War and Peace...that was the title of the message. Like Eddie, I hate conflict. Like Eddie, I avoid it. Like Eddie, I know some thrive on it, that's their comfort zone so to speak...drama, turmoil, conflict. As for me, I've got to have peace. Thankfully, I have peace with God through my relationship with Christ. Peace with others is something I think we all have to work at daily. I don't think most of us seek war with God or others but like Eddie said the most significant war has been going on and will go on in the spiritual realms and we are all caught up in it.
Just like Jesus broke down the barriers that were placed in the temple through His death on the cross, praise Him that He still breaks down barriers today. I have some barriers of my own that I pray daily God would chip away at and break down yet there are days that I pray He will just leave them intact because they are self-protection barriers. Those barriers we put into place because others have hurt us or betrayed us and we think the answer is to just keep others at arms length so it can't happen again. That's a tough one for me because I'm so relational and I love getting to know people and invest in their lives. I was reading a great book lately that talked about allowing God just to heal those things and give us healthy hearts so we don't put those barriers in place. I can't find scripture that tells me that I am supposed to protect myself anyway. Still a work in progress and I'm thankful He's still working.
I would love to go into great detail about some of the spiritual warfare I have sensed lately but it's personal and weighing heavy so I won't. But I will say this...there is a battle going on for the souls of people and if you don't believe that you are in a bubble. I've sensed the more I have prayed for the salvation of some I care deeply about, the more I have felt the war and how Satan will go to all lengths to keep people from receiving Christ. I sensed it greatly during the service yesterday. I know some have said that there is great spiritual warfare going on while the Word is being preached. Eddie has said at times that he could sense it greatly as he has preached certain messages. I think it's one reason pastors are so exhausted after preaching because they have been in an unseen battle going on during that time. Is that discouraging? No. There are days I would like to bury my head in the sand and not see it because it is painful and I feel almost helpless however it is a great challenge to me to increase my prayers for others and never give up. It makes me pray harder for my husband before he stands to preach. I need to be intentional about praying over the things that are of eternal significance and not keep my focus on the petty things of life. I need to leave those things to God to judge and handle. I'm much more concerned about seeing some come to salvation than I am about whether some like me or not or whether some agree with ministry decisions made or not. My focus has taken a turn and I'm so glad. Don't get me wrong, I pray about every seemingly insignificant thing in my life because I believe God cares about ALL of it. I'm just saying sometimes we get caught up in the trivial and neglect praying hard for those by name that we know are lost. Praying for the lost will send you directly into that warfare but it's an opportunity to see God have great victory as well and that's what I want to see. I want to see Him have LOTS of BIG victories for His glory. How about you???
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