Tami’s Meandering Thoughts

Coincidence? Hmmm. I wonder…

Last week Tim and my dad took Miriam and Ryan on the annual YFC bike trip. They had a wonderful time. (Well at least my kids did. My father and Tim just keep saying that it was good, but I don’t know if I can truly trust them. How good can it be to ride tandem 40 miles a day for 5 days with an 8 or 11 year old? LOL) When Tim got home he told me about the campfire talks. Their theme revolved around understanding your perspective. Among other things, they touched on the story from 2 Kings when Elisha prays that his servant see the vast army of the Lord’s which was surrounding them (2 Kings 6:17)…

On Sunday, because Tim knew he would be tired from the bike trip and would have had little time to prepare, he arranged with John Dougherty to preach. What did he preach? The reason we have trouble. In his sermon he referred to Job and the discussion going on between God and Satan. Job’s problems actually had nothing to do with his own sin. It was caused because of an unseen discussion going on between powers beyond our world…

Meanwhile, last week I had been reading from Ephesians. Here are three verses which I have since been pondering:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Eph. 2:1-2)

“This grace was given to me [Paul]: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Eph. 3:8-11)

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” (Eph. 3:16)

Let me assure you, although I do believe in the supernatural, I think we need to be careful that we do not walk around scared of it. As in Elisha’s story, God is more powerful than the forces of darkness. And, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). However, these ponderings brought up some interesting insights.

First, as Christians we say that we are filled with the Holy Spirit. That is true. We depend on the Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us and give us wisdom. But what if someone is not a Christian? Is that person devoid of any supernatural influence? Is that person “empty” until he/she becomes filled with the Holy Spirit? The Ephesians 2 verses written above seem to state that those who are not filled with the Holy Spirit do have a supernatural force at work in their lives. Only, it is teaching them disobedience. No, I don’t believe we can “cast out” this supernatural force in a non-believer because each person must willfully accept the Holy Spirit as a substitute for the spirit from the kingdom of the air.

The second observation I made: Now I understand another purpose of Christ coming to earth. He did come to save us (John 3:16). He did come to glorify God (Eph. 2:7). However, the second Ephesians verse written above seems to indicate that he also came to prove to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms that he is wise and had an eternal purpose of saving humanity. Here my imagination begins working… Can you see it? Humanity falls through Adam and Eve’s sin. The rulers and authorities of the supernatural world stand around questioning how God is going to get his creation out of this mess. They do not have all knowledge as God does. So, using the salvation brought by Christ, God raises up his church to prove to those supernatural beings his wisdom, love and power. He uses his salvation of us to reveal to the supernatural world his wisdom. He was not dumbfounded when humanity sinned. Instead, he allowed even the supernatural world to wonder a bit before he showed them his manifold wisdom in his eternal plan. Wow. We, the church, are being used by God to show something to beings beyond our world. That’s amazing.

We do not need to be frightened of the supernatural. However, we should be aware of it. These “coincidences” of the past week reminded me of that.