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… if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him… for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. (Rom 8:9)

Some years ago, I had the honour of being invited by a Catholic Priest to minister to his Church in Italy. It was the 25th of January and so cold that I had to wear my coat, scarf - and gloves!

I first saw her as a dark furtive figure slowly moving in between the pillars at the back of the Church. At first, I thought she was just praying, so I didn't pay much heed. The Holy Spirit, though, had other plans for her, and I found myself stopping what I was doing and walking down the aisle towards her.

She was young, in her 30s, and I lightly placed my hand on her arm and said, "Sister, please don't feel you have to be down here on your own; come up and join the rest of us." She let out a distressed piercing scream and fell to the ground assuming the foetal position. I wondered if I'd inadvertently touched a damaged part of her body, so I knelt down and said as gently as I could, "I am so sorry for hurting you." Her response, through clenched and menacing teeth, was such a terrible 'hiss'!

We later found out that she was a practising witch who had been called out to disrupt the service... Not enough space here to tell all, but she was ministered to by the Church and beautifully set free.

My point, though, is that her master, the devil, primarily possessed her, and it seems that when that happens, you can't negotiate Fridays off to go shopping at ASDA or the occasional Saturday for a friend's wedding - it's total!

Our GOD, however, remains the perfect Gentleman. He doesn't force His presence on us, browbeat, or demand. He works in and through us as He is - Lovingly. As the Scripture above continues, "It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself?

When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life.

With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s! (Rom 8:9) 

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  URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS 

NB - New and urgent prayer requests and updates are coming in thick and fast and getting too long to just be tagged onto the daily encouragement. As such, I've created a separate page for you to view on the below link, which will be updated constantly ...

The Lord Bless you for caring 

https://www.muchgracepublications.com/urgent-prayer-requests/