Flipping It Upside-Down

Pictures of protests and riots have decorated our newsfeeds for months now, both peaceful protests and rioting, burning, looting protests. Stories of these events have colored the edges of our daily lives as we've continued plodding forward in 2020 - and it's in this context that I started reading the 19th chapter of the book of Acts.

As I've been going through this book, I've also been reading parts of Paul's letters to the particular churches that he visits in his travels, and Paul was in Ephesus today, so I'll get to Ephesians in a minute. In Ephesus, there's a protest riot going on. Sound familiar? Why yes, yes, it does. Demetrius, a silversmith in Ephesus, realized that Paul's preaching was resulting in a loss of revenue for his work, because people weren't buying his idols as much, so he stirred up the people of the city to riot.

I think there's a lot that could be paralleled to current events here: the upheaval and rioting as a result of how our own "idols" are getting tossed aside as Jesus calls for a cleansing of his church, a shaking up, a refinement. I find it especially ironic that Demetrius was a silversmith, because it has always been both a beautiful and painful picture to me of how God "sits as a refiner of silver" over His people (Malachi 3:3), burning away the impurities, waiting until the temperature is just right so that it doesn't get too hot, lest the element be destroyed. It's perfect. God is the perfect Refiner. 

Satan is the great imitator. He wanted to be God, so rather than accept his role as a servant of God, he tried to set himself up as a God-imitator, a cheap, knock-off version of the Creator of the universe, and consequently, got himself tossed out of heaven on his ear. He's been carrying on that role ever since, in every way he possibly can. Here, he worked through Demetrius... the silversmith. Oh, the irony! The irony, the irony, the irony!

Anyway, I jumped over to Ephesians to read some of Paul's letter to them. Granted, I've spent a lot of time in Ephesians 6 lately, in the spiritual armor section. Today, the Lord led me instead to Ephesians 1:17-21: "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come." 

Y'all... wow. Two things:

1.) "...[that God] may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better..." 

In Acts 19, there were 7 sons of Sceva who went around casting out demons in Jesus' name, but who, like Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24) looked for the power, but not the source of that power. One of the demons they tried to cast out finally called their bluff. When the sons of Sceva couldn't back up their power with their true faith in Jesus... the demon beat them up, and they fled. 

Back to Ephesians: "So that..." What is my motivation? What is my motivation when I ask for wisdom and revelation? Is it for power? Or is it to know Him better?! God wants unity with us, we desire unity with Him. To know Him is to be unified with God. 

2.) And then! (Sorry for all the italics/bolds; I just think this is super important) When we know Him... when we are unified with him, He freely gives us that power... the SAME power, y'all, that broke death.

That BROKE. DEATH!!

Again, I have to ask: What is our motivation?!

And then, as I was praying, asking for wisdom and revelation so that I could know Him better, the Lord gave me a powerful picture. He's been leading me to pray for the church in America on a daily basis. He's been showing me how it's hurting, how it has been scattered physically for the most part, but also, how it is growing stronger in unity through its displacement. As He reminded me of these things, here was the picture that came: 

I saw the U.S. laid out like an enormous floor map, and in the center of it was a deep and black crater. The crater took over the entire contiguous states, almost to the borders, where on the edges of map/ground were churches that teetered on the edges of the crater. I was horrified. Honestly, I'm still shaking. I could see it meant devastation, and I prayed for clarity and understanding, because I didn't know what to do with it. 

As I prayed for clarity, the picture flipped (again. This same thing happened a few days back when Jesus showed me a map of the world upside-down). Now the crater was upside-down, and in seeing it upside-down, I realized instead that it was an enormous mountain, and I heard: "The Mountain of God." 

What is the Mountain of God? In the Old Testament, Mt. Horeb is noted in two places as being "the mountain of God." That mountain was where Moses met with God at the "bush that did not burn up," and where he was commissioned with his greatest life-work: leading the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land of Canaan (Exodus 3). It is also the place where Elijah faced earthquake, fire, and wind, and then afterward, met God when he heard the Lord's "still, small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-13). Both stories describe a powerful and poignant "meeting place." I think that can parallel to today: the Mountain of God is a powerful and poignant meeting place where God meets with His people in unity, as He brings us together in one strength, His strength. 

Through this picture, I think God was showing me that the devastation will be real, yes, according to the lens employed by the world. It will look and sound and feel and smell like a terrible impact. But I think God was also saying that He is the King of the upside-down Kingdom! He rode on a donkey instead of a colt; He brings a Kingdom of peace instead of war, He was born in a stable instead of a palace, His servants do not fight with the weapons of this world, but He gives us power to demolish strongholds! He flips our expectations constantly, and the Mountain of God will be the meeting place through the devastation. 

Our focus should not be on what the world sees; God is bringing His kingdom and building it directly under the nose of the enemy, and Satan can't prevail; he can't win, because in spite of his best efforts, his best attempts at destroying the church in America and around the world, God still uses what is happening to bring about His great plan and purpose, and there is no stopping His work! 

"That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come" (Ephesians 1:19b-21). Hallelujah!