Devotionals
My family lived in Michigan’s picturesque Upper Peninsula for many years. I loved the wildlife that lived all around us in the Kewanee Peninsula. As kids we saw eagles, snowy owls, deer, beaver, porcupines, raccoons and lots of other nature friends. However, our best wildlife stories always have something to do with a black bear.
One hot Saturday morning my brother Dan and I were in the backyard of our Yooper home in Dollar Bay. Suddenly, our neighbor, a young single mom, let out a mighty scream of panic. This single mom lived in an older rented mobile home in the lot next to our old mining home. Some of the trailer’s shirting had been removed so that she could store the lawn mower, her kid’s toys and other things under the trailer. It left holes in the side of her mobile home that looked like missing teeth.
That morning, she had pulled her lawn mower out from her trailer and pulled the little motor to life. The noisy lawn-mower was the accidental alarm clock for a sleeping beast. The loud sound of a running gas powered mower caused a terror in a peacefully sleeping bear that had crawled under the mobile home for a cool summer sleep. The black haired Yooper lost its nerve and was very flustered in it’s attends to escape because the noisy little mower blocked the escape route.
It was very obvious to Dan and I that something big was under mobile home and it was trying to get out. Being smart boys we decided to stand back at a safe distance and watch. The large furry frighten animal was moving around and banging everything under the home. So we did what most Yooper kids do on Saturday morning, instead of watching cartoons, we stood and watched the unfolding drama in our backyard because we knew that this was going to be the best story of the day!
After a lot of noise, clamor, panic and unnerving movement an alarmed black bear emerged from under the trailer’s shirking. The black beast looked lost and in full panic, just like our neighbor’s appearance.. We laughed as the bear ran from the trailer and dashed down the main street of our hometown, Dollar Bay.
Our terrified neighbor had left an opening under her trailer that invited wildlife to explore the cool underside her home. She never expected a bear invasion but a bear had crawled under her home.
A spiritual truth applies to this story; do not leave an opening in your life in which Satan can crawl into your life. Give him no foothold in your life. Each day, renew your mind by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Pull down the strongholds of your mind using the truth of God’s Word.
A strong hold is a pattern of thinking established in a person’s mind that does not line up with God’s Word. It is believing a lie. So close those doors of unforgiveness; seal the opening of lust and greed; destroy the footholds of lying, deceit and rage. Do not allow that bear called Satan in your life.
Ephesians 4:25-28, “25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.”
2 Corinthians 10: 3-5, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Shut the Door by Randy Stonehill
”Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Shut the door, keep the devil in the night
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Light the candle evr'rythin's alright
Oh when I was a baby child, good and bad was just a game.
Many years and many trials they proved to me they're not the same
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Shut the door, keep the devil in the night
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Light the candle evr'rythin's alright
Oh Satan is an evil charmer. He's hungry for your soul to hurt.
And without your holy armor he will eat you for dessert!
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Shut the door, keep the devil in the night
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Light the candle evr'rythin's alright
Say der hey, hey, hey, shut the door
Hey, hey, hey, keep out the devil, You better shut it,
Say a prayer he won't be back no more.
My mama used to sing this song, Papa used to sing it too.
Jesus called and took them home, and so I sing this song for you.
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Shut the door, keep the devil in the night
Shut the door, keep out the devil,
Light the candle evr'rythin's alright.”
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