Yes. A brown recluse was found in the bathroom this evening.
Yes. It taught a powerful lesson.
Yes. That lesson is now going to be posted on the internet.
It was an ordinary evening here in North Idaho- or so we thought. As Nayana and I went upstairs for the Birthing Hope International weekly prayer meeting we had no idea what was going to take place. In addition to praying for South Sudan and Jason and Jammie as they get details taken care of over there we ended up praying for the Burch family who live out in Rathdrum. Through prayer we were able to call out fear and replace it with God's love and His light. Well, after prayer Nayana and I returned downstairs where a giant brown recluse was quickly found in the bathroom. Nayana got me a cup and paper and we quickly took care of the spider and flushed it down the toilet. Within the next two minutes two smaller brown recluses were found in different areas of the home. After killing these Nayana I ended up talking and both came to a realization that we needed to pray- it couldn't simply be a coincidence that three spiders all show up in one evening immediately after we just prayed through fear. Well, here is the lesson that came from the spiders:
The big spiders are easy to spot. | Spiders can represent various open doors to sin we may have in our lives. Whether it is fear, lust, pride, etc, these open doors need to be dealt with. It is easy to spot a "big " issue such as pornography and identify that is not good- like a poisonous brown recluse- and needs to be dealt with (i.e. kill it!). Now that a "big" issue has been identified we then become much more aware of the "little" open doors in our lives. We now can recognize that watching a horror movie has opened doors to consistent night terrors or a "little" gambling addiction has left another in the family constantly ill. Our eyes are now open to these "little" issues- such as the baby recluses- and they must be dealt with as well (kill them all!). There are "spiders" in our lives that we have allowed to stay and have become passive to their presence because they have always been there. There are some "spiders" that we have that we may have even named (i.e. "I'm just a worrier" or "I'm just clumsy") because they have essentially become a part of the house. As Christians, we cannot allow these "spiders" to remain. No matter how long we have had these certain fears, addictions, lust, pride, passivity etc hidden in our home we can no longer allow these to stay. These "spiders" are poisonous AND THEY CANNOT STAY. We are made as vessels of the Holy Spirit. We are the house of the Lord and we cannot- whether it is a conscious or passive decision- allow open doors in our lives. The Lord has given us His gift of life, of repentance, of authority, of closeness with Him. If we do not exercise our gift of repentance and authority in His Spirit we are not walking in the fullness of life that He has for us. So, to conclude, when we deal with the "spiders" in our life- have open eyes to see, and a quick response to kill- we will find ourselves walking in greater intimacy and focus with our Father as the distractions- both big and small- are gone. Furthermore, we can sleep in peace knowing that the spiders have been dealt with and we are secure in the arms of the Lord. |
So, there it is. A lesson from a brown recluse.
I'm ready to run into this next year with open eyes to deal with all my spiders in the closet. Are you in?
I'm ready to run into this next year with open eyes to deal with all my spiders in the closet. Are you in?