The War Between Angels

We have a picture hanging on the wall in our living room.  It is a painting of a father kneeling in prayer at the side of his young child’s bed.  There is a window above the bed with the curtains gently blowing in the breeze. 

What has struck my interest is if you look through the window you will see and angel standing guard with his sword drawn ready for battle.  Revelation 12 speaks of a battle in Heaven between  the Archangel Michael and Satan. 

^12:7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. NIV

I have a very good trustworthy friend who traveled with me to Africa some years back.  When it was time for us to go home Gary felt that God was directing him to travel from Kenya into the Sudan.  His adventure is truly a remarkable story.  Gary knew in his heart that God wanted him to go see a specific missionary in the heart of the Sudan.  He agonized over having to go knowing that his life would be in absolute danger if he were found out by the authorities.  He chose to go.

Traveling across the landscape, no roads lead to where he was going, and all he had was a direction from God on where he was to go and when to turn, he found himself in the middle of Sudan on a dark, moonless night with no light to be seen except for the headlamps of his jeep.  Search as he might he could not find his way.  Finally he heard an audible voice say to go in a specific direction.  He looked around but already knew there was no one there except for the driver.  They followed as the voice had instructed.

After over 30 miles he saw a single faint light off in the distance.  Could that be where he was to go?  He made his way to the light – a 40 watt lamp run by a generator in the middle of the Sudan.

The missionary Gary felt led to go see had turned it on in the middle of the night.  He and his family had been huddled in fear for their lives waiting for an attack that they knew was coming from the village medicine man and his followers.  He thought that the light might scare them off or postpone the inevitable attack for a little bit of time.

When Gary drove up the missionary and family were visibly in distress.  Gary bent down and they prayed immediately for safety and peace. 

The next day Gary convinced the missionary to take him to the village...no easy task considering the hostility that existed with the medicine man.  In the village they were escorted to the medicine man because he wanted to talk to the missionary.  Gary asked why they did not attack last night and the medicine man was incredulous that they would ask such a thing.  “We came to attack but we were greatly outnumbered by your army of soldiers dressed in white with flashing swords.”  Gary and the missionary were stunned.

There is much more to this story but suffice it to say that I was thinking of this story and looked up to see the picture in my living room – both included angels with swords drawn – and I began to wonder – is there really a war that was waged, is being waged, will be waged, between good and evil?  Are there casualties?  Can angles die?  Revelation 12 seems to indicate that all this is true.

Very Short Discussion on Healing

I came away from a small group discussion a little confused and perplexed with comments made by someone on prayer for the needy.  I am sure that those around me could see the confusion / concern on my face.  I’m not sure if I misunderstood what was said or if we are just that far apart.  I’m hoping for the former.

I am not trying to put words in their mouth, but, this is what I think I heard, right or wrong.  

I think they said that our prayers for God’s healing and/or intervention for others did not matter if there were other unresolved issues in their lives that would make it difficult for them to have a right relationship with God.

I hope I misunderstood. I have attempted to run the conversation in my mind so many times that it is now just a confusing mess and I know I don’t have it straight any longer.

For me, in my life, it seems, at least, that God almost requires of me to pray for others healing and improvement of life circumstance regardless of the person, their position or circumstance. Knowing that God has asked me to do this simple task is enough. It is His job to take care of the details when he is ready, in His timing, not mine.

My task in this is to be obedient…nothing more, nothing less. However, sometimes I can’t get this simple instruction right. Yet, He asks me, again and again, to be in prayer. It is not for me to decide when, where, how it is to be done. It is my responsibility to just do it when He puts it in my mind…so I pray and say a blessing for those he sends my way.

I do not know the theology behind this, I just know that, in my life, this is how it works.

My Jonah Complex

So for some time I have been struggling with a few issues in my life that have had me quite unsettled.  I know that I have some distance still left to go before I reach a definitive decision time.  The process is painfully slow for me.  I am not know for being patient. 

If you have read my other recent posts you know that I’m on a journey to understand why I do what I do when what I’m doing is not what I want to do.  It sounds confusing but is correctly said.  Why do I do the things I don’t want to do and why is it that I am unable to do those things I know I should be doing?

I am not sure that I have my issue or issues nailed down yet but the one recurring theme seems to be anger.  It does not take much to set me off on a path of anger and destructive behavior.  The anger seems to really manifest itself in a streak of self-will issues.  The “I’m going to do this because I want to do this” even though I know that God wants me to do something completely different.  I like to call it my “Jonah Complex”. 

I do know and understand that when I get angry it almost always will not end well.  I feel consumed with anger at times, never fully understanding what sets me off.  I can be something as simple as words said in a conversation or watching an event unfold on TV.  It can be the real or perceived actions of other people.  Injustice or mistreatment of the helpless and down trodden.  Politics and the antics of politicians or even a news headline.  Some days it almost takes nothing at all to get be going. And, it never ends well.

I have come to think of it as a spiritual issue in my life – I think.  See, I’m not exactly sure that is what it is but I think it may be.  At any rate, that is the path I am pursuing right now.  I really don’t like looking at my own life “under the microscope”.  Looking at other peoples lives that way seems acceptable enough but not my own.  Oh, did I really say that out loud?  Not good.  But, perhaps, true.

I am hoping that God will allow me enough time to figure this out without having to go through an “in the belly of the whale” moment.  But I’m pretty sure He won’t wait long.