The Big Yellow House

My squad has been serving in Jacó, Costa Rica, for the last few weeks. It is more tropical there than it was in Guatemala so we are sticky with sweat most of the time. We are also together as a squad instead of being in our specific teams. It has been an adjustment getting used to living in one house with my entire squad, plus part of a Gap Year squad. 

Our main ministry has been to serve our host in the city of Jacó, but each team will get a chance to go to the capital, San José, for a week to partner with another ministry there called The Hope Project. My team was the first team to go. We packed up our things, hopped in a van, and enjoyed our first time in a month being just us six.

As we drove through San José I felt like I was driving through any of the major cities in the US. There was a Walmart, an Outback Steakhouse, and a Payless. It did not look or feel like I was in a different country.

We drove into the heart of downtown where the ministry is located. When the car pulled up in front of a big yellow house, I hoped it wasn’t the place we would be staying. It had that creepy, old house vibe, complete with dark clouds building behind it. It reminded me of movies I had seen that left me with that ominous feeling. 

As those thoughts were rolling through my mind, our van stopped outside and the driver told us this was our stop.

Great. Big ominous house, here we come.

We shuffled inside with our big packs, and met one of the owners briefly. He told us that the house was almost 100 years old, it had been passed down in his family for generations, and it had been used as a hotel before Covid. It has been closed most of the last year, and we were going to be the first people staying there this year. 

We looked around the main floor which has the rooms we are staying in, a main open space, a kitchen, and a small eating nook. The decor seems original to when it was built, complete with intricate tile, mustard yellow walls, and thick, floral curtains. The main room is open to the second story that has a balcony. There were more rooms upstairs, but the owners told us that it wasn’t ready for guests so we should stay mainly downstairs.

We spent the rest of our day checking out our ministry for the week, stocking up on groceries, and exploring downtown San José. We got back after dark, and the big yellow house felt even more creepy and mysterious after nightfall.

The spiritual atmosphere of the house felt heavy that night. So before bed we decided to pray over the house and worship together. Aaron played worship songs on his guitar, others were reading Bible passages aloud or praying in tongues as they wandered from room to room. God was also bringing things to mind for us to call out, like “Spirit of shame, be gone in Jesus’ name,” “Spirit of frustration, anger, or violence, get out!” And the one that came up more than once was the spirit of fear, so we kept speaking out against it over and over again.

As we came together to close in prayer, a loud noise came from upstairs. It sounded like someone had run across the open balcony, and the curtains billowed out like they were caught in the wind. No windows were open, and no one was in the house except us and the guard in the front room. We were a little shaken up, that spirit of fear creeping back in. So we prayed more before finally going to bed.

The weird occurrences didn’t stop there. All of us woke up at some point during the night feeling the need to pray or read scripture aloud. Many of us had strange dreams, and there were more noises throughout the house, mainly from upstairs. It sounded like someone was moving furniture around, or like doors opening and closing. One person was lying awake after a nightmare and she said it felt like someone had grabbed her bed and shook it hard.

Needless to say we woke up exhausted the next morning. Many of us casted wary glances toward the balcony and the closed rooms beyond. We had no idea what was up there, but it seemed to be the source of the spiritual heaviness and inexplicable noises. Come to find out the house was built on a historical battle ground where many had died.

But our faith wasn’t shaken in the slightest. We talked and decided that we would pray and worship each night until we left at the end of the week.

After ministry that second day, we walked into the house and immediately noticed a difference. The space felt lighter, physically and spiritually. We were encouraged and knew that God was cleaning out the space.

By the middle of the week, I felt ready to venture into the unknown of the upstairs. So during the day, a few of us went up the staircase for the first time and looked through the rooms. At first it felt like venturing into enemy territory, but we quickly realized that most of the rooms were empty and dusty. A few had old furniture from when it was a hotel. It wasn’t anywhere near as scary or mysterious as it had felt from downstairs, and the spiritual heaviness was gone.

Going up there during the day with sunlight shining in the rooms is one thing, but going up when everything is dark and covered in shadows in another story. 

As we were worshiping that night, I stood at the base of the stairs reading from Psalms. I paused, looked up the dimly lit stairs, and felt the Lord tell me to go ahead and go up. He reminded me that there was nothing to be afraid of, even in the dark. So I turned to my team and asked if anyone else felt ready to go up. 

A few of us made our way upstairs as we worshiped and prayed. I went and stood in the place where the running noise and billowing curtains had come from the first night. My heart was racing with little remnants of the fear I had felt initially, but I knew God’s presence was with me. I again cast off the spirit of fear, then I started to sing and pray boldly.

At one point all 6 of us were up there together, spanning the entire balcony and worshiping at the top of our lungs. We had overcome our fear of what was going on upstairs, and it felt like such a victory! 

By the end of our stay in the big yellow house, it felt very peaceful. I even got to the point where I was sleeping through the night. 

No matter your thoughts on spiritual warfare, this was a great opportunity to test our faith and trust in the Lord. Our prayers turned from battle cries, telling the enemy that he didn’t have any authority or right to stay, to praising our God. Turning the focus to His characteristics and qualities naturally turned my heart from a place of fear to complete trust in Him and the authority He has given me.

I have nothing to fear, because He has gone before me. He is victorious, and I get to walk in that victory every day, no matter what comes my way.