Once I preached on hearing the voice of God and told the Church that demons can know information that has been spoken aloud. Then they can use it for their wicked purposes. Recently, I read a testimony about something similar that happened in a Pentecostal church in Ukraine.
“At one of the evening meetings, there was a word: ‘Thus says the Lord: today, this evening, I will give you three baskets of spiritual food, and you will be satisfied. And now I am giving you another bundle, which you will open later.’ Stepan told me that in a vision he had seen a black, shaggy head several times behind the doors, listening to the prophetic words. In the morning, we went to the Kolky–Lutsk bus, and everyone boarded; I sat near the doors. Sister Maria gave the driver money for everyone’s tickets at once. The driver looked at us and said, ‘How beautiful and cheerful you all are.’ Right by the doors stood a woman with very long, manicured nails, painted eyebrows, and frightening black eyes with long eyelashes. She called out to the entire bus: ‘Ha! Happy, beautiful, and cheerful because their Father fed them. They ate three baskets of good food, and He gave them another bundle for the journey’—and, jumping off the bus, she walked along the sidewalk. We looked at one another in amazement and thought: ‘The devil had been watching us all along and found someone through whom to reveal himself to us.’
This is one reason why we most often hear the voice of God within us, in dreams, or in visions. It is why God often gives us information in the form of coded symbols that no one can understand without an interpreter. It is also an incentive to pray even more in tongues, which demons do not understand.
And most importantly! This does not mean that we should now be afraid of demons. It only explains why resistance may come before a blessing. This is why, when the Church plans to do something, obstacles sometimes arise. This is why people who have made vows and promises to God may face temptations precisely in those areas, so that their plans do not succeed. This is why, when you plan to set aside time with God and pray, distracting activities often arise that keep you from doing so.
Let us not stop when we see obstacles. Let us resist the enemy all the more. May the works of the devil be destroyed, and may the works of God be fulfilled.
