First of All, Pray: Blog
Bringing Biblical Truths to Daily Life
Untamed
Some of you know that my sweet seventeen year old cat Ember passed away this morning after a massive stroke. One of my dear friends on Facebook wanted me to tell stories about her. Although there are plenty of funny and http://territorioscriativos.pt/precio-cialis-hungria/ heartwarming things I could share, I thought about this blog entry in the middle of the series I wrote on the book of James. I mentioned Ember by name near the end as I shared one of her annoying traits as an illustration for this portion of Scripture. Also included in this entry is a fairly unusual encounter I had with a woodpecker (and its descendants).
I dedicate this entry to Ember.
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. James 3:7-8
I have four cats. They are docile (some would say lazy), affectionate, and generally well-behaved. They understand the word NO and usually come when called by name (and using reverse psychology, I can get one to come when I call his rival’s name). They know their rights and responsibilities as feline members of the household. They are domesticated—tamed—by me.
James said every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. Lions, tigers, bears (oh, my!), camels, elephants, whales, rats, crows, chimps, cobras, raccoons, even fleas…most animal species have experienced at least one member among them succumbing to human training and even going along with it (usually for treats—they’re not stupid). After all, in the beginning, God told the man and http://soluson.fr/kamagra-24-heures-d-expedition/ woman, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (see Genesis 1:28).
To illustrate this point in dramatic fashion, I took Genesis 1:28 to heart as a sleep-deprived young teacher. You see, when I lived in a top-floor apartment facing a strip of woods, every spring a woodpecker would arrive on the roof right above my head just before dawn. Every morning I would awaken with a jolt as he drilled, RAT-A-TAT-TAT, loud and relentlessly, probably in search of tasty bugs. I would hop out of bed, slam the window up and down, up and down, and whisper loudly, “Shoo! Go away!” only to be reawakened three or four minutes later, on and on, every morning, every spring.
After four years of interrupted sleep at the beak of this winged jack-hammer, that fifth spring, on the second morning of the woodpecker’s yearly ritual, I was ready. The night before, I left my Bible open on the window sill to Genesis 1:28. Sure enough, like clockwork, before dawn the drilling began. I leaped out of bed, threw the window up and whispered loudly, “You listen to me, Mr. Woodpecker! It says right here in the Word of God that I ‘have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’ Well, that includes you, you foul fowl, so I command you in Jesus’ name, leave my roof and you can try this out never come back! Find all the bugs you need in those trees; this roof is now officially off-limits to you and your descendants forever!”
I closed the window, slipped back into bed, and slept until my alarm went off. In fact, that woodpecker never returned. The rest of the spring, I slept until my alarm rang; and for the next two springs I lived there, never again did woodpeckers rat-a-tat-tat above my head.
Before you get excited and think, “What a woman of faith and power!” I must admit one thing. I have failed woefully when it comes to taming my tongue. James was right. “Every species of beasts… has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue…” It’s not that I don’t care what I say—I do. It’s not that I cuss like a sailor—I don’t. It’s just that all too often I find myself diving into conversations that I need to backpedal out of. Or repent concerning. Or apologize for. If you don’t think that’s true for you, as well, just listen to yourself over the span of a week or so and you may change your mind.
When James said that the tongue is a restless evil and full of deadly poison, he wasn’t referring to the words of the wicked or the unsaved. He was writing to believers. He was talking about their tongues—and ours.
Whether it’s the urge to share a juicy tidbit about someone that would undermine their reputation or an impulsive need to talk on and on about how awful (or amazingly super-wonderful) your life is—it’s downright exasperating to control that slippery muscle!
David Guzik, in his commentary on this verse, related a story about a lady who told John Wesley that her talent was to speak her mind. He said that Wesley replied to her, “I don’t think God would mind if you buried that talent.” Summing up his thought, Guzik wrote, “Speaking forth everything that comes to mind is unwise, poisonous speech.” [David Guzik’s commentary can be accessed via the Blue Letter Bible website.]
The human tongue has remained untamed throughout history—in James’ time, in Wesley’s time, and now in our time. A Christian who desires to live holy can receive divine help to keep his tongue under control as he walks humbly before the Lord. But it’s not like mastering the times table or riding a bike—things which once learned stick with you forever. No, the tongue requires constant, vigilant oversight.
Remember when James said that all species of animals have been tamed by men? One of my cats—Ember—knows not to jump on the kitchen table. More than once, though, I’ve walked into the house and there she is, all googly-eyed, staring at me. Once we lock eyes, she’s off in a flash, her training suddenly returning to her.
So it is with your tongue, times a trillion. My cat is not on that table every time I come into the house; just once in a blue moon. Truly, my little black cat is better behaved than anyone’s tongue—James said so. Every hour of every day, your tongue must be forced to toe the line. You and I—as believers who want to live lives of honor and holiness—must recognize this point and be prepared to stand vigilant guard over our words. For the rest of our lives.
Gotta go—I’ve got guard duty (over my mouth).
Dorothy
The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; the one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 13:3
He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from troubles. Proverbs 21:23
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3
Spurgeon’s take on the Sword of the Spirit
I found a sermon entitled “The Sword of the Spirit” by Charles H. Spurgeon while writing in the blog about God’s Word.
The language in Spurgeon’s sermon is a little more difficult to read than many of the messages and books written today. Despite that, I am using the link to this sermon for today’s blog because it is filled with rich wisdom concerning our responsibility as believers to permanently take hold of the raw, unadulterated Word of God.
This sermon is 10 pages printed, and I did not read it in one sitting. If it’s more of a tough read for you, that’s OK; it required more thought for me, too, and I am holding on to a printed version to read again, a paragraph or two at a time. I trust that God will bless you as you tackle what Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, had to say about the Sword of the Spirit.
Thanks to Tony Capoccia of the Bible Bulletin Board, for his generosity in listing and sharing the “Spurgeon Collection”.
http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/2201.htm “The Sword of the Spirit” April 19, 1891, by C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
The Sword of the Spirit
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Paul taught the church at Ephesis that their warfare was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). He stressed that in their resistance, they were to take up the full armor of God. This armor included:
- The belt of truth
- The breastplate of righteousness
- Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
- The shield of faith
- The helmet of salvation
- The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God
Every article of armor described is an impenetrable covering designed to defend a specific, vulnerable part of the body—all, that is, except one. That exception is an offensive weapon—none other than the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
All it takes to use the sword of the Spirit is for a child of God to speak or pray a phrase or a verse of Scripture in faith. Many years ago, a dear friend of mine, after being saved for only a week, told a couple of friends who were fascinated by the occult about her new relationship with Jesus. When they heard it, they began trembling in rage and swearing at her, threatening to force her to give up her faith. Well, she had been told the week before that if the devil attacked her faith in Christ, to rebuke him in the name of Jesus for there was power in that name. She shouted, “I rebuke you, in the name of Jesus! Get out!” The two young men tore out of the door before she could even finish her command!
Did she have a Bible school degree? NO. Had she attended twenty-five seminars? NO. She merely spoke out what she had learned from the Word on the first day of her salvation. The sword of the Spirit went to work, severing the ties with friends who could potentially confuse or mislead her. The close relationship she had with them was effectively cut off by the Word of God that day.
You grow up in faith by drinking the sincere milk of the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2) and by learning to chew and digest the solid food and meat of the Bible (Hebrews 5:12-14). And as you develop the ability to feed on solid food, the Bible says you mature with consistent intake of the Word. By practicing it, you are trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).
When you wield the sword of the Spirit, you are operating not only in the Word of God, but also in the Holy Spirit. If you maintain a continual diet of the milk and meat of the Word of God, His Spirit will trigger a phrase of Scripture or a full verse to your heart and prompt you to speak it, pray it, think on it, or study it. This is the sword—His Word—prompted by the Spirit of God, i.e., the sword of the Spirit. If you are troubled, are facing a stressful situation, or are ministering to someone, you can trust the Holy Spirit to bring to your heart what you’ve read or heard from the Word that will perfectly address the issue at hand. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26). This is the operation of the sword of the Spirit!
You are directed by God’s Word to put on the full the armor of God—to walk in truth and righteousness, to be ever-ready to present the gospel of peace, to walk in faith, and to guard your thoughts by the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And, summing it up, you are commissioned by God to carry at all times, in your mouth and in your heart (Romans 10:8), that wonderful sword of the Spirit—the Word of God.
No time spent in pursuit of the Word of God is ever wasted. It will cause you to grow; by it you will be equipped to discern good and evil, and by exercising His Word, you will accomplish the purposes of God.
God bless you as you equip yourself in His Word!
Dorothy
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Overcoming by the Word
Many years ago I became aware of the fact that I had an incredible amount of fear in my life. Much of it was related to personal safety. This fear almost paralyzed me as a young Christian until I recognized it and did something about it.
I had an extreme fear of early death. I lived in terror of car accidents, train crashes, plane crashes, and random acts of violence against me. And in the summer of 1980 a friend and I were planning a road trip across country to L.A. to visit another friend. Months before the trip, I had an uneasy feeling building up within me. “You’re going to die on this trip,” the fear whispered over and over.
Determined to overcome the fear, I grabbed my Bible and concordance and started running my references on the topic of God’s protection. Dozens upon dozens of Scriptures promised that God would deliver me from harm, and I wrote them all down on notebook paper. I studied these verses over and over again and thought about them day and night to combat the near panic-level fear I lived with.
When the time came to leave for the trip, I had that set of Scriptures close. For the first two hours of our journey, my heart pounded in fear. I kept reading the verses, telling God quietly that I believed what He said in them. We made our first pit stop at a McDonald’s on the highway, and I took the verses in with me. I remember sitting at a table with my friend, munching my fries and drinking a Coke, reading those verses for the cajillionth time. And there, under the Golden Arches, the fear simply lifted. My pulse became normal, the panic was gone, and as we pulled out, I was able to laugh and anticipate this adventure to L.A. with excitement.
My life changed when I confronted my fear with an orchestrated attack launched from the Word of God. I didn’t feel any less fearful when I started the Bible assault, but I stuck with it and lived in those verses. And God set me free from fear.
How did Jesus overcome the tempter in the wilderness? He used the Word of God. As Jesus persisted in countering each temptation with Scripture, Satan had to leave Him, hoping to find a more opportune time (see Matthew 4:1-11).
A disciple is not above his or her master. If our Savior used the Word of God to combat His foe, how much more should we? Jesus is the Word made flesh, and as for us humans of faith, the Word is near us, in our mouths and in our hearts (see Romans 10:8). The safest place for a Christian in today’s crazy, agitated world is in the Word of God.
Sometimes Christians have a hard time wanting to pray about the challenges we are being confronted with in this nation because so much that we see is extremely disturbing and makes us feel impotent in the face of it. I get it, one hundred percent.
But as I learned back in 1980, the only good way to overcome fear or any other strategy of Satan is by attacking it head on with the Word of God. If our Lord Jesus used the Word to overcome the devil, then so must we. There is no other pursuit in life that will reap the depth and intensity of real, lasting fruit than the full-throttle search of God’s Word. The needs and fears in your life can be addressed in no better way.
None of us can afford to ignore our fears any longer. Each of us must take a stand against what makes us afraid, and with faith in God, launch an orchestrated assault both on our fears and against the fearsome issues with the mighty, powerful, living Word of God.
May God direct and increase you as you dive into His precious Word.
Dorothy
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12, NKJV
…[He] upholds all things by the word of His power…. Hebrews 1:3b, NASB
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11, NKJV
Taking a break
I’ll be taking a break from the blog for a week or so to write and work on other projects. Because of that, I want to leave an easy index of the last ten entries here, all featuring a snake theme and each one revealing truth about our authority and the tactics of the enemy.
Dealing with vipers 07/20/15
Swell up or die? 07/21/15
Antidote for all venom 07/22/15
Crazy man! That’s a copperhead! 07/23/15
The rattlesnake 07/24/15
Message in a motorboat 07/27/15
Concerning snakes and shoes 07/28/15
An encounter with cottonmouths 07/29/15
Nose to nose with a black mamba 07/30/15
The God of deliverance 07/31/15
Enjoy! Check back to see if I’ve added any new entries. I’ll see you in a week or so!
Dorothy
The God of deliverance
For the past two weeks, I’ve posted “snake blogs” on www.firstofallpray.com. Sorry if these entries gave you the “heebie-jeebies”, but all of them—the biblical example of the viper that bit Paul; the lessons I learned from three different copperheads; a Cherokee rattlesnake fable; and the tales of miraculous deliverance from the bites of cottonmouths and a black mamba—are certainly edifying despite the high “creep factor”!
Have you ever noticed that serpents are usually cast as the villains in tales, both biblical and secular? You know, that really doesn’t bother me at all.
However, do you remember when God told Moses to have Aaron cast down his staff in Pharaoh’s court? It became a serpent. But then Pharaoh’s magicians threw their staffs down and they all became snakes; what were Moses and Aaron to do? Nothing…but to stand still and see the salvation of God—their serpent swallowed all the other serpents before everyone’s eyes!
In the summer of 2010, as I was drifting between sleep and waking up, I had a dream that reminded me a little of the Exodus account.
In that very brief but startling dream, I was in the custody of Islamists somewhere in the desert. Instead of killing me outright as an infidel person of the Book (as we have seen in the news recently with ISIS), these jihadis were preparing instead to chop off both of my hands at the wrists.
My hands were tied to a wooden slab as I was made to kneel in the sand under the hot sun. The “minister of Allah’s displeasure” stood over me, masked, robed, and with a gleaming curved sword—a scimitar—held high over his head. I was about to lose both of my hands.
I watched and waited in the glaring sunlight. Grasping his weapon with both hands, my captor swung it down with a vengeance against my pitiful, sharia-less existence. I waited, clenching my teeth, squinting as I kept my eye on the scimitar, anticipating the blow.
As the blade swung down, glistening with merciless brutality, something beyond explanation happened. Within a millimeter of my wrists, that razor-sharp scimitar morphed before my eyes into an enormous serpent—just like Aaron’s staff had done back in Pharaoh’s court—and as quickly as the sword descended, the serpent whipped back up, writhing and snapping, and wrapped itself around the neck of my would-be executioner, strangling him.
My ropes fell off and I arose, both of my hands still attached, still unharmed, and away I walked, praising the One true God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Yes, this was just a dream. However, dreams can be instruments of God to establish, encourage, and enlighten His people. Would you like to see supernatural feats of divine intervention on behalf of men and women, boys and girls around the globe who are being viciously besieged? I know I would.
If that is your desire, I want to encourage you to pray big, Bible prayers of supernatural, miraculous intervention for those who are under attack in various places—especially for those who are being targeted for slaughter because of their faith in Christ or for their adherence to the God of the Torah.
I pray that your faith has been stirred and stimulated to stand strong in these stressful times. You and I have a great big God, and there is nothing too difficult for Him.
Dorothy
God is to us a God of deliverances; and to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death. Psalm 68:20
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27
Nose to nose with a black mamba
Sometime back in the late ‘80’s after a day at a lake in southwest Missouri, my friend Betsy and I found a local diner to eat some home-style cooking. As we enjoyed the plates of country goodness set before us, we couldn’t help but overhear snatches of conversation from a nearby table. It seemed our fellow diners were believers discussing miraculous exploits and supernatural interventions.
We paid our bill and commented to the owner about the small group. He told us that they were members of the “End Time Handmaidens” organization and that one of the men at the table had been their guest speaker. This man was also the owner’s personal friend; would we like to meet him?
Of course we would! As the others in the party paid their bills and left, Betsy and I were introduced to the gentleman, Phil Cooper, a missionary to Africa. He didn’t need much urging to share about the event we had heard bits and pieces of while we ate our dinner at an adjacent table—he, his wife, their one-and-a-half year old daughter, another couple, and two single ladies had been abducted from their remote mission by soldiers of the Mozambique National Resistance army in May of 1987.
It was closing time in the diner. Phil had just started telling us his story. The owner needed to clean up, but was happy to let us stay and drink coffee and talk as long as we wanted. As he locked the door and put up the “We are closed” sign, Betsy, Phil, and I settled back at the table for a conversation about God’s miraculous protection long into the night.
The divine intervention that most captured my interest and imagination had to do with a harrowing experience that Phil, his wife Vikki, and their toddler Abi experienced one afternoon. The missionaries had been trekking for months from outpost to outpost with their guerilla escort through the jungles of Mozambique, pausing only briefly to rest, eat meager rations, and to “bathe” in portable grass huts by pouring a pan of water on their bodies.
It was when Phil, Vikki, and Abi were in the grass bathing-hut that God showed up to deliver them—just in the nick of time.
Phil told it this way: He was standing closest to the doorway of the hut, rinsing himself off. Out of nowhere, in through the opening, vertically and at top speed, whipped a seven-foot black mamba. It stopped short and reared up, nose to nose with Phil. Despite the fact that the mamba is Africa’s most aggressive—and deadliest—snake, the family simply froze, too startled to be afraid. And then, as quickly as it entered, it left, zipping out through the thatched wall only to be shot and killed by the leader of the captors.
After they were rescued and safely back home, Phil and Vikki began to share about all the miracles attending their abduction and three-month forced trek through the jungle.
One woman, upon hearing the details of the mamba encounter, asked Phil to tell her the day it happened. As they compared notes, she wept. “I was sleeping and the Lord awakened me so forcefully that I almost fell out of bed. ‘Phil’s in trouble!’ the Lord told me. I knelt beside the bed and prayed like never before with a deep sense of urgency, and then—just as suddenly—the burden lifted. Now I know why!”
Betsy and I listened in amazement to this godly man’s testimony of deliverance and victory, knowing that our “chance” selection of that little diner was nothing short of a divine appointment.
And as I reflect upon the black mamba tale, I’d like to address three perspectives.
- When you are nose-to-nose with danger: God—and God alone—can orchestrate your deliverance. And because He is faithful, He will. “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:17-18).
- When you are “knocked out of bed” with an urgency to pray: You have just been chosen to be a key player in God’s deliverance of someone else. Pray! Yield to the urgency and pray with the Spirit and your understanding. God picked you for this assignment because He knows you are capable of following through. So follow through! Someone is counting on Him to orchestrate their deliverance—and you have become part of that process! Trust Him on behalf of the one He so dramatically placed on your heart—and He will show himself strong. “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
- Concerning the devil: Realize that no matter how big, how fast, or how venomous he is, victory always belongs to the Lord, and the devil is defeated. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place” (2 Corinthians 2:14). “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).
May you always walk in the triumph prepared for you in Christ!
Dorothy
An encounter with cottonmouths
I used to listen to Christian radio all the time when I was a young believer. And it wasn’t Christian music I gravitated toward; no, I gobbled up all the Bible teaching I could find on my AM radio dial—both national ministries and some very colorful local preachers.
One of those preachers from around here was a woman I believe by the name of Jo Ann Bateman. I’ve done internet searches for her and have come up short, so if anyone knows anything about her, please share.
Like many of the local radio preachers, Jo Ann had the voice of solid country stock, and I’m thinking she hailed from southern Illinois or rural Missouri. She was a gutsy woman, bold and full of the Word and the Holy Ghost, and she traveled around to small churches and meetings as she preached the gospel.
I’ll never forget the radio program when she described what happened to her late one warm spring night. I remember it this way:
She was driving home from a meeting through a light rain on a southern Illinois highway not very far from the Mississippi River. Somehow she lost control of the vehicle and slid across the wet highway onto the shoulder and then into the mud. The car was stuck, but not badly, so she and her traveling companion determined that it wouldn’t be too difficult to push it out and back onto the shoulder.
Then her friend saw something. The ground, illuminated by the headlights, was writhing and thrashing–not still, not stationary. Nervously, she whispered a quick warning to Jo Ann, hoping it was just her exhaustion playing tricks on her eyes.
“Jo Ann, don’t move! Look! On the ground! In the headlights!”
Right then I imagine Jo Ann’s heart skipped a beat or two. They had careened SPLAT into some mud in the middle of what appeared to be a convention of water moccasins—cottonmouths—the most aggressive venomous snake in the region. And this was no small convention, either; evidently dozens and dozens had awakened from their winter slumber buried in the mud and rocks by the highway on that warm spring evening. And those snakes were none too happy with the metal monster of a car that had just plowed, uninvited, into their territory.
But Jo Ann Bateman, the gutsy, bold woman of the Word that she was, snapped out of her fear and into action instantly. As the cottonmouths slithered ever closer to the car and the women, Joann pointed her finger at the lead snake and decreed in her country twang, “My Daddy’s bigger than your daddy, Mr. Cottonmouth, and in the name of Jesus, I command you and all your kin to LEAVE!! NOW!!”
The words had barely left her mouth when the lead snake turned around and slithered away. One by one, every other cottonmouth followed suit. She and her friend were then able to maneuver the car out of the mud unmolested.
And then, days later, I got to hear about it on the radio.
In Psalm 91, the wonderful protection psalm, the Lord declares, “You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down” (verse 13).
But there are times (like all the time!) when you just don’t want to walk on snakes if you can help it! And thank goodness, the Lord has an “app” for that—it’s called walking in your authority in the name of Jesus!
What an amazing blessing it is to know that we do, indeed, have authority in His name!
Dorothy
…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…Philippians 2:10
Concerning snakes and shoes
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Luke 10:19
You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. Psalm 91:13
…and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace… Ephesians 6:15
Concerning shoes:
They are important. They protect the soles of your feet from the varied and sometimes treacherous surfaces upon which you walk; they provide balance and support for the rest of your body, enabling you to continue for the long haul in an upright position.
God has given you shoes for your feet as part of your protective armor. These shoes also protect your soul from the varied and sometimes treacherous terrains upon which you step. The shoes God gives you provides support and balance for your life, as well, so that you can continue to run your race for the long haul.
God calls these shoes the preparation of the gospel of peace. Shod feet are safe feet; the person who wears the right footwear enjoys support and balance for life. Do you want safe passage and a well-balanced, upright life for the rest of your days? Then wear the shoes God has provided—the preparation of the gospel of peace. If you abandon the preparation of the gospel of peace, you will be vulnerable as you hike through the various environments you encounter. If you decide that being prepared with the gospel is not very valuable, you will quickly become unbalanced and find that an upright posture becomes increasingly difficult for you to maintain.
Concerning snakes and shoes:
When I was a little girl, my mom took my sister and me shoe shopping. Easter was around the corner, but we weren’t looking for Easter shoes. We weren’t looking for sandals; we weren’t looking for Keds; we weren’t even looking for saddle shoes. We were shopping for what my folks called boondockers—leather hiking boots that came up over the ankles.
My parents had just purchased some land in the Ozarks and it was “snaky”. Dad and my brother already owned boots, but we girls were bootless and needed to shop.
I remember the consternation of the salesman as he measured our feet for the boondockers. He was beside himself, trying to persuade us that what we really wanted were cute little patent leather shoes for Easter.
“No,” my mom insisted. “My girls need boondockers.” It would have been thoughtful if she had explained our need for snake protection to the “Mr. Whipple” look-alike serving us, but I think Mom rather enjoyed shocking him. It was 1960; little girls didn’t wear such footwear.
After much hemming and hawing on the part of our flustered salesman, we were outfitted with our boots; and as we left the shoe store, in my five-year-old mind I was imagining snakes snapping at the thick leather, hoping they would respect the boundary at the top of my boot and politely limit their strikes to below the line.
I was faithful to lace up my boondockers every time I wandered out into snake country. Everyone in the family was. One day the five of us went out to pick blackberries, growing wild all over the place. Each of us was armed with a cleaned out, empty paint bucket in which to stash the loot we picked. (I ate more than I put in the bucket.)
We found a huge patch by the side of a dirt road running down to the river. I was by Mom’s side as we spread out, picking and plunking away, when she squealed as she sucked in a lung-full of air, leaping straight up.
“I just stepped on a cat’s tail!” she gasped. “Jinks didn’t follow us out here, did he?!” She was referring to our big black and brown striped feline family member who always accompanied us to the country.
My dad started poking in the berry brambles, “Here, Jinks! Kitty, kitty, kitty!” And then he jumped back. “Freda, you just stepped on a copperhead!”
Sure enough, hidden under the blackberry brambles was a large copperhead with a squashed head. Dad poked it with a stick to make sure it was dead, and it was. Freshly dead. Killed. By Mom—or rather, by her lethal, boondockered foot.
Awed, we all huddled around the carcass for a closer look. There it was, beautiful copper body with telltale dark brown hourglass-like markings up and down its spine—with a squashed head.
I am often reminded of this snapshot from my childhood. I was witness to a literal treading-upon of a serpent. Mom was outfitted in the proper footwear, and although unaware of the viper’s presence, she hit the bulls-eye. With one step she stopped the serpent, dead in its track.
We have authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm us. We just need to keep our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and we will do damage to the enemy simply by obeying God.
So often we fear the “what if’s” of life and are incapacitated by “what if I miss God?“. Do you belong to Christ? Have you prayed? Are you in the Word? Do you walk in love? Then step out without fear. Your Father will lead you, and if you miss it, He’ll lead you out of that place and over to the right place. It’s far simpler than we believers of the 21st century have made it.
And I believe concerning you—an everyday Christian—that a trail of viper carcasses litters the path behind you. You have been outfitted to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and as you’ve obeyed God in your life—even in the everyday tasks—I can’t help but believe that you have destroyed demonic schemes without realizing it.
Next time Satan attempts to incapacitate you with “what if’s”—seeking to intimidate you to back off of obedience to God—just remember my mom’s boondockered feet and the squashed copperhead. Step out, do what you believe God wants you to do, and watch Him perform great things for you and through you.
But don’t forget your boots. It’s snaky out there!
Dorothy
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church…Ephesians 1:22
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:20
Message in a motorboat
For a summer and a half I had the privilege of working at Ranger, a primitive camp across the lake from the main camp where I was a counselor for six summers. The boys and girls at Ranger slept on opposite hillsides in tents and lean-tos and met in a central valley between the two hills for cooking, camaraderie, jumping into the lake off of a huge two-story diving tower we built ourselves, and for massive games of flashlight capture-the-flag under the night skies.
The most memorable session at Ranger was a year and a half before I got saved. Two of my co-counselors that session were Gordy, the Ranger director that summer, and Carla, both of whom were bold, born-again Christians.
The first time I ever prayed out loud to the God of creation was after jumping off of the Ranger diving tower while taking a midnight dip with Carla.
“Let’s pray,” she suggested.
“Here? Now?!” I asked, incredulous at the non-religious setting.
“Sure! Hi, Jesus! It’s so fun to swim with You under the stars tonight. I love You, Lord…” and on she continued as we swam in the star-illumined, midnight water.
I talked to Him, too, telling Him how cool it was of Him to make nature and summer and camp and freedom. I didn’t ask Him to be my Lord that night, but how could I ever despise a God who listened so attentively and lovingly to two teenage girls swimming in a starlit lake at midnight?
A big deal that summer was the copperhead infestation at camp. As more and more of the snakes were discovered, it became a badge of honor among the guy counselors to catch a copperhead with their bare hands. Even one of the female counselors caught one. I was secretly envious of her; I wanted nothing more than to say I had captured a copperhead with my bare hands, but alas, I had already been bitten by three non-poisonous snakes that summer at different times while holding them. I knew something was off with my snake-handling technique, and therefore, catching a copperhead—although awesome—was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.
Gordy did catch one late in the summer, though, and holding it, asked me to drive him across the lake in the motorboat so he could release it way back in the woods. (We didn’t believe in killing copperheads back then. We all thought that “the children and the flowers are our sisters and our brothers”, a la “Rhymes and Reasons”, a John Denver song. That included copperheads, too.)
Gordy sat in the bow of the boat facing me with the copperhead in his hands. I pulled away from the Ranger dock and motored toward the other side of the lake.
“He’s trying to get away. If he does, he’s mad enough to bite one of us before flopping out of the boat,” Gordy observed.
“Well, don’t let him go!” I demanded, one eye to the lake and the other on the snake.
After a while, the snake stopped lashing around—and that’s when Gordy started preaching a message I’ll never forget. “He’s relaxing. His muscles are not tensed up beneath my hands. He’s just like the devil. If Satan can’t beat you by fighting, he’ll bide his time and seek a different strategy, just like he did with Jesus when he left Him for a more opportune time.
“You see, this snake is very aware of my grip. He’s testing me, I can tell, just like the devil does. He thinks if he backs off, I’ll get lulled into complacency. He’s waiting for my hand muscles to relax. And if they do, he’s ready. He’ll swing his head back and latch onto my arm!
“If a believer stands his ground against the devil, then the devil will back off—but he won’t give up. He’ll bide his time and watch for the Christian’s guard to drop and his life to get sloppy—and then, just like this copperhead, he’ll swing back and strike!”
I didn’t even believe in a literal devil at the time, but eyeing that copperhead as it went through its stages of fight and relax, fight and relax, everything Gordy said in that boat made total sense to me.
You certainly do have an enemy over whom you have authority—the devil. Resist him, firm in your faith, and according to the Word, he will flee from you (see James 4:7). But once he flees, don’t drop your guard; live not only harmlessly, but also shrewdly (see Matthew 10:16), armed with God’s Word every day of your life. That way, when the enemy seeks to return for a more opportune time—and he will—he will find you alert, ready in season and out, and without a single toehold by which he can slither back into your life.
Dorothy
And do not give the devil an opportunity. Ephesians 4:27