A Moment of Praise

Demons are real, but so is Jesus
Written by: Cayla Rossouw

“Put on all of Gods armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of Gods armour so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will be standing firm.” Ephesians 6:11-13

“Pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians 6:18

If we choose to follow Christ, we are engaged in spiritual warfare. It’s unseen and often undetected, but it doesn’t mean it’s non-existent, just because we can’t see it… The Spiritual world is real, it’s all around us. Our spiritual enemy desires to disrupt our lives in every way, so that we live miserably.

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Coming to a new country, the Lord showed me a picture of a dark blanket covering the whole area. False religion, false worship and false ceremonial practises are all blinding the nation to the truth – the dark blanket…

At this ministry point, I felt strongly to pray wherever I walked, inviting the Lord’s presence into the atmosphere to bring light into the darkness. Waking up most mornings was hard. You’d wake up throughout the night with Muslim prayer calls on the speakers in the surrounding mosques and it was so loud, it felt like you could  hear it all the way back in South Africa.

The spiritual atmosphere was so thick; I was feeling heavy most days with very little energy. I found myself sitting with the Lord, on the 13th of May, praying that He would show me why I am feeling this way, to refresh me with His Holy Spirit and to give me strength to pray constantly. I asked the Lord for more of Him and to use me.

I started the day of the 15th as a normal day, not knowing that it would be the start of the Lord unlocking a new door for me to step into. While walking through the food markets in the streets of Jordan, I came face to face with the spiritual world. Feeling the darkness overwhelm me, I had to walk out of the market. Dizzy and nauseous, I was filled with fear and began to pray. Not having many words yet, the Lord said to me, ‘Do not have the spirit of fear, as I have given you authority,’ which reminded me of the scripture in Luke:

“He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lighting from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:18-20

I said those words repeatedly…

‘I don’t have the spirit of fear, the Lord has given me authority.’

As I was walking, the Lord showed me a darkness hanging over people and the darkness was surrounding them. Without even thinking, I began to name the darkness… the spirit of temptation, the spirit of lust, the spirit of anger, and so on. I was overwhelmed with the darkness that is constantly around me and surrounding people, having many questions. We walked back to the church where I sat in the prayer room in conversation with the Lord. 

“Lord I’m not sure what to do with this discernment or how to do anything, but I am willing to learn, you know what I can handle, Lord help me to step into this with boldness.”

……………

The Lord opened my eyes to the reality of the spiritual world. For the next 15 days, I had a hunger to learn more about what happened in the market, as I have never experienced anything like that. So I went to the one place that I knew would answer my questions…scripture.

Jesus revealed to me how demons have control over people’s bodies. They made people strong enough to break chains and smash shackles, made them blind or mute, they threw them to the ground in convolutions, made them violent, made people pick up stones and cut themselves with it. Demons control the way people think or how they act, but demons know something… they know that Jesus is real.

Whether or not you believe it is true, we know from scripture that demons have always been very real. From the beginning of creation, there were angels, but because of satan and how he went against God, he fell, as did some angels with him. Now you might not have any experience in that or this might be the first time you even hear about demons, but trust me, because this is reality. I had that mind-set, just because you don’t see demons and angels, they aren’t real. However, does this mean that I am going to put God in that same category…? I do not see Him so He is not real…No.

Demons are real, but so is Jesus. He is ALWAYS more powerful than them. Jesus has authority over everything, and demons know this! We can see this in:

Mark 5 – “When the demon-possessed man bowed at Jesus’ feet.”

Matthew 8 – “The demon acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Mark 1 – “The demon says, ‘I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”

Just these examples alone, show us that everything bows at His feet, even demons. They know He is the Son of God, before He even says a word. If we follow Jesus, we have that same light that the enemy can’t come up against. So now, if the Lord has given us that light, what are we going to do with it…?

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30th of May

We were having a worship evening in the prayer room at 6pm. An hour before that, I was hit with a wave of nausea and felt so sick. Still battling with the decision to go to worship or go to sleep, I found myself on my way to the prayer room. I was standing in the prayer room, greatly admiring the Lord, as the presence of God was filling the room.

Worship holds so much power, as we are drawing near to the Lords heart. Yet, there is more. Let us be reminded that worship is also a key in spiritual warfare that can bring breakthroughs in the heavenly realm, to change circumstances in our physical realm. Whether we are praying over situations or directly encountering demonic influences in people’s lives, worship has a significant role in defeating the enemy. One thing that I do know, when Gods light is shining, no darkness can remain and this is what we witnessed in the prayer room. God’s presence was so strong that all darkness had to leave.

Another team joined us for worship, and one of their members started hysterically crying as Elzke in our team started praying for her. Elzke felt on her heart to pray, to break anything that the devil had a hold of on her life and as she was praying, Hele`, from our team, went to join her in prayer.

Hele` said,

“As I was worshipping, the Lord told me to go pray for the girl and I knew that if I didn’t go, I would have been disobedient.”

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As I was standing, I started praying for the girl and was filled with fear and I asked the Lord why, and once again He said,

“Cayla, why would you have fear?”

And instantly I remembered, the last time I was filled with fear was in the market. This time I wasn’t going to let fear overcome me, as the Lord has given me authority. So despite the way I was feeling, I took that step of boldness and went to pray for her. I placed my hands on the back of her neck and started praying for the Lord to fill her body with the Holy Spirit. Soon after, she started manifesting by shaking her body, shouting, and foam came out of her mouth, as well as laughter.

Instantly, I felt my Spirit separate from my flesh -my flesh was weak and couldn’t do or say anything, but the Holy Spirit was powerful! The Holy Spirit took control, and the whole room was in a spiritual war. We were in the front line of a war with the Holy Spirit as our weapon. No role more important than the next, some remained in worship to claim Gods territory in the room and some were interceding, using prayer as their weapon to change the spiritual atmosphere. While praying for Jesus to claim back her body, my faith was being tested, but I knew that Jesus has done it before, He can do it again.

Mark 9 came to my mind ‘This kind can be cast out only by prayer’

This refreshed my faith to continue praying for her. I started proclaiming the name of Jesus over her and the demon began grabbing her ears and screaming, “Shut up, stop talking, shut up!” all while pulling my hands off of her body. In this moment I was no longer in control, as my flesh… Cayla, was nothing and Jesus was everything. He was my hands, my voice and my words. Nothing of myself and all Him. The Holy Spirit asked through me where the demon was in her body and the girl proceeds to flip over and hit her abdomen. I placed my hands over her abdomen and prayed that the fire of the Holy Spirit would burn in her body. Under my hands was her hard abdomen, which started to move under my touch to her chest. I placed my hands over her chest, which was now hard and continued to pray.

All this was happening while the demon was shaking her body, laughing and shouting “I won’t leave her, she’s mine”.

Her neck became hard, then her face. So I placed my hands over her face and the demon spoke to me saying, “Where will you send me? Don’t send me into the dry desert!”

Mark 5 ‘Then the evil spirits begged Him again not to send them to some distant place’

Straight away, this scripture came to my mind and it continues to say how Jesus sent the evil spirits into the pigs. For a second, I had absolutely no idea what to say, but then the Holy Spirit gave me the words to say where the evil spirit can’t go, as only Jesus knows where it’s going to go. I prayed that the demon would leave and not enter another person. She starts smiling and says to me, “You silly girl, you silly silly girl.”

For a second I was taken a back, my flesh kicked in and I thought, ‘Wow Cayla you really haven’t done this before, you have no experience in this, you are weak, just a silly girl.’ However, before I could finish my thought, Jesus stepped in and reminded me that He has given me authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. All the scriptures in the Bible where Jesus casts out demons is proof that He is stronger, His name alone is powerful and all creation bows at His feet.

I then repeated the words,

‘These are not my hands but Jesus’ hands, not my words but Jesus’ words, not my voice but Jesus’ voice’

And the girl began to shake and shout as I repeated those words and the demon could no longer withstand the power of Jesus and left her body.

She sat up free from the enemy’s hold, there is freedom in Jesus! The whole room lifted the name of Jesus high, to glorify Him in every way!

………….

God is going to use you, if you are willing. He has called you to

Matthew 10:8 ‘Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.’

We just need to be willing to step, with boldness, into what He’s called us to do, and what a blessing it is to be used by the King of kings.

Two weeks ago, if you told me what I have just told you, that I would be used in this way, I would straight up not believe you and say: “I have no experience, I don’t know anything about evil spirits.” But as you have read, those 15 days in-between the market and the worship night was crucial, as in that time, the Lord showed me scriptures and reminded me of them, while praying for the girl to be set free.

If the Lord has called you to do something, He will prepare you. I am just Cayla Rossouw, a nobody… but Jesus makes me a somebody. Somebody with authority. Somebody that is a vessel for the Holy Spirit. Somebody that is willing to step with boldness in what He has called me to do, because I know He will protect me and I am a somebody that knows that I am nothing without Him.

As I said in the beginning, this might be the first time you have ever heard about this kind of stuff happening. For some people in our team, it was their first time experiencing this as well, and this opened all of our eyes to how real the spiritual world is. It’s not far away or non-existent, its all around us and if we choose to be oblivious to the spiritual realm, we are choosing not to believe in the full truth. So if you have questions or this blog has left you feeling uncomfortable, I pray that you take it up with the Lord and go read the scriptures that I have written throughout the blog. God will always reveal the truth.

God is calling you to step with boldness in whatever He has asked you to do. You just need to know that He will protect you, teach you, and never leave you…are you willing?