Sin Spiders

My son, Bryon, is about six-foot-one and weighs around 245 pounds. He works out regularly at a gym and can bench press up to 300 pounds. He works as a diesel mechanic and wrestles with transmissions, radiators, starters and other heavy truck parts on a daily basis. Yet, Bryon has arachnophobia. He is deathly afraid of spiders. I have never seen Bryon move as fast as when he thinks a spider might be crawling his way or dangling nearby. When he’s not dodging spiders he goes after them with shoes, hammers and anything else within reach. I might chuckle at him and think it is funny that a bug that weighs less than a gram can send this big guy bolting in the opposite direction or transform him into Bryon the Spider Slayer. But, Bryon takes spiders VERY seriously! For Bryon… spiders are the enemy and he is engaged in an endless battle with them.

Like Bryon, each of us are engaged in the battles of life. We all have our spiders. For one person it might be a battle with illness or disease, for another a battle with poverty… for another loneliness… unemployment, lust, addictions… depression or anger. Yet, each of us are challenged with conflicts that we must somehow face, somehow endure and somehow overcome. They are the challenges of a sinful world… sin spiders one and all.

So very often, these enemies of ours, seem larger than life. We try to run from them, or avoid them, or confront them with all but the most appropriate measures. I’m reminded of a suggestion I frequently heard when I was in the Air Force… When jet mechanics were having difficulties making repairs and nothing seemed to work they would often bellow, “Get a bigger hammer!” As if a bigger hammer would resolve a problem that could not be fixed with a wrench. The prevailing thought was that sheer might and power could fix any problem. Yet, sadly, all too often we wage the battles in our life in the same manner. It’s like trying to put a fire out with gasoline.

The problem is we try to force our way, buy our way, woo our way or think our way through every conflict in our life. We’d like to think that we have the power and means to overcome every enemy in our life. Could it be that we are afraid that to confess otherwise would be to admit weakness and defeat?

But, that’s the problem isn’t it? Our self-reliance.

We forget that we are not almighty, we are not all powerful, we are not all knowing, we do not have all of the answers or solutions. And… this is especially true when we are battling the spiders of sin in our life. We need to remember that as Christians we are new creations, that we have entered the realm of the Spirit, and that as spiritual beings we cannot wage war against spiritual problems with weapons of the flesh. For to do so would be like the person who brings a knife to a gunfight.

In Zechariah 4:6 we are told…

Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.

If we are to engage in spiritual battle then it does not matter how mighty or powerful we are, how smart or how rich we are… the deciding factor is the Spirit of the Lord. I believe the Apostle Paul had this in mind in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 when he said…

³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

As new creations in Christ, we have been given the power to overcome every enemy in our life. The power is not us… the power is God in us! That is why the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:6-10 (NLT)…

⁶ We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us,^[a] and by our sincere love. ⁷ We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.

Purity? Understanding? Patience? Kindness? Love? What kinds of battle strategies are these? They are all spiritual strategies provided by the Holy Spirit within us. They are the power of God working in us and through us. If we are to have access to these spiritual devices then we must stop relying on our own power, our own thinking and our own ability. They are manifested when we surrender to God and say, “I don’t have the power, but God has the power in me. I don’t have the knowledge, but God has the knowledge in me. I don’t have the ability, but God has the ability in me.”

Are you battling illness or disease? All of the doctors, drugs and treatments in the world pale in comparison to what God can do in you. He created your body. He knows every cell and molecule within you. Call on His name to bring you healing by His power.

Are you battling poverty? All of the money in the world can’t give you true, lasting, happiness. Every good thing that a man receives comes from the Father of lights. What will a man profit if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Ask God to meet your needs according to His riches in glory and see if He does not provide for you according to his plan and purpose for your life. When God’s spirit is within you – you find contentment whether you are rich or poor.

Are you battling loneliness? People will always let you down. Jesus has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. He loves you more than any person on this old earth ever could. Build your relationship with Him and you will have a friend that is closer than a brother… and He will give you a family that is more numerous than the stars in the heavens.

In all these things and more… in all the “spiders” that come at us from a sinful world, we have the victory to overcome them through Christ Jesus. That is why the Apostle Paul can tell us in Romans 8:31-39…

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”<sup>[c]

37</sup> Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, we should praise God. He will never leave us. We do not face our battles alone. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. We should join together with the Apostle Paul who says in 2 Corinthians 2:14…

¹⁴ Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

But, how is this possible? How can God always lead us to triumph in Christ Jesus? How can God make it so that we come out smelling like a rose everywhere we go… no matter what the circumstances? The secret is this, my friend… In Romans 8:9-11, the Apostle Paul tells us…

⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

We aren’t in the flesh! We are new creations in Christ. The old person we used to be has passed away, all things become new. We are Spirit creatures. The Spirit of God is in us. The same Spirit that was in Christ when he walked on water and calmed the storms… The same Spirit that was in Christ when he healed the blind and the lame… The same Spirit that was in Christ when he spoke words of truth and life… The same Spirit that was in Christ when rose from the grave is in us! The same Spirit is in us!

That’s right! God is in us. His Spirit inhabits His people and that is something to celebrate. If God is in us, then it is not us that fights our battles but God in us fighting our battles. All we have to do is let God be God in us. Surrender to His infinite love and power and let Him manifest himself in our lives. And if we will do that, then all of the little sin spiders of life will flee before us. Why? Because God isn’t afraid of spiders no matter how big they might be and there isn’t anything in our life that is too little or too big for Him to handle.