Perseverance – Day 30- Evil

If you are a daily reader of my blog, I apologize for leaving you “hanging” from my Shout blog two days ago.

In the post I noted that a personal, faith-deepening event took place through a dream I experienced.  The dream took place after falling asleep from exhaustion after begging God, in a very emotional way, for an answer to why my best childhood friend had taken his life.

So here is the short version of the dream…

I’m walking down an alley with a brick wall very close to the right side of my body.  I wasn’t looking ahead nor was I looking up, down or to my left.  All I noticed was a solid brick wall to my right.

While walking, the wall began to rise and within a few seconds I noticed the wall was nothing but a very thin curtain made out of flimsy fabric.  The curtain certainly had me fooled as I swear it was a sturdy brick wall.

Finally, as the wall/curtain had been raised above eye level, I noticed a pit.  Not just any pit but a pit that looked, smelled, and felt like evil and hell.  It was so hellish, it is virtually impossible for me to put into words what I saw.  

The bottom line is, I saw hell and it was horrible.  In essence God had revealed evil to me in that dream and He let me know evil was and is very real.

What does all of this have to do with my buddy taking his life and me deepening my faith?

First of all, I believe God answered my questions about why my friend had taken his life.  In my dream He was showing me how real evil is and how close it is to all of us.  Evil had convinced him that life was no longer worth living. And although evil thought it had won, I knew better as My friend had the love of Christ in him.  He had shared this fact with me a year or so earlier.  R.I.P. my dear friend, you are in a better place.

Why did this dream deepen my faith?  You may have noticed most of my posts about perseverance have God tied to them.  Our biggest battles in life are battles against evil.  The adversary tries his best to get our thoughts to live in the world of negativity, scarcity, emptiness and darkness.

The “curtain” that separates good and evil is God and our faith in Him.  Our best chance at persevering through the trials of life is by walking with a God who will help us stand up and resist the games of the evil one.  This doesn’t happen just by hoping and praying for God to help us.

If we work hard on our faith walk, and try our best to walk the walk, the “curtain” becomes a solid brick wall and deflects the adversary’s attempts at bringing us down.

If we are casual about our faith walk, and simply talk the talk, the “curtain” is a flimsy piece of fabric the adversary can penetrate at will.

How sturdy is your “curtain?”  Is it made of fabric or brick?

The scary part for me is I know my “curtain” can turn from brick to fabric pretty quickly if I’m not disciplined in my faith walk.

Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com