The last 4 posts were a deep insight into my personal experiences since August 2015. The cool thing about all this is that I have practical examples to exemplify all I have been saying. I can point to some incidents last Fall where I put the authority into practice. You can agree with theology or not but, no matter what, these are my own experiences. They happened.
“Oh no you don’t!” – Rebuking the weather.
There have been many instances where it was a rainy day, or
about to rain and I just rebuked those clouds. Sure enough they stayed away. I’m
a singer and do about 200 shows per year, big and small.
On two occasions that I had my expensive music equipment
full of electrical wiring exposed and I couldn’t have rain. It was a always
about to pour down but I prayed against it and it didn’t rain. Another time I
was singing outside and I didn’t want the rain to ruin my show. I prayed, and
it didn’t rain. Another time I was with my kids at the beach. All throughout
the forecast had said rain. I prayed, and it didn’t rain.
“Sit!” – Rebuking animals.
I’ve always hated being followed by bees and wasps. Many
times I’ve been taking my authority over the animals of the earth.
Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the
fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature
that moves on the ground.”
I started putting this into practice, particularly when I
was eating with my children out on the beach and the wasps just came in. I
spoke this over these insects and sure enough they flew away. (Oh, bumblebees
too!)
“No scotch for me, thanks.” – Rebuking spirits.
My work as a singer often has me working near many older
people during the week. Some of these wear the bitterness of life on their
sleeves quite evidently and they can become rather annoying. They ask too many
questions when you’re trying to setup, or complain about everything and so on. Of
course one has to be patient and humble (after all, we’re there for them) but
it is trying. People talking to you all the time when you’re getting ready can
be very distractive to a singer and hinder his act.
One time, as I was setting up the speakers, a lady started
bothering me by calling me to her table and asking me what I was doing there
and so on. After I talked to her briefly I moved away and continued my work
and, thinking I couldn’t hear her, she kept muttering to her friends. She was
annoyed that I seemed to have the run of the house that afternoon as the
entertainer. She kept saying “what’s he doing here?” and “who does he think he
is?” and many times she said “he thinks he’s God on earth”. Ha ha, I thought. I
had just heard my church preach how we are gods (with small “g” in the sense
that we have power given to us by our capital “G” God):
Psalm 82:6
“I said, ‘You are “gods” you are all sons of the Most
High.’"
John 10:34-36
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your
Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom
the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set
aside— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his
very own and sent into the world?
Indeed, faith comes by hearing the word. I moved away into
the bathroom and started commanding this tormenting spirit operation in the old
lady to get out, let me do my job in peace. When I came back, she called me
again for like the 4th time but, wouldn’t you know it, this time she said “I’m
just here saying to my friend how impressed we are with what you are doing and
it all looks great”!
“Someone answer the phone. I’ve only got 4 hands” – Provision
As singer I get some bookings through agents. Usually the
higher paying ones. The smaller, more numerous bookings come through phone
calls and emails I must carry out throughout the year. At the beginning of my
work as a full time singer I would have to do about 200 calls per week. It’s a
lot of work getting these things booked and finding clients because I hardly
use any agents. 90% of all bookings have to be landed by me. Although I’m
getting more work from agents these days I still have to do my calls. Even for
repeat clients it is a grind and it’s not like the phone is ringing off the
hook. Typically, I have to spend 5 hours a week on the phone to get about 5
bookings per week. There are weeks I can get 10 or 15 but it is very rare rare.
I wasn’t doing any calls at all for most of the month. Usually
I would have to catch up on the bookings I had failed to make and it would take
whole days of calling. Well, the week I did start calling I spent only an hour
on the phone and out came a record breaking 29 bookings! That is 15% of all the
booking I need for one year!
Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil
for it.
“Bursting at the seams” – Riches
I was quoting a client for a particular gig and I though I
was already stretching the usual market rate by asking him for $1800 for the
night. He answered back. “Let’s make it $2000”. He said this for no logical
reason at all that I can think of. I’ve done over 1700 shows in the last 6
years. and I don’t recall clients offering me more money without me asking LOL.
Joel 2:24
The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats
will overflow with new wine and oil.
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future”.
The actual word if used deeply as a real lifestyle
brings prosperity:
Joshua 1:8
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate
on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written
in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
“Call to arms” – God using my secular resources.
For many years I have been a great fan of military history
and the histories of conflict in society, politics and war. This has always
seemed like a futile passion much like, say, the pursuit of video games.
However, through this period I noticed the pastors and people at the church
coming up with more and more military parallels to an unprecedented level. One
person talked about armies, the other about Navy Seals, the other about
battering rams, the other about fighter jets and cockpits, etc.
I was to wake up very early for my first early morning
prayer at the church. I ended up waking 2 hours even earlier. So I finished an
excellent political thriller I was reading about how a team of mercenaries in
Africa carry out a coup against a corrupt military dictator. The level of
detail in the final pages of the book was very revealing on how this operation
was carted out. When I get to the church that morning, sure enough, the pastor
mentions how in a team of specialized soldiers, like in the church, each
combatant does his own assigned task well and the combine efforts is what
brings about the final outcome!
This in itself would not mean much if God hadn’t made it
abundantly clear to me, weeks later, what He would have me do in this context.
Stay tuned and you'll find all about it on my next post "God's War Plan"!
Andy De Campos
