Posts Tagged With: faith

Does Theology Matter?

Posted on October 6, 2019 by Michael E. Lynch
Image by Nheyob [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] via Wikimedia Commons.

Does theology matter?

When Darkened Glass Reflections was born, the articles were primarily devotional. The “reflections” part of the name referred to the fact that most of the particles came out of reflection and meditation on the Word of God rather than academic theological research. Even though the posts have become more “theological” recently, this blog remains committed to being written on a somewhat devotional level. People who are eager to grapple with heavy-duty scholarly theological questions will have to look elsewhere. Even when writing about theology, I hope the reader comes away with encouragement, insight, or inspiration to walk closely with the Lord. Whether they can explain, compare, and contrast amillennialism, premillennialism, historism, and full preterism is irrelevant to me.

Nevertheless, theology does matter. Since Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we need to know who He is and what He is like. You cannot have a genuine relationship with someone if you do not know who he or she is, where that person is from, what they are like, etc.

The entire Gospel, the Christian faith, has its roots in the nature of God. The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds answer questions like these: Who is God? What is He like? Who is Jesus? What is His relationship with God? How is He the Son of God? The creeds say little about mankind. They start and end with God. Scripture begins and ends with God:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1; unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version).

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen” (Revelation 22:20–21).

(Emphasis added in both passages.)

The Bible begins and ends with the Alpha and the Omega: God, who revealed Himself most visibly through His Son, Jesus Christ. The person and nature of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are central to the faith. The answers to questions about who God is affect every doctrinal or theological statement that churches or pastors can make.

If you forget to begin with God, you will eventually reach wrong answers. Most heresies, cults, and false religions build upon a foundation of false views about who God is. Recently, fellow blogger Shofar/Liz shared the following quote by an unnamed “religious leader” in a post on God’s Enduring Love, in which she spoke of the dangers of deception within the church:

“My understanding of a loving, compassionate God supports the basic right of all loving couples to have the full benefits of marriage.”

I will point out two errors that are rampant in modern American Christianity, which are reflected in the quoted speaker’s thinking:

  • Preachers like this quoted “leader” frequently emphasize “my understanding” with limited or no reference to Scripture. If they do quote Scripture, it is generally taken out of context. To them, “my understanding” takes precedence over Scripture and doctrine. The committed follower of Jesus will say “yes” to God and His Word even when it goes against the believer’s wishes or desires.
  • Preachers like this one will focus on one or two aspects of God’s nature and ignore those that make them uncomfortable. The committed follower of Jesus acknowledges and accepts the complexities of God’s nature. I do not deny that God is loving and compassionate: Actually, my spiritual survival depends on those qualities. If I forget God’s love and compassion, I will quickly spiral into despair. However, the true disciple will also recognize that God is holy and righteous. You cannot ignore any aspects of God’s nature without becoming spiritually imbalanced or thoroughly heretical.

Therefore, over the next few months (only an omniscient God knows how many at this time) I will share a series of meditations and devotions about different aspects of God’s person and nature. My prayer and goal is that you not only become more theologically balanced, but that you grow to love God more as you come to know Him more. Perhaps together we can grow beyond merely recognizing those attributes of God that we are tempted to ignore and thoroughly embrace Him in His fullness.

Copyright © 2019 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.

Categories: Bible meditations, God's Nature and Personality | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

God, Nature, Science, and Revelation

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Michael E. Lynch

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:18–20; all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise indicated).

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (Psalms 19:1–6).

The “pillars of creation.” Photo by NASA, Jeff Hester, and Paul Scowen (Arizona State University) [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In my last post, we saw that there is something of an instinct to believe in a higher power. Some might argue that this really does not prove the existence of God. In fact, many will claim that science disproves His existence. Some will claim that no serious scientist really believes in God. I invite those readers to consider these quotes:

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. Photo from Cristiano Sant´Anna/indicefoto.com for campuspartybrasil [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

“I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence…. To me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance…. The final solution resolution could be that God is a mathematician” (Michio Kaku, https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/world-famous-scientist-god-created-universe).

“The significance and joy in my science comes in those occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, ‘So that’s how God did it.’ My goal is to understand a little corner of God’s plan” (Henry F. Schaeffer III, https://www.azquotes.com/quote/587238).

“There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all…. It seems as though somebody has fine tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe…. The impression of design is overwhelming” (Paul Davies, https://www.azquotes.com/author/3690-Paul_Davies).

I could go on. Early in my career in scientific publishing, when I was a proofreader, I occasionally worked on papers written by Juan Maldacena, a famed string theorist who has compared the universe with a giant hologram. He ended some manuscripts “In Jesus’ name” (this one-sentence paragraph would be deleted by the copy editor, as per editorial policy of the journal).

These are big names in science. Kaku has become virtually a household name by appearing on countless television shows about astronomy and physics. Schaeffer is one of the most respected chemists in the world, publishing numerous articles in both chemistry and physics journals. Maldacena, likewise, is one of the world’s top theoretical physicists. While atheists and agnostics, like Stephen Hawking and Neil de Grasse Tyson, are more well-known to the general public, Kaku, Schaeffer, and Maldacena are in their league in terms of respect within the scientific community.

I say this merely point out that these highly influential men believe in a higher power or intelligent designer. Schaeffer and Maldacena have openly professed their faith in the biblical God and Jesus Christ. Kaku and Davies acknowledge a designer or creator who may not be the God of Scripture (in his book, The Mind of God, Davies essentially states that he does not believe the creator is the same as the God of any religion). Other scientists who profess faith in some kind of God include NIH Director Francis Collins and Nobel Prize winner Werner Arber. Prominent scientists who openly profess faith in Jesus Christ include Nobel Prize winner Gerhard Ertl, Freeman Dyson, among others. This is a very brief list. One can visit this page to see a more thorough listing of scientists who profess to be Christians. While not all may be strictly biblical Christians (few of the men and women on this list believe in literal seven-day creationism), they profess belief in God in some sense.

Thus, the notion that educated people are atheists is simply not true. Tyson, Dyson, Schaeffer, Davies et al. have all placed their faith in a particular world view. Their faith guides their science just as much as their science informs their faith. Some scientists are atheists; some are agnostics; some believe there is some kind of God who created the universe, but they cannot bring themselves to believe in any specific religion; and some have come to know Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world.

With this in mind, we come to the place where theology and nature intersect. “Natural revelation” is the belief that God reveals Himself through nature. We see this as a central theme in the Bible itself:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

The Bible does not begin by trying to figure out where God came from (some ancient religious texts tried to explain the births of their deities, often in ways that would seem weird or repulsive to most of us). It begins by stating that God created the heavens and the earth. As Psalm 19:1 points out, the heavens declare God’s glory. All of creation reveals His splendor. The vision beheld by the eyes of faith grows in the face of greater revelation. The prophet Isaiah saw God as one who sat enthroned above the “circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22—no, Christianity has never taught a “flat Earth,” contrary to a notion popularized by fiction author Washington Irving). The modern Christian, informed by modern science, realizes that our universe is so much bigger than the heavens that the biblical authors could see. As we look at the universe, we merely recognize that God is even bigger than we previously imagined, merely because the universe itself is so incomprehensibly huge.

We can look within our hearts and come to have faith that there is a God who loves us because we want to believe in this Being. We can look to the world and universe around us, see the intricate order, and know for certain that there is a wise Creator behind it all. In the words of Davies:

“It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion” [Paul Davies, God and the New Physics (Simon and Schuster, 1984), p. 9].

God has not left us alone. He displays His glory and power in creation. He reveals some of His nature within our hearts since He has created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-28). But, He does not leave us to figure it out alone. He also reveals His mind and wisdom to us in His Word, the Bible. Most importantly, He reveals His love, grace, compassion—the very essence of His being—to us through His incarnate Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Copyright © 2019 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.

Categories: Bible meditations, Revelation and Scripture | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Spiritual Warfare XVIII: Concluding Thoughts

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Michael E. Lynch

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. (Revelation 12:7–13; all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise indicated)

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Demonic threats forced Joseph and Mary to flee into Egypt early in Jesus’ childhood. Spiritual warfare is very much a part of the life of Christ, including the Christmas narrative. Painting by Gentile da Fabriano, ca. 1423, from Uffizi Gallery [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

When we began this series on spiritual warfare in September, I had no idea that we would reach the end just before Christmas. Yet, here we are: Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Tuesday, we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. I have a few friends who may refer to Santa Claus as “Satan Claus.” Other than that, most Christians do not want to talk about demons and spiritual warfare. The feel-good “holiday movies” on Hallmark Channel and UP TV are more pleasant.

However, Satan does not care about our calendar. He will attack whenever it is convenient for him. Life and hardship continue in spite of Christmas.

In fact, we cannot remove Satan or the demonic from the Christmas story. The passage above appears right after a vision that looks back on the birth of Jesus (Revelation 12:5). The passage focuses on Satan’s attempts to keep Him from coming into the world and fulfilling His mission of redemption. Whether the “woman” is Mary (as many Catholic commentators say) or the entire nation of Israel, the main point is that this is part of the war between the dragon (Satan) and the male child (Jesus). The “woman” is involved in the battle because of her relationship with Jesus, and so is anybody else who has a connection to Him.

In Matthew 2, we read how Jesus was threatened with death even as an infant or toddler. When the magi came seeking the newborn “king of the Jews,” Herod wanted to kill him. He viewed Jesus as a threat to his throne. When the magi did not cooperate with him by telling him exactly where Jesus was, Herod sought drastic measures. Joseph, as Jesus’ guardian, had to take drastic measures as well:

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. (Matthew 2:13–16)

Satan, working through the paranoid heart and mind of Herod, would kill all of the babies in Bethlehem if that was what it took to kill Jesus. Revelation 12 may speak in very symbolic language, but Matthew 2 reminds us that spiritual warfare manifests in raw, real-world, life-and-death situations. People suffer; some die; families’ lives are uprooted and thrown into chaos.

So, with that in mind, I offer a few final thoughts about spiritual warfare:

First, to win the battle, we must be ready to believe God’s truth and not the lies of the world and the enemy. The entire account of Jesus’ birth, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, is about people who were willing to take unprecedented leaps of faith and trust God, believe His Word, and accept the call to be part of His plan to redeem mankind. Mary had to believe that God could bring forth life in her womb without the intervention of a human father; she also had to trust that He would take care of her so that all would succeed. Who would really believe her story that she was still a virgin, even though obviously pregnant? The sentence for adultery (including sex before marriage by a betrothed person) in the Old Testament was death by stoning; people might show even less compassion for a pregnant unmarried woman telling unbelievable stories accusing God of having sex with her (as her story would sound). Joseph had to believe the angel’s message, which came to him in a dream, was really the word of God and not his own made-up wishful thinking. Why should he risk his reputation and life for a baby that he knew was not his? Since he married Mary in spite of her pregnancy, people might have suspected that he was really the father, and was sexually immoral himself, thereby risking his own reputation. Was it worth it?

They could only accomplish their calling by believing God, even when the message defied all logic and the mission came with great risks and sacrifices. Make no mistake: Joseph and Mary were drafted into spiritual warfare from the moment of Christ’s conception. They had to do battle against their own doubts, their egos, the suspicions and accusations of their neighbors (and perhaps even families), and Satan himself.

Second, to believe God, we have to accept some uncomfortable inconvenient truths. The Bible says that there is a literal hell and people will suffer there for eternity. It speaks of a literal, real being named Satan. If you call yourself a Christian, you have to believe in hell and Satan. Not only are they taught in the Bible, but also most of what we know about them comes from the New Testament. Most of it comes from the lips of Jesus Himself! To not believe in a literal hell, real eternal damnation, or a personal entity named Satan is to accuse Jesus of being a liar.

This is a major reason why many Christians are living defeated lives, Christianity’s influence on American culture is in decline, and many young people are flocking to false religions like paganism and the occult. Many Christians and churches are spiritually impotent because they do not believe the truth about their enemy. They think spiritual warfare is about fighting their own personal apathy or fear. They think the devil is just a symbol representing evil. Before long, people mistake “evil” as a synonym for “discomfort or displeasure.” They think something is evil because it hurts their feelings, not because it is contrary to the will and nature of God. For them, spiritual warfare is a form of emotional shadow-boxing against an imaginary opponent.

In his classic The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis makes the following observation about demons:

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

As we celebrate the birth and life of Jesus, and as we prepare for the New Year that awaits us, let us renew our resolve to keep our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1–2) and, like Him, resolve ourselves to destroy the works of the enemy. The battle is real, but we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) as we remain faithful to Him.

Copyright © 2018 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.

 

Categories: Christian Life, Church Calendar: Holy Days and Seasons, Holidays, Spiritual Warfare, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spiritual Warfare XVII: The Necessity of Faith

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Michael E. Lynch

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:14–20).

writing-hand-book-leg-love-finger-742682-pxhere.com

Image from pxhere.com. Published under a Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain license.

Spiritual warfare cannot be merely a pastime or activity. It must be a lifestyle. However, it is not a lifestyle of looking for demons lurking around every corner or hiding beneath every rock. It is about walking by faith moment by moment, ready to stand with Jesus against the wiles of Satan whenever necessary. The key lesson of Matthew 17:14–20 is our need to walk in faith and saturate our lives in prayer.

The whole armor of God is not a costume we put on for special occasions. One of the ministries I serve on at my church is the prayer team at a special monthly service. We can expect to rebuke demons who are afflicting some of the people who come up for prayer. However, I cannot just strap on the armor of God when I arrive at church at 7:30 and take it off at the end of the service. Spiritual warfare demands that I wear the whole armor of God 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 52 weeks per year.

How do we keep the armor of God on? The same way we receive it: by walking in faith in Jesus.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, wearing the whole armor of God is synonymous with clothing ourselves in Christ. “So, as we seek to put on the whole armor of God, we are clothing ourselves in the very life of Christ.” Every piece of the whole armor of God is a facet of Jesus’ nature. We have the belt of truth; Jesus is the Truth. We have the breastplate of righteousness; Jesus is our righteousness. We have the shoes of peace. Jesus is our peace. We have the shield of faith; Christians walk by faith in Jesus. We wear the helmet of salvation; Jesus’ name is the only name under heaven by which men must be saved. We carry the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; Jesus is the incarnate Word of God. As we walk with Jesus, every element of the spiritual armor protects us, because Jesus is with us.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus performed numerous miracles: healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, etc. It can seem as though nothing would stop Him from performing miracles. However, the Bible mentions one obstacle which could reduce the number of miracles Jesus could perform:

And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them (Mark 6:5).

When Jesus visited Nazareth, people would not believe that Joseph and Mary’s son was now a great man of God. Their doubt limited Jesus’ power. Faith is essential for those who wish to see a move of God. Sometimes, lack of faith will prohibit you from receiving the blessing God is offering. At other times, it will keep you from being effective in spiritual warfare. When the people of Nazareth would not believe, they could not receive the blessings of Jesus’ miraculous power. When the disciples could not believe, they could not perform the miracles Jesus had empowered and authorized them to perform (Matthew 10:1).

People may blame the disciples’ failure on several things. Some say that the disciples failed because they were not yet baptized in the Holy Spirit. This would not occur until Pentecost, 10 days after the resurrected Jesus had ascended into heaven. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the disciples could perform some miracles, but they did not have the full blessing of the Holy Spirit’s lasting presence and power within them. This is at least part of the problem. The baptism in the Holy Spirit will help increase our faith.

Another factor many may mention is a lack of prayer and fasting. A few preachers will point to Matthew 17:21, which does not appear in the earliest Greek manuscripts of the Gospel: “But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.” Many English Bible translations leave this verse out or place it in a footnote since it seems possible that it was added by a later scribe and not written by Matthew himself. Whether Jesus actually said this or not, it is secondary to the main point of this passage: The disciples’ lack of faith prohibited the child’s deliverance. Prayer and fasting are important: They are valuable tools to help a believer’s faith to grow. Christians are commanded elsewhere in the New Testament to pray, and we are urged strongly to fast. But, the key is to grow in faith.

Faith empowers us to walk in the miraculous power of God. Earlier, when Jesus walked on water, Peter asked for permission to join Him:

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased (Matthew 14:28–32).

Have you ever noticed that, for a while, Peter actually walked on water, just like Jesus? In fact, it was not only a few steps: Jesus was far enough from the boat that the disciples were not sure it was really Him. Yet, Peter walked all the way from the boat and came to Jesus. While walking to Jesus, Peter was probably thinking, “I’m walking to Jesus. If He can walk on water, He can help me walk on water.” While returning to the boat, he changed his perspective and thought, “Wait a minute. What am I doing out here? Look at the size of those waves! That wind is insane! How did I get so far from the boat? This is impossi…glub…glub…glub.” While he kept his eyes on Jesus, Peter could walk in the miraculous power of our Lord. When he looked at the circumstances and took his eyes off of Jesus—even though He was right next to him—he fell out of supernatural power and back into the normalcy of the natural life, as if God was not present.

The point of this is that we must walk by faith. Spiritual warfare is a battle of faith. Faith is not just intellectual knowledge (in fact, head knowledge can be an obstacle to true faith). We keep our eyes on Jesus, marching with Him into battle to reveal His life-giving power to a world in bondage to darkness and death.

Copyright © 2018 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.

Categories: Bible meditations, Christian Life, Spiritual Warfare | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spiritual Warfare XVI: Perseverance and Watchfulness

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Michael E. Lynch

{Pray} at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:18–20; all Scripture quotations from the ESV unless otherwise indicated).

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Jesus’ life was marked by persevering watchful prayer, as illustrated in this statue representing Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Photo taken by Michael E. Lynch at the Malvern Retreat House, Malvern, PA.

Attitude matters as we pray in the Spirit. As we saw in the previous post, we must remain thankful even as we ask God to do something new. Sometimes, the answer to prayer does not come immediately. As we engage in prayerful spiritual combat, we must persevere and keep alert:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you…. Brothers, pray for us (I Thessalonians 5:16–18, 25).

(I included verse 25 here to remind the readers about the importance of praying for our spiritual leaders.) Is it possible to pray too much? According to I Thessalonians 5:17, the answer is “no.” In fact, it seems that few of us can pray enough. In recent years, as the Lord has led me more deeply into a ministry of prayer and intercession, I find that my prayer list keeps growing. There is always something and somebody to pray for. Sometimes, particular needs and burdens can become so overwhelming that my mind can become obsessed with them. There is only one solution: keep praying. Philippians 4:6–7 reminds us that we should pray if we feel anxious. If you think it is something to worry about, you should pray.

A subtle lie persists among some Christians who claim that we should pray only once for a need. They believe we should claim God’s promise, believe we have received it, and never pray for it again. They assume that, if we pray a second time, we are showing unbelief. There is simply no biblical basis for this claim. Prayer persists. We can see this in an Old Testament passage, which illustrates the spiritual battle that often coincides with earthly circumstances. After the prophet Daniel had prayed and fasted for 21 days, an angel appeared:

Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia… (Daniel 10:12–13).

The answer to Daniel’s prayer had been dispatched on Day One. However, “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” (apparently a demonic principality) withstood the angel for 21 days. While Daniel persisted in prayer, an unseen spiritual battle raged. This is why Jesus told His disciples “that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). God is able, eager, and willing to answer speedily. Are we willing to contend in spiritual battle on His behalf until the answer to our prayers is manifested? When Jesus returns, will He find this kind of persevering faith on the earth (Luke 18:8)?

Being alert in prayer is related to perseverance. Paul wrote, “Keep alert with all perseverance” (Ephesians 6:19). We need to keep our spiritual eyes open, watching to discern the spiritual climate. Where is God moving in our lives and our world? Where is Satan seeking to interrupt God’s will? What are the great needs to advance God’s kingdom right now?

One Latin word for watchfulness, wakefulness, or alertness is “vigilia,” from which we derive our English word “vigil.” A vigil often refers to an extended period of prayer. Many monastic orders wake up in the middle of the night for a prolonged period of prayer, beginning around 2:30 AM. Some churches may use the word “vigil” in a less-formal sense for a prolonged period of watchful prayer.

Sometimes, we need a vigil. We occasionally need to devote extra time to intense prayer for a situation. God may call us to wakeful, watchful focus on the needs of His people and the circumstances of His world. A devoted spiritual warrior will be
committed to such vigilance.

As we clothe ourselves in the whole armor of God and take up the sword of the Spirit, God will lead us to devote our lives to prayer. The battles we face are too great for normal solutions. We need to come against our unseen enemy with the supernatural power that comes only from God. Let us use that power by praying in the Spirit.

Copyright © 2018 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.

 

Categories: Spiritual disciplines, Spiritual Warfare | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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