As we grow into maturity as "Sons of God," we learn a process of spiritual warfare from a higher perspective. We leave the "commanding and demanding" behind. Sons of God are more than Christians. They learn to step beyond the veil into intimacy with Yahweh in order to understand every situation from His perspective. This involves checking our own ideas, paradigms, religious teachings, and expectations at the door. When we function from that place of intimacy and love IN Christ, our perspective changes. Through the process of maturity, we get to practice the process. That often comes with tests along the way. How we respond to those tests determines our level of maturity.
We are in the midst of the COVID-19 lock down. People have lost jobs, many tempers are hot, and others are doing some pretty stupid stuff. That spells it out in a nutshell. We see this throughout the world as well as in our families and neighborhoods. How do we function in and through this? As Sons of God, we start by cleaning up the messes in our personal lives first. When headway is underway in that department, our sphere of influence then expands to our families, and eventually to those around us. We gain more responsibility in larger arenas as we develop a more intimate relationship with Yahweh, working from within (our hearts). That then resonates outwards where our interactions and relationships with those around us are affected by the love of Yahweh that we carry from the center of our being - that place of rest IN Christ where we function from His love. How we function through His love is our "behavior barometer.”
Image by user "geralt" in Pixabay
Since I began to understand a bit more in how to deal with things from my position of being IN Christ on my seat of rest, my main focus for several years has been on myself and dealing with negative triggers and personal junk that keeps me from moving forward. What's gone on in my neighborhood hasn't been my focus. That being said, It's been pretty wild around here since the lock down for COVID-19 began in March of 2020. Can you say "party central?" That should give you a visual, especially if you've ever lived on a college campus and survived the weekend craziness. My current neighborhood seems to be full of "college wannabes" who believe partying is the answer to life problems. Moving right along...
In the middle of June (2020), the neighbor across the street (I'll call "Jay") came home from work already extremely drunk. A party was underway down the street that involved another two homes. I was out gardening and watched Jay stumble down the street towards the other houses while yelling at the top of his lungs. I heard Yahweh say "Pay attention." So, I stayed outside and continued to plant flowers. About an hour later, a yelling match started between Jay and another neighbor, also across from me. Something within me rose up as I ran over to them knowing in my gut that if this wasn't stopped, there would be bloodshed. I stood between both men, facing the non-drunk neighbor (I'll call Aaron). Jay was calling Aaron some pretty ugly names. That fired up Aaron and they started to duke it out. Keep in mind, I'm still standing between them. At the same time, a group of people at Party Central stood in the street hoping for a good brawl as they cheered Jay on for the win. Another non-drunk neighbor (I'll call Bobby) came over to assist. Long story short, I was able to get Aaron to back down while Bobby worked with Jay. The entire time, I focused on releasing a frequency of peace over our neighborhood. By this time, I'd had enough of the mayhem! And, I knew it was the right time to get involved.
After the main fight was over, I got out one of my flags and stood in the middle of the street worshiping and singing in tongues while focusing on releasing God's peace and love up and down our street. I then wandered down to the group that was still gathered at Party Central. One guy was mad that I'd yelled at them to shut up as they encouraged the fight. I looked him straight in the eye and said "I'm sorry that I personally told you to shut up. Will you forgive me?" He stammered around a bit and then didn't say another word the entire time I stood with them. I began to change the topic away from the fight by asking them questions about themselves. I remained jovial, calm, and was a bit silly at times. My goal was to change the atmosphere.
Image by user jplenio in Pixabay
Let's fast forward a bit... The police did get involved and came to see me the next day, especially since I was the only person who was directly involved throughout the entire incident, beginning to end. Those at Party Central yelled some pretty horrific things towards Aaron for several weeks prior to this incident, trying to incite a fight. When they finally got their wish, it was too much of a joy to watch. After my discussion with the police, many things came out in the open. Those at Party Central got a rude awakening. There's a video of the entire incident, which is now in the hands of our local sheriff. Hmm.... this might make people think twice about "verbal vomiting."
My goal in this? I want the love of God and His peace to be prevalent in my neighborhood but... I can't control the behavior of others. What I can control is my own behavior and what I RELEASE in my sphere of influence There had to be strategy. Some of that came as I stepped into the situation and more came later. Eventually, I wrote a letter to all participants and viewers of this event outlining the truth behind the accusations they continued to hurl at Aaron. In the letter, I provided the facts behind their accusations towards Aaron and encouraged us to work together as neighbors. With that letter, I delivered a pot of flowers that I'd released God's love and peace into. How did I do that? Matter carries the memory of what it comes into contact with. Remember prayer cloths from the New Testament? As we pray over things and release our intent into them, our prayers, decrees, and declarations are then released to those who receive those items. The night of the incident, I released worship in the middle of my street in the very area where the conflict took place. Party Central probably got a good kick out of that but I didn't care.
As we begin to mature into Sonship, opportunities present themselves in the form of tests and trials. I was directly involved in spiritual warfare during this incident but not in the traditional manner that we've been taught for years. We can release love, peace, joy, kindness and other attributes of God's character into every situation surrounding us. Anything of a stronger frequency overrides those of a lower frequency. We call that "entrainment." Entraining forces the negative stuff to come under the authority of stronger frequencies such as love, peace, joy, etc. When we focus on releasing God's love and peace, fear and its cousins can't join the party! This is truly spiritual warfare at its best directly from the heart of Yahweh!
Just so you know, I've never done anything like this before. I don't jump into the middle of fights (uh... I'm a woman...), especially between two men - one of them being beyond drunk. What we do must come from the heart of Yahweh. As we are seated in that place of rest IN Christ, we CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Time will tell as I continue to foster the attitude of love and peace to those around me as I step into my authority of who I am in Christ. The same will be true for you, too. In this situation, I'm fostering a neighborly atmosphere by demonstrating God's love for my neighbors as Yahweh shows me what to do and how to do it. I love Mr. Roger's question, "Won't you be my neighbor?"
What did I learn from this? As I mature in Sonship, I'm given opportunities to affect the atmosphere around me. Did I pass the test? I believe that I did. In the midst of the fighting, I honored the two men. I didn't take one side over the other and simply tried to help them understand that what they were doing wasn't helping. Had there been bloodshed, someone would have gone to jail. The group watching? I'm not sure the one guy had ever heard anyone ask for forgiveness. That completely stymied him to the point he didn't utter another word! I took this opportunity to see the situation through Yahweh's eyes. Two years ago, I probably would have behaved differently. Now, I need to continually nurture and demonstrate what I've released. That's the practice part!
Let's spread a little joy, peace, and love to those around us!
Del
June 2020