Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:16-18

Over the past several months I feel as though the Lord has been sharing some insights into the Spiritual Realm regarding, authority, marriage and belief that most people are unaware of in our day and age. This post is meant mostly for those who work in ministry, but can apply generally to married life.

This all began when I saw a video from people who are very knowledgeable – that anyone can deliver anyone just by virtue of their baptism.  

I internally recoiled at this statement.  As a person who has worked in deliverance ministry and know the seriousness of it, I just didn’t agree with this statement but I needed to pray to sort out why. They made a compelling argument and I am not a schooled as the people in the video were, so I asked the Lord what was my internal recoil about and why I didn’t agree.

They based their statement on the verse from Mark 16 above. It seems pretty clear. Believe and be baptized and you can do all these things. As I pondered all these things, I felt the Lord begin to speak to me, first about order and authority and then about belief.

As I spoke to the Lord about all of this He had me look back on my life.  As many of you know I went through extreme suffering in caring for my parents. During that time, I also had issues with children that I won’t go into because it is not my story to tell, but theirs. Suffice it to say, at the time it seemed like a living hell. I also knew my marriage needed strengthening.

This is where authority and permission and the strengthening of my marriage came into play. The Lord made me to understand that as a married person my very first vocation is to help get my husband to heaven (and vice versa for him).  While I intellectually knew this, the Lord was moving this from my head to my heart. Secondary to getting my husband to heaven is to get my children to heaven.  Any ministry work comes 3^rd in order behind those two.  If I do not get this in proper order, I will answer for it at my judgment.  I can give 1000 retreats and talks, I can teach hundreds of OCIA classes – but I may still end up in purgatory and maybe in hell if I do not get my first vocation correct.  Order matters in the spiritual realm.  I have to answer to God about how I poured into my spouse the charity that God asks when the covenant of marriage is entered into.  I have failed a lot.  I had such a worldly perspective and not a Godly one. The world pits spouses against one another, God unites them and fortifies the bond. Thank God for his mercy.  

He showed me that when this gets out of order, there is an open door for the enemy to attack the weakest link.  Meaning, if the one strong in faith is working in ministry, the one who is weaker in faith may get attacked if this order isn’t followed.  The prayers of protection and against retaliation that are prayed were efficacious in the sense that I was protected because the Lord made me aware of what was happening in my family – but the attack still happened because of an open door of disorder.  Demons are legalists and they are smart; they know where they have permission to go based on the rules.  Because I was made aware I was able to reorient myself properly to the first vocation.  Or rather, I should say, the Lord forced me to stay home (because of my parents) and be where my first call is. I had to, for a time, set ministry aside and deal with all the things in front of me in my own family rather than running off to grab the next spiritual consolation.  I had to choose love inside my family, in the domestic church, rather than looking for consolation outside.  Ministry felt so good and I would run to it, but I was avoiding some serious issues at home.  God allowed me to get worn out so he could reorient me to the purpose he had for me.  He actually did this because he loves me and he wants to turn me into love.

I feel the Lord went on to say that a spouse can work in ministry even if the other spouse does not – but the spouse who wants to work in ministry should be asking permission of the other spouse because of the protection of authority it affords.  This is not to say that I have to ask my husband permission for everything I do, but it is now my practice that anytime I work in something new in deliverance, or take on a new task, I ask my spouse first, and in turn, he consults me on big decisions.  I also think it is important that my children are older and that this not be done (especially by a woman) who has small children (specifically deliverance).  The children need to be well formed in order that they do not become the weakest link susceptible to every attack.  It does them no good if I am schooled in all the things of the Lord but have left them behind at home for the world to teach them. The Lord was gracious to me and rescued my kids even in the disorder.  Well-formed children who have relationship with God build up the castle walls in the domestic church.  A family that is faithful is a real powerhouse.

This brings me to the next point and to the idea of authority.  I have also started to notice that many who work in ministry – their spouses have left.  It’s a lot of people proportionally as a percentage.  And this is where it gets hard for the modern woman and man.  I do not mean this as a judgment on any divorcee, and I want to be really clear, I am not saying it is their fault if their spouse left.  I am saying demons are smart, and they know the rules of the spiritual realm even if we do not.  They know how to steal, kill and destroy.   Destroying families is Satan’s specialty. Spousal permission matters and if a spouse doesn’t give it, the one who wants to do ministry should wait for the Lord to work and let the Holy Spirit guide, instead of grasping for what is wanted, even if the thing wanted is a good spiritual thing.  Most people I know don’t even think of consulting their spouse before they say yes to something.  I know I didn’t for a long time.  But if the desire is to keep the marriage intact – spouses should be on the same page by asking permission.  God acts faster in the obedience than we could ever force on our own. 

The example of this is what I saw Dr. Scott Hahn do with his wife Kimberly Hahn.  He asked her permission to become Catholic.  She gave it to him, even though it hurt her heart, and the Lord brought her to where she needed to be, and her husband respected her as his spouse.  I feel like the Lord showed me that if a spouse is perhaps unequally yoked, instead of forging ahead in ministry, that spouse should be praying for the other spouse and wait for the Lord to act, which postpones ministry plans and all the good consolations that may be experienced working in ministry. Sometimes this can seem an almost unbearable cross because so many have wounds, and they end up in ministry because they are seeking the love they so desperately desire.  The weakest link will be attacked with every temptation the devil can fling if the disorder door is open to him.  Many who are not spiritually grounded fall prey to lust and the ones who are spiritual can fall prey to spiritual feelings and turn away from their spouses thinking it is the Godly thing to do. But the Godly thing to do is to build up a holy family in your home. This is the responsibility of both spouses and the one who knows this more should be leaning into this as the first vocation. My mentor Jansen Bagwell has told me that for married people ministry flows from the bedroom. I now completely understand what he means. When two flesh become one – cooperation and good will towards one another are the keys to the Kingdom of God.

The goal in the Spiritual Life is to end up so confident in God’s love that you mirror his love back to him.  And the place this should be happening first is at home.  If our homes have that love, the world is better and it becomes easier to minister.

The second point I want to make is in reference to the passage in Mark about what baptized believers can do. For me, what I have seen is that obedience to authority and order in the spiritual realm matter. This is part of being a believer. Ephesians 5 makes clear what we submit to, and it is part of believing even though in the modern world we want to disregard it. Jesus is clear about what it takes to believe. There are 10-12 instances in Scripture when Jesus rebukes the Apostles for weak faith, lack of belief, or fear (Matthew 8:26, Mark 4:40, Matthew 14:31, Matthew 16:8, Matthew 17, 20, Mark 9:29, Mark 16:14, John 20:27, John 14:9, Luke 8:25, Mark 8:17-21, Luke 24:25). They didn’t come into the fullness of their authority until they had been through the cross and they “didn’t cling to him” (John 20:17 – Jesus to Mary Magdalene) and he had ascended so the Spirit descended. In other words, the fullness of their authority came when they got out of the worldliness of their senses and they saw with the Spirit. This is a lifelong journey through the purgative, illuminative and unitive way. We get glimmers of it along the way, just as the Apostles did, but the fullness of it comes with a spiritual maturity.

What I am saying is, for most of us belief isn’t an instantaneous thing. It can begin in a moment (as baptism infuses faith) but it grows as our spiritual maturity grows. It is the spiritual path. It is grounded in obedience to what God has spoken. If we have our homes in order and charity is abounding, then we do have all authority to tread on serpents (Luke 10:9).  Our baptism makes us children of God who receive the inheritance.  But we have to set out on a path to grow up, and spiritually speaking this is done with the grace of the sacraments and a deep prayer life and obedience to the orders God gives.  Our ability to follow authority in obedience and take up our crosses, especially in our homes, brings the full power and authority of God.