Heaven Comes to Earth and Scatters Bullies

An excerpt from Chapter 9 – “The Presence of God Brings Heaven to Earth”

Heaven comes to earth when we worship God. Your greatest fear will disintegrate into a pitiful shadow of the intimidating force that you thought it was. Heaven disposes bullies and makes a mockery of them. Heaven makes the enemy of your soul run for its life.

I remember in my Junior High School there were two guys that terrorized the rest of us with their unique bullying skills. They operated separately and were completely different than one another. However, both of them were extremely effective. Billy was so short and stocky that if you put him on his side he was taller than when he stood on his feet. He was just flat out mean. He had an entourage of five or six guys that followed him around wherever he went, spitting and cussing along with him, and basically imitating everything he said or did. They tried to be just as mean as he was but everyone knew they weren’t and never would be. Still, their presence added a significant dread factor to his mystique.

Not every bully is the same.

The other bully was totally different. He operated alone, had long flowing Samson-like hair, was totally ripped, and completely intimidated everyone by his crazy and reckless antics. He would run around with blazing speed and rippling muscles, hair blowing in the wind, terrorizing everyone on the playground just for the heck of it. No one wanted to mess with this guy. He was an anomaly—a real specimen—and even if you weren’t scared of him you were in awe of his strength and speed. If I had my choice I decided I would rather have to face the Samson bully rather than mean Billy. At least Samson seemed to have some humanity in his heart. Billy, on the other hand, was someone I didn’t want to be close enough to ever smell his stinky breath.

Well, as these things sometimes go, I didn’t get my choice. I will never forget the day when I came face to face with Billy. It happened on the landing of the stairwell going up to 3rd-hour class. (Why would any reasonable, common sense architect design Junior High Schools with this kind of closed off beat-down area anyway?)

I was by myself, going up the stairs like a typical 7th-grade boy— not paying attention to anything—when all of a sudden, coming down the stairs was Billy. He had a snarl on his face and, sure enough, he had a gaggle of his sweaty and smelly entourage with him. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to run. I was trapped. It was me vs. Billy and my beating was about to commence. He looked at me and said, “What are you looking at?” (As if I had anything to look at but him). I kind of impishly mumbled “Nuthin…”, my heart racing and my palms starting to sweat as I wondered what it would feel like to get slugged by his fat little fist.

Fear is disabling.

He shot back a second time, “I said, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!” I still didn’t know what to say, because at this point I could hardly understand simple English due to the sound of my heart that was pounding in my head. I had never felt such fear. He started moving closer and closer to me until I could see the spittle coming out of the corners of his mouth and his bloodshot beady little eyes, and I could sense the growing blood lust of his sick little imps creeping towards me. I thought, “Well, this is it… this is the day I die.”

Suddenly everything changed. The atmosphere in the stairwell changed. Billy actually took a small step back. His lost boys gave up some of their bluster, and they took a step or two back as well. I couldn’t understand what was happening. There seemed to be a new presence in the stairwell. Heaven had come to earth. In fact, their eyes were no longer looking directly at me; they were looking beyond me, over my shoulders and past me. I realized that someone else was on the landing with me. Someone had come up behind me. I hadn’t heard his steps, but with newfound courage, I managed to take a quick glance behind me and I saw him… It was my big brother Kevin!

I never loved anyone in my life like I loved my brother Kevin at that moment. He looked like an action hero and I thought I saw a cape fluttering off his shoulders until I realized it was just his jacket. He hardly even looked at me. All of his attention was on Billy and his demon boys. As I focused my eyes back on Billy it seemed like he was shrinking right before my eyes. I couldn’t believe it! My brother was greater than this mean, smelly, rotten kid! My pride and adoration for Kevin grew beyond measure as he quickly and powerfully stepped in front of me and began to tower over Billy. In fact, I began to stand up a little straighter and even took a small step forward myself.

Kevin told Billy that if he and his little henchmen didn’t run for their lives in less than a second they would never “feel their Momma’s kiss on their little baby cheeks again.” And, needless to say, he used a few colorful adjectives that I am not repeating here. Wow! I was in awe. Kevin was a stud, and it turns out that Billy wasn’t as tough as everyone thought. His false bravado burst like a bubble as soon as someone with a little bit of confidence challenged him. What a difference one person can make on a Jr. High School stairway landing.

The presence of God is that way.

Heaven comes down to where we are when we worship.

When we worship, the presence of God comes upon His people and changes the atmosphere in a room. Heaven comes to earth. He comes up behind us when we are threatened, even when we haven’t asked, and He protects His own. His presence will cause the enemies of our life to deflate. His presence will make our enemies flee. Oh, what a wonderful big brother He is.

When you feel intimidated, or afraid, or when you feel alone, He will come into your life, into your house, into your situation, and He will change everything. Heaven will invade your earth. Your greatest fear will disintegrate into a pitiful shadow of the intimidating force that you thought it was. God loves to make bullies run. He does it time and time again and it never gets old for Him. What a glorious exchange to lay our fear down at His feet and be covered under the shadow of His wings!