“I’m bringing a steak knife for you and a butter knife for your sister in my book bag,” a school bully told my older sibling Shavette.
“When you come to school tomorrow, I’m going to stab you both.”
Instantly, when I learned of the threat, my heart was gripped with fear.
That was it for me. I was never going to school again, even if I had to invent stomach aches every day. I didn’t want to die!
Shavette, unlike me, was unphased.
While my eyes bulged in horror, big sis broke down laughing. “A butter knife?” she said in between chuckles. “What is she going to do with a butter knife?”
I didn’t get the joke and could not find any humor in the exchange. I was quaking in my boots.
“When she said she was going to bring a butter knife for you, that’s when I knew she was just talking crazy,” Shavette explained, working to allay my fears.
“Besides, by telling me what she was going to do in front of all those people, she would never get away with it,” she continued.
“I’ll be watching her.”
Still, I was petrified and didn’t want my sister to go to school.
She went anyway.
When Shavette returned home safely, I was both relieved and curious.
“Well,” I said, “Did she bring a weapon to school?”
With a smirk, my wise sibling said, “No, I told you she wasn’t.”
No knife-wielding ever happened. The girl was just trying to scare us.
After that, I was in awe of my courageous, fearless sister and wondered how she was so confident that the girl was all bark and no bite.
It was an experience and maturity thing. Shavette had been in a lot more fights and hung around an older crowd.
I wasn’t allowed inside their cliques or conversations, which seemed so much more sophisticated and grownup than mine. I was a bit more naïve and reclusive.
For a long time, I was easily intimidated until life toughened me up a bit.
Gradually, I began distinguishing the bluffers from the true fighters. I learned how to ignore certain threats and not allow manipulators, trouble-makers and rabble-rousers to get me all stirred up.
My walk with the Lord followed the same progressive path.
Before growing in my faith and experience, whenever Satan would rear his head and stir up strife, I would go to pieces. When the enemy used people and situations to shake me up, I’d get easily rattled and begin worrying.
But after I came through a few storms and survived some intense attacks, I was stronger and more confident that no weapon formed against me would prosper.
I had to be battle-tested before I could endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Now I realize, threats will be made. The enemy will wage war against my house. But his strategy will fail.
That’s what you have to know.
I was reading Acts 28 today, where, the Apostle Paul, after being shipwrecked, made it to the Island of Malta. While sitting around a fire to combat the rain and cold, Paul grabbled a pile of brushwood and put it in the fire.
Right when he did, the Bible says in verse 3, “a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.”
When the islanders noticed a snake dangling from his hand, they surmised that Paul was cursed. They figured it was some kind of punishment from “the goddess of justice” and he must be a murderer.
Won’t people judge you at your low point? Won’t they make assumptions about your character based on the intensity of your trial? They’ll treat you like Job’s friends did him and say you must have sinned. Boy, people will turn on you, judge you and criticize you in a minute, while being wrong as two left shoes.
But every valley experience isn’t the result of sin. Sometimes, God just wants to show up and show out on your behalf, and get glory out of your story.
So anyway, in verse 6 of that same chapter, the Bible says, “The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.”
Paul wasn’t a god, but God—the only true and living One—was on his side.
So even though that snake bit him, the venom had no impact on him.
Friend, when you are favored of the Lord, despite the venomous nature of the attack or the viciousness of the devil’s plan, it won’t have the expected effect.
Why?
Because the Lord is with you.
Just like that school bully’s empty threat, what Satan had planned won’t pan out the way he wanted it to.
God’s hand is on your life. He is covering you and your household. He has already canceled the assignment of the enemy.
So don’t be discouraged if the Lord has allowed the snake to bite, because what it releases through those fangs will be neutralized by the power of God.
To empower you, I’m stirring a portion of the words David spoke to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45 before chopping that old giant’s head off. He said, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, you will be reminded that the Greater One—the Greatest One of all—lives inside of you. Through Him, the battle is already won.
Whatever the enemy comes against you with is not strong enough to defeat the One who is for you.
You have the victory.
Now let’s pray.
God, I have complete confidence in Your power and sovereignty. Thank You for the assurance that no weapon formed against me will prosper. Today, I stand on Your word. Despite the opposition, I declare that I am victorious through You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
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