You can’t do it alone.

This is one of the biggest spiritual realities in life.  We need each other to make life work.  We are dooming ourselves to failure when we try to do it alone.  We are made to be in connection, in community, with one another.

Nowhere is this more true than when we face spiritual battles around us.  If it’s true that God made us for community and relationship, it is equally true that Satan will do whatever he can to convince us that it is better, more noble, and easier, to go it alone.

A few days ago, it was clear that my ten-year old son was getting sick.  He wasn’t eating as much and his stomach was bothering him.  I had already put him to bed for the night, hoping he would get a good night’s rest and feel like going to school the next morning.  But not long after I tucked him in, he came downstairs.  It was clear that he was feeling even worse.  He looked pale, and from feeling his forehead it was obvious that he had a fever.  What was worse, his stomach was doing somersaults, and at that point, I knew where we were headed.  And as a single parent, there was no one else I could pass this off on.

I’m pretty sure you don’t want me to get into the details of his illness, but let’s just say he lost most of the contents of his stomach that evening, and on into the night.  If you are a parent, you know that these are not the most rewarding moments of your parenting life.  But taking care of a sick kid is just what you do – part of the job description, so to speak.  So I was there, offering him a cup of water, a cold washcloth, and a thermometer.   I was there for him, to give him some comfort, and let him know he was not alone.  It’s not a heroic act – it’s just what families do for each other.

Whether we are fighting physical battles like illness, or preparing ourselves for battles that will take their toll emotionally and spiritually, this is a profound truth – we need each other.  Why do you think Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs?  So that one could support the other when the ministry conflict got too overwhelming.  So that one could pray for the other in times of distress.  Because Jesus knew there was power in community.

In my middle grade action/adventure fiction novel Spirit Fighter, Jonah discovers that he needs others to help him.  Even though he and his sister have not always seen eye-to-eye, he realizes that if they are going to rescue their mother from the evil clutches of Abaddon and his evil horde, they will have to do it by relying on each other.

Just last night, I began to feel lousy.  I wasn’t hungry, I felt tired, and my stomach was upset.  My son had gotten over his sickness, but apparently he had passed it on to me.  Ugh…I knew what was coming.

Like my son, I ended up on the floor in the bathroom, with a regretfully-empty stomach.  As I sat alone on the cold hardwood, trying to regain control, I heard a light rap on the door.  At first I ignored it, but it came again, and I finally stood up on wobbly legs to see which child needed what.  (Parenting never stops.)  But there stood my ten-year old son, with a cup of cold water in hand, asking if I was okay.  I couldn’t help but smile at him as I took it, and he proceeded to find the thermometer, rinse it off in the sink, and pop it in my mouth.

Taking care of each other.  Living life together.   Walking with one another through difficult things.  That is what family does.  Both in our blood families, and with our spiritual brothers and sisters, all around us.

This article also appears in the September issue of Christian Online Fiction Magazine.

The following also appears in the June edition of Christian Fiction Online Magazine here.

Spirit Fighter Recon:  Tips from the field for helping kids fight the spiritual battle

1.    An invisible, spiritual realm exists.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  -Ephesians 6:12, NIV

As I sat down outside my favorite local coffee shop with a spiral notebook in hand, ready to jot down some notes and outline this blog entry (yes, I still use what I believe they used to call ‘pen and paper’ occasionally), a gust of wind scuttled through the patio, which was fitted in the narrow space between two brick buildings.  It almost blew the notebook off the metal table, and my drink onto the pavement.  I slapped my hand down on the pages quickly, and rescued my precious beverage from almost-certain peril, and was reminded once again of the reality that compels me to write:

There is an invisible world that exists, and in that world, a battle is raging.

My book, Spirit Fighter, is about this one enormous idea – that life is about more than just what we see.  That there is a world, behind the world, as if you could reach out your hand and poke a hole in the landscape in front of you, peel it back, and expose this invisible land.

If this sounds a little out there, consider this – it is impossible to read the Scriptures and come away with a different understanding of the world than this.  The Bible is full of wonderful stories about how life is about more than what we can see with our eyes, and touch with our hands.  Full of stories about an invisible God making Himself known to us.

And yet, we – and our kids – tend to live as if all that exists is what is right in front of us.  Often we give little thought to the place where the important, life-changing things are happening.

In Spirit Fighter lingo, this place is called the Hidden Realm.

Jonah and Eliza, being part angel, are able to physically see this place, even enter into it – and with amazement and horror, their eyes are opened to the battle raging.

We don’t have this ability (we would jump at the chance to have it, but I’m doubtful as to whether we’d really like it) – but we do have the capacity to sense it.  It’s like the wind.  We can’t see it, but there are times when we can feel its presence.  We can feel it rushing around us.  These are the times in life when we are overwhelmed with the sense that there is something more.  More to life.  More that hangs in the balance.  It often whispers in our ear, “Your heart is right, there really is more to all of this.”

Jesus confirms the existence of this spiritual world, over and over again.  In fact, he speaks with the authority of One who has been there and seen it.

In short, He has perspective.

My goal with Spirit Fighter – and with this post, and those that follow – is to challenge you to have a new perspective.  To adopt the view that says that 90% of life is actually being played out behind the scenes.  And because of this, even the little things in our lives matter.  Decisions we make can impact not only this world, but the other.

And by the way, if this is true, which world is more real, anyway?  The one we can see, smell, and touch, or the spiritual realm?  Does that sound like an idea right out of the movie The Matrix?  Not really.  It’s a much older concept, gleaned from the pages of the Scriptures themselves.

Which world are you living in?  Are you living in light of the reality of the Hidden Realm, or only in what you can see with your eyes?  Do your kids know that a spiritual world exists?  If you’ve neglected it, consider the possibility that the most important things happening in your life just might be invisible right now.

And for those of you who find your hearts longing more and more for this world Jesus spoke of, know that one day, you too will be able to look behind the curtain, and really see.

 “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”

-Jesus, in Matthew 10:26, NIV