Samwise Gamgee
You really must read it all! :)
I am learning so much about being BOLD in the strength of the LORD, and what it means to walk in a spirit of POWER and LOVE. The love here goes hand in hand with the power, because it is not namby-pamby or soppy, but a love that inspires strength and incredible feats, a love that inspired my God to die on a cross for me.
In order to illustrate my point I wish to tell you about one of my heroes. Samwise Gamgee is one of my favourite fictional characters (along with David Copperfield, Atticus Finch and Danny the Champion of the World's father) but few characters can reach the status of true hero in my eyes, and Samwise is one of the few.
For Sam is an unexpected hero, small and unassuming, a hobbit from the Shire, liking of his home-comforts and 5 square meals a day; he follows his master, Frodo, with unswerving loyalty and love. It is love that drives him to do some of his greatest acts of bravery, and he is an example to us all of what we (small and insignificant as we are in and of ourselves) can do when we do it for Love, for goodness, and in the power and authority of God, our Lover, who first loved us. Love should be our battle cry, our driving force, our strength. Love confounds the enemy, he CANNOT comprehend it. Love that is spoken of in Song of Songs , that cannot be destroyed, sold or lost, that love, will lead us to battle and to victory in the name of the most High God.
Remember this from 1 Corinthians 13?
If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
With all this in mind, read these passages from The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien... The context to the passage is that Gollum has led Frodo and Sam through the tunnel of the great Spider Shelob, and Frodo (Sam's Master) has just been stung by her, and lies, lifeless, on the ground...
(From Chapter X - The Choices of Master Samwise)
Sam did not wait to wonder what was to be done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage. He sprang forward with a yell, and seized his master's sword in his left hand. Then he charged. (...)
Disturbed as if out of some gloating dream by his small yell she turned slowly the dreadful malice of her glance upon him. But almost before she was aware that a fury was upon her greater than any she had known in countless years, the shining sword hit her upon the foot and shore away the claw. (...)
Sam still stood upon his feet, and dropping his own sword, with both hands he held the elven-blade point upwards, fending off that ghastly roof; and so Shelob, with the driving force of her own cruel will, with strength greater than any warrior's hand, thrust herself upon a bitter spike. Deep, deep it pricked, as Sam was crushed slowly to the ground.
No such anguish had Shelob ever known, or dreamed of knowing, in all her long world of wickedness. ... She sprang backwards in a convulsive leap.
(...)
Even as Sam himself crouched, looking at her, seeing his death in her eyes, a thought came to him, as if some remote voice had spoken, and he fumbled in his breast with his left hand, and found what he sought: cold and hard and solid it seemed to his touch in a phantom world of horror, the Phial of Galadriel.
(...)
And then his tongue was loosed and his voice cried in a language he did not know:A Elbereth Gilthoniel
o menel palan-diriel,
le nallon si di'nguruthos!
A tiro nin, Fanuilos
And with that he staggered to his feet and was Samwise the hobbit, Hamfast's son, again.
"Now come, you filth!" he cried. "You've hurt my master, you brute, and you'll pay for it. We're going on; but we'll settle with you first. Come on, and taste it again!"
As if his indomitable spirit had set its potency in motion, the glass blazed suddenly like a white torch in his hand. It flamed like a star that leaping form the firmament sears the dark air with intolerable light. No such terror from heaven had ever burned in Shelob's face before. The beams of it entered into her wounded head and scored it with unbearable pain, and the dreadful infection of light spread from eye to eye. Then turning her maimed head away, she rolled aside and began to crawl, claw by claw, towards the opening in the dark cliff behind.
WOW! Count the parallels!
Imagine this encounter of Sam with Shelob is an unseen spiritual battle for a friend who we are fighting the devil for in prayer. First we have the boldness, and the superhuman strength given to us by the spirit of power and love which God gives us. A power that evil has no comprehension of, because it does not understand or can ever know love. Samwise positions himself so that the evil one maims herself. We must be defensive, we must defend our position with the shield of faith, but also offensive, using the truths of the bible to have at Satan. Our job on this earth is primarily to KEEP THE SERPENT OUT. Was it not said to Adam and Eve in the Garden to "Watch over the garden"? Who were they watching for? The serpent of course, God gave them an advance warning. That has not changed. Our job is most definately to KEEP THE SERPENT OUT. And look at the tools we have!
Look at the Light God has given us, the light, the name of his son, Jesus, that evil cannot abide to hear, it's like the blinding light of Galadriel's Phial (filled with starlight) on the eyes of the ancient and evil spider, Shelob. We are given the words to say by God, but we must say them for power to be released in Heaven. When we say them, when we command the devil begone in the name of Jesus, you mark my words, the evil one doesn't stick around! That light is brightened by our "Indomitable spirits". Our hearts made in God's image, working as one with God, "set the potency" of that name "in motion"!
Shelob underestimated Sam, and she did not reckon with the combined force of Sam + love, which is similar to the combined force of Christian + God. See how the Orcs that carry off Frodo's body describe Sam, having seen only the effects he has caused on Shelob (a hitherto unbeaten enemy):
"By all the signs, Captain Shagrat, I'd say there's a large warrior loose, Elf most likely, with an elf-sword anyway, and an axe as well maybe; and he's loose in our bounds, too, and you've never spotted him!"
Come, let us be like Samwise, and let Satan underestimate us if he dares. Let us fight for those we love and even those we don't in prayer. This world needs prayer warriors, who like Samwise the brave, will take the power and the love of God and weild them, protecting the weak, upholding good, and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, KEEPING THE SERPENT OUT.