Two-and-a-half-year-old, Elijah, and I enter the shed at the back of my property. I was showing my friend, Jolene, where my tools were for a past garden. Elijah had been running around in the grass and was excited to have this adventure. As I turned to leave, I grabbed his little hand "Come on, Honey!" But Elijah did not move. He began to point to what looked like a curled-up stick in our path about 3 foot away. "Jolene is that a stick or a snake?" With that, my "brave" friend ran away. "Are you kidding me? Where is it?" I heard from around the corner. "It's between me and where you were!" Meanwhile I have grabbed Elijah and have him propped up on my hip away from the "stick-snake"!
Jolene peeked her head around the corner and said, "I think it's a snake!"
"But it's not moving, maybe it's dead!" I reassured her.
Having lived in the desert where rattlesnakes roam, I did not want to take a chance.
Grabbing a garden spade, while still holding Elijah, I attacked the "stick-snake".
Whack!
Suddenly,
the stick-snake showed me that he
WAS
a snake after all as he flipped around twirling!
With that I let out a scream that would have made you think it was
six-foot-long
instead of about 8 inches!
Elijah who had been fine with his adventure, until his "Meme" let out that scream, joined me in my
screaming
!
It reminded me of the old "ET" movie where the little girl yelled so ET did too.
Whack!
S
udden
ly
white stuff went everywhere!
"Goodness, what was that?" I asked Jolene.
"You hit a rock!" and we began to laugh.
I probably could have taken on a bear with the amount of adrenaline I was releasing over that tiny snake!
Listen to God's words to Satan that was in the form of a serpent. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring. He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel
." (
G
enesis 3:15)
Yes, there was "enmity" (hostility) between me and that creature!
In that same way, we should fight that hard for our families against the devil! We should protect those around us and use the weapons of our warfare He has given us!
It's time to know that Jesus has put Satan's authority (or head) underfoot!
We have authority over him even if we feel a little bruised from time to time!
2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us if we want results, not to fight things of the spirit with fleshly or earthly weapons.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,"
That garden spade may have worked on the tiny snake but I need the weapons of the Spirit for lies of the enemy!
Once as several prayed with me concerning slander, God gave a vision of a bunch of snakes curled up together.
Snakes are mostly
tail;
thus "tales" were being released. The Lord
said,
"cut the head of the snake off!"
We had to do it in authoritative prayer believing God would expose the lies.
And since the "tales" were against me, I had to walk in love and above reproach. I chose to not retaliate or to defend myself from those who hurt me but simply trust God. The flesh did not want to do
that,
but my spirit was willing.
It was the weapon God gave me for "Love never fails"!
(1Cor 13:8
)
It
didn't happen overnight but little by little the head (or authority) of the tales were cut off!
Meanwhile my character was able to grow as I chose to live above approach!
"Blessed are ye when they may reproach and persecute you, and say every wicked
thing against you, lying, for my sake. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for thus have they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matt 5:11,12)
Cut the head of the snake off with the spade of love!
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