Hello everyone!
When I was in my early teens I spent a Sunday afternoon with one of my buddies named Rick Augustine. Those were innocent days filled with a lot of fun for two “wanna be” adventurers. I went home after church with him and his parents stopping to have lunch at the local A & W run by Mr. Sellers, a member of my dad’s church. We changed clothes at his house as quickly as we could, grabbed his .22 rifle and disappeared into “the wilderness.”
We spent several hours in the hills behind his house – hills like the Santa Monica Mountains we have here locally. We never saw the kind of wildlife that we had dreamed of seeing but our imaginations sure kept us seeing lions, bears and the like behind every tree. After several hours of “hunting and exploring” we were tired and thirsty so we headed back. We took a short cut back to his house but didn’t bargain for the cut away section on the upside of the fire road. It meant we had to jump down 8-10 feet to the fire road. Because Rick was carrying the .22 rifle we decided that I would jump down first and then I’d reach up and he would hand it to me. We didn’t want the rifle to go off as we were jumping down and it never did.
After jumping down to the fire road, I tried to reach up and get the gun from Rick but it was too far of a reach. So I decided to climb up the embankment to a small ledge and then I’d have no problem reaching the butt end of the rifle.
Paralyzing horror gripped my whole being when I grabbed the side of the ledge and began to pull myself up over the edge. There, less than a foot away from my nose was a coiled rattlesnake. I tried to scream but no noise came from my gasping and gaping mouth. I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed with fear. I lost my grip on the edge of ledge and fell backward. Thankfully the snake hadn’t struck. And my fall backwards onto the fire road only gave me bumps, bruises and scratches.
When I finally summoned my wits and was able to speak I explained to my friend Rick that there was a rattle snake on the ledge. He decided to walk down the edge of the embankment about a hundred yards to find a place where he could descend to the fire road.
I was a bit shaken by the close encounter with Mr. Snake. Fear had gripped and paralyzed me that Sunday afternoon . Given the same circumstances, it probably would have done the same to you.
Back in 2013 I wrote about a guy who had foolishly poked at a rattle snake when out hiking with friends. He was trying to be “macho.” He was the “fearless” type . . . that is until the snake struck and embedded itself into and onto his hand. As a result, he permanently lost the feeling in most of his hand and the use of his thumb.
Fear is an interesting subject. Sometimes it can keep us from doing foolish things like poking at a rattlesnake. Or it can grip us momentarily like it did me that Sunday afternoon with Rick.
But fear should never set up residency in our lives.
If fear becomes a constant companion, then we know that the “wicked one,” the Devil, has found an opening to intimidate, damage, destroy, or ensnare us.1 He likes to put as many people as possible into bondage. And when that spirit of fear gets rooted within an individual the person is no longer free to enjoy the liberty that Jesus Christ purchased on the Cross.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be
burdened again by a yoke of slavery.2
Too many people are unwittingly yanked around at the whim of the enemy. They’re leashed like a dog, except their master is not loving like so many of pet owners are. Instead, the Devil is ruthless and the symptoms of this “fear” malady are many.
As Christians we are all advised and instructed to not let the Devil outsmart us.2 Remember, God has given us authority in His NAME. We are to resist the Devil by enforcing the victory won by Jesus Christ’s victory over his (the Devil’s) works. 4
God’s heart for you is huge! He doesn’t want you and me to be dominated by “the snake.” Exercise your authority in the most powerful name of all – The Name of JESUS – and leave fear in the rear!
Blessings to you in Jesus’ name – fearless ones!
Pastor John
1 – John 10:10
2 – Galatians 5:1
3 – 2 Corinthians 2:11
4 – 1 John 3b, 1 Peter 5:9, James 4:7 and Colossians 2:15