Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 4)

Okay, so after some prayer and consideration I think this is the last lesson I'm going to be sharing from that particular retreat I went on a couple weeks ago.  However, I'm sure that there will be more (hopefully shorter) things to share in the near future and I look forward to seeing what God is working on.  He is always working on something and working in our lives and I can't wait to write about it.  Meanwhile, lets dive right into it!

By the way, if you missed the any of the previous posts they can be found at: Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen.

LESSON 6: Whatever You Desire the Most is Likely What God is Going to Ask You To Trust Him With the Most.

     What do you want more than anything else in the world?  I'm not talking about something from a Christmas list, I am talking about that thing brings you to your knees before God.  I'm talking about the one desire (other than God Himself of course, for those of you who need it to be specified) that seems to be the missing piece to your life.  That one thing that you have not achieved or that one thing that burdens you so strongly that you can't seem to find peace without it.  I am talking about the thing that can sometimes even cause us to turn from God and do it ourselves.  For some people its a job; for others it's a spouse, or kids, or friends, or a house, or a repaired relationship, or healing of some sort, or  maybe an educational opportunity.  Sometimes, more than one of these can be applicable.  It can go on for so long that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you work for it, things just don't seem to work out.  What if... just what if... God is asking you to trust Him with it?  I mean, really, truly trust Him with it.  I want you to pause for just a minute and think about that thing in your life you want the most.  Get it in your mind and keep it there, then read on ahead as we go to the book of Genesis to take a look at one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible.
   
Genesis 15 begins:
     After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:  “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.”  But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”  Then the word of the Lord came to him:“This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring  be.”  Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.  He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”  But Abram said, “Sovereign  Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”” 
     God then makes a promise to Abram (later renamed Abraham) and even goes so far as to go through the covenant ceremony with him.  Now there is a ton in this chapter that we can learn from, but I am going to let you read the rest of it on your own if you want to dive in further.  I will, however, explain the basics of the covenant ceremony.  When two people would make a covenant or a business agreement, they would take animals, cut them in half (unless they were too small as was the case with the birds) and arrange the halves opposite one another to create a gruesome aisle.  The two parties would walk down this path between the animal pieces as a way of saying "If I don't hold up my end of the promise, may what happened to these animals happen to me".  It's kind of a big deal when something like this happened and God just entered into a covenant with Abram.  Now when I went and read closely, I noticed for the first time just what God was entering a covenant about.
 
     Abram and his wife were quite wealthy, were quite well known, and highly respected even among the kings of the region and even though they were sorta nomads, they had everything they needed for a good life in the wilderness.  What they didn't have, however, was an heir; they didn't have a son.  After reading Abram's whole story, considering where he was in life, what he had, what he valued, I would go ahead and speculate that what Abram and his wife wanted more than anything else was a son.  They wanted a child more than anything else and I believe that Abram would have traded most anything they had for one.  Have you ever been to that point?  Have you ever gotten to the point where you prayed: "God, I would trade almost all these blessings you have given me for this one thing".  I think Abram wanted a son THAT badly.  But if you look closely, it says that when God told Abram that he would have a son "Abram believed The Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness"  It wasn't the child that Abram asked God to confirm, it was the promise of the land that Abram asked God to confirm.  The land mattered to Abram, sure, but probably not nearly as much as the child.

     I am going to start speculating here, so take what I am about to say with a grain of salt.  I think God loved the fact that Abram trusted Him with the thing that mattered most to him.  Abram didn't ask God to prove to him that He would give him a son, He took God at His word.  What if God offered the covenant ceremony to Abram because Abram trusted God with what mattered most to him.  What if God gave Abram exactly what he asked for, what he wanted most, because Abram had faith that God would come through for him for his greatest desire.

     More speculation here: God wants us to trust Him with what we want most because it'll be just that much harder to make an idol out of something that we are having to completely trust God for.

    Next speculation: Why God was so willing to answer Abram's prayers:

"Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6

So what?

• "The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous." Proverbs 15:29

• "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16b

I'm just going to leave that one with just the verses and let you figure it out.  As I've said before... you're smart so I'm sure you'll be able to pick up on it.

Okay, so do you still have that thing in your mind from earlier?  That's okay, take a second to get it back.  Think of that thing that you want more than anything else in the world, that thing that would be the biggest answer to prayer ever.  Got it back?  Good.  Now, give it to God.  Tell Him that you are trusting Him with it.  Tell God that if it's going to happen it's because HE is going to make it happen.  Now, let go. Let go and let God work on it.  He'll give you exactly what He knows you need and when you trust Him, when you have faith.  How can we know that God will hear your prayer?  Remember the verses from just a minute ago?  Add this one to the mix:

"This righteousness is given through faith in  Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:22

We have been made righteous because Jesus made us righteous.  Trust in Him for your eternity, but trust in Him for other things too. God wants you to trust Him.  God wants to bless you, but He wants you to trust Him for those blessings.  Go ahead and give it a shot but remember that God knows what's best, and He loves you very much.

-The Sailing Preacher

Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet... Listen. (Part 3)

    There are certain themes that always seem to accompany God, and "Faith" is one of the biggest.  It wasn't until this weekend that I really took a lot of time to make a connection between faith and living a life with God.  I'm only gonna share this one lesson, but this one is gonna be a bit long so please bear with me.  It's a really really deep topic that God taught me a lot about that I am only going to be able to begin to scratch the surface of, but I am going to try and make it worth your while to stick it out and read all the way through.

LESSON 5: God Will Never Stop Growing Your Faith

     Now a man named Lazarus was sick.  So his sisters went to Jesus and said "Lord, the one you love is sick."  When He heard this he said "This sickness will not end in death.  No, it's for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."  They stayed where they were for two more days, then He told His disciples that they were going to go to Judea.  His disciples questioned Him about going and after responding to them, He added "Oh yeah, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up."  The disciples began giving Jesus medical advice: "But Lord, if he sleeps, he'll get better!"  But Jesus wasn't actually talking about sleep.  He tells them "Lazarus is dead..." then proceeds to say one of the most insensitive things but also something that for me that has opened my eyes to a crazy new level of understanding of God: "...and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe."  His disciples must have been really confused at this one.  I imagine one of them (probably Peter) saying: "Wait, so you're telling me that it's so important to you that we develop a deeper, more mature faith that a man had to DIE?"  then Jesus replying "Yep, lets go wake him up".
      After they make it back, Lazarus had been dead for 4 days and had been buried and placed in a tomb, and by this time his body had even begun to decay.  The entire village had most likely been there at his funeral, had helped with his burial, and had mourned with his sisters, Mary and Martha.  I'm not going to get into all the awesome lessons that can be taken away from what happens next, but Jesus, after talking with some people goes to the tomb where Lazarus is buried.  A crowd had gathered by this time and was watching what was about to transpire.  Jesus, standing in front of the tomb prays this prayer: "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you have sent me."  In my own paraphrase, He said: "God, you've heard my prayers.  YOU want Lazarus raised from the dead, I want Lazarus raised from the dead.  In fact, the only reason I'm praying this now is so that everyone here sees that You sent me and that You're the one that's gonna make this happen.  Okay, ready?  Lets do this!"  Then He turns to the tomb and shouts "Lazarus, come out!" 
     It says then that from the tomb, the dead man came out, his hands, feet, and face still wrapped up in the burial cloths.  Jesus even had to remind people "Hey guys, go help him take his grave clothes off!" because they were probably standing there in such shock and awe as to what they just witnessed!  Guys, there is NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING that our God can't do!!!  All this, all of it was done for two purposes: to deepen and mature the faith of the disciples, and to point a big ol' glorifying spotlight on God and just how sovereign, powerful, and GOOD He is!
   
     This story can be found and read for yourself in John 11, but I want to point out something.  Jesus could have gone and healed Lazarus right when he was at the point of death and He still would have been seen as a miracle maker.  Bringing a man back from the dead after all hope of a miracle had passed, however, deepened the faith of the disciples and everyone who was there like never before!  If God is able to bring someone back from the DEAD, what is there He can't do?!  At that point, however, God raised the bar for the disciples and this is where Lesson 2 really began for me.
   
     Being the kind of person I am, I like to know things.  I like to know what's going to happen to me, I like to know (even if generally speaking) what to expect, I like certainty.  I'm sure you can probably relate, most people do.  Knowing things is definitely not a bad thing either!  There is nothing wrong with knowing what you're going to have for dinner tonight, knowing what's going to be on next week's test, what your boss expects of you at work... and knowing exactly what that thing is that your dog is eating.  Those are usually really good things to know.  When it comes to knowing what God is going to be doing in your life, however, I would recommend considering not trying too hard to figure it out.  I know I am going to be getting a lot of emails about this one but before you start composing one, please just hear me out.
     God wants a relationship with us. No one is going to deny that.  God wants us to know Him, and that's why He will always answer the prayer "are you there?"  Chances are, however, He's not going to answer with a bright light suddenly appearing in the middle of a room and a big booming voice from Heaven saying "Yes, I am here!"  He's capable of it, sure, but you probably don't want Him to.  See, faith is one of those things God asks of us.  In John 20:29, Jesus says "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  It's so important to Him that your faith be grown, that if He reveals Himself in a way that takes away your need for faith, you can almost be certain that He's going to put you through another kind of test or allow you to go through some different circumstances that pushes your faith and makes you turn to and trust in Him.  
   
     Part of what I was seeking this weekend was confirmation of some things I believe to the core of my being that God told me years ago.  I just wanted reassurance that they were from Him, and frankly I began to doubt because it seemed as though He wasn't gonna come through for me.  I just needed to know!  Was I believing a lie or should I keep hoping and trusting?  During my time away, however, I learned this very lesson and soon after, during some quiet time, I felt God telling me "Caleb, just trust me... wait...I got this...let go... I've got to work on something first."  This was something that I felt God had been telling me for weeks at that point, but it wasn't until I got away and got still that it really clicked in my head.  I shared what had happened with my old mentor and he told me "Yep, that sounds like the Big Guy."
   
     That is the kind of thing I am talking about though.  God reveals things to us, sure, but the more He does the higher the bar is set for us to be faithful, and the tests we might face could be so much more challenging.  It sounds like a rotten deal doesn't it?  It sounds as though the best thing to do is just not try and think too much about this stuff in the first place because, I mean, who wants to be put through bigger tests and challenges?  Who wants to take the risk of more suffering and hardship?  That's up to you. I'll tell you what though, if you're up for the challenge; if you're willing to trust God and go along with it and push yourself and allow God to stretch you, you'll begin to see things and you'll begin to experience things through God that you never would have thought possible!  You'll develop a depth of faith never before imagined and a trust in God that will be UNSHAKABLE!  You'll be able to see works of wonder and power, you'll see lives changed, and sometimes even witness actual miracles!  There will be days where you collapse in bed, say to God "Wow, I never could have made it through today without your direct intervention... thank you God for such an adventure!" You reach that point with God, and your life will never be the same!


Missed the last one?  Catch up in Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet... Listen. (Part 2)
To Be Continued in:   Time Out!  Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 4)

Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 2)

Welcome back!  I wanted to start of by thanking everyone who has been praying for me as I attempt to communicate some of the things God has shared with me.  If you missed the first part of all this, you can catch up at  Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 1). Anyway, let's jump right back into it shall we?

LESSON 2:  Heated Seats In the Car On a Cold and Snowy Day Are A Gift From God!

     I really don't even need to get into this one.  Anyone who has experienced these delightful upgrades knows what I'm talking about.  Sunday afternoon, a snowstorm hit Dexter, MO.  We had gone out to lunch after church and by the time we exited the restaurant there was a good three inches of white powder on the ground.  When I hopped in Steve's truck and mentally prepared myself for the heater to warm up and deliver me from the cold, he looked over at me and said "Oh by the way, these seats are heated."  At that moment, I wanted to hug that man!  For the duration of the ride back to his place, I sat in blissful warmth and a new found appreciation for whoever it was that first had the idea to put something in car seats to warm up your backside!

LESSON 3: Mountain Dew + Middle School Boys = Insanity!
 
     After spending Friday evening with a group of the 8th grade boys from the Disciple Now conference at their host home I have come to the belief that Pepsi Co has discovered the ultimate source for limitless energy:  caffeinated middle school boys!  All we need to do to cure the world's energy problems is find a way to hook up a group of about a hundred middle school boys to some sort of generator, give them each a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew and BOOM... an almost inexhaustible supply of energy.  There are two drawbacks to this though that would make it hard to replace our current sources:
              1) It's not cheap.
     The cost of feeding those boys would certainly erase any costs saved by switching to "Dew-Energy" and in fact might actually require the bulk of the revenue for an entire city to provide enough fuel for these .
              2) It's not clean.
     If you've ever seen the bedroom of a middle school boy, chances are you wished that you had a hazmat suit upon entry.  Between the clothing on the floor that may be clean or may be dirty, the odd smell drifting from the closet and under the bed that might actually be the result of a new species of mold growing, and the pair of tennis shoes in the corner that has some sort of earthen material caked on the soles that is hopefully from a soccer game played months ago... there is no way this new energy source would pass environmental regulations.
     So much for solving the world's energy woes with mountain dew and teenagers.  Instead, I think we should just pull out video cameras and make some memories of the hilarity that will certainly ensue.
   
     Okay all joking aside, I want to take a moment to share my heartfelt joy at the opportunity to watch these boys throughout the course of the weekend.  Coming from various backgrounds with significant differences in personality, interests, and...well...attention spans, these guys still rallied together to support one another and formed a comradery through the weekend that was reflective of the kind of community that God calls us all to have.  The strength, courage, and leadership that they demonstrated at the rally, the solidarity that they displayed in front of their peers, and the goofy fun that they all managed to have together tells me that they are going to be a dynamic group.  Yet, what set them apart in my mind as something different and unique was the absolute submission that they all displayed when the entire group of them ran forward during the worship set and fell on their knees at the alter of God, praying with and for one another.  They didn't care about what others thought of them, they didn't care who saw... They fell at the feet of Almighty God and laid it all out before Him.  When I witnessed that after everything else I had seen from these guys, I realized that this is going to be a group of boys that will grow up to become a group of men that will make a difference in their school and then wherever they find themselves in the world.




LESSON 4: If God Teaches You Something and Asks You to Share It, You Have A Responsibility to do so... Accurately
 
 This lesson is one that is based on something I noticed in some of the time I spent in the Bible on day one.

    Genesis 1 talks about God's creation of all things in a general sense.  Genesis 2 focuses specifically on God's creation of man and woman and describes the kind of life they're to live and their purpose.  Genesis 3 then talks about the fall of mankind and the first sin.  Now, I have been through more bible studies, read more books, and heard more sermons on lessons from these three chapters than I can even begin to count, but as I began my trip, I caught something in one of these chapters that I hadn't noticed before.

    Leaving St. Louis and having more than three hours in the car by myself left me with a lot of time on my hands and I wanted to make the most of it. I decided to use the feature of the YouVersion Bible app (which is both awesome as well as free, which makes it even more awesome...) that actually reads the bible to you to get into the Word from the start.  Since this weekend was about starting from scratch with God, I decided that a good place to start in the Bible was at the beginning!

     Genesis 1 went by and nothing new really stood out to me.  Then the man reading, began into Genesis 2 and I started to notice something that actually kinda caught me off guard.  

Here's the basic story found in Genesis 2 and 3 and I decided to just emphasize the points that got me thinking:   

     "... In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (2:9) 
...The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.' (2:15-17)
...Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. (2:22)..."  

Then Chapter 3 began.  

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?'  The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” (3:1-2)

    Now I have been taught time and time again that Eve misquoting God (He never actually said they couldn't touch the tree) gave the devil a chance to twist things around and contributed to Eve's sin.  A lot of teachers/pastors/bible study leaders then used Eve's failure in that regard to emphasize the importance on correctly learning the word of God.  I would have to agree with them wholeheartedly and this passage definitely teaches exactly that, but I truly believe that if you read between the lines, there is ANOTHER lesson to be learned here.  If you read the passage carefully you'll notice the order of events: 

     First, God planted the garden. 

     Next, He created Adam and put him in the garden.  

     Then, God gave him the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  

     Then God created Eve.  

The Bible never says that God repeated His command to not eat of the fruit of the tree.  God gives Adam the instructions and then expects Adam to share it with Eve.  

***(Before I continue I will include a disclaimer, if I hear of anyone using this commentary of mine to try and emphasize the superiority of men over women in the eyes of God, which is TOTALLY unbiblical,  I will find you, smack you upside your head, and then rub your nose on your computer screen like a bad bad doggy who just messed on the floor... in all Christian love of course!)***

    What I am seeing here instead of something that is clearly an instance of Eve misquoting God, it's possible that Eve is either just misquoting Adam, OR... quite possibly (and in my opinion much more likely) Adam misquoted God to his wife, adding the "don't touch it" part as an extra safeguard to make sure she stayed away from the tree.  His heart was in the right place because he loved his wife very much (Genesis 2:23) and probably just didn't want to live without her in the event she ate of the fruit and suffered the death that God told him they would.

   At this point we could start going into things like: ways people can be overprotective.  Or, maybe we could talk about being controlling.  Maybe about how sometimes we can't trust God and feel like we have to do some things ourselves.  Regardless of what else this implies, ultimately what we see here is that God gave Adam a message to share and at some point that message was not accurately communicated.

    

     Normally this is the part where I would suggest some sort of action or offer suggestions as to how to apply what I shared, or go deeper into the topic, but I'm going to let you figure out for yourself what this means to you and in your specific situation.  You're a smart person.  I will finish this though with two thoughts:  

 
     First, God might put it on your heart to share something with someone, and if He does, you should probably do what He tells you.  It's called obedience.  Not doing so is called sin.  

    Secondly, James 3:1 says that anyone who teaches the Word of God (or shares a message from Him) will be judged more strictly because they are representing God.  I have seen too many people use the classic "Well God told me (fill in the blank)" to achieve their own purposes, win an argument, or manipulate people to what they want. 

 
I'm not going to say anything else on this matter but I will caution you in light of what I shared: if/when you DO get a message from God and you ARE representing Him, be sure to do so accurately.


Re-Read Lesson 1 in Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet... Listen. (Part 1)
To be continued with Lessons 5 in Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 3) 

Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet... Listen. (Part 1)

        Did you know that if you stand in front of a mirror in a crowded store and look at yourself, you'll see something completely different than if you stand in front of a mirror in the quiet and stillness of your home?  This is because when you're in the busy environment in public, you're going to be paying attention to who's around you, and you'll be seeing all the things for sale in the reflection behind you. You will be paying attention to how much time you linger in front of the mirror and about the way you probably appear to those around you.  Your mind will be focused on so many different things that you won't be able to focus on the fine details.  Standing in front of the mirror at home, you have none of those distractions.  You can stand there and linger as long as you want, with yourself as the focal point of your attention.  You can see yourself in a way that is completely honest and thorough (if you really want to, that is).  Basically, what I'm saying is: when you want to see something for what it really is, environment matters.

       Lately, because of a lot of things that have happened in my life, I have developed a bunch of questions and I wanted to find answers at ANY cost.  I needed to hear from God!  Over the last few weeks I have spent a LOT of time and energy trying to seek/hear from God, but to no avail.  I had sought healing, guidance, encouragement, and frankly, just reassurance that I hadn't been forgotten.  I had turned to the Bible, had conversations with friends, read books, listened to sermons, and they all only led me to more questions and uncertainty. I decided that it was time for me to find out from God Himself what to do and I knew that I needed to get away from everything and find some silence and solitude so that I could. Up to this point I had been having difficulty connecting with God and hearing from Him, so I knew that I needed to go someplace that I could be in a - for lack of a better word- sanctified environment. I knew that I needed to go someplace that got me away from everything that was burdening me so that I could see things as they really were and a place where God was at work because I needed to get as close to Him as I could. I soon found myself composing an email my old pastor/mentor and his wife and asked if I could come stay with them in Southeast Missouri for a few days.  When they agreed, I just knew that God was going to do something amazing on this trip and boy was I right!  I reached out to several of my friends and told them of my plans, requested prayers throughout the weekend, shut my phone off, left my laptop at home, and then began the journey southward to see what God had waiting for me in the town of Dexter, MO.

     My weekend was split between three things:  Spending time alone and in solitude, spending time with Steve and Cheryl (my gracious hosts), and helping out with the massive youth rally at their church called Disciple Now.  At first I was kinda hoping that I would be able to lock myself away for the duration of the weekend and just be utterly alone, but I remembered what God had said about serving others so I agreed to help with the youth as well.  I think God knew better than I did (as usual) what I needed because I got to meet some interesting people, I got to watch God work in the lives of dozens and dozens of students, and I was blessed with the outpouring of wisdom from a wonderful couple who have served in ministry for, well far longer than I have even been alive, and on top of that I STILL got to spend the quiet study and prayer time that I needed so desperately.  That being said, within the first hour of my arrival God began working on me and taught me the first lesson of the MANY that would follow over the course of the weekend.

    Now, I was originally going to attempt to write about everything I learned in a single entry on here, but then I realized that there would be NO WAY people would keep reading long enough to get through it all, nor could I come close to finishing in a reasonable amount of time.  Instead I am going to begin sharing everything in a series of stories and lessons that I learned over the course of several posts.  Please bear with me and keep an open mind.

LESSON 1: Spiritual Warfare is real, as are angels and demons. Don't ignore it.
     For anyone who doesn't know me well enough yet, I absolutely LOVE stories.  I love telling them... I love hearing them...stories are what motivate me to adventure, to risk, to live!  I love stories so much I even wrote about it previously (check out: Telling Your Story) and lately I've been sharing a lot of stories with people about their encounters with angels and demons.  The coolest, scariest, and most eye opening part of these stories is that they are all true!  For example, in 2005, a mission team I was on in Alabama had an encounter with a demon who was trying to scare us into inactivity and distract us from our mission down there.  More than a dozen people (myself included) were there to witness it and I got my first in depth lesson on this kind of spiritual warfare that is going on all around us.  The year before, a mission team from our church, Steve included, were in Puerto Rico working with a partner church to get some construction done on a new building.  Steve was asked to deliver the Sunday morning sermon for the church and he felt led to preach on the Fire of God.  After the message a demon possessing a girl manifested itself. It became so violent that several large guys had to restrain this tiny little girl while Steve and some of the elders of the church prayed over her for an extended period to drive the demon out of her.  Someone I know very well told me a story of how he felt a dark presence with him in his bedroom several nights in a row and one morning woke up to find scratch marks that looked like claw marks on his body in places he couldn't reach.  This weekend, I got to meet a gentleman this weekend who shared a story of how he was on a mission trip in Haiti during the uprising in the early 90's and was saved, from a group of terrorists, by an angel who showed up in the middle of a war-torn rebel-occupied city as a Haitian-looking man dressed in a white suit, riding a white motorcycle with the word "Jesus" written on the gas tank.  In perfect, unaccented English, he warned them that they were being led into a trap and then proceeded to lead them out of the city.  Several of my friends have told me similar stories about their own encounters but were always hesitant to share with anyone because they don't think anyone would believe them.  Those stories don't even include the many many stories and testimonies I have heard from people I didn't even know.
     Call me crazy but at times, even without actually seeing demons in certain places, I have just felt a sense of the presence of darkness and evil in a place.  I have felt spiritual oppression, as though the invisible demons were running wild and had control over certain people or places.  Likewise, there are times I've been places and with people in which I have felt so full of goodness and at such peace that they must have had angels surrounding them. I decided that since demons are real and their presence can affect my life so substantially, it would be a great idea to spend some of this weekend investigating them. This is what I learned:

• Demons are not actually angels of light and beauty, they are quite frightening indeed.
• They cannot possess a believer because One greater than they already occupies your body (believers are filled with the Holy Spirit, and what demon can overpower God?) but they CAN attack, oppress, and suppress a believer through fear, distraction, temptation, making your believe lies, or other such methods...Sometimes if they are strong enough, can even physically manifest themselves and cause bodily harm (see below).
• They hate us because we were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and since they hate Him they want to take it out on us.
• They can enter a home or a life through anything that is not submitted to God (i.e. dishonesty, greed, sexual sin, anger, bitterness, resentment, anxiety/worry, control... you get the idea).  Anything that is not submitted to God is an open door for a demon to use to get in.
• Occultic things supercharge demons and give them extra power/influence. 
• They make it harder to hear God and sense His presence.  (This is a reason I felt it necessary to go someplace I felt was completely sanctified and had no hint of a demonic presence)
• Praying in the name of Jesus is how you get a demon out of someone or someplace.  We have been given authority over the demons because we have identified with Christ.  They don't always respond right away because like a tree that has taken root, the longer a demon has been present the stronger the hold it has and harder it is to get it out.  This is why it took these pastors and elders so long to get rid of the demon from the little girl in Puerto Rico even though they were praying in the name and with the authority of Jesus.   

    What I decided I needed to do was to make sure that there was NOTHING in my life that I had refused to let God do with what He wanted.  That's what it means to be submitted to God.  It's like it says in the Lord's Prayer " your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." and when you're praying it you could even *gasp* change it... and say  "Your will be done on earth and in my life, as it is in Heaven".  Frankly, its a really good idea to reach this point of submission to God anyway, and this was just the final boost I needed.  I think I made the devil kinda angry this weekend because I became wise to his schemes and stopped letting him mess with me, but I don't care.  

     Oh, one last word on the topic.  I found a verse to give you some hope when the devil tries to mess with you, tries to make you fall, tries to attack you, to tempt you, or to make you believe a lie:  James 4:7-8 (NIV) says "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you."  If you stand with God, you can then stand up to the devil and all his little minions and when you do, he's gonna see that you're not alone and he's gonna run like a scared little rabbit as fast and as far as he can.

To Be Continued with Lessons 2-4 at Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 2)