Sid: My guest Jennifer LeClaire, she’s a News Editor with Charisma Magazine. Jennifer we get lots of books on faith into the office, and as far as I’m concerned people can’t read enough books of good teaching on faith. But we’ve kind of heard it all, but our staff as they reviewed your book they found things stated in a different way that actually removed barriers for them in their faith arena. They didn’t understand why their faith wasn’t operating; why their prayers weren’t being answered. And they found that by following the steps that you outlined they were able to remove doubt and unbelief, and move into great faith. But there’s a story behind the story, and I understand when you were just 3 years of age you actually could see into the spirit, you were not raised in a Christian home you knew nothing about the Lord, but you actually saw a spirit of fear, what did you see?
Jennifer: I did I remember it I’ll never forget it; it would be at night while I was being put to sleep my mother would leave the room and before too long I would see a spirit of fear. Now of course at the time I didn’t know what it was; I thought it was a monster. I’d cry and yell my mom would come in with a broom and attempt to chase it away, but of course you can’t chase away spirits with a broom you’ve got to use the Name of Jesus. So the spirit of fear hovered there as a child and it made a mark on my life.
Sid: Okay you have a Mormon fiancé and you’re planning on getting married and there’s an altercation and you call 911 and you end up being arrested; explain that you have nothing to do with it you were the one that called 911.
Jennifer: Yeah, talk about irony; I called 911 of course when the police got there I didn’t want to press charges that’s how woman usually are and the police officer told me to sit down and shut up or she was going to say that I hit her. And I guess I was naïve at the time I was in my early 20’s and I said “You can’t say that.” And sure enough she picked me up, slammed me down in the car and began to beat up on me and I walked away bruised. And then she charged me with battery on a law enforcement officer and then carted me off to jail.
Sid: Then time elapses and that’s over but you do have to report if you’re going to change cities or something like that. You get married to your fiancé and then he goes away you have a child and he goes away for a vacation for a couple of weeks and he never comes back. So you decide you’re going to get yourself a divorce and when you’re filing for a divorce you find out because you changed cities there was a warrant for your arrest which should have been taken care of, it should have been a nothing it was a paperwork problem and it sort of fell through the cracks and so what did you do next?
Jennifer: Well I was terrified. I of course wasn’t saved at this time; my husband just disappeared I was in danger of losing my child so I hired an attorney I paid every penny that I had to get it cleared up and they told me that it would be. They said that this is a paper work issue this is a technicality don’t even worry about it we’ve got it covered. So I trusted that they would and I continued on at best I could trying to put my life back together.
Sid: But in the middle of the night they find out that you’re there and they come in, it’s just like something that you would watch on TV and they haul you into jail and you’re facing a 5 year prison sentence. This is so unreal I mean you must have been the most frustrated women in the world.
Jennifer: (Laughing) Well it was really bad because a maid who was working with me she was the girlfriend of a good friend of mine needed money she’d helped me out with some stuff. We agreed on a price she came back wanted more money I refused to give her more than what I’d agreed to and she had seen the paperwork about the lawyers and decided that she would call the police on me have me arrested. So that’s what she did.
Sid: And so you’re waiting for the trial, you’re in jail and a prison ministry shows up some well-known people they share their testimonies and you get saved. How could it happen so easy?
Jennifer: You know it was just God ordained really because there had been those warrants that I didn’t know about for almost 7 years. Really I could have been picked up but you know just driving the car just going to… you know getting a speeding ticket anything could have happened but God had His hand on my life long before I was saved and He ordained the time. And sure enough I was there just happened the very day that this evangelistic ministry was coming through and I responded to the altar call and gave my heart to God.
Sid: Then they give you a Bible and I understand you devoured this Bible.
Jennifer: Yeah, I’d never seen the light of the gospel, never heard the gospel presented to me and so when they gave me this Bible I started in the gospel of John and I just read and read. I would sit there on my little jailhouse bunk and just for hours just reading the Word of God.
Sid: But in addition to that you worried about your daughter, you worried about losing her; you worried about going to prison for 5 years. You’ve had a problem with depression and anxiety; how bad was that?
Jennifer: It was bad you know I was diagnosed with depression around about the time I was 20 and it just grew worse and worse and worse. I was on medication for depression, medication for anxiety; you know the root of it I don’t know, but it was there and it was persistent.
Sid: Tell me about the medication you were on.
Jennifer: It was a couple of different kind of prescription drugs pretty strong stuff. It was the kind of drug that if you started stop taking it suddenly you’d have all sorts of side effects and problems and so you really needed to keep taking those. Also I was on high blood pressure medicine; I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 19 and so I just had a lot of medical issues going on, a lot of problems going on. Over the course of when I was 19 until the time my husband left at age 29 it just seemed to get worse and worse.
Sid: So your reading these promises about how God can heal and what do you decide to do about your high blood pressure, your anxiety, your depression, you have all this medicine for it; what do you do?
Jennifer: Well, the first thing I did was I decided to believe the word of God. I mean it was just…you know when I got saved I no longer felt depressed, I no longer felt anxious. I mean I was concerned about my daughter of course I was worried I still struggled with fear, but the depression and that heaviness it left me. I had joy where there was once you know sorrow and so I began devouring the word and they would call you to take your medicine, they’d call you out of the cell and they’d ask you to come take your medicine. They gave me my medicine for depression and anxiety and I told them “I don’t need this anymore.” And they said “You have to take it.” And I said “I don’t need it.” And they forced me to take it and so I did and my body rejected it, it would not hold the medicine down and once they saw that they never called me back to take the medicine again, I was delivered.
Sid: So what happened to the depression, what happened to the anxiety?
Jennifer: You know what the word of God brings light into dark places in our soul and once I put my faith on the word. I mean I was reading in the Gospel of John about the healing, Jesus was going around doing all sorts of works, all sorts of healings, all sorts of miracles. And faith arose in my heart and where faith is depression can’t stay.
Sid: Okay, you’re facing a 5 year jail sentence, you’re reading the Word and wherever you read you see 40, 40, 40. God speaks to your heart through the word of God that you’re going to be out in 40 days. But Jennifer that’s impossible didn’t you know that?
Jennifer: I knew that practically speaking it was impossible the judge wouldn’t even give me bail even with an ankle bracelet. He was going to be on vacation on the 40th day I couldn’t get a trail, I couldn’t get a hearing; I was seemingly stuck but…
Sid: Did you tell anyone you’d be out in 40 days?
Jennifer: I told everyone that would listen to me; I called my mother collect, I told everybody in the jail I told everybody.
Sid: So the 40th day comes and what happens?
Jennifer: Well, I was scheduled to have a hearing somehow they gave it to another judge, and I was waiting to hear to stand before the judge when my attorney called me on the phone that was in the cell and said “Jennifer this matter has been taken care of we don’t have to stand before the judge you will be released you’re going home go back to your cell and gather your stuff.”
Sid: Your faith had to be so sky high at that moment!
Jennifer: It really was, I just danced around and praised God and you know I just basically danced right out of the jail that night just praising God and that stuck with me. I mean David always remembered his past deliverances, he always remembered what God did to him. And I will never forget that, that is true deliverance.
Sid: Tell me about your book “Faith Magnified” and the 3 CD set the subtitle I love this word where did you get it from “It’s How to be Free from Doubtaholism.”
Jennifer: Right look at doubt almost like a spiritual disease that really cripples your Christian walk and it has a lot of parallels to alcoholism. And so I decided to take on that premise and offer a program or a number of steps that we could go through to overcome this spiritual disease.
Sid: Now there are many people that are walking around with doubt and unbelief and they don’t even realize that they’re actually blind to it. And they’re wondering why they’re prayer’s aren’t being answered.
Jennifer: It’s true because doubt is so deceptive it’s very sneaky and you know I like to look at it this way “We mentally ascend to the Word. We sit in the church, we hear a good sermon; we say Amen; we watch Christian television; we live in a Christian society. In other words there’s church on every corner we believe it with our brain, but we doubt it in our heart and so we don’t see the promises of God come to pass.
Sid: When people sit under your teaching or read the book what changes do they report to you?
Jennifer: They tell me that it was like a fog lifting; they got revelation that they never had. You know a lot of teaching on faith it’s all good but we’re talking about what faith is but we’re not talking about the enemies to our faith. And doubt and unbelief are two enemies to our faith. They come to steal, kill and destroy too many times but we can overcome it. We can identify it and we can get rid of it and we can walk in faith that demands results.
