We’re going in full throttle. That ought to keep those fighters off our back. – Right with you Boss!
~ Wedge to Luke Skywalker, in Star Wars, Episode IV
All the men of Israel, when they saw the man (Goliath), fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”… Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine…. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied…. For the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hand.” … When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
~ from The Epic of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17
A friend of mine said it to me this morning… “God showed you the door. Give that door a little push.” And the best part of this event was that it was confirmation to a series of teaching moments the Holy Spirit had brought me through earlier in the morning.
The Asian megacity this fool inhabits is infested with a foul cadre of evil spirits. They are somewhere in the chain of demonic command, and it is not my job to study the structures of authority i cannot see. Suffice it to say though, that a lie was foisted on me, that i had not recognized for some time.
We have been in pitched battle against the corruption and fallenness of this place, and by the Grace of the L_RD of HOSTS, many dozens of kids have come into a real relationship with Jesus since we arrived. The action has been hot and intense. We have been fighting manifestations of sickness and doubt and division and fear in wave upon wave of buffeting by the evil ones.
And the buffeting has gotten exceedingly harder over the past few months as we have been following Him in prayer to another Asian location. Barrier upon barrier has been overcome, as He has both shown us, and paved, the path we are to walk in obedience to Him. Even so, it has been exhausting, as the test of our faith has gone on for some time (oh beloved, you do know these are wonderful times i hope!).
However, in sensing the buffeting, one can become worn down and begin to believe that the powers arrayed against you are somehow even bigger than they actually are. Surely, a demon of any capacity, could slay me and destroy me nearly instantly, if I stood against it in my own strength. However, even as we stand in His Great Name, we can still be left open to deceit.
In their howling and scratching, they can get us to believe that they are actually some sort of high-ranking and important principality. And the attempt at this is to get us to believe that we ourselves are somehow bigger in the plan of the KING of Kings than we actually are.
Anyway, not to go on about things i do not know about; but the One Spirit who leads us into all truth, taught me something this morning as i was walking out to my motorcycle to go to work. On the walk out to the parking area, i called out to Him and said, “Father, i have had enough of their buffeting and this heaviness!”
And He answered. “Why are you listening to this imp like he is someone important?” It hit me immediately, that i was being duped into thinking that this was some sort of huge epic battle with all the forces of darkness arrayed against me – when in fact it was one very loud lying spirit.
I declared, “Go away. You are defeated. The blood of Jesus has already proven this so.” And away it went. The quietness in my spirit was deafening. The burden of the last few months rolled off my back in the realization that this test of my faith was over.
Then, instead of listening to some demon whine about all the ways that things might go wrong for us in our new venture, i was to simply presume that we were to go to Tianjin, China and continue working in the fields He has set before us.
Said more simply: We are going, and now we presume G_d will simply knock us off this course if we are wrong. And as my spirit moved into this space, He then established the testimony with both the witness of His Word (in 1 Samuel 17) and the witness of a friend 15,000 km away within one hour.
So, should we wait on Him. Absolutely. No. Doubt. About. It. However, once He says go. It is time to go. Just go. Tonight is your night beloved. Time to do whatever He has been telling you to do – and it is definitely the time to ignore the liars telling you it is never going to work.
Just go.
