Engaging the Enemy While Busy Talking to God? Exactly!

Back in the account of the downside of the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples finally get a chance to ask Jesus why they could not cast out the demon.  Why not this time after all the success on the road previously?  His answer is that “this kind can not go out if not in prayer.”  It seems an odd explanation.

It reveals that there are “kinds” of demons which is chilling.  It assumes (and He would know) that the disciples weren’t praying.  The alternative is that they were trying to cast the demon out by their own power using the name of Jesus as a “tool”; much like a pry bar, or spiritual jaws of life.  I can see the disciples doing something of this sort.

In some sense, it is like relying on my own power after relying on Jesus for salvation and sanctification.  I giddily run at the demon shouting behind me, “I got this one!”  I have to remember that I run in borrowed armor, and therefore clumsily, prone to falling, and having to hitch up the belt while holding the sword and shield.  And then the breastplate always seems to be in the wrong spot to reach the buckle on the belt.  I’m telling you, truth is hard sometimes.  Denial is a lot easier.  Of course, it’s also a lot less effective.

So, why prayer (and fasting if you have an older translation)?  I agree with Chambers who says that this sort requires a close connection of uninterrupted contact with Jesus.  I would think a lot of things fit into this category, and I have no idea what “kind” of demon fits into it and what kind doesn’t.  I would think they all would.

Now, don’t misunderstand me here, I don’t have experience facing demon possessed people.  My spiritual warfare experience comes from prayer walks, personal intercessory prayer for protection from the enemy for my family, and group prayer over a brother or sister spiritually oppressed (not depressed).  It’s not that I don’t believe demon possession doesn’t happen, it’s just that my Master hasn’t ever presented me with that sort of issue so far.

But even in those circumstances I have been faced with, I still only experience any measure of success when I sink deep into my Master in prayer.  It’s like wading out into a deep mountain lake, only it’s warm and comforting; and I can feel it consume me in it’s warmth like a blanket, yet it remains unimaginably massive.  It is from this safe place I try to engage in spiritual battle successfully.  I wish I could say that’s the only place I engage in spiritual battle, but it seems I’m a slow learner.

And so, I see that my bunker for spiritual battle is my Master.  My armor and weapons belong to Him, and I have it on loan (so, therefore it fits Him and not so much me, just in case you were wondering about the third paragraph).  I don’t hunker down, I sally forth in prayer.  I engage the spiritual forces of darkness while in conversation with my Master.  I follow the tactics of Michael who refused to rebuke the enemy and instead said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 9). 

In a sense, I hold a place in line while the work is done by my Master.  He leads the charge, engages the enemy and defeats them.  I hold a place with my fellows.  I pray.  I seek His face and in the ensuing conversation witness the destruction of powers that held captives, the fall of dark forces oppressing myself and other believers, and the total defeat of a power of the air that seeks to devour straying souls.  It’s better than HBO and ESPN, I’ll tell you that.  My team always wins.  Hu-Rah!

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 3, 2011

On The Downside of The Mountaintop

I am fighting the frustration of not knowing why something doesn’t work.  I know that part of my frustration is that I don’t understand the fundamental underlying principles, but I expect that I should.  I don’t know exactly why that bothers me, but it can’t be a good thing.

In the area of computers I have worked and used them, understanding the fundamental principles since I was a kid.  Now, everything is so different, I feel like an idiot when something goes wrong.  Now computers have programs that move at so many layers with so many objects and files, I can’t follow them any longer.  It bothers me, and it bothers me that it bothers me.

I get part of my problem; I used to feel that computers were one thing I could control.  That stopped being true a long time ago as things changed rapidly, but I didn’t keep up with the changes.  I used to program, but that field has changed so much I would have to start over to learn it.  I used to know how to link computers, but networking evolved into systems that completely bypassed all the “mainframes” I used to know, and is almost totally based on small computer architecture.  I have no idea how that works.  I have a surface knowledge of components in my own home network, but subnet masks, various type of servers, and routing tables baffle me.  I used to be on the cutting edge, but now I’m not.

So, now when Microsoft Word decides it can’t find my blog account with no reason given I’m frustrated.  Why now after 3 months of working fine, and no changes either to my account or to the application?  I do the same thing, but get different results.  That has been my experience with computers lately.

Today, Chambers refers to the commonplace world in the valley below the mountaintop experience.  In this place, the emotional experience gives way to a clamoring reality.  Sure, I surrender to my Master all that goes into my day, and immediately run into a minor hiccup.  Suddenly my own hidden supply of personal mastery is challenged and defeated.  And just as suddenly I pitch the thin veneer of my submission into the dumpster as I rant about my loss of control over a precious area of my world.

So I don’t know as much as I would want about computers, so what?  So I don’t get networking terms and concepts any more, so what?  So I don’t have the time (or inclination, or money) to catch up with the industry, so what?  Seriously, do I need such knowledge or skills?  I know some who have skills in those areas I don’t, and they have to fiddle with stuff just like I do, they clearly don’t know it all.  They may know a subnet mask from an Ethernet plug, but the run aground pretty quick as well when computers misbehave.  Why do I expect that I shouldn’t have such problems?  How dumb is that?

Why is my particular valley so close to the mountain?  Do you know how really inconvenient that is for me; to test my emotional conviction right after the experience?  It hasn’t even had a chance to gel yet, coagulate into faith, or whatever it does.  Why does the shallowness of my devotion in an emotional experience have to be so quickly exposed by such a silly reality?  Can’t it wait until I’m done blogging and well into my day?

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, right: life in the valley.  Well, I do love time with my Master, to see His creation, experience His presence, and be consumed by His Spirit.  My failure comes on the way down into the real day-to-day application of that experience.  I have to go back to what it means:  You love me, You have my back, and I am at Your service.  I can’t be much service on the mountaintop.  Where did I put my work boots and gloves?  Time for church!

Oswald chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 2