Today I am going to share another camp story. This one is different than the rest in that this was something we dwelt with all summer. For some, it may be a challenging story to read. Please read this post with a sense of seriousness.
The story I am going to tell you revolves around the topic of spiritual warfare.
Before I begin, I would like to first define what spiritual warfare is. The short definition is: Spiritual warfare is the very real battle that goes on between good and evil.
Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
Bluntly put: As long as God exists and Christians actively seek to serve Him, evil will exist. Satan is against anyone who is for God and he will use any means (people, circumstances, our weaknesses, our emotions, etc.) against us to detour us from serving God.
The primary purpose of man is to bring glory to God and those who pursue that frustrate the Devil's ploys. Revelation 20 talks about how God will ultimately, at the end of time as we know it, win against the Devil. Good will overcome evil and God gets the last word. However, while we live in a fallen world, where God is not worshiped by all and where Satan has some degree of power, we have to fight against spiritual warfare.
I have always had a strong belief that spiritual warfare existed, but never had I seen it as evidently as I did this summer.
Prior to campers arriving in Copperhill, we had a set up week. Each day we would work long hours to prepare for campers to arrive the following week. Our camp is one of the largest TEAMeffort camps and hence we had an awesome opportunity to be a light to hundreds of campers and show them Jesus.
One night we were up late at the chapel practicing songs and getting the media all set up. It got to be about ten o' clock and some of us decided to wrap it up and call it a night.
I volunteered to go to the tool shed that was nearby to put something away. Due to it being dark and I being unfamiliar with the area, I ended up going the wrong way and wandering around a bit before I realized that I had gone the opposite direction of the tool shed. I found the tool shed and put what I needed away and headed back to the chapel.
Once back at the chapel, about half of the staff loaded into one of the cars to go back up to the house. The other staff stayed behind to finish wrapping up a few things. I was in the car headed back up to the house.
We got only a little ways down the trail when we realized we had forgotten something. The driver went to back the car up and as we were doing so, the entire back half of the car collapsed. It was like the ground had been pulled out from underneath us.
When we got out of the car (very carefully) to see what had happened, we saw that the car had fallen into a gigantic sink hole. The back half of the car was completely in the hole and the front end was sticking up on the edge.
The entire time, all of us staff were pretty shaken. I was shaken, but it had little to do with having been in the car when we fell into the sink hole. Where we had fallen in was the same ground I had walked on earlier when I got lost. What is more, the minute before we fell in, I had this sense of intense evil around us. That feeling only intensified when I got out of the car.
We ended walking back up to the house because there was nothing we could do about the car that night. The entire time, I was shaking. I could feel the presence of evil so vividly that it scared me. I started to pray.
James 4:7 says that when we resist the Devil, he will flee. Ephesians 6:13 talks of us putting the armor of God in order to resist the Devil. Luke 10:19 says that God has given us authority over the Devil because of Christ within us. 1 John 5:4 says that our faith has overcome the world (and Satan is a very real part of this world). 1 Timothy 1:18-19 talks of Paul commanding Timothy to "wage the good warfare." Finally 1 Timothy 6:12 commands us to "fight the good fight."
I believe that one of the biggest weapons against spiritual warfare that we have is prayer. All night and into the early hours of the morning I prayed. Around four a.m. I finally felt that the battle had been won for the time being and that I could rest. It was then that I slept.
That was probably the biggest example of spiritual warfare that I experienced all summer, but it certainly was not the only experience. All summer the Devil tried to frustrate, cause tensions, interrupt, and destroy. Some days it felt like he was winning. Ultimately though, I can look back and see how God ALWAYS had the final word.
God had the victory.
God showed up and showed off.
God was and is always faithful!
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