praise You for who You are.

I praise You that I have a God who casts out all fear.

I praise You that You are in control.

I praise You that You kept me safe.

I pray Satan gets pushed into the gutter and swept out to sea and is submerged in his lies.

I pray Satan gets out of me.

I pray Satan knows he lost this battle.

I pray Satan is scared.

I pray Satan is screaming.

I pray Satan has NO hold on Zion.

I pray Satan has NO hold on that man any longer.

I pray Satan and his spirit dies.

I pray Satan feels defeated.

I pray Satan feels the exact same fear I felt.

I pray Satan leaves Thailand.

I thank You for Your everlasting love.

I thank You for who You are.

I thank You for Your shelter.

I thank You for Your guidance.

I thank You that every time he tried to scare me with his words, I heard Your name louder.

I thank You that I wasn’t afraid to look into Satan's eyes.

I thank You I never looked away.

I thank You for Your confidence in me.

I thank You for the overwhelming joy I feel, knowing You defeated Satan.

I thank You.

I thank You.

I thank You.

Once I got home, all I could say when I saw my teammates was, “pray for me,” and without explanation, all of them prayed more fiercely than they had ever prayed. The Holy Spirit had arrived and was ready to take over. Meanwhile, Satan was still trying to take over me…I couldn’t feel my body and all I wanted to do was lay down in fetal position, but I wasn’t about to let that man have the satisfaction of putting me into fetal position! I felt the like Satan and Christ were playing tug-a-war with my body. I was being pulled down to the floor yet neither Christ nor I were about to let that happen. I didn’t know what to do with my body. But once I told myself I wasn't laying down, I felt held up by Christ. From that point on, my tears of fear turned into tears of joy because of how present and faithful My God is. All He has been showing and teaching me throughout my whole time in Thailand was for those 30 minutes that I talked with Satan. My favorite realization about that whole night is, yeah, Satan put fear into me and my crying was out of fear of him, but in the end, I cried more because I realized how great my God is and even though I've legitimately never been more terrified in my life – that night more tears came from my eyes because of the overwhelming joy He put in my heart! I got to see first hand who my God really is and how He loves that poor man and wants to love and pursue him just as much as He is pursing me! I'm tearing up now because that love I felt that night is nothing like I've ever felt before and I never want it to leave. And I know that it won't…All I have to do is keep on accepting it!

Our team has been going through Romans and the end up chapter 8 pretty much sums up the way I felt the next time I went onto the bar street.

Romans 8:36-39:

"They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. 

We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one."

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

even though I felt like a "sitting duck" I still had not one ounce of fear because of Christ's love for me.