In the military, especially in units that operate fighter aircraft, there’s something called a “show of force.” This is a tactic that was used a lot in Iraq and Afghanistan early in our military’s operations in those countries. A show of force is when a very maneuverable plane gets low to the ground, goes full throttle, and flies as close as possible past the enemy on the ground.
If you’re on the receiving end, this tactic is not something that will physically affect you; there are no shots fired and there’s typically no ordnance dropped. If you’re unaccustomed to sudden loud noises, though, it’s something that will make you wet your pants. The idea behind a show of forces is simply to make you cower in fear and, at least for a little while, make you stop doing what you were doing while you question your life decisions.
A few years back I experienced a spiritual show of force. I had been working for a few weeks to prepare a talk for a group at church. To use another military analogy, to “red-team” something means to examine your own capabilities/facilities from the perspective of the enemy, taking the opportunity to uncover weaknesses and vulnerabilities. For the talk I had been preparing, I focused on “red-teaming humanity” from the perspective of Satan and his fallen angels. If you’re familiar with C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, it was kind of like that, but delivered in the form of a brief/presentation.
At first I thought it was a cool idea. It was neat to gauge Humanity’s collective spiritual weaknesses. The problem was that to do it effectively, you have to think like you’re a member of the bad guys’ team, and that becomes uncomfortable and even troubling to do for an extended period of time when you have Christ living in you. As the time drew near for me to present the project, I was excited to share what I had prepared, but I was very eager to be done with it.
I know I’m jumping all over the place and mixing metaphors, but I need to throw another one at you. Imagine you’re on a professional football team, and somehow your team gets hold of your opponent’s playbook. You’d be ecstatic, but if the other team found out, they’d do just about anything to keep you from exploiting it. I had put together a brief that was going to show some of the basic strategies from the Devil’s playbook. I even thought “you know, leading up to this brief, it wouldn’t be surprising if I had some sort of experience that was a little outside the norm.”
I had no idea at the time, but I was spot on. Less than a week before I was to give the talk, I experienced the show of force.
I was at a gas station, getting my car inspected. There was a spot inside the gas station where people could hang out while their cars were in the garage. I was sitting there, doing stuff on my phone, when the door opened and someone walked in. I didn’t look up, but I heard a woman start speaking strangely. I assumed two people had walked in, or that she was speaking to someone nearby. There are a lot of weirdos around, so I didn’t look up; I assumed she was speaking to someone she knew. Still looking at my phone, I was surprised when she reached down and touched my arm. I was startled to look up and see her staring down at me with a pretty intense look.
She seemed a little bit like she wasn’t playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean. I don’t even remember what she said next, but I totally blew her off. She walked past me and sat down on a chair behind me.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the whole situation, but as I refocused on whatever I was doing on my phone, I started thinking about some of our pastor’s main themes of his then-current series: don’t stay silent; engage.
I kind of worked my way up to it, then turned to face this woman. I was caught off guard to see that she wasn’t sitting like a normal person. She was sort of sliding off the chair, rigid, with both arms stretched behind her unnaturally and her head tilted far back.
I plowed ahead anyway. I asked her about one of the strange words I remembered her saying. Thus began a bizarre encounter that I don’t even remember very much of. I do remember that without me giving any indication of my spiritual beliefs, she started ripping on Jesus Christ pretty hard. She behaved very unnaturally and aggressively tried to persuade me that Christianity was false and misleading.
This went on for a few minutes, and I can’t even tell you how glad I was when the guy told me that my car was ready. I didn’t even care whether it passed or failed; I popped up out of my seat and started walking his way. The woman suddenly became very adamant about touching my hand. “Let me shake your hand.” I declined, and she extended her hand quite urgently, saying “I need to touch you.” I later recounted these events to my pastor, and when I asked him what that part was all about, he explained that some people believe they can transfer spirits from one person to another by touching. Now, because God only allows demonic forces to go so far, I don’t think that would have been a concern, but let me tell you…I had absolutely no problem skipping out of there without saying a cordial goodbye.
Friends, I don’t know if this has occurred to you, but we’re in a war. There’s a whole lot out there that our senses cannot perceive. Looking at the last 10, 20, or 30 years, it seems like the dark forces are the ones making all the moves and all the noise (has our country moved toward or away from Christianity during that time?). To use another metaphor, imagine there’s a fire that needs to be put out, and that God’s Holy Spirit takes the form of a nearby lake. The water to extinguish that fire is present, but without something the Holy Spirit can fill, a vessel of some sort (Christians), the water does nothing to fight the fire. Please don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that God is powerless without us, but I am saying that He chooses to work through us. When we allow God to work through us, we become that cup, that jug, that bucket, or that fire hose that gets filled with the Holy Spirit and gets to have a front-row seat when God fights the fire. Are you going to be a part of something big when God invites you along to strike at the powers of darkness, or are you going to put your feet up and watch TV?
Here’s part of one of my favorite Bible stories from the Old Testament. When an enemy king and his army tried to attack Israel, God spoke through the prophet Elisha to warn the Israelite king, who was then able to effectively counter the enemy’s moves multiple times. Naturally, this frustrated the enemy king, and he wanted to capture Elisha to increase his chances of success. The most exciting part of the story is the perspective of Elisha’s servant:
One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.” And it was told him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” He sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. -2 Kings 6:12-17
There’s more going on than what you can see. You’re smack dab in the middle of a war. While it’s very important to have a sober respect for the enemy’s power, don’t be put off by a show of force. Ask that God “fill this vessel,” and that you have the boldness to live out your faith and your calling. When you do, there’s no telling how God will use you to fight the enemy’s fire.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. -1 John 4:4