July 16, 2008

The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.


This last week has been one emotional exhausting week for me. There are a couple reasons for this, but for today’s purpose, I am going to share the general situation I am in.

I have a friend that I have known for years. Since childhood really. He and I have not had much contact through the years, but this last week I heard about some serious struggles he is having with his relationship with Christ. He and I started emailing back and forth about his questions, my questions, my answers. The emails have been long, deep, and challenging. We have kept a spirit of conversation, I don’t want it to seem as if we were at odds with each other, but we have also kept true to what we each believe – and those are as different as night and day.

Monday this started. Wednesday, my husband sees how even my eyes look tired as I deal with this and asks that painful question. “Julia, are you fighting this spiritual warfare without Jesus?”

I just walked away. I didn’t want to answer the question. The truth was, yes, I was fighting for three days, a battle that is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and other rulers of darkness. I was fighting without my Sword! I was fighting leaving my Shield lying beside the bed! I was completely unarmed!

Wednesday night, before we went to bed, my husband made sure we had some time together with Christ.

Thursday night, we were eating with friends, and discussing things along these lines. My friend said to me “Oh, I will be praying for you, because you are in a battle, probably along with his family and other friends, but you guys are battling for this young man’s eternity. Truth is, the enemy won’t like that. He may come after you!” For the next two hours, I was sick to my stomach. I am not sure if it was the realization that I am now on the front lines…. Or how ashamed I felt to have left God, while I was presenting His case! We were at Red Lobster (one of my favorites) and even then I could barely eat! (That should tell you how sickly I was!)

So, here I was, not only feeling like I could offensively go into a battle without my armor… but also thinking I could defend the fiery darts being shot at me without and protection.

We are reading in Hebrews – and we crossed the scripture at the top of the page. In my head, my question was “Why do I leave my double-edged sword on the ground?” If I were going to fight a “flesh and blood” battle, I might forget to take some things… its just the way I am. However, I guarantee my weapon would NOT be the thing I left behind. Not only would I take it with me to the battle, but I would be training with it before the battle so that I knew how to use it in the best way properly.

On Friday morning, I sent the next email. It was the first email I sent knowing that I had fully prepared and got my armor on before going into it. It was also the first email in which I felt like I had something worth saying!

The conversation continues. Pray for my friend.

What are you facing? When do you have those moments of feeling “too strong,” or “too busy” for getting your armor together before walking into the battle field?

So, this week, as each of us face different battles, I encourage you to go find your Sword, Shield, Helmet, Shoes, Breastplate…. And don’t forget to gird those loins (whatever that means)!!

Holding On...
Julia