He Speaks Death

There is a way which seems right to a man,

But its end is the way of death.

(Proverbs 14:12)

"You surely will not die," his cunning voice rings pleasantly in your ear. He picks a piece of fruit off the tree, he dangles it before you displaying every form of lure. Your eyes sparkle with want. "Surely this is good, surely this is life." You take and you eat.

That serpent. He speaks life and then hands you death.

But I know now. I know that when he comes slithering about, painting these beautiful pictures of enticement, promising all the fullness of life... that underneath all of those colorful words, he speaks death.

He tries. He tries so hard. He labors vigorously to get my eyes transfixed on death. If he can only hypnotize me, if he can only get my heart lusting after that which leads to death. This is what he wants. He wants my blood on his hands. He wants me dead. This target fixed on my back, and he chases after me like a bull hot with rage. He seeks to devour, and he's craving me.

The fleshy, old Leah, finds herself mesmerized... drawn unsuspectingly to her death.

If I respond to his taunts in my flesh... I. Will. Die.

BUT the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus sets me FREE from this way that leads to death. And in the power of Christ, the freedom of LIFE I can cry out, "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)

That serpent. He speaks death. He wants me dead. But I do not belong to him, and I never will. My Jesus, my Jesus crushed the head of that serpent who speaks death.

And now, now I can live.

For the mind set on the flesh is DEATH,

but the mind set on the Spirit is

LIFE and peace

(Romans 8:6)