Now Christ has made us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don’t get all tied up again in the chains of slavery (Galatians 5:1 Living Bible).

I  used to have a cat that was very small, but he was a tough fighter.  We moved into a new neighborhood and one morning when he asked to be let out  I opened the front door for him. I’m sure kitty’s eyes got as big as mine for there was an XXX-Large cat sitting not three feet from my front door.  My cat backed away and I shut the door and let him out later.  Maybe about a month later I opened the door for my cat to go outside again and there was that big cat sitting near the front door again.  I prepared to close the door but then watched my cat glare at the other cat.  The big cat just got up and walked off and my cat meandered out to enjoy his time outdoors.  I realized then where he had received his recent battle scars.  But he had fought the battle and won!

  Sometimes when faced with sin we don’t even try to fight we just give up.  But what we need to do is let God fight the battle for us.  He has the power to look sin in the eye and defeat it.  If we allow God to conquer sin for us, we can live the life He created us to live rather than cowering in fear.

 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  When you are tempted, you don’t have to say, “Oh no, here I go again, I just can’t seem to resist.”  God has promised his supernatural power to set you free from the temptation.  “My eyes are ever looking to the Lord for help, for he alone can rescue me”  (Psalm 25:15).

For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants (Philippians 2:13 Phillips).

“And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family” (Romans 8:15 Living Bible).

Isn’t it strange sometimes what will trigger a spiritual allegory in your mind?  Today my neighbor texted me and wanted me to come over and look at the Wolf spider her husband had captured the night before and put into a jar.

About a week ago they found a Wolf spider in their seven-year old son’s bed all snuggled up under the blankets.  Ever since, then she has not gone to bed without lifting her blankets and pillows and looking for a spider.  Last night she checked her bed and pillows and climbed in under the covers.  Her husband came to bed just shortly after that and turned out the light.  Then he asked where his cell phone was since he used it as an alarm.  The phone was on the night stand on her side of the bed so he got up and turned on the light.  As she reached for the cell phone she heard her husband calmly said, “You need to get up and go get me a glass jar.”  She did as she was told and when she gave her husband the glass jar he captured another Wolf spider that was sitting on his pillow!  Needless to say my neighbor did not sleep well last night and as a result spent a sleepy afternoon getting some vitamin D out in her yard.

Sin can be like that, especially when we feel like we have things pretty together.  It waits in some dark nook or cranny in our minds, and when we least expect it crawls out and surprises us.  Jesus knows what lurks in the dark places of our hearts and promises to give us the light from His word so we can see the “spiders of sin” and clean them out.