“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” ~Ephesians
6:12
This verse came to mind many
times while we were out at the abortion mill this past Friday morning. It often
felt like we were wrestling against
flesh and blood (especially the bouncers/“security” people this particular day),
but this verse was a good reminder that we were not. Just as we who follow
Jesus are vessels for His Spirit, so those who do not follow him are vessels
for the enemy. It is not ultimately the people that we are fighting against,
but rather the spirit within them. In the same way, they are not fighting
against us but the Spirit within us, the Spirit of God.
As the temperatures climbed
into the 90’s throughout the morning, it gave me much opportunity to think
about why we were out there. If we
were out there for ourselves, I would have left while it was still cooler. For
that matter, I would never have gone to begin with. So why do we go? To put it
simply, because our Lord has commanded us to.
I also thought about how we
were out there because we cared about the women and other people going in, and
yet the majority of them do not care how much effort we put forth for them. It
made me wonder how many times I do not see how much others are sacrificing for
my good. Sobering thought.
Some changes have been taking
place at the mill that we were at on Friday, and it was easy to see that the father
of death (aka Satan) is afraid. For one thing, there was a lot of open mockery from
the bouncers, especially at the beginning of the morning. If you have ever had
someone repeat everything you say in a mimicking way, while laughing, you will
understand how very tiring that can be. (It was a good opportunity to practice
ignoring unwanted and extraneous noise, something that every child in a large
family has to learn! :) The Lord kept reminding me that my joy and strength
comes from Him!
To give you a little glimpse
into what we deal with all of the time on the sidewalks, here is part of an
encounter that I overheard (after a pro-lifer had stopped a vehicle that was
driving in):
(Some initial
conversation and then:)
Pro-lifer: “Do
you know that God says that it is wrong to murder?”
Woman: “Yeah.”
Pro-lifer: “Do
you know that if you have an abortion you will be murdering your child?”
Woman: “I know,
I know . . . uh . . . my father is a preacher.”
Pro-lifer: “Your father is
a preacher!”
Woman: Smiling sheepishly, “Uh,
yes . . .”
Pro-lifer: “Then what are
you doing here?”
Woman: “Well . . . I just
can’t have this baby right now.”
(More conversation and then:)
Pro-lifer: “Have you ever
had an abortion before?”
Woman: “Yeah, one.”
Pro-lifer: “Well, then you
know that you don’t want to have another one.”
Woman: “Well . . . I just
can’t have this baby right now.”
Pro-lifer: “Why not?”
Woman: “I – I can’t. I just have
to have an abortion right now.”
(At that moment the bouncer
came up and the conversation was broken up.)
We did not see a lot of what
we would call fruit from our morning on the sidewalk, but we know that the Lord’s
Word went forth and it will not return void. One thing that was encouraging was
that a lady who had come for an abortion the previous week but turned away (although
she was still uncertain about her decision) came back for an ultrasound on the
mobile ultrasound RV that is out there and decided for certain that she was
going to keep her baby!
I want to leave you with two
very important questions that we posed many times to abortion-bound fathers and
mothers and I want you to answer them for yourself. Whether or not you have
thought about them before and whether or not you think you have an answer for
them already, please take some time to think about them. Don’t settle for what
you have been taught is the “right” answer. Instead, think about what is true.
After you answer them, please consider if the answers should have any effect on
your life and if they should, take action.
When does human life begin?
When is it right to kill a human?
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