Coming into Godâs Kingdom is not without a spiritual battle. As a police officer I was accustomed to dark places and fully trained to confront evil; what I wasnât prepared for was the reality of the darkness in the spiritual realm. That is, until something strange happened. I had just gone to bed one night and was drifting off to sleep when I felt a bone-chilling cold come into my bedroom. It was nothing like I have ever experienced and suddenly I was paralyzed with fear. I tried to get up, but some force was holding me down. As I lay on my back unable to move, I was staring at the ceiling fighting back the panic I felt. In the darkness I saw the shadow of a bony hand reaching down toward my head. I watched in utter terror as this hand physically grabbed my hair. It pulled so hard that my head came up off the pillow. I tried to scream but nothing came outâŚ
You may be asking yourself, Do these things really happen? I can tell you from my own experience and from speaking with other people that the spiritual realm we do not see with our natural eyes is more real than the realm we live in. I was not made aware of this until I was translated out of the kingdom of darkness into Godâs Kingdom of Light. It happened when the blinders that the god of this world puts on us fell off my eyes and I could see the glory of God. When I believed in my heart that Jesus was Godâs Son and he had come to earth to die for my sin, and confessed with my mouth that he was Lord, that supernatural event occurred and I became a newborn spirit being. What was lost in the garden through one manâs rebellion was regained through Jesusâs obedience and ultimate death on the cross. I was now a new creation in right standing with the Creator.
As I entered into this new Kingdom I realized I had an enemy who was out to kill, steal, and destroy my life. The true enemy is Satan, a fallen angel who rebelled against God when he exalted himself and wanted to be worshipped. When God kicked him out of Heaven, a third of the angels followed this renegade angel. These fallen angels, also known as demons, live in the earth realm and torment people with fear and all kinds of evil that we see in our world today, including mental and emotional torture. Since the battle going on for the souls of mankind takes place in the spirit, we have to learn to fight with new weaponsâDivine weapons that God provides.
Godâs Word is a spiritual weapon that we use in prayer to smash warped philosophies and tear down the strongholds erected against the truth of God. The devil doesnât play fair and he uses the power of deception to masquerade himself as an angel of light. He will present lies that seem good are close to the truth–but not quite–to deceive us. If we donât know Jesus, then we are essentially worshiping the creature by default. He plays on our ignorance of Godâs Word and who we were created to be. So why do I share this with you? Because we are living in a time when it is important to have our spiritual eyes opened and an awareness and understanding of the battle that we are in. Depending on what kingdom youâre in will determine the outcome. Itâs time to choose life and the blessing!
(From the chapter, âOut of Darknessâ in the book, Bright Lights, Dark Places)