Snake!!!

I’m going to share a true story that happened to me. It’s a little frightening….so pay close attention. :)

15 years ago…our house in TX had a 6ft chain link fencing in a ½ acre. We never did figure out why…but at least it kept the kids out of the woods and the slew (low marshy area) that was 20 feet outside the back fenceline.

Because of that slew we had to make sure grass was mowed, weeds killed and the leaves raked underneath a grove of pin oaks in the back yard because underbrush would attract snakes. (water moccasins, copperheads, etc.) We had to make sure that we didn’t give snakes any ground cover to hide in, and that we could see them long before we walked up on one.

Also along one side of the fenceline…we had a huge amounts of HONEYSUCKLE growing which smelled heavenly on a warm summer’s evening. Someone told us that honeysuckle would tear down a fence. We looked and sure enough….we found that the honeysuckle would slowly weave itself in and out the chain link fence and squeeze it until the fence/barrier was ruined. So, after chopping and digging up the roots we had to let the plant wither and die and then had to unweave the plant from the fence. Some of the plant grew into the fence in such a way…that it made it very difficult to get it untangled.

Soon thereafter…we ending up moving to Alabama and I had to return for a visit to sign up a new realtor. It took a year for our house to sell after moving.

I had spoken to our the person who we hired to mow our grass and he said, that due to a long season of rain, the grass had gotten high. He was able to mow around the house, but not all. He also said to be careful…because he had killed a water moccasin in the yard and they usually have mates.

I met with the realtor and after we signed the contract the realtor wanted to walk around the property. I told her “No, the grass is too high due to the rains and there are snakes. She told me, “There aren’t snakes out there!” and I replied, “Oh yes there are. This isn’t the city and it’s been too wet lately and the grass is too high.”

Well, when I opened the front door….Guess what? Laying out there on the grass, four feet from the door was a long silvery snake…all stretched out… enjoying the sunshine. You can imagine the city girl turned white. ;)

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!!!....the realtor asked me.

I told her to go out the sliding glass doors (which I couldn’t lock from the outside) and I would lock up the house after the snake decided to go away. But no...the gal wanted to help…so she suggested that we “scare” it away. Dummy me….listened to a city girl.

So, I went out the sliding doors and found a cinder block. (Don’t ya'll know that ALL good southerners have a cinderblock just laying around outside somewhere? Ha!)

And we CONCOCTED a Plan! I would throw the cinder block in the direction of the snake….Which would in turn scare it away. And after a while, when it was gone… We would lock up the house and go home. Well, it sounded like a good plan at the time. hahahaha

So…She opened the door and I hoisted up the cinder block and threw it the four feet to the snake…and… we were horrified to see a very mad gray, silvery snake, coiling and hissing. All at the same time…(really)….the lady screamed in my ear, slammed the door, and both of us ran screaming and laughing to the other side of the house.

Then we turned around and what we saw…made us quit laughing.

The snake had jumped across my threshold. The door had slammed on its head trapping it’s body underneath the door. We were looking at a very angry snake…hissing and biting the air…trying to get to us. Only the door was stopping it from going any further. If the lady had not slammed that door in time and we had not run across the room…I would have been bitten.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!!!...the realtor asked again.

Well, I had just about run out of plans by then. Of course…the city girl was completely white as a sheet now…(I had a sneakin’ suspicion that she wasn’t interested in selling my house ANY MORE).....and she was interested in leaving now…but I told her that I COULDN’T leave and let a snake be sitting half in my living room!

So I found a 6 foot long plank of wood underneath the stairwell. (from one of our endless remodeling projects.)….And I gathered up all my courage…..And killed the snake’s head with the long piece of wood.

Knowing that it was good and DEAD (trust me!) we walked out the sliding doors to the front door to see what the situation was about getting the snake out from underneath my front door.

If you have ever watched a cartoon where the character slams against something and coils up like a spring…that’s exactly what that snake looked like….a spring…coiled up against the door.

So I went back inside and decided to open the door from the inside. Well, all of you KNOW that the body of a snake doesn’t die at the same speed as the head does don’t you?

So when I would open the door. He would slither in. I would open the door. He would slither in.

By this time….my heart failed me. I was shaking and white as a sheet too and I decided that I needed some help.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!!!!....the realtor asked me again.

First....I sent the helpless city girl home! She was getting on my last nerve! Then I walked down the street to our resident fireman, explained the situation and politely asked him to come help me get rid of a dead snake.

Do you know what the fireman that goes into burning buildings and saves people…Told me!! “NO! I’m afraid of snakes!” I explained… “But…I’ve ALREADY killed the snake!” and the big brave fireman told me… “I don’t care…I’m not touching no snakes!”

So after I called him a “BIG USELESS CHICKEN!” I walked across the street to ask our resident Cajun…Mr. Babineaux. Who said, “Of course!” And walked down to my house, plucked that snake out from underneath my door.

Mr. Babineaux is my height (5’3”) and when he picked up the snake, it hung all the way to the ground.

I asked how long it was….
“About 4 feet.”
I asked what kind it was?..Is it poisonous?….
“A Water Moccasin.”
What? It doesn’t look like a Water Moccasin!...
“It had just shed it’s skin.” (which was the reason it was gray/silvery color and not the usual drk. brown/black)

Mr. Babineaux then told me. You know…you were real lucky. Snakes can jump the same distance as their body length.

Well Duh!


SPIRITUAL APPLICATION:

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

We have just returned from a long season of being showered with Spiritual blessings in Family Camp & Conventions & Assemblies.

We’ve had our General Overseer, State & Ntl. Overseers, Preachers and Speakers encourage us to….move up…clear out the weeds in our life…

Remember that Rainy seasons of Blessings...soft ground...fertile hearts...also attracts ole Slew foot and he is just looking for some soft ground cover to slither his way past our personal fenceline boundaries.

Mar 4:18, 19 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
And the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the lusts of other things entering in,
choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

1. Cares of this world means distractions of this world.
Do we have some Honeysuckle habits in our lives? Lovely pleasant activities. Basically harmless.
Until we realize that these activities are slowing squeezing our time and tearing down our boundaries without us even realizing it. These activities must be chopped down, uprooted and painstakingly unwoven and pulled out of our lives before real damage occurs. I really can’t explain what honeysuckle habits are. They are different for every person. I know what mine are.

How do we know if we have a honeysuckle habit? Basically they are the things that consume our time, thoughts, attention & strength. But God wants to consume our time, thoughts, attention & strength. Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. If we pray….The Holy Ghost can convict us and tell us what our Honeysuckle Habits are.

2. What about “the deceitfulness of riches”?
We normally think this deals only with wealthy people…and those who spend their lives in pursuit of money. So we think we can pat ourselves on the back and skip over that part of the scripture.

But another definition of deceitfulness of riches is “delusion of abundance.”
We are definitely spiritually rich people…and we can honestly fall into the trap of believing that we are so spiritually abundant & rich…that we are strong enough to neglect some of those things that God has commanded us to do….thinking…. “those things don’t affect us like weaker Christians.” But Paul explains it this way: 1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Like Adam & Eve…we often pluck fig leaf excuses of self righteousness to cover ourselves up with. Do we have some Fig Leaf Excuses laying about our lives?
Excuses of: When God takes care of my problem first….I’ll do that for him. I was raised that way. My parent’s raised me wrong…or…..too strict… I JUST FEEL this is the right way for me…. I don’t like that person’s teaching/preaching… I don’t like that person…so I won’t attend. They hurt my feelings. I don’t need to attend church all the time.

Christians can also develop a permanent case of Whine Flue.

God didn’t accept Adam & Eve’s fig leaf excuses and He won’t accept ours either.

3. Let’s also look at “The lust of other things entering in”.
Do we have some “weedy sins” that we have allowed to grow into our lives. What kind of weeds can grow in our lives?

Weeds such as unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, pride, jealously, envy, impurity, criticism, gossip, slander, corrupt communications / imaginations, worry, anxiety, fear, Doubt, Grudge-holding, unbelief, foolish talking/jesting, scoffing, wilfulness, self will, rebellion, uncleaness, wrath, malice, covetousness, Lack of love & Charity

Just ONE of these things can cause us to miss heaven. And….all of these are ground cover GIVING the serpent full access within our lives. This Quarter’s Sunday School lessons have been very clear.

We have to hoe out the weeds and grow orderly gardens of godliness, peace, patience, unity, grace, knowledge, temperance, purity, virtue, perseverance, forgiveness, charity, righteousness, gentleness. goodness, faith holiness, meekness longsuffering, joy, mercy, brotherly kindness, humbleness, truthfulness, charity and love.

Something is going to enter in and grow abundantly in our lives: It will either Good or Bad.

AND OF COURSE…if we are NOT diligent about tending our yards…then we will definitely FIND that we have a slithering OCCUPANT on hand.

And just like Eve… we’ll be going merrily along with our lives….and suddenly we see that ole serpent….
sitting on our doorsteps.
sunning himself in broad daylight.
completely unafraid.
challenging us: “What are you going to do about it?”

At first…We may decided to ignore him….to see if he’ll “go away”. We think if we keep our personal spiritual distance…He won’t affect us. But remember that a snake can jump the entire length of it’s body from a standing still position. Satan can not only kill you….he can also get into your household.

Remember Lot….Although he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked on a daily basis….he lost his entire family to sin.

Satan can shed his skin to look like a harmless toy…fun to play with…an angel of light and beauty. And if we treat Satan like he is a harmless toy…then our children will want to play with him too.

But soon….when the ole serpent gets tired of being played around with…He coils....He leaps….He strikes......and we can be destroyed.

2Pe 2:20-21 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

Like Lot…It is only by the mercies of God…that we are spared death due to our carelessness & neglectfulness. Sometimes only the prayers of someone who loves us causes the door to slam shut on satan’s destruction. (remember how Abraham prayed for Lot)

Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;

But Like Lot …even after divine intervention…we still have to deal with the sin snake in our house. We have to completely slay the serpent and its influence in our lives before we can be safe….truly escape.

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Do we leave sin’s dead carcass laying around? No.
Because the poison in that snake will live long, long, long after the snake is dead. Have you ever met someone who kept souvenirs of their past? If we treat the old serpent like a toy…our children will grow accustomed to it and play with it and be poisoned by our souvenir.

Examples: I’ve heard past church members whose spouses left them say: “If the church would let me re-marry again…” Teaching their children things like: “The Church won’t let us do those things.”

Don’t keep souvenirs of “longing” and “lust” laying around…because your children will pick them up too and be poisoned and destroyed by them.

We have to be completely delivered from sin.

Sin has to be killed, plucked up and taken outside the boundaries of our lives.

1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Col 2:21,22 Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;…

God has given us plenty of Spirit Filled instruction these past Camp, Convention & Assembly season. Now is the time to make sure our spiritual lives are mowed, weeded, pruned, raked of all ground cover…so we can protect ourselves and our families from worldly and satanic influences

So… WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!!!