N.B This post was first published on this blog on the13th of May 2019
Hey Blog fam,
I hope everyone is keeping well. I have had the most intense couple of days all round: Physically, emotionally, spiritually and more. Finally kicked off something I had been looking forward to, but which seemed so far-fetched at the time: A personal retreat. I last went on one in my uni days, and I mean for like 2 or more days. Since I got married, I would have times when I would go to the Winners church near my home for say 8hours and just drink deep from God in fellowship, but I had truly desired an escape. Checking into a hotel seemed like the option, and I had heard my mentor DDK say how she does that on a regular, but it seemed far-fetched for me
1.๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐?
๐. ๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฒ?
I am so grateful God made a way for me on both counts and my husband approved. I just felt like I was about to legit burn out so I am thankful for those two days. I also knew God had new instructions for me so I had to โcome away with Himโ for a couple days. This past weekend was it, and shout out to my darling mentee Rosey who had to come stay at home with my help and the kids, so I could be even more at peace there.
Friday morning, I checked out of home, packed water, food, snacks, some of my journals and checked into a hotel for 2days.
And boy, did heaven download or what?
I came out and truly felt like I had been sleeping too much. Ok, I have to state here that every time I take a retreat, I ask God who He would have me lean into, and this time, it was Pastor Poju and DDK. My eyes were indeed open to my teachers and new light flooded my path. You may also want to note that when God opens my eyes to my teachers, they become a godly standard for me, so when I say I am sleeping too much, it is not compared to the average person, it is compared to the teachers the Lord has opened my eyes to in this season, and the assignment He has clarified very clearly to me for now.
Ok back to sleep, truly I came out of there realizing that too much sleep can be one of two things
1. My flesh: I am tired maybe just from the routine of life. I live a pretty intense life so I get tired in the flesh a lot. So, if I sleep more than I should, it is my body reacting naturally. Prior to my retreat, my too much sleep was just a fight of flesh that I should have contained and subdued.
2. A demonic attack: Now this is next levelโฆ It has moved from flesh to satan using sleep as a means to rob you of time you could spend with a spiritual; discipline God would have you do. So,ย per instance, now God has shown me what my next level entails, and VERY CLEARLY what I have to do to fully walk in it. He has graciously shown me my teachers and opened my eyes to the behind the scenes of their lives. If I still persist in too much sleep, it is no longer my flesh, it is a demonic spirit so I canโt be casual anymore; I have to fight to cast it out in the name of Jesus. Anything less is DANGEROUS and the one I am playing with is obviously not playing with me.
And boy, waking up this Monday morning was tough. Ok usually my alarm is permanently set for 11.30pm to take my son to go pee. I woke and did that. The next time was 2am when I was to rise. I am CONVINCED I put my head on my pillow, covered myself and wham, it was 2am. I couldnโt believe it when that alarm went off. I was about to negotiate with God when I recalled that HE had clearly told me that anything more is a demonic attack, so I jumped up. Went to brush teeth, kept playing Jenn Johnson to wake fully, and then bam, I went into the spiritual disciplines He had highlighted for meโฆ
Side note: spiritual discipline here could be prayers for a certain period of time in tongues, deep Bible study, confessions, etx.
ย Boy, was I exhausted! But thankfully, I know that when God gives a word for the next level, the devil also comes with a higher level of attack. I kept on saying I AM STRENGTHENED IN JESUS NAME. I refused every temptation to go back to sleep or even doze. I did what I had to do to keep awake and pray. I recognized satan for his demonic attack using sleep and I wasnโt taking it lightly
I also quickly checked my diet and decided on the changes I wanted to make to ensure that my food fuels my stretch and not weaken me.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ถ๐ฃ๐ข๐ช ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ญ
But the rest of the changes I am insisting on.
My destiny and life are too precious and Satan is too weak I am not about to make him look like he has power over my matter. Godย forbids. I recognize when a matter has moved from flesh to demonic and I deploy all my spiritual arsenals!!!
Dia fada!!!
I have yawned all through as I have written this and the temptation has been high to just go and sleep, but I intend to wear Satan and his little demons out. Na today!!!
So, I shared all of that to say thisโฆ
What demonic attacks are ongoing in your life that you are casual about? What is satan playing with in your life you are still โsleepingโ on?
Your issue may not be with sleep like me, but maybe it is with unforgiveness. Or envy. Or Pride, or gossip. Or too much food?
Whatever it is, I pray the Lord opens your eyes to it, and that you have the strength courage and grace to FIGHT BACK in Jesus name, Amen
Your friend and fellow Comrade in battle
Eziaha,
