The Other Side

For the past month I have been praying and asking the Lord what direction He is leading our women for our fall Bible study. For the past few weeks, Ephesians 6 keeps popping up in my thoughts, so I'm assuming He is leading us into the battle of spiritual warfare. Verses 10 & 11 says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the Devil's schemes." This topic would seem a little intense for a women's Bible study, but the more I talk with women, the more I am believing it to be true.

The last couple of days I have spent researching books for us to read through. I was in the Bible bookstore for an hour the other day flipping through books to see what they have to say about it. The majority of the books on spiritual warfare do not even mention the Holy Spirit. How can you fight spiritual things without the leading of the Holy Spirit? Ehpesians 6:12 says, "12For 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." This one book in particular that I actually bought because the first 10 chapters where exactly right on, until we got to the issue of the Holy Spirit. This author believes that the Holy Spirit was given only to Jesus' disciples and that was that. If that is the case then salvation wouldn't be for today either, right? Isn't it the Holy Spirit that comes into our lives and begins the work of becoming like Christ? Ephesians 6:18 says, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Since I've been in pastoral ministry, I have seen more defeated Christians than I have victorious Christians. I admit, I too have fallen into the trap or scheme of the enemy by living a defeated life. But yesterday, God started stirring something in me about this. So here is where I use a disclaimer for the next few paragraphs. These are only my thoughts and I'm processing them via the blog world.

Yesterday I had a couple of encounters where I heard women talking about feeling discouraged in their walk with Christ. It was while I was praying about their circumstances that I realized that to "stand firm" as it says in Ephesians 6:14, that it means not standing with our heads bowed in shame and fear and defeat, but stand in such a way that we are ready for whatever comes our way. Two of the articles used in the armor of God are the shield of Faith and the sword of the Spirit. The sword represents the Word of God and the shield of Faith is to be kept up high, not on the ground, to protect us from the firey darts of the enemy. This also represents our level of faith.

Later on that day, I'm talking to my friend Nicole and we are talking about how defeated the body of Christ seems to be these days. It seems there are more sick, poor, and hopeless Christians than ever. As we were talking I had this vision of an hourglass-like object and it was at the point of being turned over. I would like to believe that is where we are right now in the Spirit. In the transition of it all turning around for good.

We are in the season of "going to the other side." In Mark 4 Jesus had been teaching all day. He was probably beat from talking all day. It was evening and Jesus told the disciples to get into the boat with him and go to the other side. So the disciples get in and off they go. Jesus heads down into the boat to sleep. Suddenly a furious squall comes up and the boat is being rocked and shaken. The disciples out of desperation and fear wake Jesus up and tell him that they are going to die and ask him if he even cares that they are going to drown. Jesus then shouts, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind suddenly dies down and the waves begin to calm. Now I've been to the sea of Gallilee when the wind was blowing and its pretty intense. Eventually they reached the other side of the lake and it was there, in Chapter 5 when they were greeted by a man with an evil spirit. He then casts the legion of demons into a heard of pigs and they run into the sea and drown. Soon after Jesus encounters the woman with the issue of blood and because of her faith in Jesus' power, she is healed. This happens while he's on his way to Jairus' house to heal his daughter who is dying. When he gets there, she's already dead. The people have already begun the mourning process and Jesus asks them why all the crying and wailing. In Matthew 9, the writer says that when Jesus got there they were noisy and Jesus told them to "Go away! The girl is only asleep." Jesus tells the girl to wake up. She then rises and Jesus tells her parents to feed her.

So I have to ask the question? Are we in the midst of going to the other side? This morning as I was thinking about this, I was reminded of a scene in the movie "The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Yes, I know its about pirates, but they did live on the sea. In this scene, they are in the middle of the ocean. They've run out of water and rum and food. They are exhausted and the sun is setting and a fear of hopelessness has come over them. Then Tia Dalma tells them that if they don't get to the other side before sunset, they will die. Jack Sparrow is trying to figure out the riddle to the map he has. All of the sudden he figures out that "down is up." That means the boat must flip upside down. He begins running from one side of the boat to the other. The other pirates look at him as if he's crazy. So he tells them "look over there." They see nothing but begin to follow him. Back and forth they run and one by one join him. By the time all of them are doing this, another man says, "he's rocking the boat!" They finally got it. They had to tip the boat over . Finally the boats momentum is so strong the boat is leaning on its side. There's so much commotion. Everything is in disarray and parts of the ship are breaking off. Then suddenly the ship begins to flip and everyone is hanging on. A few can't and fall and meet their death. The ship finally tips all the way and everyone left is hanging on for dear life, hoping that what they have just done was the right thing. They sit underneath the sea for probably what seemed forever. Then the sun sets and the water above them flips and begins to fall beneath them. The ship begins to break out of the water and it comes up out of the deep. There the sunrise is awaiting them.

What a picture of what is happening in the Spirit. Again, a band of pirates is probably not a Godly example, yet in our flesh, that is what we are like. Our job is to allow the Spirit to lead us. Even if it would seem to be a foolish act. Jesus knew he wasn't going to die in the storm that night. He knew what the plan was. Our job is just to have faith and hang on. Too many of us give up and lose our hope and where does it lead us? Just like in the movie of the people who let go, they died. Now we may not physically die when we "let go in the spirit" but we do let go of our hope of living in victory. Even when Jesus got to the other side, he was met by an evil spirit, but that didn't stop him from healing and making things right in the peoples lives he encountered.

The conclusion of the story of mankind has already been written in the book of Revelation. Chapter 15:1-3 says "1I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God's wrath is completed. 2And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages." The key word phrase there is "standing by the sea, those who had been victorious." If we put on our spiritual armor everyday, live with a sense of hope and faith, hang on and not give up, I believe we will get to the other side without a scratch!