Six years after accepting the Lord as her Savior, Kim Crowe, now thirty-six years of age found peace. She joined a church that had a Bible-teaching and believing pastor. Women of the church decided to organize their own retreat, feeling they could minister to each other as well as someone from outside. As part of the retreat, they decided to wash each other’s feet and serve communion. As long as they could show it was biblical, the pastor supported them.
Would Kim Ever Find Peace?
Chanté J. and her mother taught from Scripture, and then, they prayed for the others. Standing on her tip toes to look in Kim’s eyes, Chanté put her hands on Kim’s shoulders saying, “No, you have to be last.”
Chanté and her mother prayed for the other women who received tremendous emotional and spiritual healing. Kim thought, How wonderful! What’s going to happen when they come to me?
Finally, Kim fell to her knees, and while looking up for one hour, her mind flashed back over her whole fear-filled life, as the two Godly women prayed in spiritual authority over her. The only thing Kim knew as a child was the occult. Her home was filled with spirit cables, Quija boards, tarot cards, horoscopes-all kinds of things the Bible calls an abomination against the Lord. Her mother taught her, “Jesus is a lie and the things of Satan are real. Christianity is just a religion-nothing more.”
At nine years of age, Kim was raped by an uncle; in her twenties, she was still afraid to go anywhere alone. Her mother forced her to join the Army in an effort to get her out of the house. While there, she deliberately became pregnant so she could have a child to love her.
After the Army, Kim met Terri, a girl who had been raised by foster parents, because her birth parents mistreated her. Although Terri had gone to church with them, she had not accepted Jesus, but she could “talk Bible.” The two smoked marijuana together, while reading the book of Revelation, scaring them silly.
If it had not been for two cousins who witnessed to Kim, she did not know where she would be right now. At first, she could not accept what they told her: First, there was a Creator who loved her. Second, there was a Savior who died for her. Last, He was the only way to heaven.
Kim’s mom said, “It is all as true as you want it to be. There is no truth.” Although Terri’s own spiritual beliefs were not solidified, Terri convinced Kim to read the Bible and decide for herself what she believed.
Kim decided to send her seven-year-old daughter to church. Kim decided to go with her, just to make sure she was being taught the right things. Even before this decision, Kim felt God working in her life. She snorted speed daily, but woke up one morning and said, “I don’t want this anymore.”
Giving up drugs was harder. Terri told her, “The Bible doesn’t say you can’t smoke dope, so it’s okay.” Kim knew better. To her, it was the same as getting drunk. This revelation did not come to her until two weeks after she accepted Jesus.
Before Easter of 1984, the movie Jesus of Nazareth was on television. Kim watched it on a Friday night, then again on Saturday. There was a point where Jesus turned his head and looked straight into her eyes and said, “Now is the time. You have to make a choice.”
Kim later watched the movie many times, but that was not part of it.
After watching and hearing Jesus speak to her, Kim put her cigarette down, a three-pack-a-day habit, and prayed, “Lord, I don’t know if this is true. I don’t know if this is right. I don’t understand. I just cannot live any longer the way I’ve been living. I hate my life. I hate myself. I ask you to come into my life and change it.”
Immediately, she felt something she never felt before. PEACE. It was wonderful. She had heard of people who got an electric feeling or bubbled up with joy with a salvation experience, but she had what she needed–total peace.
Because of the occult influence, Kim had been bombarded by evil spirits, sometimes on an hourly basis. She had felt if she killed herself, everybody else would be better off. She had thought if she chocked herself, she would be at peace. She had felt black inside. There was no life. None. But now, there was true peace and she was alive–alive for the first time in her life.
A Small Band of Women Helped Bring Peace to Kim
Chanté and her mother quoted Scripture over her as Kim recalled the Scriptures that had come to mean the most to her. In 2 Timothy 1:7 God told her that He had not given her a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Her mother thought she was crazy, but that’s not what the Bible told her. Second Timothy 3:16 said that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, for training in righteousness so that she would be thoroughly equipped. If I’m thoroughly equipped, then I can’t be crazy, she thought.
Romans 12:1-2 changed her life, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” She knew she could not do that by herself, because her mind had been damaged by drugs and verbal abuse. She prayed, “God, just take Your Word and pour it into my head.” As she read the Bible, she pictured God pouring His Word into the top of her head so the words would fill her from the feet up.
It was working, but still, when she got out of the Word, the spirits would come back. At times, she would even hear the same voices, telling her how stupid she was, and planting thoughts of suicide in her mind. There were times when she would not go to Bible study or anywhere else, telling her friends, “I can’t go today. I feel ugly.” She knew that as a Christian, Christ lived within her, but the demons continued to harass and oppress her.
Kim was still looking up when she heard Chanté’s voice saying, “And finally, we ask you Father, to help Kim be strong in the Lord in His mighty power. We pray she will put on the full armor of God so that she can take her stand against the devil’s schemes. For her struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And right now, in the name of Jesus Christ, we command this spirit of fear to leave! You can no longer oppress and harass our sister!” (see Eph. 6:10-12).
Kim and the others who were praying with their eyes open literally saw the darkness lift. It appeared like a sheer black curtain rising from her. It had blocked out the Son, but now Light came in and expelled the darkness. Kim thought, It was just like in the books, “This Present Darkness” and “Piercing the Darkness.” Wow, they’re gone. I actually saw them leave!
This battle was won by a small band of women who believed God’s Word, and dared to use “the name of Jesus.” They believed God could bring victory, allowing Him to do His work through them. It did not take an army to help Kim find peace, just two or more believers with fully committed hearts, like Joshua and Caleb, obedient to fight in intercessory prayer.
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