The Awakening
At 4 a.m. this morning, I was awakened by the rapid staccato sound of fireworks. I sat up, got out of bed, and pulled back the curtain. The moon hung in a cloudy sky reflecting her light over the city. As I watched through my bedroom window, the barrage of fireworks commenced yet again—flickering explosions of green, red, purple, & white— lighting up the sky above the sleeping city. Intermittent popping sounds bounced through the night air as the clouds slowly draped themselves across the moon, hiding it completely from my view. The minutes of the next half hour were filled with sounds of pre-dawn fireworks, flashes of light, and the distant, echoing sound of barking dogs throughout the city.
The Battle
My city— the city that has adopted me and the one I call home— is the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. Every year on the 29th day of September, the residents of San Miguel celebrate the Alborada, a festival to honor the city’s patron saint—-Michael Archangel. The fireworks that woke me out of my sleep this September morning, are a reminder of the heavenly battle that the archangel Michael fought in heaven against Lucifer, the fallen, rebellious one, the enemy of God.
In truth, there is a spiritual battle raging around us. Sadly, almost always, we are unaware.
We work. We study. We sleep. We eat, play, celebrate, cry, prepare food, rock babies, chase dreams… and live out our lives totally oblivious to the war; a war invisible to humans, but one that rages in the spiritual realm.
Angels are around us; unseen mighty ones working for God, carrying out His will.
Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Psalm 103:20
The Victory
I know how the story ends.
I’ve read the Book.
God is the ultimate victor in this war. He continues to fight for you and me, because He is Love.
As I stood by the window this early morning, my mind recalled the verses in Revelation 12:7-12 that foretell the victorious battle.
The pop-pop-popping ceases. Long slivers of smoke slowly drift southward leaving behind a hazy trail underneath the cloudy sky. The city rolls over from her brief interrupted sleep to reclaim another hour or two of rest before the morning workday starts to hum.
Wrapped in the quietness, I wait for the clouds to part, longing for the moon to show her face again. Before returning to bed, I pray a silent prayer thanking God for the early morning reminder that He is fighting for us. The victory belongs to our LORD!
Revelation 12:7-12 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”