OtherSide

I'm standing on the edge of a cliff, looking across a chasm. There far side is an alien world populated by things I cannot see, but I know somewhere inside me that they're just there and I know what they look like. The distance between these two places isn't really so great; it overlaps without us even knowing. We live dipped in this spirit-world, but most are oblivious to it.

If we knew the physical, real, immediate, power of our prayers... I doubt we'd ever stop praying. I catch glimpses with some inner eye of the way our prayers change that other world; the warriors of light who patrol some streets by day. This power we can never underestimate, because it's the one power the enemy can never weaken. It's our access to the hand of God, and we should realise this and push ourselves to pray for all things in the Kingdom.

I wonder, too, what people would say if they saw the horrors some of our warriors face daily. I dread to think what real leaders face, but I have slashed my way through my own share of opposition with a flaming sword. The things we fight are horrors that latch onto people and feed off them. Most people don't understand this, and walk around with things hanging off them, sucking the life out of them.

Living in awareness of that unseen world on top of our own, I can fully understand that we are warriors sent to set free the prisoners. We should be battle hardened veterans, able to train and defend and attack. So many Christians walk around today with evil still feeding on them, it makes me sick. We were made to save this world, yet so many refuse to save themselves! If only they could see what I see, they would probably be sick in disgust at the creatures eating their lives.

I am an awakened warrior in a war for the future of this world, and for the sake of my king I will fight with every breath left in me... I invite you all to do the same.

The Weight of Heaven

I've noticed one thing that sets apart great (and by great I mean timeless classics, not authors who are just popular now) Christian writers in their literature: it is the almost tangible feeling of the Kingdom to come. I'm not even sure if great men even live entirely in this world. I wouldn't call myself qualified to judge this, but certainly the more I grow the more present and immediate this feeling becomes.

The feeling is like one of a weight sitting on the front of my mind, refocusing everything constantly. It is a glorious weight, something that covers me and I feel literally oozes from me at times. Do those who truly change this world live for and in that other place? People with an eternal perspective are both the most admirable and the most puzzling people you will ever meet. An eternal perspective will appear blind to the problems facing dreams, while being so lucid in the details that seem insignificant - if I am set on eternity, then even the most catastrophic life event will merely slow me down as I learn to adapt. Conversely, even the greatest success I will brush off lightly, because I know where my real treasure and promise lies.

Though this feeling is strong in my life, I need more of it. I need to see God's face, read God's word, hear the Spirit's conviction of my actions. I have to become better at being an ambassador of Christ - because that is really where our life goals should be at. So Lord, let me see your face and let my life reflect your glory!

Things To Come

It seems the further I walk in my Christian life, the more I learn how little I know. How does one come to grips with the imminent, almost haunting glory of eternity? We are strange creatures - part flesh and part spirit, wholly fallen and wholly redeemed. We live in the now-but-not-yet: we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and exiles at the same time. Our spirits fly toward that blessed kingdom, and yet our bodies - our earthly tents - keep us from it. So then, what do our spirits see that our eyes cannot? Have you ever listened?

I stand upon a shining beach, and a golden sea stretches out before me. It is a sea of pure glory, in some parts raging and in some parts calm, but all more beautiful than any earthly sight. I long to jump in, to immerse myself in the glow of eternity, to swim like a creature made to give words to the praise that sea demands! An exultant eternity at the foot of God's throne - a completion of everything in me and an overflow too powerful to describe.

When haunted by such visions, is it even possible to see present circumstances as worrying? Can I respond with anything less than my whole life? My passion pushes me to such heights that I wonder why more Christians don't burn out trying to save the world - there can be no selfishness confronted by such visions. My own life stands bare and unfulfilled by these criteria, and I rage at myself every day for opportunities missed and life wasted!

I must learn to put eternity before me, to think fast and react faster, to flood glory and love into this world, to return this world to the purpose it was created for! Lord help me, before the tension of your promise burns me up!

Sunday

I can hear the bands playing in the distance - the beat of drums and muted screams. Chicken is on... the brass is starting. And I sit here in my tent. Why? I haven't a clue. I sit here and feel like crying.I'm not sad, not tired, not disappointed and not stressed. What is wrong with me then? Is it a flaw in who I am?

Who am I? I am the man too passionate to stop and too determined to back down. In the absence of any gifting or ability, this detrmination makes me an achiever of whatever I set my mind to. It is my awareness of my lack of gifting and ability that drives me to God so hard daily for the things I can't do - and there will always be so many of these.

Why am I here? I'm here to reproduce my faith in the "one world" generation - the children of the digital age who cross age, race, nationality, religion and social taboos in a few keystrokes. These kids can be some of the most potent missionaries the world has ever seen, because they live in a world of global compatriotism. Such men and women can cross cultural and distance barriers effortlessly to communicate what they believe and to stand up for the pain of their international friends.

Now how do I give these kids vision? How do I explain to them that they can be the ones? I suppose they don't even realise they care yet...