Last night Aaron, my 11 year old, had a nightmare.  In summary he dreamed that we were in a war but it was not bloody or gory.  The weapons were bow and arrows and swords.  Though the world was in danger most people were not aware a battle was going on. He, our family and many others were being attacked by a mob that had the bow and arrows. Aaron was afraid. We only had dull swords that did not seem to cut anything.  But when he would swing the sword through the opponent’s body they would turn into something different, a new person who became a “good guy.”  The battle was intense. At times the “good guys” thought they were winning and then the “bad guys” would return in supernatural numbers.  The good guys were losing the battle and decided to send Aaron off to the mountains to get a new strategy. In the mountains he found a huge book. The book was huge and required five to carry it.  From the mountain top they opened the book and held it up.  A bright light shined down on the battle field and there was a red cross in the middle of the light.  Our injured were healed and the battle was won. 

Aaron’s dream was another reminder to me that we are indeed in a war.  Throughout scripture we are taught that the enemy will always come after the leader’s family.  I was also reminded of this in a blog today by Pastor Perry Noble.  www.PerryNoble.com  Here is a summary of his post…

“In Matthew 10:34-39 Jesus clearly tells those He has called and gifted your life is not going to be one of relaxation and enjoyment on a consistent basis. 

It amazes me the number of times Jesus clearly told people in the Gospels that following would cause controversies and divisions.  It you want a nice, quiet, peaceful life; the ministry is not a place for that.  We will experience family problems, we will experience emotional problems, and we will experience spiritual warfare on a magnitude that most people cannot identify with.

When we begin to do effective ministry the target on our backs for every demon in Hell to take a shot at gets larger and larger so if peace, prosperity and niceness is something we achieve to, ministry should not be the road we go down. 

Jesus never promised us a peaceful life this side of eternity.  In fact, He promised the opposite.  We should not be surprised when all hell breaks loose…because it usually means the stage is being set for God to show how AWESOME He really is.” 

What has been your experience with spiritual warfare? 

We will continue with this topic ‘Ministry Ain’t For Sissies” tomorrow.