Pastor Aaron Brown

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.’” – Zechariah 4:6

The spirit realm, and spiritual warfare, are very real… I’ll be the first to admit that there are natural things that happen in this world that a lot of people claim are supernatural, and I won’t go around looking for angels and demons under every rock… However, my study of the Bible, other religions, and my own personal experience have proven to me that there are greater things at play in this world than chance and choice. Tonight we had one of those experiences…

Today our family had felt natural tensions growing all day, and we had used natural means to solve problems and reconcile relationships. All of a sudden, in a matter of about ten minutes, two huge things happened that were completely out of our control, and all the relationships and communication in our house fell apart. We were so dazed and confused, and it just felt like spiritual opposition. This made sense to me because the next day was my first day back at our church teaching about the identity of God. Of course things would fall apart at home the night before we reengaged our ministry commitments!

I had to react to a potentially dangerous situation, but I honestly felt like both of the things that we were facing were beyond my own ability to address. Emily and the kids stopped to pray… They prayed for provision, protection, and power. They bound the enemy and they asked for what we needed. As soon as they prayed, both situations resolve themselves almost immediately. On one hand, a pretty trivial home utility was recovered (you try raising kids these days without the ability to stream shows!), but on the other hand, a potentially life-threatening situation was revealed to be a big miscommunication. One of our children literally gasped out loud when the second issue was resolved. Like, prayer really works! We asked God to resolve. these issues that were beyond out control, and He did. It was so cool for our kids to see, and interact with, the power of God firsthand.

God is not a cosmic vending machine, so not every prayer I pray is answered the way I want it to be. Sometimes though, we come up against situations completely out of our control… in those times, we who follow Jesus rely on the protection and power of Holy Spirit where our natural resources and strength fail. I’ve been at this faith thing long enough to be confident that God is real, that he is good, and that he desires to be in a relationship with humanity. Most times that I turn to him I either receive an external provision or a personal transformation, and I end up wondering why I didn’t do it sooner! He loves to interact with us and meet our needs. I’m still working out my own faith, but it’s pretty cool to step out to interact with God and to feel him move in power.

What if we turned to God first every time we encountered a situation that was out of our control? I’ve learned that not only does He provide, but when I depend on Him my faith and trust in Him grows with every interaction. He likes showing up for His kids!

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” – Jesus, John 14:13‭-‬17