You Have No Power Here

If you’ve followed much of my writing you may have noticed that I sometimes use movie references for understanding. It isn’t something I plan for, but on occasion a film quote will come to mind as I’m meditating on what the LORD is working out in me. Initially it was a line from Labyrinth, a Jim Henson movie from the 80’s that I watched as a kid. The main girl practices lines from a story that later becomes her taking control over the goblin king. “You have no power over me,” she delivers with resolve.

As this month rolled on my mind also went to a scene from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Theoden, king of Rohan, has been lost in darkness of the mind as a sinister power seeks to control him. Gandalf comes in to cast out the dark power and bring the king back into the light. The evil wizard Saruman mocks Gandalf through Theodan saying, “You have no power here.” In truth, Gandalf’s journey has brought him into a new understanding of what he is capable of and so he does not relent. Saruman continues to speak lies in an effort to shake Gandalf, but the darkness can not stand against the light.

You’re probably thinking, good illustrations, but what led you to focus on these scenes? Well, for a little over a year now I’ve experienced an interesting occurrence when I pray. As I’d feel the Holy Spirit move certain syllables would come on my breath, but I didn’t know what they were. While I had heard of speaking in tongues, I tend to lean more cerebral in analysis and was not ready to wade into those waters. There was also the negative talk in my head eager to shut this down. Oh you think you’re so special that this would mean anything. This is nothing. You have no real power here. Don’t bring this up or people will think you’re weird. So I kept quiet even while the experiences continued.

Then while in another posture in the Spirit other syllables came. It was time for my logical mind to do some investigating. I used my smart phone to bring up a translation tool. I spoke the syllables into the microphone to see what would happen. To my surprise it said the detected language was Arabic although the app couldn’t quite pin down the meaning. I remember thinking Ok, there might be something here. However, a verse came to mind in that moment, “But if no one is present who can interpret, they [person speaking in tongues] must be silent in your church meeting.” (1 Corinthians 14:28) There again I pushed it aside to not shine a light on the moment.

Earlier this month I was at a conference where I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Scot McKnight speak. In my NIV Study Bible, he is acknowledged as translating Galatians and 1 Peter, and he’s credited for translating Luke. In his lecture at the conference he was attempting to get us to memorize the original Greek for the many works of Jesus when these phrases I’d utter in prayer came to mind. When he had finished speaking, I approached Dr. McKnight and said, “Since you are used to speaking in syllables maybe you can help me with something.” I explained to him the occurrences and wondered if he’d be willing to translate if indeed they mean anything to him. Dr. McKnight smiled and agreed. I told him the first one comes in moments when I’m just inviting the Holy Spirit to speak into my prayer time to reveal God’s inspiration. I breathed out (spelling phonetically) “Eh-shoe-uh Aloe-he,” and Dr. McKnight’s eyes grew wide with surprise. He said, “That’s Jesus is Lord.” For the first time I allowed myself to accept I wasn’t being foolish. I went on to explain that the next one comes when I’m praying for God’s power to move, especially in asking for healing. I breathed out, “Ha-said.” Again he reacted in recognition, “That’s God’s mercy.” It was then explained to me that is the word God himself used when He identified who He was to Moses in the burning bush.

Thinking about this experience, and the way the negative internal thoughts tried to hinder me, is why the scene from Lord of the Rings came to mind. The evil forces want us to believe that we are powerless in spiritual battles. There is a false narrative that God doesn’t move as He once did, but the truth is that He still works through us in amazing ways. The Holy Spirit was speaking the names of God into my prayers, pouring out His power, and the darkness sought to shut that down. This is a reminder that our thoughts are not always for our benefit so we need to be on guard. When negative narratives try to limit who you are in the kingdom of God feel free, in Jesus name, to stare the evil down and say, “You have no power over me.”