Thursday, February 8th, 2007
This morning we ate a breakfast of strawberry pancakes with peach yogurt. We’re learning to love eachother through our stomachs… Steph and I cook, the rest clean (thank goodness, I hate cleaning dishes!)
And then we had a time of intercession up on the hill where the large cross resides, looking over the city (our final race destination), at the southern border of Antigua.
Here’s an excerpt from my journal from that morning…
“Lord, fill me with your love. You have called me to BE, not to DO. You have called me to remember my first love. How many times do I need to be reminded of this?”
And so I switch gears a little, as I’ve just read Mark 1:27. It says, “The people (in the synagogue where Jesus drove out an evil spirit) were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” This verse has got me thinking about our churches back in the US (I’m generalizing now). Our churches are filled with strongholds, such as the spirit of religion, distraction, fear, depression, lust, infirmity, etc… if anyone needs healing why don’t we do it, or even recognize the need for it? Why don’t we lay hands on people and pray for God’s miraculous healing? If anyone is stuck in sin, why don’t we lay hands on them and edify them, and draw them into God’s arms? Why don’t we prophecy over people when God gives us the word?Do we have the love to give in order to do all this?
Jesus didn’t die for a cutesy religion. He was hard core. He did tough stuff and the crowds wanted more of him! They wanted more because they saw God’s authority. They follwed because they saw power, they saw the spiritual realm. They didn’t deny, or downplay it’s existence. So they saw demon’s cast out, they saw dead people rise, they saw shriveled body parts grow, they saw the Pharisees dumbfounded because what Jesus did didn’t line up with “religion.” Jesus wasn’t cute, he was and still is all power and authority. And he has told all of his followers that we too have the same power and authority. Do you believe that?
Why don’t we take it? Why don’t we see miracles? We don’t have power and authority because we are deceived into not believing in the spiritual realm. The witches and warlocks, witch doctors, voodooists… they all get it. Just like in the C.S. Lewis book, The Screwtape Letters, Wormwoods learns that the best way to make a Christian ineffective is to decieve them into disbelief. If you haven’t picked that book up, or have, but don’t remember what I’m talking about, take a look at it. Don’t be deceived! Take hold of the power and authority you’ve been given as a warrior of Christ.
But, then what do we do with it once we’ve accepted our role in God’s army? We lay all of the power and might at the feet of Jesus, because we need to receive his love first. What good is all power and authority if we don’t have love? 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 explains that even if we can do amazing things for Jesus, they don’t mean a thing if they’re done without love. The two biggest commands in the Bible are love God and love others. We need to give up all of our self-righteousness, we need to abandon ourself, and allow God to break us for the hearts of other people. God needs to fill to the brim with His love, so we can pour it out on others, walking in His authority and power, to set the captives free.
If our churches abandoned self and were filled with the Holy Spirit and His love, we’d see healing, we’d experience wholeness, completeness, community, the release of strongholds, edifying prophecy, more powerful personal time with God in His own language (and more). God wants to equip us with all of this. Do we really want it? Or is it more comfortable to keep God in a box, where we really have the control of when and where we want to use our gifts (not His gifts)? Are we happier living alone in our solitary lives, without needing anyone else, being self-sufficient? Do we even recognize when others are hurting? Is it easier not to get involved when we do finally see beyond ourselves into someone else’s pain?
As I look out over the city of Antigua, a city of tourists, I see the same storngholds they tried to leave at home by going on vacation. You can’t vacation from the crap in your lives, you can only take it with you… we all have strongholds in our lives, both Christian and non. But we’re here to battle the strongholds, those spirits who hold the people captive, and to freely give the love we receive from Jesus. If you’ve got nothing to give, you’ve got to receive it first… stop going, going, going… stop, listen to Jesus, let His love pour in.
A missionary here told us that the greatest thing we can do for Antigua is to be filled by God. There’s no point to any of this if we don’t curl up in His arms and let Him love us, and prepare us for battle by putting our armor on. The greatest thing we can do for others is love them, and pray over them… because prayer brings us right into the midst of the spiritual battle.
