Day 161: This Is My BIble, It Is What It Says It Is

" . . . and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Ephesians 6:17

Oh, I have been waiting for this one. It's the one piece of armor that didn't need explanation for me.

One night, at a camp, I met a girl. I had never been introduced to her, and yet I knew her name. (True story) And I knew her story. I sat behind her, reached my hand forward, called her by name, and asked her if she was okay. She burst into tears. What happened over the course of the next hour and a half changed my life and my faith forever.

This story will sound like an outright lie to some of you, I am sure, or at the very least a pretty good work of fiction writing. Had I not been present myself, I might not believe it myself. But this really happened, and I'm only going to be able to give you the short version.

"Lauren" agreed to let me pray for her, but as we prayed, her facial features changed and her eyes turned black (yes, turned black, as in they changed colors, right before my own eyes) and her voice changed from that of a scared teenage girl to that of a deep bass male voice. And she said to me, "Bitch" (in a very long, drawn out way.) At first I freaked out a bit, okay, a LOT.

I spoke to Lauren, not this thing that was speaking to me. And I asked her what was hurting her and she said she was thinking about suicide. And I prayed, "Spirit of Suicide leave this girl." But the voice just got deeper. Finally I told Lauren that I thought she had to pray, so she did and her face changed and her eyes changed. But the story doesn't end there (though that should be enough).

For over an hour Lauren would be overcome by a new voice, her eyes would change and she would name some other thing that was happening to her or was holding on to her. She had been raped, was taking drugs, was cutting herself, etc. It was the saddest and most frightening thing I had ever witnessed.

Prior to that, I really did believe that "spiritual warfare" was just a way of saying that life was hard. And then I did something that might have been stupid. I asked God for eyes to see the spiritual realm. And what I saw scared me half to death. So much evil. So much evil. The enemy had been there all along, not hiding, but right out in the open, IN A CHURCH SERVICE, but I just had not seen him.

As Lauren left that night, she left a different girl, literally. When I left that night, I left a different girl too, but for different reasons. And when I got alone in my room, I began to recall scripture about the enemy and his legion and how they returned when cast out, and not knowing what else to do, I got up out of my bed and got my Bible, my "sword" and I laid it on my chest, placed my hands over it, and fell peacefully asleep. Just having on my hands on it brought me comfort.

I think now how silly that was. What was I going to do? Beat off the enemy with a book? What that started in me though was a love for God's Word. A need to know it. To be able to use it as a sword as Jesus did when Satan tempted him in the desert. I think that far too often we as Christians use the Bible to fight each other. Imagine if we remembered who our enemy was and used God's Word, the Sword of the Spirit, to defeat our real enemy, who is not flesh and blood?

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

A sword is a weapon for close-range battle. It's not for far away enemies. But the Sword we have is able to divide joints and marrow AND discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's pretty powerful.

All that to say, suited up for battle, my Sword in hand.