Entertaining Angels

I made a new friend. We decided to go on a Holy Spirit adventure, where we would meet up, pray, and follow God's promptings.

And then she got a fever.

Boo.

I suspected it was a spiritual attack fever, the kind that would go away if she stepped out of the house saying, “I won’t let this fever hold me back from having an adventure with the Holy Spirit.” But unsure of the origin and not wanting to sound forceful, I agreed to reschedule.

But Jesus is the best, and maybe this was a Holy Spirit fever. And even if it was a spiritual attack fever, Jesus used it for good.

In the end, I went on my own Holy Spirit adventure. I packed some books and journals and left the house. I drove to a church and sat on the front step and prayed. I couldn’t yet do the actual things of a Holy Spirit adventure, trusting God and taking uncomfortable risks, so I spent time working on myself, trying to work into a place of trust and obedience.

My plan was to complete the steps for spiritual gifts activation:

-Confess all known sins.

-Repent of any remaining sins.

-Trust Christ to forgive those sins.

-Commit every area of my life to the service of my King.

-Yield fully to God.

-Believe Jesus will empower me in new ways and equip me with new gifts (or reequip me) for His ministry.

-Invite Holy Spirit to come on me in power through praying to the Father in Jesus’ Name.

I didn’t get too far through this list before I paused. The barrier was too great. I could not overcome it. Maybe if I prayed with a friend, I could push every hindrance aside, but I was alone, because God was conforming all things to the purpose of his will.

And so I sat there. And I may have cried. And I journaled. And I looked at the blue sky. And I thought about how Captain Marvel just came out on Red Box, and I was dying to see it.

So I went and got it.

And I drove home and locked myself in my room and watched it.

Captain Marvel is the story of a girl living on an alien planet. She thinks she belongs there. She thinks she is loved. She thinks her ‘family’ has given her great and powerful gifts. She thinks they could take these gifts from her if they wished.

But this is all a lie.

In reality, she is trapped by the enemy in a land of bondage, and her powers are being suppressed.

But she’s pretty awesome, even with suppressed powers and hands bound. And she launches off on an adventure to a planet she doesn’t know is her home, to find out what she doesn’t know is her true origin story—she is filled with an all-powerful energy source that cannot be stopped by anything.

Ha!

And that’s me—the most powerful being in the universe (because I am covered in the Blood of the Lamb, filled with the Holy Spirit, and in direct communication with the Father). I was captured and trapped and tampered with until I no longer knew my identity, purpose, or power. I was trained to fight on the wrong side of the war and to obey the Enemy. And then something happened. I realized where my power came from and was released from bondage. I rebelled.

I’m not yet to the end of my story. If I am Captain Marvel, I am somewhere between realizing the enemy is lying and breaking away from the Supreme Intelligence. But as I watched Captain Marvel, I felt the Holy Spirit whispering to me, “This is what I have for you. I made you for power. I made you for freedom.”

It was the right kind of Holy Spirit adventure, the kind where my plans were never the real plan, but Holy Spirit's plans were far greater. 

Things to Pray for:

That I would enjoy reading the Bible.