Lion of Judah

The Lion of Judah

I used to know a man, still do actually, who lived in a particularly rough part of West London. This man would on occasion drape a Lion of Judah flag around his shoulders and start prayer walking the streets round his home – at 2 o’clock in the morning. When he started doing this, he was frequently stopped by local police and questioned as to what he was doing. When he told them he was praying through the area, they were incredulous but, having no reason to detain him, they let him go his way with dire warnings of the dangers of that area late at night and on your own.

He got to know many of the policemen on his own beat and was often recognised and stopped for a chat. One day, he was asked why he did it and he explained about spiritual protection and all that. The police remained puzzled by him. Yet one night, a friendly policeman approached him with these amazing words – “Hi John, I am glad to see you tonight. Whenever we know you are on your walkabout, we know we can relax a bit as the crime rate dips dramatically when you are here with us.” As ‘John’ later said, quoting CS Lewis I believe, “Aslan – the Lion of Judah – is no tame lion. I don’t have to defend Him. I just ‘open the cage and let Him out.’ “

While this story may not be perfectly accurate, the basics of it are absolutely true – only the minutiae of detail have been lost in the mists of time and my memory. I was speaking with him again just the other day and he remembered those days very well and with great fondness.

The point of all this is simple. All we need to do is obey God’s call and He will do the rest. All ‘John’ had to do was to drape the Flag of the Lion of Judah around him – symbolically draping Jesus around him – and walk around praying, perhaps speaking to those to whom the Lord led him. Jesus did the rest. As he said, frequently all he used to do was to speak the name of Jesus – and Holy Spirit did the rest.

The Lion of Judah is not a tame Lion.