Bear Spray

We wanted to go for a short hike through the woods to gaze at Alaska's beauty. I’m not an Alaska native, but I was with some, so we stopped by a local store to pick up some bear spray on the way.

“Which one should we get?”

I regret the question, for it led to innumerable bear stories. The shop keeper even followed us out to our car to continue telling us stories of people attacked and chewed on and mauled, each story ending with a heroic save by a dog and a can of bear spray. Well, we didn’t have a dog, and I didn’t want to walk through the woods anymore.

But we took our bear spray and walked out in confidence. Can we call it confidence when it’s smothered in fear? An observer would have thought we walked with confidence though our hearts quailed at the thought of the bear we would likely meet and the tale of our own attack. 

There are bears in the spiritual world as well. We walk through life and hardly think of them. They hate us. They hate that we are made in the image of God. They hate that God did everything to make a way for us to be with him again. They stalk through the spiritual woods we walk through every day. Sure, there may not be many. Sure, you may only meet one every hundred years. Sure, only one in one hundred may attack you. But still. They’re out there. I’ve heard stories. I’ve read the Bible. I know they exist, and I know they are powerful.

I know there were seven brothers who went out and fought these bears. They cast demons out of men and women in the name of Jesus, but they didn’t know Jesus themselves. They took an empty can of bear spray and held it up to frighten the demons.  And one day, the bears looked at that can and noticed it was empty. They were hungry. They defeated the seven brothers, using a single man to do it, and sent them running away naked and bleeding. This is not an exaggeration. This is the truth of the Bible.

So what do we do with demons? What do we do with fallen angels? What do we do with evil spirits? They may be the same thing, they may be different, but we defeat them all with only the power of Jesus. We are weak. We are small. We have not the strength to fight against them, but Jesus does. We can speak to the enemy in the name of Jesus and watch him back down because Jesus comes when we call him. He comes at our call because he loves us and wants what is best for us. He steps in and stands up for us, and the enemy runs with his tail between his legs.

So yes. We can walk confidently through the spiritual woods of life. We can enjoy the scenery there and walk knowing Jesus loves us and will come when we call. We can walk knowing the enemy may charge at us. He may attempt to overpower us, but if we call out to Jesus, asking him to do battle for us, the enemy doesn’t stand a chance. Jesus already defeated the enemy. He already met every attack the enemy had to offer. He even met death. But death, the enemy’s ace, could not hold him. Jesus defeated the most cunning and cruel attacks of the enemy, and the enemy knows this. The enemy knows Jesus is stronger. The enemy has tried everything and found his methods lacking.

So we can have true confidence. We don’t have to worry about what brand of bear spray we carry with us through the woods. We don’t even have to worry if we know how to use it right. When the time comes, all we have to do is call on Jesus. 

Things to pray for:

I'm back from my "vacation," and it's time to do real work again. But job hunting is the wooorst. Pray that God will provide a job quickly. I'd love to have an apartment and not live with my parents. (Though they are wonderful.)

Transitions are always hard, and during transitional periods I tend to neglect important things, like pursuing healing. Please pray that I will have right priorities, and that they will be in a very straight and obvious line.