Antidote for all venom

Have you figured out yet that life is not perfect? Paul the apostle figured it out quickly in his ministry. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he listed some of the hardships and attacks he had endured in ministering to Jews, Gentiles, and the church.

Here’s the list:

• Hard labor
• Imprisonment
• Beaten times without number, often in danger of death
• Given thirty-nine lashes five times
• Beaten with rods three times
• One time stoned
• Shipwrecked three times
• Spent a day and a night in the ocean waters
• Constant journeys
• In danger from rivers
• In danger from robbers
• In danger from his countrymen
• In danger from the Gentiles
• In danger in the city
• In danger in the wilderness
• In danger on the sea
• In danger among false brethren
• Suffering in labor and hardship
• Experiencing many sleepless nights
• Experiencing hunger and thirst, often without food
• Experiencing cold and exposure
• The daily pressure of concern for all the churches.
• Being weakened by others’ weaknesses
• Intense concern over those led into sin
• Escaping capture in Damascus by being let down in a basket through a window in the wall (Compiled from 2 Corinthians 11:23-33.)

Missing from the list is the Acts 28 experience of getting bitten by a viper and the subsequent withholding of care and first aid by those who had recently welcomed him with kindness.

Life wasn’t fair for Paul; life is likely not going to be fair for you, either. You may get a snakebite. Others may misunderstand your motives. They may shun you or speak evil of you. They may even get others to think you are foolish, subversive, or off.

Perhaps your passion for Christ is scorned. Perhaps your desire to serve in the Body of Christ is misinterpreted. Perhaps the dream and vision you believe God planted in your heart years ago mocks you in its utter lack of fulfillment.

Maybe you sit in want while others prosper. Maybe you, in desperate need of divine intervention, see miracles come to pass for your friends. Maybe you keep thinking it’s gotta be my time soon, and day after day, you keep hoping—yet see absolutely nothing.

You, my friend, are dealing with a viper bite, and the enemy who hates you is seeking to spread his venom throughout your system.

Let’s look again at what Paul did when that viper struck him. He saw it dangling from the skin on his hand and flung it with all his might into the fire.

He did not deny that the snake was there. You don’t have to deny that the things hitting you are horrific. But Paul didn’t leave the viper on his hand—he forcefully jerked his hand toward the fire and with that momentum, the serpent catapulted into the flames. You, too, will have to be forceful with any viper attached to you. You will have to put your foot down and say NO MORE to the wiles of the enemy invading your space, and forcefully, by the Word of God, fling it—venom and all—into the fire of God.

What happened after Paul shook the snake into the fire? The Bible says he “suffered no harm” (Acts 28:5b). What should you do after you fling a striking serpent into the fire? Suffer no harm. Venom or not, you have the Bible right to suffer no harm! This is where you get to walk by faith and not by sight. I heard that Smith Wigglesworth said it this way: “I don’t ask Smith Wigglesworth how he feels; I tell Smith Wigglesworth how he feels.” And above all, you trust God who said, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper” (Isaiah 54:17a).

There is an antidote for all the venom the enemy can produce. And that Antidote was lifted high on the cross at Calvary. The blood that drained out of Jesus’ veins that day holds the cure for every human, throughout history and for all time.

In the last blog entry I asked, “What is worse—the poison of the viper or the venom of rejection?” Whatever difficulties you may be facing, whether fleshly, demonic, or the rejection of those who once held you dear, the worst attack is the one in which you forget that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (see Philippians 4:13).

Therefore, do what Paul did so long ago—shake that viper off. After that, refuse to be moved or boxed in by the faulty perceptions and judgments of others against you—and at the same time forgive heartily and hold no grudges. You can do it all by fixing your eyes on Jesus, the Antidote and the One who was lifted high for you. And then run; run with endurance the race He has set before you.

Never again allow the vipers of life to hold you back.

Dorothy

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. John 3:14-15