The Spiritual Realm

God’s Training Ground: Learning Through Spiritual Lessons

It was time for more training. Research and lessons. God is a master teacher and always prepares us for where we are going if we are willing to listen.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

While this is the absolute truth, these rulers, authorities, and powers of evil were using humans. He was teaching me how to respond and how to use weapons that I had in my arsenal. It is imperative that we keep ourselves, our families, and our spaces spiritually attended.

Recognizing Spiritual Warfare in Everyday Life

I am definitely not an expert on witchcraft. However, the Lord began showing me things. I looked at what he showed me and asked him how to respond. Crystals, crawdads, potions. Sights, sounds, and smells. All meant for evil. Who am I? What was I to do? Why were you showing these to me?

Because I was willing.

I wrote things down. Invited some of my prayer partners to journey with me and waited. Research and lessons for another day.

When Spiritual Attack Meets Physical Reality

I was preparing for a short two-hour flight to visit my mom. I was warned by a prayer partner to be diligent as an attack was coming. Airplanes are a piece of my calling. Therefore, a place of attack. This would be the first of many that I have experienced on airplanes. I thought I was prepared. I thought I recognized it and shut it down. However, it was too late and the damage was done.

I don’t know what the intent was, but I knew as we landed that something was wrong with my ear. Upon returning home, prayer partners and I spent hours praying and asking the Lord to heal it. He chose instead to further train us. It would be a year before my hearing would be fully restored. I do fully believe that what evil meant against me God used for good.

More research and lessons. Grateful for the information, I tucked it all away.

Fasting, Visions, and God’s Preparation for Battle

With a lifestyle of fasting, I often fast out of obedience versus fasting for a particular purpose. Fasting out of obedience simply means that I fast and allow God to do what He wants. I am not necessarily praying and fasting for a particular reason.

This fast occurred in the summer and I found myself with a lot of free time. Intentional to spend that time in prayer and journaling, I sat outside on my back porch looking over the lake and watching the trees sway. It is a favorite and peaceful place for me and God to connect.

It was here that God began giving me a series of visions. A movie if you will, scenes playing out each day building upon the day before. By the end of it, I knew I had been held prisoner. I was a POW. He was teaching me how to respond as a POW. Military training which I have never been exposed to. But why?

It would be years before I realized why. There would come a time when I was spiritually held captive as a POW. As I discerned this, I knew exactly how to respond as God had trained me years before. But at that time, it was just research and lessons. Waiting.

The Call to Be Spiritually Aware and Obedient

Why is this all important? This is the world we live in. Humans who intentionally practice evil are just as intentional about raising their children in their footsteps, grooming them for the lifestyle they lead. We as Christ followers should be just as intentional about raising our children to wholeheartedly serve God. “We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.” Psalm 78:4

The spiritual battle is real, especially when the spiritual realm begins to see what God sees. And they see things long before we do.

Many who claim to be Christians don’t believe in the spiritual realm or in spiritual warfare. If you’re not sure about what scripture says about the spiritual realm, read Ephesians 6.

Verse 12 specifically tells us “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Taking him at his word, there is an unseen realm with mighty powers and evil rulers. To ignore this does not make it any less real.

It is easy to get busy with life, with work and kids. It is easy to see what is right in front of us. This also makes it easy to miss what is in the spiritual realm. While all that is understandable, the spiritual realm does not rest. We must be spiritually present and in tune with the Holy Spirit so that we do not miss what he desires to show and tell us.

We don’t have to know everything. We simply have to listen to the one who does.

Nothing Is Wasted in God’s Training

My experiences push me out of my comfort zone. I fully expect you to be skeptical. Heck, I have friends who have experienced some of my spiritual shenanigans and it blows their mind.

I have given my life to the Lord and desire more than anything to see anything He wants to show me. I desire to be available to him for whatever assignment He wants to give me. This requires training. Research. Availability. And yes, waiting. He has blessed me with the gift of discerning spirits. And I must faithfully remain connected to Him, to the light. I don’t go looking for the dark, but I follow the light wherever He leads me.

Nothing is ever wasted with God even if it is not immediately understood.