I believe children sometimes see unseen beings that adults can’t see. Do you believe that? You might after you hear this fantastic story of what a 3-year-old saw after his grandmother surrounded her house with tent stakes covered in Bible verses!
I host Battle Plan on the Charisma Podcast Network now. It’s one of the few podcasts focused primarily on spiritual warfare. I think spiritual warfare should be a required topic for all churches to cover. When we are unaware of the enemy’s schemes and plans, then we are really just a punching bag for Satan—and we don’t even know it! We might even think the Holy Spirit is correcting us when it’s really the enemy!
On Episode 33 of my show this month, I share a terrific story about what a little boy saw after his grandmother put Scripture-covered tent stakes in the ground on the four corners of her property, but first, I should explain how this got started.
About a decade ago I was writing my first book on the topic of spiritual warfare, My Search for Prayers Satan Hates, where I intended to just share a great list of prayer success stories. But I prayed that God would give me “something special to put in the book that truly helps people,” and that is exactly what He did.
Soon after that prayer, a Christian friend called and asked me to meet with a friend of his who had never become a Christian. This non-Christian guy had a “serious spiritual warfare problem.”
He looked at me in the eye and said, “I have demons on my property, and I’m getting ready to commit suicide. I just wanted to talk to you first.”
I covered this story in its entirety in Episode 15, Bill Was Planning His Suicide, but to sum it up, he begins to tell me all the reasons he believes he has demons there, while I am frantically praying, “Lord, please tell me what to say to help this man before it’s too late. How do I help?”
As soon as I prayed a strange, Old Testament passage popped into my head from Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NCV) says, “Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. Always remember these commands I give you today. Teach them to your children, and talk about them when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign. Tie them on your forehead to remind you, and write them on your doors and gates” (author’s emphasis).
Note that the Jews didn’t say, “Oh, that’s just symbolic. We don’t literally put God’s commands on our doors and gates.” They actually did put it on their door and gates. In fact, they still do. They put them in a small box as a reminder of their connection to God and their commitment to Him. They touch it or kiss it every time they pass it. I even saw Jesus do this in one of the recent episodes of The Chosen.
When this verse entered my mind it was only a split second before I knew what we should do.
“Bill,” I began, “don’t kill yourself. Let’s try something bizarre—the Bible is filled with bizarre stories, right? Walking on water, talking snakes, a virgin birth and resurrections. Let’s put Bible verses on tent stakes and put them all the way in the ground on the four corners of your property. Then let’s read the verses out loud and pray for God to make this weird stuff stop, OK?”
He said, “OK, I’ll try anything.”
We did, and everything changed. He became a Christian and was baptized the next week. Others had been trying to convert him for 25 years.
I don’t have time to tell you all the stories this led to over the next few months and years, so let me just say that I was talked into selling stakes with Bible verses on them. My buddies who talked me into this said, “If it’s from God, you can’t stop it, and if it’s not from God, they won’t sell.”
A plastics manufacturer called and offered to spend $10,000.00 to build a mold so that the stakes would have all 16 verses embedded in the plastic instead of just putting them on a sticker. So far, I have ordered 83,500, and we have shipped them all over the world. Most people make their own stakes, but I do have the coolest ones. It’s obviously not the stake; it’s the act of faith and the true power of the Word of God in today’s world. Tune in to Battle Plan for more information.
I got an email from a lady I don’t know. She had heard about these stakes, liked the idea, and shared it with her sister, who lived in Wisconsin. Her sister also liked it and bought some stakes at her local Home Depot. She then downloaded my free PDF, “How to Stake Your Property,” which includes some suggestions and the list of all 16 verses that are on the stakes. She added a few more verses of her own and put them in the ground on the four corners of her home and lot.
About three weeks later, her 3-year-old grandson came over to spend a Saturday. As they were walking down the steps of her front porch to plan in her front yard, the little man stopped suddenly, looking all around with wide eyes.
“Grandma,” he said, “There are big men out there, and they are mad! They are stomping their feet because they are so mad! They are mad because they can’t come in here!”
The grandmother just smiled sweetly and said, “That’s right, honey. God’s Word is powerful, and it keeps us safe here at my house.”
He replied, “OK, let’s play,” and was immediately off and running.
Keep praying because prayer works. {eoa}
Steve Hemphill is an author, speaker, teacher and host of Battle Plan on Charisma Podcast Network. His books include My Search for the Real Heaven, My Search for Prayers Satan Hates, What Are the Stakes and God’s Power for Our Daily Battles. Learn more at active-faith.org.
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