Like Lightning

Last week, someone shared with my a story that she'd heard at a missions conference, that speaks so powerfully of Revelation 12 (and has spoken to me super powerfully since then).

She told me about a missionary working with indigenous people in a rainforest somewhere (I forget where) who had a huge snake break into his family's house. So the family went to the people of the village where they were living and asked what they should do about the snake. The villagers said not to worry about it, that they would take care of the snake - but to stay out of the house until they were told they could go back in.

So the family got out of the house, and one of the villagers went straight inside and beheaded the snake immediately. But then he also told the family that these kinds of snakes were sort of like chickens in that even after they have their heads cut off, their bodies still act like they're alive for a surprisingly long while. So they waited outside while they could hear this snake trashing around in their house, knocking things over, and sometimes breaking things. And when they went inside, yes, there was some minor damage, but ultimately the battle had been over as soon as the snake had been beheaded.

Isn't this just like the dragon? He's trashing around in pain as he dies - he knows he's lost - but the battle is over. Someone who knew how to take care of the problem dealt with it for us, so we're just riding it out, knowing that the snake can only inflict superficial damage now.

And then secondly, I loved that Darrell shared about Luke 10 and the sending out of the 72, because that passage has meant a lot to me in the past year or so.

Almost a year and a half ago, I felt "sent out in pairs" to my work place with one of my very close friends. We wanted to get out of our "Christian bubble" and put down roots somewhere, really investing in relationships. Last night I was brought to tears listening to one of my co-workers who has come to the Lord since that time speak in front of 150 people about her unwavering faith in the Lord and encourage them to be diligent, to persevere, to invest, to put God as the first priority.

Friends, Satan is falling from heaven like lightning, and I am so encouraged!