Why Serpents? 3

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (Psalm 1:1)

Today I want us to move outside what we were looking at, ministers of the Gospel.

I want us to look at our enemy as the serpent, since that is what he is called severally in the scriptures.

I also want us to look at him as he is addressed by Peter, as a roaring lion.

Way am I doing this?

Primarily because our generation has recreated the devil and magnified him beyond what the scriptures say.

The devil is not powerful, at least not as powerful as many believers think he is.

Second is that he is not omnipresent, meaning is operations are limited to places and people who have allowed him to use them and the places that have been dedicated to his use.

Third is that he is not all knowing and so depends on people getting him information to use.

This is the reason I want us to look at him with the revelation I have shared about serpents.

Probably the last reason I need us to look at the enemy of our souls as the serpent the Bible calls him is because he is as vulnerable against the march of an obedient church.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

As I have stated severally, gates are defensive. This verse therefore paints the devil as losing ground once our obedience is sealed.

The other verse that says the same thing is Genesis 3:15.

The only place the serpent can bite a man is the heel, thereby endangering his head in the process since that heel is part of the foot that can easily trample him.

I hope I am communicating something even before getting to the crux of the message.

The devil is limited.  And I am repeating this for emphasis.

But the point I want us to focus on today is his shrewdness. He must be shrewd because he is fully aware of his limitations. He knows that he has no chance of achieving anything unless he uses that subtlety.

A roaring lion, as I have written elsewhere, roars for the simple reason of scaring his enemies since a lion does not roar as part of his hunting strategy.

Incidentally, the devil is not called a roaring lion. He is pictured as projecting himself as one.

That roar is therefore part of that subtlety. It is part of his knowing his limitations and therefore putting on a false front to scare some of you into incapacity.

For many believers, that roar has scared them to the point of crippling their whole lives as it has completely dominated their whole system. It is said that a lion’s roar can be heard 2.5 miles (4km) from the point of the roaring since it is meant to keep his pride safe from marauders.

You could therefore be scared of leaving your house when the lion is too far to even smell your presence.

Is that not what the devil has for most succeeded in doing in our generation?

Explain to me why is there more discussion on the devil and his servants and wiles when Christ should be the only focus of our narrative? Why is most prayer nowadays about binding, resisting and commanding the devil than it is about releasing God’s kingdom?

I have written about blood abuse. And it has to do with Christ’s blood.

Do you realise that this whole doctrine finds its roots in the glorification of the devil and everything he represents? Do you realise that we call on that blood to cover us (blood abusers) because we are scared of the devil that we need that film to cover us?

Yet we are not diligent enough to pursue a more spiritual cover from the attacks of the enemy, which is our obedience.

What am I saying?

Simply that the devil, like any serpent, is vulnerable and limited.

He is therefore not someone to disturb an obedient believer. In actual fact, he is scared to death of being trampled by the same since he knows that there is absolutely no chance for overcoming him unless he can rebel against God as he knows that he cannot even repel him from raiding hell since his progress breaks through the gates effortlessly.

He will pretend to lunge at you so that you think he will finish you though he knows that even if he was to bite, his poison can never do you any harm. He will roar so that you imagine how impenetrable and heavily guarded they are to stop from approaching those gates since he knows that that is the only way he stands the slimmest chance of delaying, not stopping, the advance of the church.

This is not a conclusive post. I have written briefly just to enlighten you that your obedience is your victory. That once you pursue obedience, the devil has a zero chance of harming you unless on God’s orders as happened with our brother Job and Peter.

Will you choose obedience?