To recap, the first morning after my deliverance I had a very vivid dream where two beautiful pheasants flew toward me. With delight, I reached out to them to have them, and when one of them touched me an ominous heaviness came from behind me and started to press upon my shoulders. I realized the demons were trying to come back and I reflexively cried out, "Save me, Jesus!" Everything immediately disappeared and I woke up.
The pheasants are things that tempt me. If I re-embrace those things and sin, Satan will come back. But I have the remedy, and that is Jesus! His Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus like a dove when John baptized him and raised him from the dead after his crucifixion, lives in me!!! It sounds incredible, but that's what the Bible says and that's what has happened!
My wife and I are continuing to "pull weeds" in our lives. We have been sorting through things and getting rid of a lot! We have numerous boxes of books lining the walls, ready to be sold or donated, and we have been shredding so much paper we are probably going to ruin the two shredders we have. I'm getting rid of my college engineering textbooks, as well as my dad's college engineering textbooks. He's been dead for fifteen years, so he certainly doesn't need them anymore and neither do I! It used to be hard to get rid of things, but the chains are gone! We don't need this stuff! It's a burden and in the way of what God wants us to do!
This morning, I went through a bunch of old newspaper clippings, most of which were letters to the editor I had submitted more than ten years ago. I was repulsed. Many of them were about religion. When I wrote them I thought I was doing God's work, but that's not what the Holy Spirit thinks today! Most of them were arguments with nonbelievers about Biblical concepts, and even though my points may have been accurate and my motives just, I was not going to win any arguments with them because they could not understand. Realizing that, I started to refrain from writing to the newspaper about those things around 2005, but I continued occasionally writing about political or local-government topics, and my demeanor remained the same. I was combative and self-righteous, as were my opponents. I'm sure Satan played his part in all of this, but I'm not going to blame him for my own behavior. Sin is ugly, and I participated! Ugh! I repent! Thank you, Jesus!!! Those works are now in bags of shredded paper. If there was anything good in them, Jesus will remember them for me. Otherwise, they are history!
This is the beautiful thing about truly having the Holy Spirit help me run my life. He clearly convicts sin when it is present, and gives peace if it is not. For example, the other day the telephone rang and it was a telemarketer. Normally, we let the answering machine take care of those calls, but in this case I picked up the phone. I was not very nice and rudely asked them to "take our number off of their list," which they have to do by law in the USA if you request it. They complied, and as I hung up I was shot through the heart by conviction! I immediately knew that I had sinned against that poor man and I wished I could call him back and apologize. That was not possible, but I immediately had a conversation with Jesus and repented, and then went to my wife and told her what happened. I was actually full of joy at being rebuked. I used that word: rebuked! I told her our policy now ought to be that we are kind and patient with telemarketers, as we wait for them to get to the point where we can kindly ask them to take our number off of their list. I've done that a couple of times now, and it is soooo much better.
Since we have been home from Florida, I have been testing my thoughts and behaviors to see if they are okay with the Holy Spirit. I have learned that if there is peace, it's okay, and if there is conviction, it's not and I should do something about it. Oh, thank you, Jesus! I have been wanting this kind of clarity all of my life, and now I have it!
Doubt is a different topic. Doubt is from Satan, and it is always based on lies. I am still learning to deal with that, but the Holy Spirit is helping me. By the way, if you are struggling with anything I am saying, it is probably Satan telling you lies. Please don't listen to him! Trust Jesus!! Jesus is the truth; Satan is the father of lies.
I tell you these things because I love you, and I want you to have the same joy I have. Your experiences will not be the same as mine, but if you do not have the Full Gospel, and any necessary deliverance, please get them. This new life in freedom is amazing and I want you to have it, too!
All glory to God! Thank you, Jesus!!!