A Flood & Learning to Use My Authority in Christ - A Sheryl York Story
The photos are heartbreaking. I cannot tell you how blessed we are that nothing happened to our home. Many lost their homes as water rose as high as the roofs. Businesses were closed up permanently and some bridges are literally washed away. A Care Facility very close to us had to be evacuated because it became like a river inside. This picture above was not taken by me but is similar to the road down the hill and next to our house but our house as I mention in the testimony is up a steep incline and therefor the amount of rain and water had to be pretty astronomical to force it to come so high that it was edging toward our front door. I hope you will read this testimony and feel free to email me with a comment.
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Although I have been born again for almost 30 years, I have to admit that I was pretty blind or even dumb about many things spiritually for years. In fact, for countless years, I would say I was more of a religious Pharisee than a disciple of Christ. I would read about them not seeing them as religious I guess and saw how awful they were in the word and especially in Jesus' day, but I somehow didn't see it in myself. To me they were the dangerous ones. They were the ones who killed Jesus and yet they were the ones who walked around looking like they had all the authority and knowledge of God. Sadly, I didn't take the time that is necessary to really get to know the Lord in the beginning of my walk. I thought just reading the Bible made me a Believer but going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than sitting in your garage makes you a car. I was saved and even baptized in the Holy Spirit but didn't really become a true disciple of Jesus in not only learning what He did for me on the Cross but also taking the time to not only read but understand all of His teachings while he walked among us on the earth. I had no clue who the Holy Spirit was even though I was filled with the spirit early in my walk with the Lord but never really understood His ministry or help in my life.
Of course, through the years I grew and learned as we all do (THANK GOD). I'd heard about authority but never knew how to use it mostly just in teachings here or there or by reading a scripture that spoke of authority but not really putting it all together with something God gave to us as His children and then when everything fell apart in 2020 that is when the Lord really woke me up. I won't go into all the details as this isn't supposed to be a blog... lol
What is it then you might be asking? It is a testimony on USING YOUR GOD GIVEN AUTHORITY. I found Julie Green even before she started podcasting, so I quickly started watching her back when she was on YouTube in 2021, and she started sharing prophecies from the Lord. It was through Julie's words that I started hearing that I actually had authority. The Lord really seemed to talk about things like authority, making decrees, shouting them down etc... right away. I began trying to use it and looking into it deeper, but the scriptures weren't coming together because the reality is if you don't really know who you are in Christ you cannot walk in the authority the Lord has given. I did start to at least try to understand it, research what she meant, listen to teachings and by faith make decrees etc...
Another thing I've done through the years is look for people that I can learn from, and I don't know about you, but Andrew Wommack Ministries is one of them. I spent so much time following the prophets that I admittedly got away from actual teaching, so I decided it was time to change that. I was full of prophetic words, but I needed THE WORD as well. I have now listened to countless hours of teachings, preaching and bible studies with Andrew Wommack but if you know YouTube you also know that once you start watching something you start getting a lot more of that same stuff in your feed and an Instructor at Charis Bible College started coming into my recommendations feed named Barry Bennett. It took me a while to transition... lol I don't just follow or listen to anyone but one evening I decided to give a bible study through Barry a try and I found he too was very knowledgeable and a great teacher of the word. I love the bible and I love to hear the word, but Barry had a way of sharing life stories that helped me to see how he applied the word and how it actually worked for him, so I began watching Barry Bennett any time I saw him come on.
Most of you would have no idea but when I am not working on Newsletters, letters or blogging I am watching bible studies now. Learning who I am in Christ and the authority that He gave to me is where God has me now. I don't watch secular stuff or have tv shows that I frequent. We do have Pureflix & Up Faith and Family but to be honest I don't really turn to either anymore. When I am not taking care of Jerry or the girls or doing household chores or on this computer that is what I am doing. I get out my bible and get into the word with Andrew Wommack, Barry Bennett & sometimes others. I also love Rick Renner. I can't even tell you how I grew and grew learning who I was in Christ and that God had already given me authority which He was telling all of us to use through Julie Green and other prophetic voices, but Andrew & Barry were actually teaching how to use that authority.
On Tuesday evening I literally watched 3 videos of Barry Bennett teaching outside of Charis as a guest speaker. The final one I watched was called 'Submit to God, resist the Devil' or the power of NO. Not only did he go through the scriptures that we as believers should be learning and standing on, but he also shared several heart wrenching testimonies from his own life that proved to me once and for all that it really works. I fell asleep that night at about 2 am and then was tested pretty quickly on what God was teaching me only hours before. At 4:15 in the morning the authorities came pounding on our front door trying to wake us up. My husband answered the door and was told that we should consider evacuating because the water was rising. I had not even realized we were under flood warnings when I went to bed but apparently our area was under severe flash flooding and even though our house was up on a hill the water had risen so high we had ocean front property, and I am not kidding. It had really risen more than it ever had before, and we've lived in this house for 18 years now. Once the man left, I did look outside and to most people I'm guessing they'd have been terrified and packing to leave but I decided this is it. This is how you stand against the enemy. Seeing with your natural eyes means nothing. A test is how you get a testimony. The first question I asked was do I really trust God and what the prophets have been saying about being safe and not having to worry because He would protect us but then I asked myself a few more questions...
- Did I believe God sent this flash flood to my area to hurt us? The answer was NO.
- Did I believe God was going to allow the enemy to hurt or harm us (His children) in any way? The answer was NO.
- Did I believe that God was somehow angry with us or judging my family because we'd blown it somehow? The answer was NO.
- Did God want me to walk in fear and/or by what I was seeing and that answer too was NO.
The truth is it is the thief that comes to kill, steal and destroy and not My Heavenly Father. I am a dreamer. I was asleep when this pounding on our door came. If God wanted to warn us to get our family out, He had opportunity to tell me, my husband and even my daughter Erika who were all asleep at the time through just one of the very ways that we know He speaks, dreams. Erika in fact has had countless Heavenly, Angelic & even Jesus encounters since she was very young, and she is now 28 years old. She truly believes that she has visited Heaven in her dreams and God has given her quite a number of dreams about our family. He did not tell us to go. I know I am saying this again, but I feel to reiterate it. 'A man in authority came pounding on our door' but that does not mean it was a God warning. This is where discernment comes in. This is where we ask our Father if this was a warning from Him or from man. God gave me peace and I knew then that God did not send this flash flood, but my choices would give me a testimony to this test that the enemy threw my way. God didn't throw it my way. THE ENEMY DID THAT. He is the father of lies. He is the one who attempts to put you in fear. It is not God.
My husband and I were in agreement immediately that we weren't leaving the house. It took a bit more to help Destinee to understand but honestly Erika pretty much just slept through it all. Jerry and I as well as Destinee sat down at our kitchen table unmoved by what we saw outside, and I felt that same "No" that Barry Bennett preached about rise up in me. I said it loudly, "no, devil you are not going to force us out of our home or make us believe it will in any way be destroyed." We prayed together, praised and worshiped together and then we even took communion together. Erika did make an occasional appearance, but she was too tired to stay awake, so we just let her go back to bed. She felt safe so why allow the enemy to try to make her feel she wasn't. She was safe in Jesus' name. Jesus slept in the midst of a storm while others around Him worried. Erika simply wasn't worried, so she slept. Praise the Lord.
Once we were done, I got up to go look outside. It had never stopped storming and raining but we had decreed and declared that the water was reversing course and no longer coming toward our house and that is EXACTLY what I expected to see and that is EXACTLY what I did see. That water that only an hour prior was raging up closer and closer even up a steep incline because our house is set upon a hill had started to reverse course somehow and had gone down and even though it was still raining and was expected to rain for several more hours it was nowhere near where it had been when the man pounded on our door. Praise the Lord again.
As Believers we have been taught that we are somehow prideful if we believe the word of God or stand on His word. Especially if we think we can speak His word and see things come to pass in our lives and around us. We are seen as arrogant if we say we prayed and believe with our authority in Christ we stopped a storm. The truth is we have been lied to on purpose not only by the world but also by the church so that we will not use the authority that Jesus literally died to give us. I am waking up and now I see myself as not prideful or arrogant but knowledgeable in His word and I am humble enough to accept that my Heavenly Father is so amazing the He has always wanted to use me. Jesus didn't just die to give you a trip to Heaven. He took those stripes on His back and says, 'you are already healed'. He took all your shame and sins on Himself so that you wouldn't have to bear them past, present and future. He then rose from the dead proving that even death could not hold Him and He still walked upon the earth teaching for another 40 days.
Jesus wanted us to know that we have authority, that we will do even greater things than He did when He was on this earth. We are called to walk in power and authority. We are supposed to use the name of Jesus that is above every name. That means it is above storms, sickness, disease, financial troubles, relationship issues. Jesus' name is above cancer, diabetes, bankruptcy, court cases, and EVERY SINGLE THING the enemy can throw at us. The issue is we have to grow up, learn of Him, rise up and take our authority just as Jesus taught us in His word. Have you ever wondered why there is a remnant? It is because there are far too many who simply never know who they really are in Christ or use the authority God has given them. I guarantee that many things would go very differently in each of our lives if we would only believe the word and use it as God intended for us to do.
Sheryl York
America-Reimagined-Sheryl@proton.me
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