Ice Hockey Christianity

My aunt always refers to Satan as ‘ol Slewfoot, and when she counteracts his attacks she declares, “Checkmate, Slewfoot!” I always laugh because it is such a funny name and such a confident way of stating victory in Christ.
I’m not too sure where the name for Slewfoot came from, but I’m almost convinced the act of slew-footing in ice hockey is based on Satan’s deceptive practices! (Pity about the ice problem).

To slew-foot in ice hockey means a player uses his leg to take someone off balance from behind by sweeping the back of their knee, in order to kick an opponent’s feet from under him – which tends to result in injury because the victim falls really hard and often hits his head. It is considered the dirtiest cheap shot a hockey player can do – because it is unexpected and sneaky!

Christians, in a way, are ice hockey players – except we have more victory than worldly players having the power in Christ to prevent us from falling on that ice.

So important about this infraction is that it is only considered slew-footing when the player is sneakily approached from the back. I had recently shared the revelation God had given me concerning my dad’s salvation and how Satan attacks from the back – sneaky, cowardly and cheap. Our hockey uniform is the armour of God. We are to put on our armour daily (Eph 6:11).

Every soldier needs solid footing. The Roman soldiers had spikes under their shoes so that it gave good grip and kept them stable during war. The good news of peace is what gives us our footing. We already have that peace in Jesus (Acts 10:36) – only doubt from the enemy takes it away. As soon as we doubt, take offense, dwell in condemnation or guilt our heads hit the icy floor and we are swarmed with confusion. The spirit of fear takes over and we are no longer operating with a sound mind.
We also stand on solid ground – Christ, the Rock of our salvation. With legs of marble supporting and bearing us up (Song of Sol 5:15), we will not slip or lose our balance (Psalms 18:36)

Slew-footing tends to be used by smaller, weaker players to gain advantage on the stronger players – this makes it easier for them to get the puck. Isn’t that typically Satan? The one who has already lost the game, but will try by all means to drive us off our path and bring us to sit on the loser’s bench with him.

One way a ‘slew-footer’ gets the victim to fall on the ice, is by dragging the skate with his hockey stick. Goliath’s spear had rope on it and the rope was attached to Goliath’s wrist. The purpose of this was once he hit his enemy he could drag that victim back to himself. So once wounded, he could not get away. If those fiery darts hit us, do we stay still on the cold ice wounded by offenses and hard trials, or do we get back up and fight back with our own hockey stick – our sword, which is the Word of God! (Eph 6:17)

When slew-footing happens, match penalties are assessed by the referee. Jesus Christ is our mediator, our referee (1 Tim 2:5). He will bind up our wounds (Psalms 147:3) and place Satan on suspension!

Praying for salvation – the charcoal breastplate

I have been praying and fasting for my dad’s salvation. He just does not believe. When we ask him if he believes that Jesus died on a cross for our sins, his response is “I dunno. It’s just a mystery.” But when you try to explain “the mystery” he does not want to hear it. All he says is that he thinks Buddhism is quite interesting because they are peaceful people. He also has a lot of intellectual strongholds that keep him from seeing the true beauty and simplicity of Jesus and His finished work at the Cross.

But this is why I love fasting. It’s extremely difficult at times but provides so much revelation into what you are praying for!

When I would pray for my dad I would see/picture him with this weird charcoal looking thing covering his whole chest. I did not think anything of it because I thought it was just my mind conjuring up images while I prayed.

But it happened every single time I would pray for him. Eventually I said, “Lord, is this my imagination? Why do I keep picturing my dad with that weird charcoal cover over his whole chest?”

I actually never expected an answer, but immediately He answered and said, “Just as I have provided you with a breastplate of righteousness, so does Satan have his own ‘protection’. The charcoal you see is the covering he has placed over your dad to prevent him from receiving My gospel. Look at 2 Corinthians 10:4 – the word for stronghold there is the same as ‘fortress’. Satan has his own fortresses just like I do. That charcoal breastplate is your dad’s fortress so that nothing of Me can get in.”

Looking at the verse He showed me it says “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”. Mind blowing right!! I just got this awesome picture of how He truly reigns on His throne. He sees everything and is in control of everything.
So I said, almost to myself, “Oh ok, this is brilliant! I would think Satan would make sure to cover him around his entire body – his back is left completely open from what I see.”

Guess what He said… 

Wait for it…

God is so cool…

 “Cowards attack from the back.”

 Ha! I actually laughed. I can’t get over this conversation! What an eye opener to praying for someone’s salvation! So while my dad is “protected” from receiving the gospel from the front, Satan can keep attacking him from the back, with beliefs in Buddhism, mysteries, intellectualism etc. From what I sensed, that charcoal breastplate is very thick -so there is a lot more fasting and praying that will have to be done!

But God is so exciting!!!
It just amazes me how the Creator of Heaven and earth can come down to my puny little level and give me a glimpse of what is going on spiritually to make my prayers more effective.

God, you are GREAT! There is just no word to describe Your excellence!!

Standing in the gap

Standing in the gap intrigues me – it is an awesome revelation of God’s will for us to extend grace and help to others in times of need. The dictionary defines standing in the gap as “to expose one’s self for the protection of something; to make defense against any assailing danger; to take the place of a fallen defender or supporter”. Satan will try look for any vulnerability to prey on, so standing in a person’s gap by praying and interceding helps lift them up out of that vulnerability.

The most remarkable story on standing in the gap was from one of my favourite Christian authors. She had a patient in hospital who was suffering from excruciating back pain and increasing his medication dose would not have been wise due to the dose he was already on. Her compassion made her pray to God and asked if she could stand in the gap for him so that he could have some relief in his back. She forgot about the prayer. The following day, as she stood up from her chair, she pulled her back out. In her agony she asked the Lord, “Lord, what just happened to my back?” He responded, “You asked Me to allow you to stand in the gap for your patient. This is it.” And He showed her Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In addition to prayer, God allowed her to take on some of the pain so that her patient would experience some relief and his healing could come quicker! She still stressed the importance of not accepting the illness but praying against it while standing in the gap. Intercede is from the Latin word ‘to come between.’ So as you intercede, you are standing between God and man and intervening by praying. Ezekiel 22:30 said that God actively looks throughout the earth for those who will stand in the gap. We are not to demand from God that you stand in the gap this way, but to ask if it is His will first.

Looking at Exodus 4:24-26, we see how the Lord was about to kill Moses. However, Zipporah interceded for Moses by circumcising their son and touching Moses’ feet with the blood saying, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” And the Lord let him go.

My daughter suffers from allergies. The wind just blows and she gets runny noses and coughs. As she is a TOFS child, they are prone to be chesty kids, so any allergy she gets runs the risk of turning into a respiratory chest infection, which then runs the risk of hospitalisation! This happens on a monthly basis. It is excruciatingly worrying to see so much medication passing through that tiny little body.

I have never suffered from allergies in my entire life.
In March I prayed and asked the Lord for mercy – to allow me stand in the gap for Jordan that I may take on some of her illness and allergy attacks to lessen the burden on her body and so that it would not develop into a chest infection, if it was His will. I left it in His hands.
I kid you not – since March I have developed strong allergies that have turned into chest infections twice! Jordan on the other hand, has only had a slight runny nose and small cough. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
During this time of affliction, I have prayed against the illnesses and taken authority over them in Jesus name, refusing to accept them in my body. I have also taken communion during this time for Jordan’s healing.
Does this not fit in with the dictionary definition above of to take the place of a fallen defender; exposing myself for the protection of something; defending her against danger?
For mercy triumphs over judgment, does it not? (James 2:13). Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us shows us clearly that He places the value of mercy over judgment.

Dear Reader, do you think this is something you will ask the Holy Spirit for direction on, to use for your family and friends?

Does God protect the unsaved?

My husband suffers with aches and pains in his left knee, hip and back from time to time, especially when it’s cold. And if you press your hand to his left knee you can feel a large screw jutting out. That’s because in 2005 he had a traumatic bike accident on one of the fastest superbikes in the world. A traffic cop had decided to sit in the middle of the highway. To this day, he has not provided a reasonable explanation as to why he did that. Okay, my husband was not totally blameless – he was breaking the speed limit by going 300km per hour!

When he noticed the cop in the road he only had 2 choices – smash into him and die or drop the bike and hope not to die. He dropped the bike at 300kph and skid along the highway. He skid so fast that his shoes flung to the opposite side of the highway! He broke his knee and his entire left calf muscle had ripped open. The surgeons had to really stretch the skin to get that wound closed. He had internal bleeding and a massive hematoma on the side of his hip that they had to use a 6 inch syringe to suck out all the blood every few hours. The doctors don’t understand why he lived. They said there was no way a human should have survived that accident.

My husband was not saved at the time.
But he told me a few weeks after the accident that just before he dropped his bike, he prayed for God to put his armour on. He said, “I asked God to put that armour on that you’re always talking about.”

I truly am a walking ambassador for the armour in Ephesians 6. When I first learnt of it as a child that it exists, and works, I was blown away! I am just enamored by it! I just think it is the most incredible blessing God has given us to operate on this messy earth. Really something out of this world. So I’m always talking about it! I should have a mug that reads “So this one time when I put my armour on…” 🙂 

But any way what is my point?

1. I have always found that speaking of God’s awesome power and telling people my testimonies inclines an ear more than “Bible-bashing” of “you must, you will”. Humans never like a lecture, but they do like a story. Yes you must absolutely always find an opportunity to spread the gospel, but I find this way works for me, as the Holy Spirit prompts. I bring the message of salvation in this way a lot of the time.
2. My husband was not saved at that time. Did God help him? I don’t doubt that for a second! But does God help and protect the unsaved?
   Was it because my husband believed Jesus exists, even though he had not made the commitment yet, and believed that there is such a thing as spiritual armour that he was protected? Was that faith as a little child therefore honoured? (Matt 18:3)
   Did God honour the husband because the wife was saved?
   In God’s foreknowledge, knowing my husband would one day come to Him, protect him because of that?

Since that incident I have always wondered about the protection of the unsaved. I would like to know your thoughts!

How the armour of God stopped a gun in my face

This was a living nightmare I will never forget. I don’t think anyone would.

One dark night in 2003, just before I moved to the States, my friend Wendy and I had planned to go out with some friends. We were all dressed up and off we went, she was driving. The plan was to fetch her new boyfriend first and go on from there. On the highway, twenty minutes from his house I got this terrible fear over me. Out of nowhere. This fear was taunting me about arriving at Luke’s house.

“Listen Wendy, when we get there, just tell him to get into the car and drive off. No chatting. Something doesn’t feel right.”

Lord, please protect us.

There was nothing sinister going on. The stars were out, the highway was clear. But this horrible sense of foreboding would not leave me. I tried not to harp on about it because people love to call me paranoid.

What is it about evil always operating under the cover of darkness? Gee, spiritual warfare would be much less scary in broad daylight!

We enter his neighbourhood and by now I’m frantically looking around and again I say, “Let’s just make this quick please, don’t stop for too long.” Fear has this wonderful power of paralyzing you – in hindsight I should have taken authority over this fear and commanded any demons associated with it to flee. If I had, would the horror have not happened?

Wendy parks right by his house. And then the fear washed over me like a tidal wave. I just felt it. I said “Wendy! Just tell him to hurry so we can go!!” As I said that, I turned around and looked behind – this car had screeched up behind us and four men started running toward our car. I knew it. Every South African’s worst nightmare. I’m being hijacked.

Both physical and spiritual instinct kicked in. I turned around to face the front, and as if I did not want to see or hear anything, I shut my eyes and blocked my ears. Funny thing how the Lord protected my mind here. I’m a scaredy-cat, I really am. Always have been. I have had to cling onto 2 Tim 1:7 many times in my life. But when I saw the men running towards us, I saw them in brightly coloured t-shirts and surfer shorts! Reds, yellows, green. Not the pitch black outfits that Wendy and Luke told me was what they were actually wearing! God gives such small but powerful mercies – perhaps if I saw all the black I would have freaked out completely and not concentrated on prayer!

As I turned to face the front, all I managed to spurt out was “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” over and over. I immediately asked that God place His armour over me. Christians often think that you need to ask for the armour on bended knee in a fancy pose of prayer. No. It is a simple, “Father, please place Your armour on me.” And it lasts 24 hours, so every morning when you wake up you can ask for it. I love and adore the armour! I find it fascinating! Just the thought that God has given us this magnificent protective gift for free is amazing! Here we are, little humans running around the earth and have this armour to place on us right off Heaven’s doorstep! What a great God we serve! What an honour!

As he opened my door, all I saw was a gun pointing directly to my eyes. Looking down the barrel of a gun is hideous. I put my face back into my hands and carried on rebuking him. I ensured to pray out loud and also asked that God send His angels to surround us.

It was the loudest silence I had ever heard.

I never once stopped praying out loud. I never once saw his face.

My cell phone was sitting by my feet and my bag was on my lap. I must have for a split second glanced at Wendy because I remember her removing all her jewelry. Besides praying, the one thought that ran through my mind was rape. I continued praying out loud. He sat down next to me. And he just sat there. I would have loved to have seen the expression on his face, because he literally just sat there. He never touched me, he never stole a thing. He just sat next to me with this huge gun in his hand staring at me. I often think what went through his mind. Did God open his spiritual eyes so that he could see the armour or guardian angel protecting me? Was he convicted hearing the name of Jesus come out of my mouth?

At this time they had pushed Luke out of the car and onto the floor. I did not witness this but Wendy said Luke was lying on the floor while the one gunman stood at his feet and took a shot. The bullet landed a meter away from Luke! A three year old would have been successful with that shot being so close! I know why he missed, and so do you…

They had already taken the car keys away from Wendy – clearly their idea was to shoot Luke and drive away with us to a remote place, rape us then take the car. No one was around. We were all alone. Except for an army of angels. I know that without a doubt. I wish God had opened my spiritual eyes then because I know I would have seen angels all around us! What a sight!

After taking that shot something scared them and they all fled as fast as they approached us.

I was the only one not stolen from, hurt or touched in that attempted hijacking. I was the only saved Christian in that car. Coincidence? I think not!

Even though there was a human being sitting next to me with a gun, I was not wrestling with him, but the demons that accompanied him! (Eph 6:12) Always make an effort to put your armour on daily – God has not provided it for us so that we only look dressed to kill in the spiritual realm. The armour works! It is provided by God Almighty Himself for our protection and to fight! It helped me withstand that evil day, and after the whole episode, I was left standing! (Eph 6:13) He had a gun, but I had a sword (Eph 6:17). Don’t ever worry that your attacker or persecutor can’t see your armour and weapon. Have faith that it is there, (Eph 6:16) that’s all you need. God takes care of the rest.