ALL HELL’S BREAKING LOOSE

It's late. My feet are tired, my back hurts, and my heart is heavy. The door to my room is open. No one is in the hall; it is quiet. It is weird; there is normally so much activity around here. I'm grateful for the twilight-zone-stillness. It is a much welcomed escape. None of it feels wrong. It is all right.

I am where I'm supposed to be. This is the arena I have prepared to enter. I am focused and my thoughts are clear. Yesterday felt like a mess, today feels like a major victory. Every day the battle goes back and forth.

I am still surprised at how tired I feel. I know it is not all related to physical exercise. There are days I do not get to run. Like tonight; I am tired; but I can't pinpoint why.

I am aware of the war I am physically preparing for. Every day, hour and minute is spent I preparation for it. Yet I doubt that is the source of all of my fatigue.

I suspect that I physically feel effects from the spiritual war that rages around me. I have left the safety of the church. I have marched into the enemy's territory.

Sometimes the battle seems completely one-sided. I feel the presence of God reaching out to those who have come seeking and I believe they are aware of it also. But there are other times when the doors seem bolted, chained and padlocked. He has control and My impact seems greatly diminished.

They all come seeking assistance but only some want the help of the cross on my hat; the others want the help of the captain's bars on my chest. I talk to all; but only some hear.

These thoughts create in me a desire for God to show me glimpses of the war being waged all around me daily. The spiritual war for people's lives and souls. If I knew the enemies strategies would I approach these encounters differently? I think so.

Might I pray, "Lord please remove the blinders that prohibit us from seeing and understanding the source and root of our pain and discomfort. Help me to see clearly and therefore to guide this individual into the light where the chains, traps and plans of the enemy can be exposed for what they are. May your Son Jesus Christ also be present and in that glorious light and unveil himself as the great hope of all mankind."

Hell is real. It is rising and threatening those we know and love. My hearts cry is that we, the church of the Living God, continue to improve our position and also move forward to the streets where the battle rages.

Only then will our hearts feel and experience the rest and peace that we long for when all is quiet.