The Unseen Spiritual Realm

Our battle is not against flesh and blood.

Okay fine.  Flesh and blood surely are used as pawns in life.  Pawns in the game of chess are dispensable game pieces used strategically to seek a way to get to the king.  I find that interesting.  

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

So when we allow the enemy to use us, we are simply being played as part of his game plan. Pretty sneaky, huh?  Unless, that is, we can see into his strategy and prevent his plan from accomplishing what he would like, which is basically to kill, steal and destroy.  

John 10:10a  - “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;”

I was asked to create a visual to show spiritual blindness.  That is sort of comical just in the nature of, how do you make a visual on something you can’t see?  I lay in bed thinking about it and preparing what I could say when I noticed something.  My reading lamp was on and it was casting a shadow as I was talking (with my hands of course).  Well, there it was, the shadow. In the natural, the shadow simply follows the movement of the physical object, in this case my hand.  But wouldn’t it be something in the spiritual if the shadow was motivating and causing the hand to move. In other words, the enemy uses flesh and blood to create strife with each other in every area of life.  I think God gave me this visual to explain spiritual blindness.  Until the “right” light shines on the hand the shadow remains hidden.  At night of course a shadow is nowhere to be seen but during the day, we can totally miss images unless they are viewed in the right light.  

So how does this play out in the real world?  I’m not trying to suggest that the spiritual world can “make” people do things without their permission but here is a scenario that I believe most should be able to relate to at some degree.  You have or are a teenager.  The teenager is going through a tough time trying to figure out where they fit in in life in general.   Many voices are playing in their mind.  “You aren’t as smart as…, you do not look like the models in the magazines…, you’re not cool if you don’t drink alcohol or do drugs…, you know your dad never loved you…. God doesn’t love you; if He did He would not have made you like this.”   You get the idea. Those voices may have originated from other people or internally.  It makes no difference where they started, but in order to extinguish them they need to be dealt with, because behind each statement is a lie.  And that lie left unexposed will only lead to more confusion.  And Satan will continue to feed his cancer into those thoughts to kill, steal and destroy.  

The truth is we are all made in God’s image and God has a plan and a purpose for every one of us.  If the enemy can’t stop you from accepting Jesus into your life he will do everything in his power to thwart the plan God has for us.  

When you get home from work, you simply ask that teenager to do something minor like pick up their jacket and hang it up.  Sounds like a small request, right?  And much to your surprise they go ballistic on you, accusing you of ruining their life.  This is where it gets even more complicated.  See, you had a tough day, too…you had your own reasons.…and you fire back an angry and frustrated answer, and the shadows are pulling the strings causing strife.  And there is laughter in the darkness because they have accomplished what they set out to do.

The answer lies in examining every promise God has for you and being able to distinguish what is a lie. God will never leave you nor forsake you and He is enough.  We must know who we are in Christ and acknowledge and replace those old lies with the truth of His word. There is no short cut, and all the psychology out there can’t make you an heir to the kingdom.

This sentence I wrote earlier is quite profound. “Pawns in the game of chess are dispensable game pieces used strategically to seek a way to get to the king.”  The enemy wants to hurt God and will use anyone he can, as we are God’s children.    

Expose the darkness with His light!  I think that is in part what He meant by:  John 8:12  When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”    

Note the second part of John 10:10

John 10:10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Following that still small voice

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged.  It’s not that nothing has been happening; all I can call it is a period of transition.

It reminds me of another time of transition.  In 1985, I was 23 and my good friend and I loaded up her car and headed to Florida with plans to live there.  My brother was in the Air Force and stationed just south of Miami.  We were planning to live there and have an adventure.  We did.  

There is a process that took place, however. We gave notice and quit our jobs, said good bye to family and friends, loaded up the car and with our AAA TripTik, we headed south.  We’d packed the car full of things we would need: air mattresses, toaster, hair dryer and clothes. And someone gave us a 5 pound bag of popcorn, which we could pop if we couldn’t find jobs and got hungry.

I remember being very excited to move. I was leaving some pain behind me, and I was looking forward to the change in address.  And a fresh start.

We left Green Bay early in the morning, likely about 3 a.m., to get through Chicago between rush hours and we drove all day.  We would change off driving while the other one navigated. Mind you, this was way before cell phones and GPS’s.  We are both very smart ladies but we must have missed geography class in high school because no one told us there were mountains between Wisconsin and Florida.  We could see the mountains in the distance for what seemed like hours until we finally were right in the middle of them.  We had talked about driving past Atlanta that day and then stop for the night.  But once we made it through Chattanooga, TN that was enough.  We were exhausted and it was time to rest.  

We stopped in a roadside hotel off the interstate somewhere before Atlanta.  I looked at the map as we were getting settled and I remember freaking out. We were not in Green Bay, we were not in the Miami area, we were in some dot in Georgia that no one knew.  Well, someone called it home but it was not MY old home and it was not MY new home.  It was just a dot and then reality hit.  What was I doing? What could I have been thinking?  Leaving the familiar behind and living some crazy dream?  I could disappear off the face of the map and no one would know. Fortunately, my friend had it more together and she helped to calm me down.  

The adventure in Florida was a year I will never forget.  Friends made, experiences to remember and a time of my life that I could be young and carefree.  

That was then, this is now…I am growing spiritually and I have been introduced to an opportunity to lead others to Christ but in new and exciting ways.  I have had to take off some things that were hindering my growth, not bad things but some things that were time consuming and needed to be pruned away. This time around, I have my friend with me, too, my Helper, the Holy Spirit and I am meeting my brother Jesus in the new location.  

When you grow you have to let go of the familiar and it can mean good bye for a time.  It may mean new friends and adventures.  It definitely means change.  As this change is occurring and I proceed forward I know that because the Lord wills it, He will equip me for it. I would like to believe I will not have a freak-out moment of not really being in one place or the other, for I now know wherever I am, He is. And every moment I am where I’m supposed to be.

I am a bit nostalgic at times thinking thinking maybe I jumped the gun.  And should I have waited?  No, there is no time for regrets as the vision is clear, revival is coming to this area and I don’t want to be caught napping.  I don’t want to go to Heaven having played it safe.

I think of Abram and Sari, when God said go…..leave this place…..leave your family and all that is familiar.  Abram and Sari were not bigger than life, like some super humans, they were just like you and me.  They had fears and concerns and maybe a freak-out moment or two.  But they went.  And so will I.