Yes the trip has finished. A month ago I got lost in the streest of Jerusalem, gave in English lessons in Cambodia and played cricket in India...It feels like a lifetime ago. How quickly one falls back into routine, suddenly to spend an hour with the Lord is so much effort, you struggle to keep focused on your purpose in life...and you slip. You even forget about the times you had, the profound revelations He showed you and the promises you made...
This past month has ben hard. Not because of the people in my life, but because for an instant my eyes were opened, I saw what I so longed for. To walk with God, to hear Him speak, to offer my time and to have Him fill my life completely.
On all these trips we come back into the "real" world, and were phsyced. We want to change this planet, we want bear the fruits and we want to serve. Why then to we slip or forget and turn back to the old? Because we are facing the smartest enemy ever. If I am in a war, something physical, something I can see or feel, I'd fight back. I would not stand and wait for the attacks. But if I am facing an unseen foe, if I am not even aware that I'm in the war, well then, how do I fight back? This is what happens, this is what I face now. We come back to our normal world, and nothing else has changed. Everything has stayed the same. We walk into a comfort zone and suddenly we do not need to pray for a place to sleep. Idol worship isn't as visible, or rather, we have so become accustomed to the idols of this world we do not pray against them? We are bombarded by these idols, attacked and because we are so use to seeing them, serving them we do not fight back. I drive past 3 massive advertisements for strip clubs. Most people I work with cannot wait for bonus time to buy that new car (Yes, the bonusses are massive). Our days are filled with so much of ourselves, that there isn't any time for other people, let alone God. And with all of this, do we engage in battle? Why when walking the streets of Portugal is it so easy to pray for the lost, why when standing inside a Budhist temple is there no hesitation to pray for the power of the Spirit to make known the lies, but when we come to our own backyard we miss all of it.
Our enemy is smart. He has led us to believe that everything is fine. He has cnvinced us that we are fine. War? What war? By having religious freedom in this country he has won many battles for many hearts of men and woman. We read the papers and we think, feel that something isn't right. But we don't know what. And we keep on living the same way we usually do.
In the heart of Johannesburg I find a battleground more dangerous than the one in North-Korea. On this battleground , bullets are flying, mortars all around. But I look at the people and they do not see it. I find myself missing the reality of it. Routine keeps me busy. My own desires, ambitions and dreams keep me from spending time with Him. But the feeling remains, something isn't right here. And this is where I look back. This is when I remember standing in the temple, fighting a spiritual battle, seeing kids with nothing and thanking God for their joy and commitment. This is where I remember the persecution of Christians in foreign countries. And I connect the dots. I pull it back to where we are now.
I'm at war. Against unseen foes. And I engage. And when I start forgetting, losing focus, I look for the signs of recent warfare. They are all around. And once again I engage.
We cannot deny what we once experienced..what we were shown.
Good luck to the guys going leaving SA today...pray for us staying behind.