My Narrow Escape From Certain Death…

We live in a war zone. (Ephesians 6:11)

It’s impossible to live very long… unscathed.

Our enemy is unseen and his foot soldiers abound.

His chief weapon is deception, motivated by hate.

His hiding place is darkness.

The wounds he delivers can be absolutely debilitating.

The more you want to live for God, and make something of your life, the stronger the resistance, and at times, the more futile our struggle seems.

That is,…

Until you learn how to fight the good fight… (1 Timothy 6:12)

Where your chief weapon is truth, (Ephesians 6:17) motivated by love. (Galatians 5:6)

Our hiding place is the secret place, (Psalm 91:1) where God wraps Himself in light like a garment (Psalm 104:2)

It is there we take hold of the weapons of our warfare, which are not physical, but mighty in God, meant to destroy the strongholds and arguments that stand in opposition to God, His work and His plan for your life. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

Our enemy knows that God has a plan for your life and a destiny for you to fulfill. And he knows that long before you do.

Not because he can predict the future, but rather because God fashioned you in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:19) to become a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3)

It is evident to our adversary that you are God’s workmanship, (Eph 2:10) made in His image, bearing His likeness, (Genesis 1:26) and were created for good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in. (Ephesians 2:10)

And because our battle is with unseen forces that wage war in the realm of our imaginations, using enough truth to be plausible, and enough deception to lure us into destruction, we must learn to fight with the sword of the Spirit.

I contend that the sword we must pick up and wield in life, on the job and in business has three immutable aspects most Christians miss.

As a result, they go into battle blindfolded with their sword still in its sheath and they shadow box instead, shouting at an adversary they cannot see.

We know the adversary uses deception. And he fills people with lies that they believe. No amount of yelling at the devil, or praying, will deliver those people who are held captive by that deception, which by the way, they are now using against you.

It takes the sword of the SPIRIT with its three characteristics, skillfully wielded by one who has been trained in the Word to release them.

Hebrews 4:12 gives us those three characteristics which correspond to the three elements Solomon most frequently referenced.

1. The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, is first of all LIVING.

It is not some dead letter collecting dust on the book shelf.

This corresponds to what Solomon called, UNDERSTANDING.

It’s the ability to enter the same battlefield of the imagination where the adversary loves to wreak havoc, paint dark pictures and predict dire outcomes for your life.

When used skillfully, UNDERSTANDING can set the captive free, even if you’re the captive. As Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18, that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened, that you would know what is the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in you!

UNDERSTANDING awakens the “want to” in people.

Let me illustrate with the story of my first flight – in a car that should have left me and my friend dead, but instead became the doorway to eternal life…

I was 17, when a friend and I drove from Vancouver, Canada to Calgary, Alberta to go to a party. It was my first party. And it was my last.

Heading home the next morning in the predawn hours, I took over the driving responsibilities, having sobered up after discovering experientially for the first time, the powerful and destructive effects of drinking alcohol like it was water.

As my friend settled into his seat and drifted off to sleep, I decided that I needed to be more comfortable as well.

I reclined my seat for maximum comfort, and put my foot to the gas pedal for maximum velocity in my mothers, low power Toyota. (It was a long drive and I wanted to get home quickly!)

As we were crossing the continental divide in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, on that early, cloud shrouded morning in August of 1973, a blink, followed by slower blinks eventually turned into a nap, and I fell sound asleep – WHILE DRIVING!

Crossing the oncoming lane on the Trans Canada highway, I awoke with the rumble of the tires crossing the shoulder on the far side of the highway.

I quickly hit the brakes, but it was too late. We were airborne at a speed the RCMP estimated at about 85 mph.

As we soared through the air down the mountain side with tree tops silently witnessing this strange phenomenon of a flying car going past, I realized, this was the first time I had ever flown!

The beauty and the silence of that moment ended abruptly as gravity won the battle with my car and threw us down on the rocks, nose first.

We bounced the rest of the way down the mountainside, end over end, over end. No seatbelts. We were like dice in a can, being violently shaken. I thought it would never stop.

But it did.

When the car finally came to a rest, we were upside down with all the windows knocked out.

We crawled out of the demolished vehicle and hid behind a rock, waiting for it to explode like we had seen in many a movie.

But it didn’t.

My friend had a cut above his eye and on his chin. I had no cuts. No broken bones. Not even a bruise!

On the 400-mile bus ride home, a man sat beside me and told me God must have a plan for my life.

I was repulsed by the thought of religion, but inwardly, my heart was lassoed by the thought that God might actually know me and have a work for me to do.

The eyes of my understanding were being awakened and opened to the reality of the “hope of His calling”.

My friend who had been in the car with me, adamantly preached to me that religion was a crock and there was nothing to all this talk about being born again.

To prove his point, he told me to go into my bedroom at home, get on my knees, confess my sins to God and ask Jesus to come into my heart. “You’ll find out!” he said. He assured me nothing would happen, because Jesus wasn’t real and God didn’t care.

And as if to doubly prove his point, he urged me to “above all, be sincere!” He was certain, I would be disappointed like he had apparently been.

I did exactly as my friend had instructed, fully expecting nothing. In fact, I had never heard there was something to expect. And indeed, nothing happened.

Not until I got to the part about being sincere. And then, in my own words, I truly asked God’s forgiveness and asked Him to do whatever it was He did.

What happened next took me totally by surprise as a 45 gallon drum of joy, flooded my soul. Tears were streaming down my face but I was indescribably happy. Something supernatural had happened and I had no idea what it meant.

I ran to the back deck of our house because I had an overwhelming, inexplicable desire to get in water, and the pool was the ideal place.

Thing is, we didn’t have a pool. Never had one.

So, I ran back in the house to the bathroom and started to fill the bathtub, but it was taking too long. So I filled the sink and then dunked my head in the sink and used my hand like a cup, drenching my head over and over again, having no idea what I was really doing, or why.

I had never heard of water baptism, but there I was doing it anyway, to myself.

When God says His word is like a sword that is LIVING, it truly is very much alive and does the work of UNDERSTANDING in our hearts.

The power of UNDERSTANDING cannot be overstated and by the way, is a most effective form of business communication.

With it, I have led many to Jesus and accomplished things in business that leading, high paid professionals and so-called experts were unable to do.

This email has gotten longer than I intended, so I will continue this in my next email which will also be posted on my blog.

You don’t want to miss the other two characteristics of the sword of the Spirit and their application to life, as revealed by Solomon.

So I’m going to close out this email with an invitation to attend a very special LIVE webinar next Thursday on August 25th at 8 PM Eastern where I will be pulling back the veil on 101 secrets God has given me over the last 40 years.

Spoiler Alert: I put them all in a 4 book series called, God’s Best Kept Secrets which you can order now from me at a 40% discount from the price on Amazon. Check that out HERE.

But I want to invite you to come to the webinar anyway where I can share face to face with you not only what God has shared with me, but what it could mean for you!

And in case you’re wondering, there will NOT be a pitch for some expensive program. You will learn however, how anyone getting God’s Best Kept Secrets at a 40% discount, qualifies them to invest $1 dollar more and get on a path to change the trajectory of their life forever.

Interested?

Register Below and keep a look out for my next email as I share with you the hidden meaning of the three characteristics of the sword of the Spirit.