Spiritual warfare or coincidence?
Generally I wouldn't write about these kinds of things. No particular reason. But I thought that maybe it would be interesting reading for someone out there...it's definitely a part of life, so why not share it right?
We had a somewhat tough morning today. We continue to grow and develop as a family and we all know that growth is not possible without growing pains. All of us feel those "pains" in one way or another. No need to go into any details...just the normal adjustments, etc of family life. But it was a little emotional.
Generally, when we face these kinds of challenges we try our best (sometimes we fail) to figure out how to face up to whatever it is through God's strength. For sure that's not easy in the "heat of battle". But we try. Today we, ourselves, took a time out to pray together to ask God to help us through...to let us have a fresh start. We left that short prayer time feeling good and ready to move on.
This is where it gets interesting. We said goodbye to our oldest boy as he went to school and loaded the rest of us up in the van to take Maciek to school. As we drove up to a nearby traffic light I noticed the guy in the car next to us staring at us (one of those weird "someone's watching me" moments). I looked back a few times thinking that would wake him up and end his fascination with whatever it was he was staring at. It didn't...he persisted. I smiled at him and did the manly nod thing we guys do. No reaction...he continued staring. I finally waved at him. At that moment he gave me the Polish hand signal used to call someone an idiot...several times. The light turned green and he drove on.
Spiritual warfare or coincidence? The enemy and his forces (sounds sci-fi but folks it's real) know what we are doing...they know what we struggle with...they hear us prayer asking for help to overcome certain challenges, prepare ourselves, etc. I am not saying that that strange man was "the enemy". But things like that are used day in and day out to throw us out of whack...to start us down the path toward sin -- be that in our thoughts or actions.
There was ZERO reason for that guy to do that this morning. ZERO! Z-E-R-O!! But following our morning's issues...which we're fought off through the power of prayer and our dependence on God...this subtle attack came and was almost effective in tearing me down again. But it didn't. As Vicki took Maciek into preschool I threw in a praise CD and began reciting Scripture (loudly) resisting the devil (see James 4:7). Thankfully that resistance has led to a wonderful rest of the day. I really feel great, thankful for those victories.
It's really a daily thing though. People think they can get away (let me back up..."I think that I can get away") with going it alone. Sometimes Christians think that picking up The Book every now and then and reading a few passages here and there...praying a prayer now and again before a meal...going to church...that these things will bring victory in one's life. It's a crock. It's a crock when I have times of living that way. We are absolutely nothing apart from Christ (see John 15:5). Nothing. No chance. We've (I've) got to be prepared everyday for whatever "flaming arrows" are flying my way. If I'm not...if I decide to go into battle naked...then I'm going to get hit. No question about that.
On a final note...it's interesting talking to people overseas about spiritual warfare. Honestly there's just some reason that it feels more "real" here. Maybe because it's not always so subtle like in the states where it comes through commercialism, materialism, and other such "isms" that our culture doesn't perceive as a threat any longer. It's easy to let our guards down, isn't it? There have been so many instances like this morning...that come out of nowhere and catch us off guard. These are not too subtle. And sometimes they're even downright scary. It makes me wonder if when the time comes for us to return to the states I'll be more aware of spiritual attacks there.
We had a somewhat tough morning today. We continue to grow and develop as a family and we all know that growth is not possible without growing pains. All of us feel those "pains" in one way or another. No need to go into any details...just the normal adjustments, etc of family life. But it was a little emotional.
Generally, when we face these kinds of challenges we try our best (sometimes we fail) to figure out how to face up to whatever it is through God's strength. For sure that's not easy in the "heat of battle". But we try. Today we, ourselves, took a time out to pray together to ask God to help us through...to let us have a fresh start. We left that short prayer time feeling good and ready to move on.
This is where it gets interesting. We said goodbye to our oldest boy as he went to school and loaded the rest of us up in the van to take Maciek to school. As we drove up to a nearby traffic light I noticed the guy in the car next to us staring at us (one of those weird "someone's watching me" moments). I looked back a few times thinking that would wake him up and end his fascination with whatever it was he was staring at. It didn't...he persisted. I smiled at him and did the manly nod thing we guys do. No reaction...he continued staring. I finally waved at him. At that moment he gave me the Polish hand signal used to call someone an idiot...several times. The light turned green and he drove on.
Spiritual warfare or coincidence? The enemy and his forces (sounds sci-fi but folks it's real) know what we are doing...they know what we struggle with...they hear us prayer asking for help to overcome certain challenges, prepare ourselves, etc. I am not saying that that strange man was "the enemy". But things like that are used day in and day out to throw us out of whack...to start us down the path toward sin -- be that in our thoughts or actions.
There was ZERO reason for that guy to do that this morning. ZERO! Z-E-R-O!! But following our morning's issues...which we're fought off through the power of prayer and our dependence on God...this subtle attack came and was almost effective in tearing me down again. But it didn't. As Vicki took Maciek into preschool I threw in a praise CD and began reciting Scripture (loudly) resisting the devil (see James 4:7). Thankfully that resistance has led to a wonderful rest of the day. I really feel great, thankful for those victories.
It's really a daily thing though. People think they can get away (let me back up..."I think that I can get away") with going it alone. Sometimes Christians think that picking up The Book every now and then and reading a few passages here and there...praying a prayer now and again before a meal...going to church...that these things will bring victory in one's life. It's a crock. It's a crock when I have times of living that way. We are absolutely nothing apart from Christ (see John 15:5). Nothing. No chance. We've (I've) got to be prepared everyday for whatever "flaming arrows" are flying my way. If I'm not...if I decide to go into battle naked...then I'm going to get hit. No question about that.
On a final note...it's interesting talking to people overseas about spiritual warfare. Honestly there's just some reason that it feels more "real" here. Maybe because it's not always so subtle like in the states where it comes through commercialism, materialism, and other such "isms" that our culture doesn't perceive as a threat any longer. It's easy to let our guards down, isn't it? There have been so many instances like this morning...that come out of nowhere and catch us off guard. These are not too subtle. And sometimes they're even downright scary. It makes me wonder if when the time comes for us to return to the states I'll be more aware of spiritual attacks there.
posted by Michael Shattuck at
6:48 AM
2 Comments:
I don't know if it's more "real", but I do know that I definitely experienced spiritual warfare much more while servicing as a summer missionary in Poland.
let's try "serving"
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