Spiritual Clutter

Spiritual Clutter

     Have you ever looked around at your home and thought it would be easier to pack everything up and sell it than to clean and organize. Or the thought that with all the clutter building up it would be ok if a fire burned everything up and you got a clean slate at a clutter free life. Although both are extreme ideas, sometimes it is so overwhelming how much stuff we accumulate over the years, it isn’t really a matter of something we did, it is more like something we didn’t do. Stuff just keeps piling up as we refuse to throw away the unimportant. We hold onto things that really don’t have a purpose other than to take up space.

      In our world it is also very easy to pick up and store spiritual clutter inside of us. Our hearts are filled with good and bad and the unimportant. Sometimes it gets so bad that it is like an episode of hoarders and it feels like I would be easier to just pack up everything and throw it out or to ask God to set our hearts on fire and burn it all up. But usually God just asks that we take the time with him to sit and sort. We have Holy Spirit fire moments where we get to have a little bonfire of bondage or times when God just shows up and takes out the trash. But God’s desire is for us to stop the problem at the source and to do that we need to be aware of the constant clutter that this world creates and how to guard our minds and hearts in such a way to keep the clutter at bay.

     Your mind was never meant to be a dump site for garbage and the less we guard against it, the more the enemy can gain a foothold and what started in the mind has now relocated to the heart until we are completely surrounded by the good, the bad and the unimportant leaving no room for the extraordinary. And all the bad inside starts to taint all the good inside as it is allowed to rot inside. If you ever feel completely filled and overwhelmed and yet empty in so many ways it may be time for some spring cleaning. Allow the word of God to penetrate through the chaos and find a verse that can stand at the gateway of your mind sorting through the good, the bad and the unimportant.

  Romans 12:1-2 is my scale.

“Therefore I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Smokescreen

Smokescreen

     When the enemy attacks he often uses tactics that disarm, or paralyze us, confuse and alarm our senses. One such tactic is the smokescreen. I have felt foggy lately, unable to concentrate, unable to rest, irritated and somewhat overwhelmed. I have not been able to see the forest through the trees. I feel as though as soon as I start focusing on the chaos I am done for. One well placed lie and I am walking through a wall of smoke, like a smokescreen, I walk around hurting myself and others because I can’t find my way out, and the more I run or struggle, the more I fight the worse it gets. Sometimes when you are lost it is best to just stay where you are and wait for your rescue, but what do you do when the quality of air around you is harming your health. I would refer to this place as the smokescreen of Hell. Satan knows that if he can keep you blind and choking on a poison that you yourself begin to create out of a negativity that he has won.

   What do we do, Once the cycle of negativity has begun? How do we get out? First we need new air. We need Joy and Peace. Philippians 4:4-9 (Here is our air quality test and purification plan) “Always be full of Joy in the Lord. I say it again- rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for what he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace. Which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me- everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

     First: “Always be full of Joy in the Lord. I say it again- rejoice!” Does your day start with a hallelujah and continue to build in praise to your king throughout the day? Be full… Meaning fill yourself until you can not contain it any longer and then continue to let it be so. Rejoice. How do we rejoice? Do we rejoice by turning inward and focusing upon ourselves or do we get filled with Joy as we ponder and praise the goodness of our God, of our maker of our king.?The smoke is created by kicking up a fire of selfishness. If we keep poking at all the problems then we get ourselves stuck in a smoky mess, instead shout out to God with a voice of triumph.

     Second: “Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon.” In our attempt to free ourselves from this unhappy place we often fend for ourselves and end up hurting others in the process, we slander others and put expectations and demands on them to change, to be better, to do unto us what we would like, but Christ offered a different idea- to serve not based on who deserves it, but to lay it all down in complete love and sacrifice to the least of these. We often think “when we are in a better place, then…” No! stop putting conditions on your love. Be considerate in all you do.

     Third: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for what he has done . Then you will experience God’s peace. Which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The smokescreen visual is appropriate for worry because as we run around in fear we just get tired,lost and nothing is accomplished, but when we pray the focus shifts from the cloud of smoke to He who is greater, We thank him, not when something happens but we thank him before, knowing that he is in control. We trade our fear for faith and he gives us peace and that peace guards us and goes beyond our understanding. We don’t have to know how it is going to happen as long as we know who is in control.

     Fourth: ”And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Your attitude will dictate your actions and your attitude is controlled by your thoughts. If our thoughts are allowed to drift and wander into the dark smoke our actions will remain in that dark place too. If you want out of the mire and the smokescreen then you have to stop worrying... but then fill your mind with good, because your mind left empty will fill with what it sees and most of the time we are not looking at the right things. Think about what is true… The word of God is pure truth! Fill yourself with it’s truth. Stop reading the gossip about unimportant things and start thinking about things that are excellent and worthy of praise, read stories about people who have done great things for God and who focus on his plans. Stop watching useless garbage on TV about people with empty life goals and focus on things that are truly worthy of praise. You have been given people in your space that are Godly and filled whatever is pure and honorable and noble and right, Surround yourself with these people.

     Fifth: "Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me- everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” We have the word of God as our guide to walk us out of times when we feel as though we can not see. It is a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path! We don't just get God's peace, we get "the God" of peace with us. We often seek out the gifts of God rather than the presence of God. 

     Of all the attacks that the enemy has planned against us we must remember that of all the armor we have to protect us we have one piece that is our weapon. We have the Word of Truth. The Sword of the Spirit.

John 1:1-5

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
²He existed in the beginning with God.
³ God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created,^[a]
    and his life brought light to everyone.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.^[b]

 

     This verse is thick and their is a lot of truth to take in but the core of this verse is about the Word, the word becoming man (Christ). Our weapon is Christ, he is the Word! every word of God is living and active and we should desire that encounter. verses 4 and 5 are about the smokescreen, this battle of light and dark. "The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it." What an amazing and powerful truth we need to understand here. The enemies weapons are no match for the light that Christ's life have brought to us.

   So we are left with a choice as we find ourselves in the midst of a smokescreen. We can wander and be caught up in the dark or we can walk with the light and step out of the darkness.
 

 

 

Hung Up

Hung Up…

　

     Have you ever been so hung up on someone else’s life that you couldn’t focus on your own. I don’t mean an obsession but rather just a small reoccurring voice that points out the little things that others do wrong or right, that rub up next to you in such a way that causes either judgment or comparison. If you answered no then listen up because I think we are very unaware of the fact that as we are in a state of constant comparison and judgment.

     We turn on the TV and chances are we find one extreme or the other; People royally screwing up and making us feel better about ourselves or people living the life we could only dream. Magazines are lined with comparison and marketing tools to make us want to be someone else. And then there is the internet. Pinterest is called the fantasy football of women because we can fantasize about cooking like a chef, dressing like a model, being more organized, taking amazing trips and so much more but it is literally a picture gallery of all the things I could be doing better. And if you aren‘t thoroughly convinced yet that our world specializes in comparison and judgment let‘s talk about Facebook; A site that specializes in being a platform for people to try to keep up with the Joneses.

     The point isn’t that social media is an onslaught of negative attention and a slippery slope for the battlefield of your mind it is that we are perhaps spending more time on the battlefield getting beat up than we are in the armory sharpening our weapons or in the infirmary getting healed.

    I am very aware of my tendencies towards judgment and comparison and yet I still get “Hung Up”. One such situation is from last night at church. I was waiting to be prayed for by someone with a very beautiful prophetic gifting. As I sat waiting I tried to pray, but my mind kept racing around in circles. What was God going to speak into my life about? Would it be an answer to one of the many questions I have for God? I sat and sorted through some of those questions and one had me very hung up because it was about someone close to me. I then asked God if the way they were living out their relationship with him was right or wrong and if he could tell me so that I could either do what they were doing or I could do my own thing and feel better about it. No answer. As my turn came and went I was given an amazing very personal and real insight into God’s plans for me. But no insight into the nagging question in the back of my mind. One thing that did happen though was that when God honed in on my life and got very specific about me, I didn’t care about comparing myself to others because in that moment I was very satisfied to be me.

     We rob ourselves of our destiny and God’s vision for our lives when we try to fit ourselves into other peoples lives. How very condescending of me to ask God if my brother and sisters in Christ are sinning so that I may be judge and jury. How very wrong of me to cling to the giftings and purposes of others when God has a hand full of that for me. We cannot take what God has gifted to us if our hands are full of other peoples stuff. The last Commandment given to the Israelites in Exodus 20:17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

     Coveting seems like a pretty mild sin in comparison to murder and stealing, we even water it down to the first part and say don’t lust after another man’s wife but the verse finishes out with not coveting “Anything else that belongs to your neighbor”

      I have played in this pool of coveting other peoples purpose. I have wanted God to gift me with other peoples giftings. But this is a sin. And it is probably the most unchecked sin running rampant in the church today. Instead of grabbing a hold with both hands what God has for us individually we are trying to balance in one hand our life and in another hand someone else’s. I don’t know any better way to let go of the stuff that doesn’t belong to us than to hold onto with both hands what God has given us. Last night God didn’t want to speak to me about someone else and whether or not what they are doing is for me or not, He wanted to speak to me about me.

     How do we let go of the things we so easily pick up when we are surrounded and bombarded at every turn? Paul talks about this to the Corinthians and the Philippians. We are to replace envy with Joy, be thankful when others do good in life or are blessed because God has done that for them. And replace judgment and worry for prayer and petition to God because those brothers and sisters need freedom and we can’t give it, only God can. Don’t try to fit through the door of other peoples destiny. Someone else’s blessing will be a curse if you take what does not belong to you. Someone else’s yoke does not fit. It would be a burden to carry someone else’s yoke, it would be too heavy or not heavy enough to plow the ground beneath, wasting time. We need to take upon us that which God has put before us. Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” He is speaking about what he gives to us, not what we take upon ourselves.

I fit through one door and instead of being sad that other doors are closed, rejoice for the door before you is beutiful and unique. God builds us each a special and unique destiny. He designs our purpose and our path like the master craftsman that he is. Each of us has an amazing story but if we keep trying to fit into someone else’s we are going to miss ours all together. Do not covet what your neighbor has, ask God what he has for you and hold on with both hands so that you can live a life that isn’t “Hung Up”.

The power of obedience…

　
2 Corinthians 2:9
"Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything."


　

     I wanted to share with you the intimate details of some very important events that have taken place in the past few weeks. I guess in order to explain the present we must go back a few months to an opportunity that God gave me to be obedient. I would first like to say that often times we associate obedience to a struggle, to something we won’t want to do perhaps. If that is your idea of it, as it is sometimes mine, I hope to change that notion for you with this story.

     Around December just about four months ago God had been ministering to me through worship in very intimate way. I began to desire to express myself more in worship and found myself thinking about when I was younger. About 15 years ago I had a very healthy knowledge of sign language but it had been about that many years since I had used it. Last summer I started feeling nudges and having moments where I felt as though I would soon be pursuing the path of learning Sign Language again, "maybe for some grand thing", I would think to myself ( but I have a new life goal or new found passion in my life every few weeks so I have learned to dial my passions down a bit). Slowly starting around December I would find myself trying to remember the signs to worship songs, one time in worship God spoke to me that I was to pursue it and use it, so I started studying almost every day. I found myself starting to sign again in worship and one day as I was not too comfortable with it (I hate the idea that I might be drawing attention away from others worshiping) I found God pushing me deeper and saying to let go. As I did, like a flood God restored unto me many years worth of sign language that had been forgotten. I felt a deeper passion to study each day and I felt as though there was a goal although I did not know what it was I could feel it like a deadline almost. Just a few weeks ago God sent Cameron and I to Thailand, I knew that God was going to do something that would fuel my faith in a new way. I knew that it would be something that only he could do, and that he would use me. I also knew it had to do with obedience. On the plane I was studying sign language and others on the trip with us saw me and I felt a little silly but later it would be important that although I felt silly I was being obedient to study. Several days after we had arrived in Thailand we were up in a remote village. A Christian village of under 100 people. We had interpreters but so much goes into talking back and forth that often times the level of communication is somewhat shallow. Details are a lost luxury in translation. By a miracle I came to discover that in the village there was a deaf man who had been to the city to learn sign language. A miracle that a village with one deaf man would send him 3 hours away at their own expense and who was he going to talk with anyway? He was going to talk with me! He was going to have a divine encounter in which God showed me, him and many others that he loves us so much that he will pursue us, he will find us in our loneliest hour and he will come and sit and speak with us. I talked with him many times throughout the week and although our sign language is based on different alphabets we were able to figure it out and I was able to speak with him better than with anyone else there. He could write and read Thai so when we talked about God and I found out that he didn’t have a bible I knew that God wanted this moment so that he could speak to his son personally through his word. Before we left we made sure to get him a Thai bible.

     By so many accounts this meeting was a miracle. And all I could think was what if I hadn’t listened to God, what if I had been to embarrassed to obey. Everyone that saw me studying on that plane knew that God had been planning this, and the book that I had decided to bring to study was so helpful as I sat and talked with Boochang. God is so amazing. Can I say it again? GOD IS SO AMAZING. He is so loving and so intimate that not one person is to be left out, or cast aside. And in my obedience I discovered a faith that I have never known. I honestly didn’t see the full picture of the power of the cross, the intimacy of our Father God, the beauty of the oneness we have in his Spirit as we obey his commands until that moment in Thailand. The chances of that encounter were so impossible that I know that when Christ said we would do greater things than the miracles that he did, he was talking about this exact encounter in Thailand. Our God sees a lonely isolated man in a remote village and says “I love you. You are my child, I have not forgotten about you.” I promise that you have never felt the kind of frustrations and barriers that this man has felt but we can all relate to the feeling of being forgotten, or alone, or afraid that our voice will never be heard or matter to anyone. God has not forgotten. He is a faithful God who pursues us even to the ends of the earth. Our God is Almighty , He is the lover of our souls and he has sent an invitation out to those who feel alone, to come to him, to never be incomplete again and to find wholeness in a relationship with him. I have doubted too long on the voice of God. I have heard the voices saying how can I know the voice of God. Boochang can not hear yet he is a man who has time to listen to God. In some ways his time with God will be more pure. Then it hits me. God brought his words to Boochang because that is how God speaks. We can’t complain that we do not know the voice of God if we are not willing to sit and learn the words of God. Boochang was hungry for more and God brought him more from halfway across the world. How can we say “speak to me Lord” and not open up the very words of God that have already been spoken. If you want to know God’s voice, you need to know God’s words. So again I challenge the idea we have of obedience, and put it like this: to obey is take someone else’s word for it over your own. It is to trust God that when he says to do something, to be something, to go somewhere, whatever it is he asks, you just trust him over yourself. It is to give the control over to God and trust that the lover of your soul has it powerfully covered by his sacrifice and love. We need to give the Lordship of our lives over to God once and for all. It is time to listen, to obey, to confront the selfishness inside of each one of us. And then in that moment of unity with God’s will we will find all that we have lacked and all that we have been seeking. God says seek first the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added. It is time to bend our knee to God and give him our obedience, It is time to actively listen to the point where we can hear him speak through his word. To hear him say who we are, to have him transform us into the image of Christ. So that no devil, no world, no man, no lie, can separate us from his Love!

God you are mighty, a generation has been birthed that longs for you so desperately. But the enemy has taken it by the throat and is trying to keep it from speaking out your truth. You go further than the spoken word, the written word, even the signed word. You are the word and you have given us victory over the enemy of our soul. Lord take us further still in our walk with you to a place where all who see us will see you and the reflection of your love will melt the hearts of even the cruelest of men. Change us so entirely that the world will know that you are here. Open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, and minds of those diluted by false glory. Jesus you have shown us how to be obedient, how to sacrifice it all for the sake of the Fathers love. Let us too be one with you in this one thing… To love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love others as ourselves. To you be the glory, the honor and the praise, Amen

The Call

                                                The Call


       It’s 3:00 a.m.. The room is cold. Wrapped in a blanket holding a warm cup of steaming tea I find my resolve. What has been happening to me? I burry myself deeper in the blanket recalling the events of late. Almost out loud I utter “Is this real, Is this really happening?” It would take to long to voice all the thoughts in my head, the questions race so quickly through my mind that I can only speak a few words here and there out of my mouth in shock. “Am I ready for this? Can I honestly do what I have been pressed to do? Why me?” My thoughts drift to Moses; all the Sunday school lessons and bible studies couldn’t have given a more cinematically clear picture of what my mind was displaying before me: A huge fire, a thundering voice, a man cowering on the ground all to aware that his life was about to change forever, not just for a moment , but in that moment of fear gripping reality he knew he would never be the same.

     The alarm goes off and catches me off guard. My tea is now cold. My thoughts had run me into an exhausted sleep, it was 7:14. I look at the pen and paper lying on the coffee table and I know that today is the day that a battle will be fought on paper. It isn’t even the kind of thing I have words to describe. I’m still in shock, I’m still so uncertain of my own abilities. Like a modern day Moses, I exclaim loudly in my mind, “Who will listen? I don’t know how to do this. Why have you shown me a captive nation in need of freedom? Who am I?” As I sit and unwittingly doubt God’s choices I find myself burning; a slow burn at first, but the crackle of the fire is symbolic of the doubts breaking in my mind. The fire picks up again and I hear the voice. “I am”. Just two small words but it is enough for me to pick up the pen, enough for me to close my eyes and quietly say, “Then I will.” I have no idea was spiritually charged weapon was forged in the fire of my obedience in that moment. But even in that moment the doubt crept in, more subtle but still there and my wrestle with self doubt ever present. Will I always doubt what is God’s voice and what is my own? How can I write an accurate account of the events that have transpired with my human fallible words, when the events themselves are so unexplainable. “God I desire to tell your story but my words are not enough, my words are so small in comparison to the feelings inside of me. And what I have to say is so unbelievable, they won’t believe me.” A pause, a silent (four million year) second passes. “I Am! I Am with you, I have chosen you.” I think again to Moses, all the judgment I passed on him, calling him a fool for questioning God, thinking he was a fool to want to pass on an opportunity to be great as opposed to being an ordinary nobody. I’m not judging now. Now I am asking the questions. Now I am feeling the fire, and although the fire is burning inside of me I find myself at an impasse.



      I have to choose to give him my doubt and fear. I can’t take them with me on this journey. I have to leave them and it’s like leaving a companion, an old friend. But in that moment of surrender I realize that he isn’t leaving me alone, he is giving me new companions in exchange. I will need these new friends more than my awkward misbehaving traits of fear and doubt. The first is Faith: although at first very daunting to look at there is something very assuring in her face. The second is compassion, so very welcoming and my experience has left me needing this friend more now than ever before, this trait will keep my heart from growing hard against others who are living in pain. As I become acquainted with my new friends I realize that I am not morning my old acquaintances. I am equipped and in this moment of wholeness it occurs to me that God never meant for me to be alone in all of this. God designed this very moment of realization where I would see that fear keep you isolated and alone and doubt suppresses your dreams and robs you of security. But it is Faith that banishes loneliness and Compassion that secures your feet in purpose. I put the pen to the paper and it feels good to be free from the fear that had been a captor not a friend. My hands are free from the weights of the chains and can write without being held back. Being free from fear doesn’t mean I am not aware of the cost and the danger of what I am about to do; It just means that I am willing to move forward, knowing the only safe place is under God’s watchful eye.

     The pen hit’s the paper…

     “The events that have taken place as strange as they may seem are as true as the air I breathe. I take great care in writing each detail as accurately as I can and as descriptively as it happened so that you may experience the overwhelming truth, that we only see a part of what goes on around us. May it be said that I recorded what was asked of me by God so that we could know how very active he is in our lives every minute of every day.”

A History... A Stronghold

  

     Most horror stories begin in a poorly lit alley, a lonely road, or a dark wood, or even a pitch black basement; somewhere cold, dark and uninviting. “Do Not Disturb!, Danger!” words that warn a person of impending doom. But is it too strange to conceive that the real terror is not lurking behind a dark corner or walking in the shadows but in it’s arrogance parading about in the light? We think of demons and somehow our mind is trained to see the shadows, the darkness the wretched creatures hidden in their hole. There may be an element of accuracy in that thinking but this record is the account of a very different kind of spirit. A spirit not bound by human expectation and assumption. He walks accustomed to the light and his egotism is unmatched. He is conceited and desires the recognition of his work.



      His work has gone unnoticed until now, always a person getting the blame or the credit for his deeds. He hides in plain sight and until now he has relished in the secrecy of his plans. Thousands of years he has been a ruler. So unfulfilling to play such crafty games with peoples lives and yet go unnoticed as the master of these games. “At least in the pagan days the worshipers came to pay tribute, they always got the name wrong but the intentions were there, oh and how fun to play the role of their pagan Gods. But now all worship is directed at the humans, those stupid creatures, as if they could have devised such meticulously evil plans on their own.” The pride and jealously swells with the stronghold’s body until in outright rage he determines his next moves will not be so hidden, He has all but destroyed the small remnant of people who are willing to fight. More of a nuisance than a threat really. His cautious side wants to remind him that if these few realize the power they possess all of what he has worked towards and planned could crumble. But arrogance has a way of superseding such cautionary thoughts and in that moment it has been decided that his power is above reproach. “Why must I cower in the shadows like an abused animal, I own this land, I go unchecked in all my conquests, who of these unfit, so called warriors of God would dare raise a sword to me. They don’t even know who they are or who they are fighting, they have all but given up. I own this land, I own them. I am the master here.” He has set his foot into the light and for now it does go unchecked, for now the heavenly host watch on with anticipation of that moment when they will be called to fight. But God in his great wisdom will allow this stronghold to swell in his arrogance until there is no possible way to miss this swollen figure with even the smallest stone to the temple. He will fall like Goliath. And the earth will shake for miles around.

      For centuries the Stronghold has sat in the Valley of three significant land marks. His tainted, defiled, corrupt temple consists of three points in a quaint forested area. The Native American tribes in the area have named these three places significantly for the worship and sacrifice they will bring.

     The first a treeless butte to the east named after the Bear: In Cherokee culture bears are sometimes portrayed as violent enemies of humans, some tribes tell stories about monsters resembling man eating bears the size of elephants, which prey upon the innocent unknowing people. Bears can also be a symbol of strength and often healing and medicine is associated with them since bears continue to fight even after being seriously injured, the Native Americans believed that due to this they were magically capable of healing their wounds. (Fitting that in modern society this mentality unknowingly continues with the people who try to self medicate their wounds with drugs, alcohol and other outlets that are at best a poor imitation of the real healing that needs to take place.) Bears where also viewed as a hunter that knew the land. They were quick, big and powerful, and also considered extremely clever; outfighting cougars and wolves. This place of Native worship was a holy place, a place of ritualistic sacrifice.

     The second of these pagan tributes is a mountain to the west named after a ceremonial dance, The Sun Dance: For some tribes it was a territorial display or a claim on the land spiritually, self inflicted injury was sometimes involved and dancing yourself into a state of exhaustion or unconsciousness so that the spirits could bring visions of what they wanted you to do. for most the dance symbolized the miraculous power of healing and life, then followed by a cleansing. These ritualistic dances could last several days and usually followed the cycle of the moon, most held on a full moon.

     The third and most protruding of the three religious marks was the mountain named after a crow right in the middle and slightly jutted to the North was this peak: The crow is an animal known to prey on week lambs or eating dead corpses killed by other animals. Decay and rot is a main coarse for this carrion lover but it is also a thief who steals grain, and sets traps of crumbs for small animals. It is a hunter as well as a scavenger and is one of the most intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom. It has the ability to hunt, to use tools, to count, to set traps, but also is the animal responsible for introducing the West Nile virus to North America.

     The Bear, the Sundance, The Crow. Three peaks protruding up out of the earth to make a spiritually walled area, protective maybe, but more precisely a spiritual Strongholds place of residence and a prison to those who choose to fall into it’s traps. In the early days the unknowing worship of the tribes left this rule over the area completely unchallenged. But this worship was never enough for the ego driven Spirit.

     Evil desired company, something that would not challenge his rank but would delightfully relish in his accomplishments. Greed and Lust perhaps? The twins feed off of each others spoils and are so self centered that they would keep to the refuse of his spoils, like scraps under the table. These mountains are rich with enough silver and gold to entice the brothers to homestead here. Giddy with the idea of all the bloodshed and addictive behaviors that would form over the next few hundred years the Spirit smiled a mischievous smile. And they came, the brothers Lust and Greed, they settled in the mountain village next to the mines. Brothels and capital gains: the busyness, the emptiness, the loneliness. They housed many guests over the years like, Rage, Adultery, Addiction, Selfishness, Gluttony and Jealousy. And many of these spirits left their illegitimate spawn behind to feast on the wreckage. Of these illegitimates the most commonly known of the pack were: Loneliness, Self loathing, Depression, Laziness, Fear and Insecurity. These demons don’t even bother with formal names anymore, the traits of whatever filth they portray becomes the name that they proudly wear. But not the self proclaimed ancient Stronghold, he is not confined by one trait, his thousands of years of experience have earned him more than that. Like a tree trunk with many rings he can recount countless stories of the pain he has stricken on those mere mortals. “Do they really think they can challenge me? Challenge the palace I have built with the bones of their ancestors?” Arrogance grows, He would call himself Master for now, for he is the keeper of the enslaved. He is the Master of the games.

Crash

     A new day and the events that have transpired seem almost unreal. Until now she was under some sort of sugar coated idea of Christianity with moments of perfect clarity here and there, but in this moment all she can smell is the rot, the sores pussy and wet with scabs. That smell is an illusion, a parody of her weary soul but the taste of her own blood from a cut on my upper lip is all too real. As real as the burn of frozen hands, the ache of tired muscles and the throbbing of a forming bruise on her forehead. She must keep walking, she must not stop. Wherever this newfound fight is coming from, it is a place that has been dormant for a very long time. Her mind wandered to the accident, it was better than facing the cold reality of all the pain pent up inside of her. In fact the below zero temperatures that she somehow managed to keep walking through weren’t even that cold.

     This is a war. We don’t fight against flesh and blood but that doesn’t stop the spirit world from trying to blind us into thinking that all of this pain is self inflicted. I had taken it all on me at first and now I see that yes a portion of this is my doing, I have made the choices that have led me here. I sin, I fail, I freely choose the path at my feet, but I was never alone. That Liar, that thief, the one that thinks he pulls all the strings, he thinks he owns my future, he is the unfit companion that led me to this slaughter. That sinister spirit of deceit had plans for me to fall into his trap but to my knees in surrender to God I fall instead. I feel naked, alone, cold and ready for death, but the spirit within me cries out and with one sentence forever changes everything I thought I knew. “You are loved by me, I have not forgotten you.” “God!” I cry out “rescue me, save me, though my life be as miserable as the lowest creature on earth, save me.” The enemy left me for dead, left me for the wild animals to devour as my soul slipped into abyss. He had done all he could with this his unknowing servant and my final act would be for me to die out here alone and afraid. But no, God himself picked me up and set my feet upon the path, it will not be an easy road but I feel him now, I felt him the moment I surrendered, the moment the enemy had all but killed me, for that was his plan; to dispose of his mess. He meant to say “The End”, but in his arrogance he has dug the very grave he will lie in. I will fight and this is not the end, the end of loveless affair with death and destruction, but the beginning of a battle that will end this war. He has in his pride abused a child of God. God will not sit back and watch as the spirit of filth spoils his beloved. He is sending a mighty host of angelic warriors, you dare not even look into those faces lest your eyes be forever lost to blindness. These warriors reflect the very light of the throne of the Father. Until this very moment they in his presence alone have dwelt. These three warriors, each one created for a single purpose: To destroy darkness, to restore his children unto him, and to banish this Stronghold to the very pit of hell.

     And if you think you have not played a part in this unseen battle, it was your prayers oh children of God, Oh saints who unleashed these angelic beings from the heavens, and what is to come is more unbelievable than what has been. The evil spirits that have so greedily indulged on the misery of others are about to choke on what will be their last super. For a new legion is arriving, a new army has been formed, and they will awake fire in the hearts of those whose very purpose it is to fight this fight and battle this Stronghold of ages past. “We are the Chosen. We will not bow our head nor kneel in submission to any but our God. He is coming for his bride. We are this bride, the bride of Christ. The enemy has no claim on us or on those we have been called to love. Come now all who thirst for righteousness and hunger for his presence. God is here with us, Our Emanuel. When he speaks mountains are made, when he moves canyons are forged. Do not be mistaken in this… God will not be mocked, you spirits of profuseness, you slanderous cowards, `you infinitesimal putrescence. You feculence I cannot slay you but my father can and he will destroy you so entirely that your existence will be unmentioned as anything more than the tool that restored me and my house into God’s amazing grace. For I serve the God who was, who is, and who will always be. The scars of your wounds will serve as a reminder of the everlasting love the Father has given us. And this day forward I will live a life completely abandoned to his will.