I woke up in my kitchen, leaning on the counter, breathing heavily.  I could hear my wife yelling from the bedroom, “Bob, what happened, are you okay?”  I was still trying to figure that out myself.  My leg hurt.  My arm was throbbing. My heart was racing. Then I started laughing.

The last thing I remembered was coming face to face with an enormous snake, and I turned and high-tailed it in the other direction.  Yes, it was a dream.  I’ve been having snake nightmares since I was three.  It never went this far, though, as my wife unraveled events that landed me in the kitchen.  She said I jumped up, ran across the bed, tripped over the footboard, slammed to the floor,  jumped up, ran through the bathroom, and stopped in the kitchen!

Wow.  Now that’s springing into action.  The analogy may be obvious, but I wish I would react that way every time I come face to face with sin.  Just turn and sprint.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ” (James 4:7)

The exciting promise is that God promises protection.  Yes, I ran from the snake in my dream, but according to God’s word, if we cultivate our relationship with Him, we’ll be so protected that Satan will be the one doing the running.

Last week my deejay and I opened for a prominent secular artist.  We’d been gearing up for the event, as our conviction has been to reach out and exemplify Christ in local bars and clubs.  The night before the event, we  hit a snag.  The house deejay had fallen through, and the promoter called and asked if my deejay could spin for all of the other opening artists that night.  Her answer, and mine, was that this would not be possible.  No need to get into the details of our reasons; you’ve probably figured that out for yourself.  The promoter had been very professional, and offered to give us the top-slot before the headliner as a token of his appreciation, if she could do it.

Admittedly, we were slightly disappointed after having relinquished that top slot, but God really showed us how He operates.  First of all, the promoter was entirely gracious about it, and simply found someone else.  When we arrived at the event, we discovered that we had been given the top slot, anyways!  After our set, we prayed with two different people who sought us out and inquired about our conviction and dedication to Jesus.  The peace we felt was remarkable.  God’s hedge of protection enabled us to be used fully by Him, with no compromise.  Protection is His promise.  Nurturing the relationship is our responsibility.  Amen.
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http://www.bobbybishop.com