Anyway, it has been almost a whole year since our last visit to Rock Mountain Bible Camp, and my, what a year it has been. It took me until now to realize just how timely our theme was for that retreat - Call of Duty: Spirit Ops. DW came as out speaker and shared about the reality of spiritual warfare and our need for protection, unpacking some of the pieces of spiritual armor mentioned in Ephesians 6. Seriously though, this entire year has been one long spiritual battle, and we really needed that armor. Between Covid-19, quarantine, and civil unrest, there has been so much anger, hate, fear and panic saturating our country and filling our lives. These were the reasons why God gave us His armor in Ephesians 6, because He knew we would be fighting for our lives this year.
After meeting with many of you over the past several months, I have learned that we have all had some struggles in our relationship with God in 2020. Many have strayed pretty far from God, others have panicked and given in to fear, and still others are even a little apathetic towards God right now. Last night I shared something that my cousin had posted to Facebook regarding spiritual warfare. Here is that post:
“New year... same me coming at you with long posts. I just want to come on here and say that this post is more for me to come back and look at later.
Let me be honest. My brain is literally broken. While I was in the shower today I got more excited about something than I have gotten in a while.
Today, I was able to make a dog training analogy that reminded me of Jesus, and God, and it made my heart happy. Mainly because it combined two of my favorite things in the whole wide world.
Years back, I was in a dog training program, and for the last few weeks I was to bring in my dog for group training sessions. During this time, I witnessed my dog Scruffy panic a lot. We would do well with the start of training sessions. When it was just me and Scruffy in a quiet area he did so well. He was settled, and he was calm. As soon as I would bring Scruffy out and interact with other dogs, he would panic. I tried every training trick in the book to settle him. I tried redirecting his focus back to me through shuffling my feet, making funny noises, whispering his name, and treats. Nothing worked. He would still panic until everyone else backed away, or until we went back to our own separate spot.
Finally, after try and try again, I was taught a new technique. When Scruffy panicked, I was taught to let the leash go as far as it could go. Still keeping my hand on it, but letting the leash go as far as it could go. Then, I was told to just stand there. Let Scruffy go nuts and panic. Let him bark it out, and let him, basically go crazy on the other side of the leash. The second... literally second, that Scruffy even glances in my direction, praise that. Throw a treat to him if I can. Basically, this cycle, letting him go nuts, and praising him when he looks at me, would continue for maybe 5 minutes. If I felt I had his attention long enough, then I could ask him to do simple commands for me. Sit, down, or, if he was capable, even a sit stay. It is a long process, but eventually, I knew he would look back at me and listen.
Maybe I am wrong, but I feel the same thing can be said for Christians. Maybe I am wrong, but is it possible that Jesus is the one holding our proverbial leashes? There are times when we go astray from Jesus. There are times when we panic and so desperately want to run away. But is it possible, that Jesus is just waiting for us to calm down on the other side of the leash? Is it possible that He is just waiting for us to even just glance at Him? Is it possible that He just wants to praise us for just looking at Him? Oy. Is it possible, that the leash He holds will never break? Never?
Something else I want to say, is if you are struggling spiritually, with your relationship with Jesus... you are NOT too far gone. You really aren't. If you are struggling, speak out. Please do not be afraid. The worst thing you can do is keep your mouth shut. If you are noticing something is off in your journey with Jesus, SPEAK. It might sound like you are crazy, people might be annoyed with you, people might turn you away, but for real... speak up. Do not stay silent. Ask others to pray for you, and with you. Ask your pastors if you can talk with them. Ask your family for help, extra prayer, and to read Scripture with you. Please. Don't fight things on your own. It doesn't work well anyway. I can speak from experience. If you fight spiritual battles with Christian music, use Christian music. If you fight spiritual battles by talking to people, talk to people. However you fight, use it. Fight for the truth.
Lean into Jesus, and don't fight it alone. To use an analogy that I love, when you are struggling with evil, ask your Husband, Jesus, to help you. Or, ask your Father, Jesus, to protect your Holy Spirit. Ask Him not to let you keep going astray. Be like a child, and ask the Father to protect you from the evil coming at you. Hide behind Him. The Holy Spirit is the most important, precious gift the Father and Jesus ever gave you. Protect it. The judgement of the world, is NOTHING compared to the judgement of the Lord. If you feel crazy while defending your faith, just know, you're in good company. Just read the Scriptures, and you'll find a whole bunch of "crazy people" who also defended their faith, and came out on top.
All I can say, is I'm pretty sure, Jesus doesn't let go of the leash, but make sure you stop panicking enough to look at Jesus, or even glance at Him. And celebrate when you do.
If you read all this... thank you for coming to my first TED talk of the year. Pretty sure there is more to come. Just saying.”
As Christians, there are going to be times when we have doubts, or when we wander away from God, or when we give in to fear and panic. God knows this. He knows that at times we are going to be like Scruffy, screaming and trying our best to run away. And just like my cousin said, He is always there, waiting for us to turn back to Him, to just look at Him for a moment, so He can affirm us and draw us back to His loving arms.
I firmly believe in the "once saved, always saved" idea, meaning that when you give your life to Jesus Christ, you are sealed in Him. You are tethered to Jesus, similar to a leash, and that tether is unbreakable. We don't have to worry that one day we will wander too far, or that He will let go of the leash. We can take comfort in knowing that He is and always will be there for us.
So, if you are struggling in your faith, remember that it is a spiritual battle. You are in a fight against the dark forces of this world which are trying to pull you away from God. As my cousin shared, "Lean into Jesus, and don't fight it alone". Speak up and ask for help, that's what spiritual community is all about - helping each other in our walk with God.
And if you see someone else struggling with their faith, speak up. Do what you can to help them. Talk to them, encourage them, share a Bible verse with them, and pray with them. That is what Jesus has called us to do as Christians. To walk with each other on this journey we call life.
Our Enemy will use whatever he can to distract us from God and pull us away. He will use friends, hobbies, school, teachers, family, work, and yes, global pandemics. Even situations like what is happening in the Capitol right now are efforts by our Enemy to distract us from God. Don't let him win. Don't let him pull you away. Instead, turn to God in times like this and pray, read the Bible, serve others. Only then will you find comfort, joy, and hope in an ever darkening world.
No comments:
Post a Comment