Several weeks ago, hubby received a phone call from a mental health worker. This worker had previously rung all the churches in the local area and they had all refused her request. She simply wanted a Christian to spiritually cleanse a house for a client of hers who was an inpatient in a psychiatric ward. Hubby asked her a few questions to clarify what it was exactly she was after. This lady had no idea really except she didn’t want anything weird. Her client was a Christian, currently a psych inpatient and about to return home but refused to go into his house before it had been spiritually cleansed. This lady didn’t know who else to turn to to ask for help as all the churches had refused. An outreach worker at one of the churches would have willingly done this but she was going away on holidays. A fellow worker in the same office as the lady had said he knew us and reckoned that we would help. Hubby admitted to the lady it was probably more his wife’s thing and yes, we would help.
The day that this man was being released from hospital was a day that we had prior engagements that couldn’t be broken so we arranged to meet the lady, and her client ‘Bill’ at Bill’s house. Since we couldn’t be there until 4pm, Bill was staying in hospital until then as he refused to enter his house before we had ‘cleansed’ it. Once the lady received a phone call from us that we were outside the house, she brought him from the hospital.
Bill, the lady and a friend of Bill’s met us on the footpath. We introduced ourselves. Bill stated very firmly that there was no way he would enter the house until we had finished and cleared all the evil spirits out. Bill’s friend and the lady went into the house to assess it for any damage as the key had been loaned by Bill to another friend. I turned to Bill and asked him what he wanted us to do. After he had explained, I asked him if he could see in the spirit eg demons etc. He said he did and he looked as though he relaxed slightly because we were taking him seriously and validating what he had experienced. I then asked him if, before we started, we could pray for him. It was a very simple prayer. We didn’t touch him but just quietly I called his spirit to attention and prayed a blessing over him for sound mind, peace, sanity etc. As soon as I had finished praying for him, he stated that he was ready now to go into the house. I was quite taken aback and a bit shocked seeing how he had adamantly refused to before. I stressed how we were planning to use some oil to anoint every door and window etc and he gave permission to still go ahead and do that, but also stated that he felt it was okay to now go in.
20 minutes later we had walked right through the house, praying, blessing it and had finished and were leaving. He asked if he could give us an offering and we stated ‘no’. We didn’t want anything in return. The lady had also asked us previously what we charged as in a prior case she had been charged an exorbitant amount for someone to do something similar.
As we left, I couldn’t help but reflect on how calling this man’s spirit to attention and blessing it had resulted in a major difference for him. The key was calling his spirit to attention and blessing his spirit. It had far greater impact than simply praying a blessing over him. Speaking to his spirit, after calling it to attention, makes sure that it goes deep into his spirit. Imagine how the world could change if we began calling to attention people’s spirits and blessing them. The change in this man was literally amazing.
I encourage you to begin to try this week. As you pray for your kids or each other or even yourself, call their/your spirit to attention and pray a blessing over it. Our son loves it when we do it over him. Most nights as I am tucking him into bed, he will ask me to ‘do that thing you do’ where I call his spirit to attention and then bless his spirit.
Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:
The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy!
Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3)
1. Children / Families Activation: Practice calling each other’s spirit to attention and praying a blessing over each other’s spirit. You, as the adult, go first so that they can see what to do. Example: “Joshua, I call your spirit to attention and I bless you with knowing who you are and how God sees you. I bless you with knowing that you are fully loved by your Heavenly Father and by daddy and me. I bless you with favour and friends, with knowing how to be a good friend and having great friends around you. I bless you with wisdom and the ability to choose wisely and make great decisions. Joshua, I bless your spirit with knowing that God created you as you are. He completely loves you and how He created you, with your gifts and abilities. I bless you with joy and hope and peace. I bless you with great sleep and an ability to dream with God.”
2. Group Activation: Pair up and then spend 3 minutes each taking it in turn to pray a blessing over your partner. Remember to firstly call your partner’s spirit to attention by name. Concentrate on blessing your partner’s identity, design and destiny.
3. Beginner Activation: Spend time asking God to show you what He loves about you and listening to His response. Write down what you hear God say about you. Turn these into a blessing that you can say aloud over yourself when you call your spirit to attention. If you have difficulty with this, begin by asking God to show you how He sees you being dressed ie what outfit/clothes you are wearing.
4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you whose spirit needs blessing. Write them a letter, blessing them with as much fullness as you can. Then, pray it aloud where you are ie you can be at home and that person not near you. Call their spirit to attention and speak it over them, realising that in the spiritual realm you don’t need to be near each other to hear in the spirit.
5. Advanced Activation: Think of a specific child who struggles with autism or behavioural issues. Ask God to show you a picture of them in the spiritual. Call their spirit to attention and pray this over them. Pray over them the opposite of any negative behaviour or attitudes. I have done this many times lately with children and they haven’t heard me physically as I have been in another room or I have whispered it quietly whilst in the same children’s ministry class etc but I didn’t want the children to know what was happening. The physical change in the children was amazing.