Last night, I was awakened by the Lord to pray and bind the hand of the devil regarding personal my safety. The Lord called to my memory an event from my distant family history and the vulnerability that history created in the present day. I hope that what happened to me in my past and its connection to the present will be used by God to protect some of you who might experience a similar review and be called to execute a Spirit-led intervention.

In 1846, some of my ancestors had been traveling westward across America in a wagon train. Along with other wagons making a similar crossing from different points of departure, they amassed in southern Idaho looking for wagon train captains to help guide them across the mountains to make the final push to their destination. In that group, two wagon trains took different routes. My relatives chose to follow a new route along what would become known as the Applegate Trail. The other group was the Donner Party. 

 The savage storm that came in the winter of 1846 hit all of the West Coast bringing rain and sleet to the Applegate wagon train in Oregon and deep and impassable snow in California to the Donner Party. The news of the cannibalism that took place among members of the Donner Party shocked the nation.

The worst of the storm hitting my relatives took place in a deep and narrow canyon just south of present-day Roseburg, Oregon. By the time the storm hit, their shoes had worn out and their clothing was threadbare. Pioneers died in the depths of that canyon. To navigate the narrow and twisting canyon they had to off-load the contents of the wagons to lighten the load. One diary account of the event described the passage as looking like a retreating army leaving behind what they needed to survive. A rescue party eventually found the overdue wagons and helped them make it to the Willamette Valley.

In the spring of 2022, 175 years later, I was returning from a ministry assignment traveling along the I-5 freeway south of Canyonville, Oregon. Under the asphalt of the freeway and under many feet of fill dirt needed to construct the freeway is the narrow creek bed my ancestors followed. It has always been a somber drive for me. 

On my way home, a man displaying extreme road rage began to assault my vehicle in a section of freeway filled with tight turns. On several occasions, he swerved so violently into my lane in an attempt to hit me that I had to sharply turn out of the way onto the shoulder of the curving freeway to stay alive. These repeated attempts to evade were done while dodging cars and weaving between the trucks slowed by their ascent. This took place over a distance of 5 miles. I needed to keep moving and not stop. If I had been forced to stop and engage the raging man he would have experienced a life-altering event.

On another occasion, as Jan and I were returning home, a surprise downpour struck that same section of the road unloading so much rain we began to hydroplane across lanes and between vehicles.

When I was awakened the two events separated by 175 years came to mind. The Lord made a connection for me that I had previously failed to see. On that stretch of trail/freeway, both my distant relatives and I, had attempts made on our lives. Something needed to happen to break that continuing threat.

Last night the Lord brought that something to mind. I remained awake long enough to challenge the spirit of death and command it to cease. As I began those prayers, the Lord provided a panorama of issues that needed to be dealt with before I went back to sleep. In the next few weeks, I will once again travel north on I-5 but this time the passage and any spiritual authority attached to it from hell will have been challenged and broken and placed under the authority of Jesus Christ.

I relayed all the above personal history as an invitation for many of you who might have a similar history. I was surprised it took so long for me to realize the connection of a history that spanned 175 years. The faint nudges from the Lord are always important to pause and consider. Those nudges might lead us to discover a plan of the enemy designed to bring an end to our lives, afflict our loved ones, or destroy our ministry assignment. 

I believe the Lord awakened me last night as a matter of urgency because I will be traveling the same route along I-5 in just a few days. Whatever the enemy had planned for that trip or any other trip in the future, needed to be dismantled and defeated. God had to get my attention to address those plans. It is important to listen and respond to the first whispers of the Spirit, even in the middle of the night. Some of those whispers are for our good and protection.