Circumstances You Cannot Control
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You." — Isaiah 26:3
The Hotel Room
Those who travel, or who work in environments they cannot regulate, must be especially alert to curses that arrive through circumstances entirely outside their control.
A ministry couple arrived in an African capital after thirty-six hours of travel, exhausted, and fell into bed at their hotel without looking at the room.
The next morning, while his wife showered, the husband felt someone sit down on the edge of the bed. He opened his eyes to speak and no one was there. He dismissed it as fatigue.
That evening they looked at their surroundings properly. A large woven tapestry hung on the wall at the head of the bed, with African figures worked into it — clearly representations of gods. A watercolor on the opposite wall showed a tribal ritual ceremony.
Both were legal ground.
She went to the luggage for the small bottle of oil she normally carried when travelling and found she had forgotten to pack it. They prayed and commanded the spirits bound for the night.
Later, sitting on the bed studying, she distinctly felt something sit down near her feet. She rebuked it in the name of Jesus and commanded it to leave.
It did not leave. It did not have to. It had a legal right to be in that room.
They were kept awake all night. The Lord did not permit any harm, but they got no rest.
What They Could and Could Not Do
The next day they obtained oil from their host, anointed the room and especially the two images, and commanded the spirits bound.
They could not remove the tapestry or the painting. They could not destroy them. The room was not theirs.
So they did what was available: anoint, ask the Lord to seal them, and command the spirits bound. That solved the immediate problem.
Note the principle carefully — where you cannot destroy, you can still bind and seal. God does not require of you what your circumstances make impossible.
The Curse She Did Not See Coming
During that stay she developed a physical problem and knew she was under heavy attack, but could not gain the victory. She began asking the Lord to show her why.
Later that week their hostess came to the room and looked at the tapestry. She immediately named the figure — a powerful god of the tribes in the north of that country.
Asked about him, she said she knew little except that he was known for his hatred of women. He hated women so intensely that any woman who dared to look at him or at any depiction of him immediately had a curse of death placed on her. There are no images of him among those northern tribes, because the women who look at them die.
Her guest had known at once that the figures were of gods. It had never occurred to her that she could be cursed simply by looking at an image.
When she left that room for the last time, she took authority over the death curse, commanded it broken in the name of Jesus Christ, and commanded every associated spirit to leave forever. She began improving immediately and was well by the time she reached home.
Point to Ponder
Where you cannot destroy, you can still bind and seal. God does not require what circumstances make impossible.
Verse to Remember
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." — Isaiah 26:3
Question to Consider
What environments do I enter regularly that I cannot control?
Today's Practice
Build a travel routine and use it every time.
Pack oil. A small bottle, always in your bag.
Survey every room you enter. Look at the art. Look at the objects. Look at the carvings and the textiles. Ask what they depict.
Anoint and cleanse the room immediately on arrival. Doorway, bed, windows, and any image present.
Pray: "In the name of Jesus Christ, I claim this room for the Lord. I command every spirit here to be bound and every curse placed on this room broken. I ask You to seal these objects, Lord, and cover me with the blood of Jesus."
Cleanse on the way out. "In the name of Jesus, I break every curse placed on me in this place, and I command every spirit that attached to me here to leave now and not travel with me."
Do the same for hospital rooms, borrowed accommodation, conference venues, and offices where you have no authority over the décor.
Prayer
Father, there are rooms I must enter that I cannot control, and objects I must be near that I cannot remove.
Where I cannot destroy, teach me to bind and seal. Where I cannot leave, cover me.
Make me alert as I travel. Let me survey what is around me before I sleep in it. Give me the habit of anointing, praying, and cleansing on the way in and on the way out.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I break every curse placed on me in any room, any building, or any place I have entered, and I command every spirit that attached itself to me anywhere to leave now and never return.
Keep me in perfect peace as I go. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Pack the oil. Survey the room. Cleanse on the way in and on the way out.