Dancing with Demons

I waltzed with evil last weekend.  I looked it in the eye, face to face.  And when it wouldn’t let me go, I watched as God threw it off the dance floor.

Matt and the girls had gone to a Magic game that Friday night with our church family and weren’t expected home until close to midnight.   There’s nothing that I dislike more than being home alone.  There‘s a fear that seems irrational, but is ever present.  I turned every light on downstairs, including the television, and I was working on my laptop.  Punkin was upstairs asleep and it was well into the night. 

I had recently started working on a project dealing with angels and demons.  I had chosen this night to write and research, knowing I‘d be able to concentrate.  I was in the middle of typing a sentence detailing spiritual warfare when the electricity went out.  One second I was surrounded by light, the next I was in complete, utter, suffocating darkness.  Without the TV, I was left in total silence.  I immediately began praying as my heart rate accelerated beyond what I thought possible.  I jumped up and ran from the counter to the couch, the table to the counter.  My home had become a ballroom.  I was begging God to turn on the lights, begging Him to help me find my phone for light. When I finally found it, I was able to locate a lighter and candles.  I haven’t known fear like that before.  I knew when I decided to take on a project about demons that I would be attacked spiritually.  It was something that I didn’t want to acknowledge, but I knew it in my heart.

I lit all the candles I could find and placed them around the house in a circle.  Even a small amount of light in a world of darkness meant everything to me.  I sat at my front door, where I could see every room in the house.  I had my car keys with the alarm, my phone and a knife.  And I sat there, praying. 

At first, I didn’t believe what I was seeing.   No one would.  It was moving so slowly.  I closed my eyes several times, willing it away, telling myself that I wasn’t crazy.  But I’d open my eyes and it was still there.  It was across the room, about eight feet away from where I was sitting.  It had a shape - a head, shoulders - but not clearly defined.  It was a shadow on the floor, inching away from me.  I looked around to find the source, but there wasn’t one.  The only light in the house were the flickering candles.  I prayed like I have never prayed, saying “Jesus” over and over, knowing the power in His name.  I continued to pray and watch until the shadow crept away, completely disappearing near the couch, and I was left in a dark room where the small amount of light seemed to be more than bright enough. 

I called my neighbor next door, asking if she was home in the dark, too. I don’t know her very well so when she offered to come over, I was surprised.  We talked for quite a while.  She told me she had been struggling through some personal issues and I told her I would pray for her.  I had invited her to church before and she didn’t accept, but that night she told me she would like to come on Sunday.  And she did.  And she was saved that same morning.

My friend in the back part of our neighborhood lost power for a few seconds.  We lost power for over two hours. 

Evil exists in our world, it’s all around us.  But Good will overcome evil if we’re wearing the right armor for the war.  Good and evil battled it out over me last week and Good won. 

I think about the things we do every day - what we watch, what we read, what we listen to, how we speak. Evil wins the small battles in our lives over and over again with the choices that we make. 

And if we aren’t careful, when we invite evil into our world, we might just be inviting the demons to dance.