“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”
Let me change this commonly used phrase into a question: “When the going gets tough, where do you go?”
This has been a common question and theme in not only my own life recently but in the lives of the ones around me as well.
As I was mentioning in one of the last updates, the business never stops here at YWAM in Perth, Australia, and I have found that to be true over these past couple of weeks even more so. Allow me to explain…
So we had a week of teaching on spiritual warfare (week number 5) which was a great week where we learned about the spiritual realm and how very real it actually is. A lot of focus went towards talking about our armour that God gives us to put on.. and the bible clearly talks about us having armour. Our speaker was Dean Sherman (we watched his videos) who made a great point about the fact that we wouldn’t have armour if we weren’t made to use it. I think this is just something so many of us don’t actually consider when we go about living our daily lives; that we are clothed in the armour of God, and we have been given authority by Jesus to make things happen and to even clear out any powers of darkness that might be working.
And it doesn’t even have to be like these big things, they even start really small. An example of something spiritual going on could be this: My sisters and I are eating cookies. We all really enjoy cookies so this is a great day for us. But as we continue eating these cookies, the numbers start to decrease and then there are two cookies left. Now since we all like cookies and there are 3 of us this is not a nice situation. Let’s say Molly says “I want one of the last cookies”, and then Abby says “I want one of the last cookies and then I say “I want one of the last cookies”, there starts to be tension that is created among all three of us.
If you take a step back a little bit you can easily recognize what the “spiritual hold” is in this situation. The spirit of SELFISHNESS or GREED has taken over and has started stirring and rising in each of us the more we say WE want that cookie. Now just as easily as this spirit got hold of us, it can be stopped fairly easily as well. It is a simple strategy called MOVING IN THE OPPOSITE SPIRIT. Now since we have all said we want that cookie, we can’t take what we have already said back. But let’s say Abby recognizes that there is a spirit of greed going on and sees she can respond by moving in the opposite spirit – which is the spirit of SELFLESSNESS or the spirit if GIVING. And then she says “Erika and Molly, you can have the last two cookies”, immediately the spirit of greed has been defeated and can no longer take hold of that situation if we continue to move in the spirit of giving like Abby hypothetically did.
Another example of spiritual warfare is this: There is a brothel (a prostitution house) just down the street from where I am living with my girls. When we walk by there sometimes, we will pray for the spirit of LUST to be broken off of that place. There was a group who did this regularly last year across the street from the building, and crazy enough, the guy in charge actually came out and said “Whatever you guys are doing, you need to stop because I am losing customers”.. so here is a perfect situation of just how powerful we are made and how much authority we have been given by God to do incredible things.
Does this concept of spiritual warfare seem too spiritual or is it practical? I think it seems pretty practical to me, and actually very biblical. And the more we take up authority when we see that there is a situation that didn’t come from God, the more things start to happen. And I have seen this to be true in my own life and in the lives of others as I have made this a regular part of my life. It doesn’t have to be a weird thing, it can just be praying against things when you recognize them because you have authority to do so. It’s pretty cool actually when you think about it.
Week number 6, there was a bit of change in pace. 3 of our students actually developed the chicken pox from 2 of the other students who had it as well… This wouldn’t have been so bad, except for the fact that we had to isolate them from everyone else in a separate building, and bring in DVD’s instead of an actual speaker, and then bring them food because they couldn’t have human contact. It was a pretty busy week let me tell ya. I was running around to and fro and on top of that trying to take care of my other girls and also organize a few things for the weekend because we were taking a class trip down south in Australia. Somehow there was just enough grace to make it through. But like I was mentioning earlier, in these times when the going gets tough, where am I gonna go? Will I get going? Or am I gonna stay? And not only am I just gonna stay, but am I gonna give it my best? That week and weekend really challenged me to continue rising. That I can ALWAYS be stronger, and when I don’t feel like I can stay awake or do something, I just reminded myself that if I do this, I can get stronger from it. It’s almost like exercising. The more you take on the stronger you get, and so I am sort of trying to embrace each little challenge thrown at me as a way of just really showing me my own character and things that can be chipped away at and reshaped, because I can tell you right now, I am so far from perfect it is not even funny. So at the moment, I feel like God is just doing a huge work in me by challenging me to rise even when I feel like I can’t anymore.
Once again I was challenged with that this past week in our lectures and over the weekend. And by the way I am talking a lot about this because I feel like it is a great word to share (not just because I am learning about it, but because it’s something I think all of us can always continue to grow in as we walk with Jesus).
Our base leader named Shirley Brownhill spoke to us this week. Our topic was relationships but we veered off a little bit as she was led by God to do so, and she hit on some great points that almost struck some nerves in me:
-Love is a choice, and since we have chosen to love God, we have chosen to love every person He has created
-There is no holiday; this is really what we are called to do: Love God and love each other. And we do that by---spending TIME with God, spending TIME with each other; TELLING God how great He is, TELLING one another how great they are; SERVING God by DOING the things He asks us to do, and SERVING each other by DOING the things we ask one another to do, and the list goes on and on but these are the big ones where you can really analyze your life and see where you might not be doing some of these, or even see where you are and affirm yourself. I know for me, I had to do a bit of realignment. And it’s all good because it just means more growth when you’re shown things that you can work on, and growth is good… SO good.
-You will ALWAYS have challenge if you have chosen to follow God’s path
-If you’re having a problem with loving the unlovable, that’s actually an unwillingness to love people with His strength, and I am finding more and more it is an issue of our own selves and not with God.
- YOU are a unique expression of God, there is no one like you and you are getting better every day ---- that’s such a cool thing!
-Pray for those that you have trouble dealing with
-It all comes down to choice, and we have the power and ability to bring life or death with the things that we say and the choices that we make --- He has given us that ability!
This was such a great week of teaching. Shirley really laid out so much truth and now it’s just a matter of choosing to go after all of that or not. It has been amazing to see so many of my girls since week one stepping up and running after God like never before. They have been learning so much and not only letting these things sink into their minds, but in their hearts as well, and they have really begun to apply a lot of the concepts we have been learning about in their lives and I have gotten to see such incredible transformation. It has been amazing. Especially with one of my girls who has never really thought she could “hear” God in such a big way, she has started to spend time with Him and read His word, and I am just blown away at what she comes back to me with, as well as the fact that she has started stepping out in boldness in front of the class and praying out loud in our group in moments where it’s not the thing that most people want to do is be courageous. She’s becoming an incredible leader, and not only that but she is really learning what it means to have a relationship with the living God, and because of that SHE is so much more ALIVE in who she is and who the Lord is making her to be. Another testimony is of one of my girls that I am mentoring as well. She actually is from Perth, and so she gets to see her parents quite often, and she said that her mom made a comment to her saying that she is a totally different person.
It’s moments like those where I am just dancing inside because I know that what I am doing is actually so valuable and it’s making a difference in people’s lives. Like I AM BEING USED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. It makes me want to cry because I am so thankful .
On Saturday night we put on a concert.
It was a lot of work to set up and take down… which challenged me again in my wholeheartedness, but at the end of the day it was a blast! Our class was such a riot.. One of their bands played “Here comes the Sun” and then there was one of the students who popped up in the middle of the song with a yellow t-shirt that read “I (heart) SUN”. It was a crack up! And then at the end of the concert I was playing a song (Johnny b goode) with our staff and all of the students were jumping up and down on the stage with us as it was the finale.. and Dan and I wanted to do this cool little thing to spice the song up a little bit. I was on keys and he was playing the guitar and we were planning on running and swapping instruments. So we made eye contact towards the end and I got ready and jumped but I tripped over the light accidentally and I hit the ground on stage. I got up quickly and he placed the guitar in my hands and I looked up and the song had just ended. Oh my goodness.. it was such a scream. It was good though because not many people actually saw my little accident in the back, so it didn’t ruin the song. But other than that our concert was so much fun and I think our audience really enjoyed hearing from musicians from all over the world coming together to make beautiful sounds =)
One other thing I wanted to mention. The things I was talking about earlier about all of this really coming down to the choices that we make. I have seen the power that is at hand when we continually choose God over and over. And when not only one but two, three, four, five people etc. keep choosing God and it catches on and starts to look like the body of Christ. And it is a little glimpse of what the kingdom of God actually looks like. And I can testify, it’s really really a beautiful thing. And obviously I am still working to getting this down in my own life, but I want to encourage anyone reading this that it is something that is actually attainable and possible. And it only takes one person to make that a reality.
So, back to the question I asked myself before… “When the going gets tough, where do I go?”
Well, I have a lot of options. But I know where I want to go, and that is straight into the arms of Christ because He is the only one who enables me to do anything and then tells me how to do it, believing in me always, and He will never let me down.
