I gasped as I woke up with a start. The environment was peach-black and for the life of me, I didn’t know where I was. I gulped hard at a lump of saliva that clung to my gullet and my eyes bulged with shocked trepidation. “This is not my hotel room”, I thought with fearful realization. I could see, through the pale-silvery gleam of the half moon, the outlines of trees — forest trees — and watched with raw fear as the palm branches, Iroko leaves and pine branches swung about in the still, windless, night of the forest. I could feel the fear rising, a raw and sickening push in my guts and that was when I tried to move for the first time but dear Lord, my hands and legs were tightly secured behind my back! This was evil, I knew. I was familiar with the machinations of demons during spiritual warfare but this was the cruellest one I had met yet. I knew that it was going to be a long night and I tried to steel myself in readiness. However, there was something ominous happening in that forest and it was frustrating all my plans to get ready. It had been calm a moment earlier but all of a sudden, the chirping, hissing and croaking sounds came from all around me and grew louder with deafening intensity. In the distance, I could hear the approach of a pale clanging bell and shrill voices spoke with malevolence. I tried to break free, struggling against the tightness of the ropes around me as the thick mist began to rise from the ground. The mist rose with terrifying quality — like a hand reaching out of the damp earth towards me — and in a way, the mist held on. It felt like it was touching me, caressing me sinisterly. Evil! My fear was palpable. So thick that I could cut slices off it. As I observed what was happening, two huge crows flew above the trees lazily and landed on an ominously-white tombstone that I had not noticed earlier, their baleful eyes settling on me but the most fearful thing wasn’t the crows — no! What almost made me pee myself was that those crows — bigger than any I ever saw — each, had three eyes and those eyes, dear Lord, those eyes shone in a bright crimson. As I stared at the crows in shock, I began to feel cold, the temperature in the forest began to recede rapidly and I shivered as the reality of what amount of power the demon commanded dawned on me. “Dear Lord, help me!” I gasped, choking from the cold and feeling the sub-zero temperature permeate my bones. And those birds, they sat calmly on the tombstone, their eyes firmly fixed on me in a malicious, evil stare and from nowhere, an ancient voice spoke. “Puny, sinful human! I shall sift you as wheat!” There was a clap of thunder, lightning raking across the sky aggressively after the intimidating announcement and to my utter consternation, it began to rain terribly! Just like that! “This is evil!” I had thought helplessly. And I had lain there, tired, weak and dying, feeling the harsh pelting of the heavy rain on my bare skin. And then, I began to feel an upbuild of strength as adrenaline seeped through my veins! I was angry — oh, so angry! There was no fear anymore as that hormone spread through my veins! “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want!” I crooned weakly. “Sinful human!” The voice thundered again, brash, ancient and angry but I was past listening to these demons. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters,” I screamed, my rage, a fiery flame! “No — no — no!” I could sense the fear in the whimpering voice of the demon as it echoed through the forest. “Be afraid!” It said. “No redemption, no saving, no grace!” And I spared a glance at the crows. They scurried around confused, cawing intensely with fear. “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake!” My voice was louder this time, angry at the sight of the ominous birds and their three unnatural eyes and all of a sudden, the rain stopped and the choking coldness disappeared. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me!” I screamed and the bands that held me tied up broke and I stood up to my feet and moved towards the birds. They tried to fly away but I pointed my hands towards them. “Burn!” I said and they burst into a terrible flame that licked dangerously around the tombstone. “Vile things! Be gone!” In the flame, I could see what was written on the tombstone and I saw that it was my name. The rage sizzled and I remembered the fifth verse of the Psalm I had been quoting. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over,” I said with my arms extended and my name was blotted out of the tombstone and a bolt struck the tombstone, breaking it into several pieces. The scratches and my wounds began to heal and I was strong. And so, I knelt and closed my eyes as the words of the last verse settled and I screamed it out loud. “ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. And when I opened my eyes, I was in my hotel room, on my knees just as I had been with my Bible beneath me — turned to Psalm 23. I knew it was a victory and I knew God would always give me the victory in my journey as a soldier of Christ — a gifted intercessor and exorcist.