Have you ever seen a floating fire ant ball? When I was growing up in Ferriday, Louisiana, we had open drainage ditches in our neighborhood. In the spring, when the ice and snow would melt up north, the Mississippi River would run high and slow drainage of the delta area from the spring rains. This usually dry ditches would become a network of rivers ripe for touring in an aluminum boat. My friends and I would spend hours navigating the rural canals engaging in numerous adventures. It was not uncommon to see a floating pile of ants who have huddled together to survive the flood waters. Well, we didn’t like fire ants. They were the enemy and didn’t deserve to survive. So we would float up to any we would see and splat them with the boat paddle. If you have never smacked a floating pile of ants with a boat paddle you don’t know the great sense of satisfaction it brings.
There aren’t many parallels I can draw between myself and a red ant. One thing I have witnessed time and again is a person, or a family, getting things together in life, just trying to survive and make it to better times when the devil floats up and smacks them with his paddle of destruction, sending hope and stability flying in all directions. Unlike the colony of ants who is defenseless against the paddle wielding human, if you are a child of God you are not helpless.
As I was trying to encourage a friend this morning I said a few things that on the surface sounded Christianese and cliche. Then it hit me. Do I say these things because it is a learned response, or do I believe it. I can tell you, I believe it. When you speak God’s Word over your problems, the mess, the destruction, the wake of the boat paddle, it is not cliche, it is powerful. The enemy must flee. You do not have to succumb to the abuse of the enemy, you have authority over him. If you have to use learned, rehearsed, phrases that sound like a Christian greeting card, so be it. Mean it when you speak it. Especially if it is right out of the pages of His Word. His Word is alive, and powerful, and sharper than a boat paddle.
Be encouraged today friend! God’s got it.
