"I will fight for you; you need only to be still. I know how weary you are, My child. You have been struggling just to keep your head above water, and your strength is running low. Now is the time for you to stop striving and let Me fight for you."
Jesus Today, Sarah Young (2012)
Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still."
Jesus Today, Sarah Young (2012)
Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still."
A Christian friend who has gone through many trials recently said, "I used to pray for strength. But God always answered with tests that increased my strength. Now I don’t pray for strength anymore." Amen, brother!
As the wife of a sex addict, I struggled with the alone-ness of being the only one praying for my husband's healing. I wanted to hand him two aspirin so he would call me in the morning and announce he was healed. It was a burden to think that I should help, but did not know how to wrestle with him. I knew I should be a witness, but had no voice with him. Eventually God made an appearance; it was an epiphany teaching me a lesson I will not forget.
Epiphany, derived from a Greek word meaning "appearance," is a moment of sudden intuitive understanding or flash of insight. Sometimes it refers to the appearance or manifestation of a god. It can also mean the appearance of someone sent by God. In Genesis, Jacob had an epiphany - he saw God face to face and went away changed.[1]
As I became weary of fighting the battle, I began to pray that God would send a fellow Christian, a trained disciple, to confront my husband. I prayed that He would send someone to challenge what my husband was doing to himself and his family. I hoped someone from the Church, a male leader perhaps, would step up and call out the evil. In Genesis 32, Jacob has just learned that Esau is coming towards him with an army of 400 men. The text says that Jacob was "in great fear and distress." [3] Then Jacob went to be alone and ended up wrestling with God all night long. In my own place of fear, I asked God to send someone to wrestle with my husband, to leave him with a limp but also healed, transformed, and equipped for kingdom service.[2] I searched the horizon for a Christian knight to show up on my time table - before it was too late!
Then I attended karate promotion night. In a dojo, the master teacher is called the "Sensei". A "sempei" is a disciple of the master teacher, but one who is ahead of you on the journey of mastering karate. In other words, a "sempei" is a disciple who is also discipling others. On this night of promotion, Sempei Paul, donned in a white gi uniform and black belt, was asked to wrestle a young brown belt for the purpose of testing him for promotion. Sempei Paul was to fight the young man in a way that challenged him to the very edge of his skills, to teach him what it felt like to fight for his life, but at the same time protect him from serious harm. To most observers, it appeared that Sempei Paul was very aggressive and intending to pummel the student, but the karate students present understood that the young man was also being protected by the expert, controlled, fighting skills of Sempei Paul. I have never seen this dynamic in a fight, before or since. It left quite an impression on those of us who witnessed it.
The next morning I prayed that God would quickly send a "Sempei Paul" into my husband's life - someone to aggressively wrestle with him, take him down, teach my husband that he was fighting for his life and family. I begged God to send someone who could show my husband the damage sin was causing in his life. I prayed for a "Sempei Paul" who would not hesitate to challenge my husband, but would also show the protection of God's graceful promotion out of bondage. God was leading me away from thinking that my husband's healing was my responsibility. I was not to be the "Sempei" wrestling to promote him out of bondage.
The next afternoon God sent me an epiphany. I was standing outside the double glass doors of the downtown high rise building where I work, waiting for my husband to meet me. Suddenly, standing at my right hand, was Sempei Paul himself, in the flesh, wearing street clothes. He had come out of the glass doors to stand next to me. With surprise, we recognized and acknowledged each other. Then he crossed the street and was gone. I had never before and have never since seen Sempei Paul downtown. I blinked and then my husband walked up.
The message came to me quietly, slowly: "My child, you are not to fight for his soul. You need only be still." I am the Master and I can send a 'Sempei Paul' into his life whenever I deem the time is right. Now is the time for you to stop striving and let Me fight for you.
As the wife of a sex addict, I struggled with the alone-ness of being the only one praying for my husband's healing. I wanted to hand him two aspirin so he would call me in the morning and announce he was healed. It was a burden to think that I should help, but did not know how to wrestle with him. I knew I should be a witness, but had no voice with him. Eventually God made an appearance; it was an epiphany teaching me a lesson I will not forget.
Epiphany, derived from a Greek word meaning "appearance," is a moment of sudden intuitive understanding or flash of insight. Sometimes it refers to the appearance or manifestation of a god. It can also mean the appearance of someone sent by God. In Genesis, Jacob had an epiphany - he saw God face to face and went away changed.[1]
As I became weary of fighting the battle, I began to pray that God would send a fellow Christian, a trained disciple, to confront my husband. I prayed that He would send someone to challenge what my husband was doing to himself and his family. I hoped someone from the Church, a male leader perhaps, would step up and call out the evil. In Genesis 32, Jacob has just learned that Esau is coming towards him with an army of 400 men. The text says that Jacob was "in great fear and distress." [3] Then Jacob went to be alone and ended up wrestling with God all night long. In my own place of fear, I asked God to send someone to wrestle with my husband, to leave him with a limp but also healed, transformed, and equipped for kingdom service.[2] I searched the horizon for a Christian knight to show up on my time table - before it was too late!
Then I attended karate promotion night. In a dojo, the master teacher is called the "Sensei". A "sempei" is a disciple of the master teacher, but one who is ahead of you on the journey of mastering karate. In other words, a "sempei" is a disciple who is also discipling others. On this night of promotion, Sempei Paul, donned in a white gi uniform and black belt, was asked to wrestle a young brown belt for the purpose of testing him for promotion. Sempei Paul was to fight the young man in a way that challenged him to the very edge of his skills, to teach him what it felt like to fight for his life, but at the same time protect him from serious harm. To most observers, it appeared that Sempei Paul was very aggressive and intending to pummel the student, but the karate students present understood that the young man was also being protected by the expert, controlled, fighting skills of Sempei Paul. I have never seen this dynamic in a fight, before or since. It left quite an impression on those of us who witnessed it.
The next morning I prayed that God would quickly send a "Sempei Paul" into my husband's life - someone to aggressively wrestle with him, take him down, teach my husband that he was fighting for his life and family. I begged God to send someone who could show my husband the damage sin was causing in his life. I prayed for a "Sempei Paul" who would not hesitate to challenge my husband, but would also show the protection of God's graceful promotion out of bondage. God was leading me away from thinking that my husband's healing was my responsibility. I was not to be the "Sempei" wrestling to promote him out of bondage.
The next afternoon God sent me an epiphany. I was standing outside the double glass doors of the downtown high rise building where I work, waiting for my husband to meet me. Suddenly, standing at my right hand, was Sempei Paul himself, in the flesh, wearing street clothes. He had come out of the glass doors to stand next to me. With surprise, we recognized and acknowledged each other. Then he crossed the street and was gone. I had never before and have never since seen Sempei Paul downtown. I blinked and then my husband walked up.
The message came to me quietly, slowly: "My child, you are not to fight for his soul. You need only be still." I am the Master and I can send a 'Sempei Paul' into his life whenever I deem the time is right. Now is the time for you to stop striving and let Me fight for you.
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[1] Gen. 32: 30.
[2] Gen. 32: 4 - 6.
[3] Gen. 32:6-7
[1] Gen. 32: 30.
[2] Gen. 32: 4 - 6.
[3] Gen. 32:6-7
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