Spiritual warfare and deeper communication with God

Sometimes I wonder what things in my life are spiritual warfare and what are not. On pp. 119-120 of "The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God," Brent Curtis writes how spiritual warfare brought deeper communication between him and God.

On the other hand, once we begin thinking of all the deceptions the enemy is about with regard to our lives, we have a tendency to become obsessed with him, fearful of what he is going to do next. Once we take him seriously, he switches from his tactic of 'I'm not here' to one of having us worry about him day and night, which is almost a form of worship. God graciously showed me this several years ago while I was in the midst of an intense, three-year spiritual battle on behalf of a client who had spent years in the control of a satanic cult.

One night, David (not his real name) called me on the phone at three in the morning, in the midst of painful spiritual torment. We talked and prayed and I began to read from the Psalms. Finally, I could hear by his deep breathing that he had fallen asleep. As I lay on my dining room floor, pondering whether to leave the phone off the hook and build up a huge phone bill or hang up and risk having the beeping of the phone-off-the-hook signal wake David, something wonderful and strange took place.

In my heart, I heard a voice say, 'Brent, forget about the battle. You're here with me now. Rest.' I looked up, actually expecting to see God in some way, or perhaps an angel. What I did see was the light in the room change. I find myself wanting to say it grew more distinct, almost more personal. I only know I discovered that my hand was raised in the air in worship. I didn't decide to raise it. I am not, by any means, an expressive person in the charismatic sense of the word. It was simply as if there was no other appropriate response and my hand acted accordingly. For several minutes I basked in what I can only describe now as God's warmth and love toward me. The epiphany ended with me reading the Twenty-third Psalm and others it seemed the Lord had chosen to assure me that I was not alone in the battle.

Through spiritual warfare, Satan tries to separate us from God. God, on the other hand, wants to draw us closer.

Psychology and religion

By having empathy for people, we can gain insight into how to pray for them. Take, for example, Gordon Dalbey's story from his book "No Small Snakes: A Journey Into Spiritual Warfare" (pp. 193-194):

I had tickets to hear a speaker on the subject of psychology and religion. During the break time, I happened to wander outside. Off to one side, I was surprised to spot the speaker leaning up against a wall, cigarette in hand, shaking noticeably. Instinctively, my heart went out to him, but I found myself too intimidated by such a personality to approach him.

Quickly I prayed for guidance, and an unexpected picture came to mind: a young boy with wings, flying upward, then plunging to the ground. I asked the Lord for understanding and at once remembered the Greek myth of Icarus, the boy whose father fashioned wax wings for him with which to reach the heavens; as he approached the sun, however, his wings melted, and he plummeted to his death. Icarus could be seen as a pagan example of the prototype Adam, who aspired to be like God and fell into sin -- and therefore death -- by eating the forbidden fruit.

I decided to bind a spirit of pride over the speaker, then pray for humility within and protection without. A few years later, I read a newspaper interview in which that speaker discussed circumstances under which it might be 'helpful' for a therapist to have sex with a client.

Today, I would be more likely to continue praying for him, and if that same word of danger through pride persisted, I would make an effort to contact him, simply to pass on the warning as I had received it, allowing him to draw his own conclusions. That night, however, I was aware only of a special alertness in my spirit and a sense of power as I prayed for the speaker.

After I had finished praying for the anxious speaker, I felt as if I had done such as a good job that I wanted to celebrate and even reward myself. The others with me at the event were going for pizza afterward, and I prayed, 'What about it, Lord?' The only sense I received was, 'Good job, My son! Enjoy!' And so I did, having several slices.

Dalbey provides an excellent example of someone in tune with the Lord.

Finding purpose in life

For many people, finding your purpose in life is challenging. John Eldredge, on pp. 200-201 of his book "Wild at Heart," shares a story about how God communicated to him related to his life's purpose:

Several years ago I was thumbing through the introduction of a book when I ran across a sentence that changed my life. God is intimately personal with us and he speaks in ways that are peculiar to our own quirky hearts -- not just through the Bible, but through the whole of creation. To Stasi he speaks through movies. To Craig he speaks through rock and roll (he called me the other day after listening to 'Running Through the Jungle' to say he was fired up to go study the Bible). God's word to me comes in many ways -- through sunsets and friends and films and music and wilderness and books. But he's got an especially humorous thing going with me and books. I'll be browsing through a secondhand book shop when out of a thousand volumes one will say, 'Pick me up' -- just like Augustine in his 'Confessions.' Tolle legge -- take up and read. Like a master fly fisherman God cast his fly to this cruising trout. In the introduction to the book that I rose to this day, the author (Gil Bailie) shares a piece of advice given to him some years back by a spiritual mentor:

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs in people who have come alive.

I was struck dumb. It could have been Balaam's donkey, for all I was concerned. Suddenly my life up till that point made sense in a sickening sort of way; I realized I was living a script written for me by someone else. All my life I had been asking the world to tell me what to do with myself. This is different from seeking counsel or advice; what I wanted was freedom from responsibility and especially freedom from risk.

We cannot rely on others to tell us who we should be. We need to rely on God and his plans for us.