Story characters as an exploration of spiritual strongholds

Okay, so there's King Nahas in Constant Tower.

Last night Luke (beloved hubby)  and I were talking about God and King Nahas. Nahas represents the totality of his clan's traditions and belief about strength and suffering, and I was wondering if there is some stronghold in me which considers God a bit like Nahas.

Nahas will not relent until all the tests Psal goes through have been overcome, until Psal proves himself. He is absolutely merciless, even to his son....especially to his son. And I said to luke, "I hope to God I don't have that idea of God working and mixing in my faith in a kind of double-minded stronghold. Because it would mean that I won't allow myself to receive any blessing until i think I've "suffered enough" or "endured enough." 

So am trying to take every thought captive. Trying to focus on God's love and on the quality of unearned love, of grace..unmerited favor.

This is one of the blessings of fictions. They're fictive dreams and we see the argument our soul is having with our spirit when we look at our characters. 

A stronghold is something within our minds that battles against faith. A stronghold is not doubt, per se. But it is a subtle belief or self-deception and it gets intermingled in our world view and it works against us getting our prayers answered or our growing closer to God.

If Nahas is one of my mental images of God as king, then I need to explore that. This character kinda reminds me of a dream I had when I was young where I was shouting, "God, Father! God, Father!" When I woke up I realized that God was showing me in my dream that my idea of God was that he was like Mario Puzo's "godfather" -- someone to be feared.

In Wind Follower, Loic's dad was loving but misunderstood. In some ways he was inscrutable and ineffectual. Yeah, the dads in a Carole McDonnell novel tend to be odd. 

The interesting thing is I do not have a father. He disowned us when we were younger. And I've only seen him twice or thrice since the folks divorced. So I don't know what fathers are like. People talk about dads and I'm like... "uh, uh..okay." And so I have to wade through this God as Father thing.  But God is helping me. When I discover His true love for me and how He wants to give me so much and how freely His love is given...maybe I will be able to receive more answered prayers.

Will see. Happy creating!

Psalm 8

How kind our great God is! And how generous! He has given his children dominion over so much. When I look at my little pit bull Hemotep and my little kitty Sheba, I'm amazed at how they look up to me. Intuitively, they give me authority over them. The Lord has given human even the power to tame and train wild animals.

Even human children have authority in the world! Although I wouldn't send a young kid out there to command a stranger's pit bull.

But what God has given us! In the beginning God tells us (through Moses) that he gave us authority over the earth. And somewhere it says, "The earth has God given to the children of men" !!! Then we lose the dominion to Satan. Sickness, Death, Sin rules over us. And even when God gives humans laws, sin uses the law to make us sin even more. In Psalm 8, we're told again of the dominion God has given to us. But then when Satan is tempting Jesus he says, "All the powers of this world I will give you ..and the authority of them... because they are mine." Jesus doesn't challenge him. Then Jesus says to his disciples, I have given you authority over devils and sickness." Then Jesus dies and finishes the job on the cross, taking captivity captive and giving gifts to men! Now man has power over sin, can raise folks from the dead, can cast out demons on the earth. (The heavens, even the heavens of heavens is God's but the earth has he given to the kingdom of men! So we can't go battling demons in the heavenlies. God and angels do that! But even now we are seated in high places in Christ! And what else! We are told by St Paul that in eternity, we shall be like Jesus because we shall see him as he is! Then in Revelations, the seal to the earth is finally taken by the bloodied lamb who was slain from the foundation of the earth! At last, the dominion is Christ and Hallelujah! The kingdoms of this earth is become the kingdom of our God! At last, God has taken full claim of the kingdom. Satan makes a final stand to take all the earth but he's fated to lose. All the Bible, from beginning to end, is about man's loss of his authority and power over the earth through sin and the long journey for a saviour who will redeem it for man again!

Perhaps we humans are so selfish and greedy because we know how giving our sweet, loving, generous, and good God is! How wonderful that God has given us this authority! Yet, we only have it through faith! Childlike faith can destroy the enemies in the gates!!!!! The kingdom of God is within us and through Christ we are made more than conquerors!

1O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!