Growing up, I’ve always been open-minded and believed in the possibility of a higher power or being.
My close relatives, who were devout Buddhists taught and exposed me to different kinds of occultic spiritual practices.
Under their influence, I started exploring and playing with strange energies that enhanced my senses. They used to tell me I was “gifted” because many of these occult practices came so naturally to me. As a child, I engaged in these activities without fully understanding the dangers and implications. I thought it was harmless.
Apart from meddling in the occult, I knew nothing about God or Christianity. Until high school when a close classmate of mine relentlessly invited me to church. Eventually, I gave in to stop the invitations, thinking it would be my first and last time being in a church.
It was in 2011, when I first came to Impact Life. I remember feeling so much peace during the worship and that was my first encounter with God.
Not long after, I received Christ into my life.
However, my belief system remained unchanged.
The next 7-8 years, my mind remained unrenewed, resulting in me being a ‘Sunday Christian’.
I also had the false belief that sin had no consequences, and that I could continue living however I pleased. As a result, I continued to make many decisions that led me on a destructive path. I got myself involved in a toxic relationship and lived in a way that was not pleasing to God.
I also didn’t believe that God could truly meet all of my needs, and treated Him like a vending machine.
There was a night, I woke up to the sensation of these strange energies; it felt stronger than anything I’ve ever experienced. Out of curiosity I started manipulating these energies. And unknowingly, I allowed a spirit to enter into my body.
That entire night, I was in awe and experienced feelings of euphoria, receiving what I thought were revelations, and even believed it was an encounter with God!
This spirit told me many lies such as ‘I will make you extremely rich because you deserve the world'.
It’s so true when the Bible says that
"Even the devil disguises himself as an angel of light."
- (2 Cor 11:14)
Because my mind was not renewed from the Word of God and was blinded to the truth, I could not discern that it was in fact, an evil spirit.
After the encounter, I knew the only way to gain the discernment was not through chasing supernatural encounters, but by going back to the basics of reading God's word for myself.
Being delivered sets us on a fresh and clean slate, but what we do with our lives after is another matter altogether. If we don’t change our lifestyles, we’ll end up the same way we were before or possibly even worse. I didn’t want to go back to my old ways, the thought of it scared me very much.
This whole incident also taught me that contrary to what I believed, sin has very serious consequences.
It opens up the door to demonic influences, and while we are free to choose what we want to do in life, we are not free from the consequences of our choices.
God also helped me to forgive and let go of bitterness and anger towards those who hurt me. He showed me that they were just as broken as I am, and even gave me the strength to intercede for them.
He supernaturally replaced my desires for temporal and worldly things with desires for eternal things.
I now live a life that is driven by purpose every day, because I understand that God has a plan for my life that is far greater than anything the world has to offer. He wants me to be a part of building His Kingdom!