Rudies

What do you do when you encounter a person who is angry, rude, lies, and basically treats you as if you don’t matter at all? I met two such people last week.

The first one turned right and never looked to her left, and I had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting her. I honked and then motioned for them to go ahead. She didn’t but instead proceeded to roll down her window and chew me out while showing me her age with her middle finger. I got mad and went around her. The problem was this: I allowed an evil spirit to jump on me, and I took it home. I then yelled at April and wasn’t sure why.

The second person was the checkout at the grocery store. I actually had an issue with her last week, too, when she somehow overcharged me $9. Today, she was rude when I told her I was not too fond of the fact that she was putting my purchased food in the shopping cart while the previous customer was still gathering their items. Today, the older shopper almost took some of my items. When I expressed my dissatisfaction, she got an attitude with me and then lied, saying she didn’t know her name when I asked for it.

I noticed I had a horrible attitude myself after I got in the car. Thank God April was at work! After my second errand and on my way to my third, I noticed I still had it. I felt awful inside. Then it hit me. I started praying to God and commanded any evil spirit to leave and to present itself at the feet of Jesus, and He would decide their fate. Then, I prayed for the cashier that God would help her with whatever issues she was facing in life.

We need to be aware that evil spirits are real, and they can latch onto us from other people. Knowing how to deal with these spirits is essential.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Eph. 6:10-18 (NIV)

Yep. There are spirits that try to rule and reign over territories. When I was living in the Philippines, I discerned different evil spirits. Ones that tried to keep things broken in order to keep people depressed and poor. The average family struggled to make ends meet. There were also evil spirits of disturbance. Identifying them and then knowing how to use the weapons God gave us listed above is vital to living life in peace. My battles are not with people but with evil spirits.

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