Deep, Soulful Places. Elizabeth J Pierce

voice. Throughout the weekend, there were several opportunities for the women to break off alone and reflect on their personal reaction to what was being discussed and to listen to what God was saying to them.

      Sue asked to speak alone with me at the end of the retreat to share what had happened to her with God on the weekend. Sue said she had ended Saturday evening very angry and upset. Her journaling had been filled with reflections of these strong emotions, largely through self-condemning thoughts and feelings. On the Sunday morning, part of the topic included a discussion about how Satan tries to stop us from hearing God, using some pretty “common” negative feelings about ourselves to do so. Sue said that as I listed some of the accusations Satan commonly uses, she found herself being able to relate to every one of them, and more than that—they were the things she had been writing in her journal in anger the night before.

      When she went off on her own on Sunday to listen to God and hear what messages of love He had for her, she found herself flooded with good, warm, loving thoughts about herself that felt completely foreign to the negative self-condemnation that had become the norm for her. She was blown away that once she realized those negative things were lies and that she didn’t have to listen to them, she was able to hear the truth.

      Sue was a little skeptical of the good stuff at first, saying, “I don’t know if that was the Holy Spirit or not,” because she was not used to hearing Him love her in that way. But it didn’t take too long before God affirmed for Sue that of course it was Him. That those words were His truth for her, words He wanted her to accept. And her openness to labelling Satan’s lies as what they were enabled her to hear the love message from God that had been truth all along in her life, if only she’d not been so consumed with condemnation. Sue asked God to tell her the truth about how He felt about her, and He did…because God so loves Sue. Just like He so loves you.

      Chapter Three: Love Means Freedom

      The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

      Isaiah 61:1

      I can still remember a time when I was a little girl and I’d been sent to my room for doing something wrong. I can’t remember what I had done, but I do remember my mom coming into my room afterwards to talk with me about my misbehaviour. I grew up in a Christian home, in a family that attended church a minimum of four different times in a week (three on Sunday and at least once during the week for Bible study), so I was very aware of how important my parents’ faith was to them. In my childish wisdom, I thought perhaps if I spiritualized the situation, my mom might take pity on me and see me as somewhat of a helpless victim of Satan (instead of disobedient) and hopefully lessen my punishment. So when she came into my room to talk with me and asked why I did “it” (whatever “it” was), I looked up at her with my biggest, saddest little girl eyes and said, “Mommy, the devil made me do it!” To which she very sternly responded, “The devil, my foot!”

      I think my understanding of the reality of and theology behind spiritual warfare has grown since then, and that’s what I’ll focus on for the next little while. I realize there are a lot of views on this topic and the degree to which it plays a part in our day-to-day functioning. Ideas that range from complete denial of any spiritual battle going on at all to living in fear of Satan and his schemes. Far be it from me to attempt to suggest that you need to switch to my way of thinking. After all, this is between you and God.

      My worldview on this topic is this: the Bible is very clear—there is a spiritual battle going on, and it is for our freedom. As a result, I will outline what the Bible says about this topic and how I think it impacts us on a day-to-day basis. I will then address how this topic relates to how much we are loved.

      What the Bible Says

      Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” That is one of the clearest verses in the Bible indicating there is a battle going on—not one that is human to human (although, unfortunately, there are many of those also), but one occurring in the spiritual world. This deserves our attention because, I believe, this battle is at the root of so much that gets in the way of our understanding about God’s love for us. This battle is at the root of many of the conflicts we experience with others. It is at the root of so much of what we think is wrong about ourselves. It is at the root of what immobilizes us and makes us feel “less than.”

      As a result, it is very important to talk about this issue of spiritual warfare, because God promises us freedom—and yet countless Christians (many whom are very godly and devoted) are stuck. Immobilized. Prisoners to things we as Christians shouldn’t theoretically be prisoners to. Things you would expect you would be free from when you are bathed in God’s love.

      And that’s because this battle for our freedom is about Satan doing everything in his power to keep us stuck. Everything in his power. His power is way less than God’s, but make no mistake, he’s pretty powerful. The Bible describes him as the ruler of this world (John 12:31). We need to be clear about who our enemy is. Battle Tactics 101 involves understanding who your enemy is so you are armed and prepared for the attack. It’s hard to ready yourself for battle if you don’t know what or whom you are battling. People make whole careers out of studying enemy tactics, because it is critical to the success of a battle. Profiling, for the FBI, CIA, provincial police forces and the Royal Mounted Police, is a crucial component to solving crime. Why? Because when you have a sense of who you are looking for, it makes it a whole lot easier to spot him (or her) and figure out what his next step is so you can stop him. It is wise for us to understand who our enemy is so we can spot him when he is at work. So we don’t unintentionally accept something as truth when it’s really an enemy attack. So we don’t find ourselves imprisoned when we are supposed to be free.

      Our enemy is content to keep us stuck in whatever will best prevent us from feeling or being free. It could be a thought. It could be a behaviour. It could be a situation. It could be in the past. It could be in the present. Because of God’s love, there is no condemnation, but our enemy wants you to think there still is. Because you can’t feel freedom and condemnation at the same time. See how subtle that is? He doesn’t have to get you to commit some major “crime” or “sin”—he just has to make you feel guilty about something or unforgiven. Not good enough. And then he has you.

      Because ultimately, this battle for our freedom exists because of God’s life-changing love for us. Satan knows how powerful it is for you and me to truly understand the depth and breadth of God’s love for us and how it has the capacity to fill those deep, soulful places…so he works very hard to prevent that from happening.

      This isn’t just a theory that makes a good subject for theological debate; it is real life. There is a spiritual battle going on that we are a part of as Christians. Isaiah 61:1 is an Old Testament prophecy of what the Messiah would come to do, later quoted by Jesus in the Gospels (Luke 4:18) as His mission for His time here on earth. Notice what He says—He came to bring release from darkness for the prisoners. Many Christians believe this refers to the act of salvation, that by defeating Satan through His death on the cross Jesus has brought release from darkness for the prisoners. Which is 100 percent true. But this idea of freedom isn’t just about salvation. It is also about sanctification, the process of us being made more and more like Jesus as we grow closer in our relationship to Him, deepen our understanding of who He is, and are changed by His presence in our lives. Our release from darkness is involved in that process as well.

      We are free, from an eternal perspective, as soon as we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross (please see appendix E if you are not clear about what exactly I’m referring to). That salvation is secure, and the Bible says in Romans 8:38–39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing. But if you notice, Isaiah 61:1 (a.k.a. Jesus’ mission on earth) is about more than that. It also says He came to bind up the broken-hearted. He loves us so much that He cares about the hurts in our lives