Wednesday, May 25, 2005

More Abundant Life

First off, thank you so much to all of you who are praying. We need your prayers, and we need God to answer and come through for us. And he is, in so many ways. It's really wonderful. He's taking care of financial needs, taking care of emotional needs, giving us eyes to see what's really going on and the strength to act on what we know is true.

I was reading a book called "The Sacred Romance" today and have been thinking about the battle we face living in this world. God granted Amy and me some respite from it today, which was fabulous. We got to spend some time with each other and talk and be together, and it was truly a picture of heaven to me. Communion. Intimacy. Connection.

And that's really the point of the battle, isn't it? We don't fight just for fighting's sake, because it would be pointless. We aren't made that way. We desire peace. But as King Arthur says in "First Knight" to the evil Prince Malagant, "There's a peace that's only to be found on the other side of war. And if that battle comes, I will fight it!" We fight for life, for intimacy, for connection with God. Christ's agenda for us is abundant life. The enemy's agenda for us is theft and murder and ruin. When those things run headlong into each other, as they do every day all around the world, there is war.

I'm not trying to say something about what's going on in Iraq and the middle east, or the civil wars in Africa, or the unrest in eastern Europe, though I think that has something to do with what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the war on our hearts and for our hearts that happens in all kinds of ways whether there is physical violence or no. The far greater warfare is never seen except in glimpses like the book of Daniel.

He has a troubling vision and fasts for 3 weeks, seeking an answer from God. Silence. Nothing. What can we make of that? We know that God loves Daniel. We know God wants to speak to him; God has, on several occasions. What if Daniel had decided, "God must not be interested in my situation. He must not care about me anymore." So many of us have come to that place at one point or another.

Then, suddenly, an angel appears. He briefly explains what took him so long to get there: he was denied entrance to the Persian kingdom by the "prince" of that place, a mighty evil spirit, and was forced to seek aid from Michael the archangel to bring Daniel the explanation of the vision in answer to his prayer.

This is really stunning, if you think about it. I do not believe this is the case with all prayers, that God is looking to answer all of them and the answers are simply being held at bay by enemy powers. But surely SOME are. We have at least one instance here. How many others happen all the time, and we don't even see it?

Satan wants us dead. Jesus wants us more alive than we ever dreamed possible. This is worth fighting for. This is worth the toil and battle that Christ invites us into. Otherwise, why fight? There must be a goal worth fighting for to keep us going, to drive us on. It can give even the worst moments an element of hope, because there is life to be had on the other side.

1 comment:

Michael McMullen said...

Absolutly, yes. Very good post.