Spiritual Warfare

When I think of Spiritual warfare, often the first example I look at is the account of the letter to the church in Ephesus recorded in Ephesians 6. I've memorized that passage and have taught on it quite a few times. I had somehow forgotten though, about the second letter to the church in Corinth that talks about Spiritual warfare. That is heavy on my heart tonight- and today has been a day facing many factors in this Spiritual battle.

I woke up this morning (my day off, hallelujah!) and felt urged to start reading "The Cross and The Switchblade." Whoah- for a girl who has always loved that general story, has seen the movie and has worked volunteering with Teen Challenge for quite a while, reading the in-depth backstory has me even more compelled and stirred. I got through probably 3 chapters of David Wilkerson's story about God's divine and unusual, no, ridiculous prompting to go to New York and reach out to troubled youth, hardened gang members. The depth of the sins those people were dabbling in (or drowning in) was staggering, and Pastor Wilkerson was NOT qualified to bring them wholeness. But he obeyed and now the legacy of the unbelievably (anointedly) successful ministry of Teen Challenge is being implemented largely across the globe. Unreal. Sidenote: I want my life to have that element of extreme adventure, challenge, trust and fruit.

Then, tonight, we had our second outreach with "Charisma" the ministry to girls in the sex industry, particularly girls who work as dancers in the strip clubs. I got to go into more clubs this time and interact with more people than last time; even though we had some more setbacks, we had more "successes" or openings, too. I know the Enemy loves seeing these lives destroyed by the addictive power of sexual depravity and bondage. I also know Jesus LOVES these people- the customers, the dancers, the bouncers, the management, the "curious". It was a stirring night for sure as we venture out into a world that is pretty sealed off from Christ's light, but He is everywhere.

The Enemy thinks he's so crafty, but GOD'S PLANS WILL PREVAIL. I worry so much about furthering God's Kingdom, but I have to remember HE WANTS TO USE ME and my availability/obedience shouldn't be hindered by fear or an insatiable need to always prove my goodness. I want to follow Jesus. Plain and simple.

Anyway, back to this day. I got a few texts from a friend of mine who I've loved and reached out to for years now, but who seems helpless. She told me that she recently was doing some drugs and she felt "different and thought of bad things to do" and told me of a time before when she didn't feel like herself and she yelled, but it wasn't her voice coming out. I told her this was Spiritual warfare and mentioned 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." She wanted an explanation of what to do in situations where this was happening, because she said she prayed a lot that night and finally it went away. I told her that prayer is a very powerful weapon, but I also wanted her to memorize some of the Bible, because God's Word's Truth is one of the most powerful weapons we have. She still wanted to know what to do . . . "FOLLOW JESUS!" I exclaimed, and went on to tell her that there is a battle over her soul and destiny and Jesus wants to deliver her completely. I also said "Basically, when things happen to us that we think are 'weird and spooky,' often those things are not just ordinary things in the physical world that are going on. There are angels and demons fighting over the rights to our lives and we can feel it and sense it in powerful ways at times. We can't just ignore it, we must realize that the Enemy of our souls hates us and wants us to hate the one hope- Jesus. He thrives in darkness and things that destroy our lives- habits, practices; trying to keep us broken and helpless. We MUST choose and cling to Christ and His power, especially when we feel ourselves sinking into evil- claiming the truth and asking God to take control of our minds." There's not a simple, mindless mantra to chant that can combat these lies and a terrorizing, demolishing presences- we need Jesus, and His nearness constantly.

So, as we speak (or, more appropriately, as I type), I've created a "Battle It Out" playlist on my iTunes that consists of these songs:
1. Ronnie Freeman- "Fight" WOW! This song is definitively one of the most powerful spiritual warfare songs- I've listened to it solely on repeat for a few struggling seasons in my walk with Christ.
2. Desperation Band- "Counting on God" The lyrics "I'm in a fight, not physical. I'm in a war, but not of this world" pretty much qualify this song to belong on this list.
3. Sara Groves- "The Boxer" is her personal "out loud" account of an internal battle.
4. Nichole Nordeman- "What If" I just listen to the words of this song and want to bawl because it's so powerful- spoken as a plea to someone else to consider the SOMETHING MORE that could really be going on in them.
5. Kim Walker- "How He Loves" has a moment in it where Kim just speaks out prophetically and talks about encountering the love of God and KNOWING Him, and just the conviction she delivers is faith-inspiring in the battle.
6. Deitrick Haddon- "Stand Still" this song was a theme song for my life for a time of my deepest depression.

Honorary Titles (could definitely be on the cut, but will be "repeats" for two artists featured):
1. Sara Groves- "When The Saints" Man, this song is unreal with its depictions of people who have battled it out from Bible times to modern examples of men and women of faith who are passionately and defiantly pushing back the darkness!
2. Nichole Nordeman- "Hold On" This whole song is very similar to the previous song, but from the perspective of those who are barely able to hang on and need to know that Love is following, pursuing, faithfully loving them.

For a long time, I have thought about how I don't have any dramatic demon possession experiences that I've witnessed, or too many intense battles of the spiritual kind. However, I think I have been right in the midst of all of it, sometimes unaware and coasting with that nagging that something is amiss, sometimes with the distinct impression that it is imperative that I pray or take action of some kind. How I want to be open to move on every prompting of God. One of the awesome things about reading "The Cross and The Switchblade" today was the advice David Wilkerson got from his fiery, legendary, mover-shaker minister grandfather, that God's plans for David were bigger than his initial impulse to go to New York and be involved in the trial of the young boys who had thoughtlessly/carelessly/casually murdered someone in cold blood- He believed God wanted to use David on a MUCH LARGER SCALE. He asked David, in a time where he was about ready to give up on his crazy vision from God, what they had always talked about as the heart of the Gospel. Transformation, change, he replied. YES!!!!!!!! MY WHOLE SOUL RESOUNDS WITH THAT and I was moved to tears, saying, YES JESUS, LET IT BE! LET US SEE MIGHTY THINGS that ONLY YOU CAN DO!

I encourage you to give these songs a listen, and these thoughts some pondering yourself. I just told that same friend that the battle is intense and the Spiritual world/realm is powerful and real (as she now well knows). Choose Jesus. There is no neutral.