Vampires, Intercession, and Other Spiritual Warfare

We had a time for evangelism during Awakening and the coordinators for this exercise asked us to pray for God to assign us to the evangelism team or the intercession team.  I was on the fence for the entire time we were praying.  I wanted to go out in the streets and be a part of God speaking and moving in Valle de Angeles, but I felt withheld from being able to make that decision immediately.  So, I asked God to make it clear.  My exact prayer (I wrote it down) was, “Jesus, I want to go where you would have me go.  I am drawn to both.  Where do you want me?  Please confirm your will for me.”  One side of the room was designated the meeting spot for intercession and the other half for evangelism.  I stood in between.  Then, I recalled a word that was spoken over me at a house church we visited a few weeks ago.  I had been called the colon of the body of Christ.  It made me laugh because that means I basically deal with people’s crap, but the point was that I’ve been given wisdom and I need to use it to build up the other members of the body through intercession.  After this was brought to my remembrance, God said to me, “You asked me to teach you how to intercede, so be present and intercede at the gates for all people—believers and non-believers alike—who come to and through the doors.”

The picture he presented me with was one of me sitting on the front stoop of the hotel we were staying in over the weekend and praying over the people who passed by.  After receiving this image from him, I stayed back and prayed for a moment in case I was supposed to take someone with me.  One of the girls from another squad asked me if I wanted to go to the park to play guitar and worship there, but I told her I needed a minute to ask God if that was what he actually wanted me to do.  I don’t know why I thought this was what he wanted me to do when he had already shown me this picture.  Still, I ended up telling her I would go with her.  She said she had to stop by her room to get the guitar, and, when she looked in her room, she couldn’t find it!  I started to say I could go by my room to get mine, and then I remembered I didn’t have the room key and the person who did had left to evangelize already.  God completely shut that door.  The other girl ended up going back to the prayer room and I took that as my answer to just go to the entrance like God had said.

Sitting down on a step, I began to smile and say the Honduran greeting (“Buenos”) to everyone who came by.  I noticed just how this action affected me, so I had no doubt the effect was similar for everyone receiving a greeting.  Several conversations were struck up in broken Spanish.  There was nothing really huge, but there was one part of the intercessory time that stuck with me and made a bit more sense after some thought afterward.

I had started praying over the door itself and was praying that anything spiritual (not of the Lord) that the evangelists encountered would fall off them when they entered the hotel.  So, as I was praying, an older man (likely in his eighties) came up to me.  I couldn’t really understand him, but I said hello and tried to have a conversation.  He eventually went into the hotel and, when he came back out, another man was with him.  The man with him was tall and he walked directly over to me.  I stood and shook his hand.  He spoke a little English so we were able to talk a little easier.  Turns out, he is the owner of the hotel!  He asked a bunch of questions and I ended up telling him that I was a missionary in Honduras.  He thanked me profusely for doing what I do and said to keep doing the good work.  Afterward, I was discussing the whole morning with one of my friends, Hailey, and I came to an interesting realization.  Bear with me because I don’t want this to sound weird, but it is. 

A vampire, according to folklore, can’t come into a house unless welcomed or invited.  They can also be forbidden to enter and would be in severe pain if they tried.  This came to mind as I was processing my intercessory time.  My praying over the door was literally forbidding any spirits from entering or spiritual warfare from taking place because of anything the evangelists brought back with them from the ministry time.  Another part of the lore for vampires is that it has to be the owner of the house that gives permission or forbids the vampire from entering.  The owner, by telling me to continue the good work in Honduras, basically gave me permission to pray the prayer I was praying.  He unknowingly gave me the authority to reject anything not of God from entering his “house” and to lay a covering of the Holy Spirit over the place!  How cool is that?!  I’m believing, because of the presence prayed for and laid over the hotel, that the owner will come to know the Lord if he doesn’t already.  God has the authority there now!