As I was preparing to speak at the Renewal Breakfast at the Holston Annual Conference last week, the Lord reminded me of an incident that took place a few years ago.  Pam and I were awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of ferocious barking.  I listened for a moment and heard two different dogs whose loud barking was interspersed with growling.

As I followed the sound, I realized that the dogs were on our front porch.  I carefully opened the interior door and peered through the storm door glass expecting to see them fighting one another.  Instead, the dogs were pacing in front of our glider, staring intently underneath the seat, growling, barking and snarling.  I carefully slipped out the door… shoe in hand.  Bending down to look under the glider, I discovered a terrorized little cat pressing itself as close to the wall as it could.

My attention turned back to the dogs.  Wielding my shoe, I yelled “Get out of here” and stomped my foot.  They stopped, looked up at me, took a last look at the cat, and then bolted off the porch.  I then tried to gently coax the petrified cat out from underneath the glider.  After several attempts, it still wouldn’t budge.  So, I went back to bed, disappointed with my lack of success.

As I reflected on the predicament of the cat, I couldn’t help but think of I Peter 5:8 that illustrates our adversary, the devil, as one who prowls around seeking whom he may devour.  The imagery was clear to me: as we seek to step out in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit, sometimes we find ourselves like the cat – faced with two snarling, growling dogs named “Fear” and “Intimidation.”  In his book Breaking Intimidation, John Bevere writes, “The objective of intimidation is to restrain you from action, and coerce or force you into submission.  Intimidation wants to overwhelm you with a sense of inferiority and fear.  Once you’ve retreated into submission, either knowingly or unknowingly, you are a servant of the intimidator.”

I wanted to encourage you today that if you’ve been “the cat under the glider,” there is freedom and release in the name of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us that “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive our thoughts to make them obedient to Christ.”  Fear and intimidation are pretenses that set themselves up against our knowledge of God.  Like the dogs on our porch, the enemy growls and barks lies seeking to restrain us and coerce us into submission.

God’s invitation is to wield the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.  James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us.  “Dogs” of fear and intimidation are driven away as lies are replaced by the Truth of God’s Word.  The Truth is that “God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).  Paul tells us in Romans 8:37 that we are more than conquerors through him who loves us in the face of “all these things.”  In Jesus Christ, you are a powerful conqueror!  

Not only does this apply to us individually, but I also believe it applies to us as we co-labor in Aldersgate Renewal Ministries.  We celebrate that God has fueled courage and boldness to keep in step with the Spirit as we pursue His call to equip individuals and churches to minister to the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.  When we take Spirit-led risks together, fear and intimidation can show up on our porch.  As a ministry, we are seeking to walk in our God-given authority, and to invite the Holy Spirit to expose any areas where we are vulnerable to making decisions under the deceptive influence of those “dogs.”  Let’s agree together praying Psalm 139:23-24 corporately: Search us, O God, and know our hearts; test us and know our anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting.

Now, for the rest of the story.  First thing in the morning after the dog experience, I went to check on the cat.  I was delighted to discover that the cat was gone: free from “Fear” and “Intimidation.”  That experience has been a poignant reminder to be diligent in prayer, attentive to the Holy Spirit and to be faithful to thank God for freeing all of us for joyful obedience to Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.  Hallelujah!

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