THE GARDEN HOSE!

 

As summer is winding down, I’ve thought a lot this summer about Satan. And when is that? Actually, I think about that old serpent, the devil, frequently anyway. However, it’s been immensely fun to think about him when I wind up my garden hose!

Selah.

 

NOTE:
I’m so very much in awe of God in all He does and all He is. I am more than aware that the ideas that come to in my writings, my sense of humor, my personality and character, are all ideas I get from the Holy Spirit (God: One Person of the Godhead.) I give God all the glory for all the good things I do! Without Him I cannot breathe, I cannot move, and I would never exist.

Selah.

 

But I have an archenemy: Satan. My former father… Had I know that years ago (Like I should have! My fault!) I might have chosen holiness much sooner… Thank God He is long-suffering for us all!

Selah.

Now, in the name and through the blood of Jesus Christ, I rebuke Satan regularly. I denounce his kingdom, his authority, his children (human), as having any right to slaughter, steal, and destroy what God has blessed me with.

SO I HAVE FUN!

Do you know what? That jerk, once upon a time, tried (and successfully) for a while to terrify me to command him! Stupid I was! But I have grown. Constantly I thank God, my Father, (as well as Jesus, my Lord and Savior and the Holy Ghost, my Advocate and Comforter) for His Bible, inerrant, infallible, God-breathed!

You see, when your mind is renewed and you love and praise God daily (and often in that day!) you see God’s power and your victories unceasingly. Just as unceasingly as your prayers ought to be:

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

HOW DO I HAVE FUN WINDING UP MY GARDEN HOSE?!

This summer I’ve taken my garden hoses and wound them up each time I am done giving fresh, clean water to my birds and squirrels; when I water Duane’s peppers, tomatoes, and flowers. And as I wind up both hoses, I always – always – imagine I am binding the devil! What fun! I mean: WHAT FUN!

I grade myself on how perfectly I’ve wound them both up, forming them as a circle and putting them on their stands. I love giving myself an A+ for a job well done: a perfect wind (not whine!) Sometimes when I don’t want to take a lot of time winding them up, I will claim my hoses look like van Gogh art! Beautiful! Another victory! Winding them up to get that A+ takes planning and physical effort. This is another effective way to remind me of choices in exerting my victories in Christ Jesus!

Selah.

And as I wind, oftentimes I specifically speak out Scriptures referring to his defeat! Glory!

There are times when I’m not wanting nor willing to take time to get that A+…  And in these instances I am reminded that sometimes I am weak, physically tired, my mind is occupied on other things… These good times represent my failures in which I am reminded that I learn from them; and when I sin, I repent quickly! Another lesson very necessary to  grow in Christ!

Selah.

THIS TRULY IS A GREAT ANALOGY!
Taking great pleasure in imagining I’m gathering up the old serpent, the devil, twisting him, corralling him to where I want him to be; setting him on that garden hose rack and leaving him there to burn in the sun is exhilarating!

WOW!

Herewith is just one great victory Scripture clinching his defeat!

 

Revelation 20:10
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

 

Happy and victorious binding!

 

Amen and Amen!

 

 

 

 

SCRIPTURES FOR THIS JOY STORY:

 

 

Revelation 12:10-12
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

 

Acts 17:24-28
 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

 

John 8:42-47
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.  Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?  Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

 

Matthew 4:8-11
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

 

Ephesians 4:22-24
 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  to be made new in the attitude of your minds;  and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Mark 16:16-18
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

 

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

 

Revelation 12:11
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.