People at prayer last Tuesday night laughed when I offered praise to God for our neighbor finally “cutting down that god-awful cottonwood tree.” I don’t know if you have ever lived around cottonwood trees, but they really are a nuisance. This one was along the border of the apartment complex next door and hung over our children’s church building. It left twigs, leaves, small branches all over that building and entry all year long. And when it was losing its ‘cotton,’ that was everywhere. Perhaps the worst part was the small offshoots of the tree that sprung up in our yard seemingly overnight; some grew big enough to push the fence over.
The apartment owners must have decided enough was enough and the tree came down. Bob watched the whole thing. He said he shouted the loudest “Hallelujah” he’d shouted in a long time! (Probably because he and Jerry are the ones who have had to constantly deal with that tree’s mess.)
The enemy of our soul often works the same way as that “god-awful cottonwood tree.” He tries to overwhelm us with various ways and from many directions. He often uses the scatter method – spreading his temptation all over, like the cotton from that tree. Other times he inundates us with thoughts and ideas based on the world’s philosophies and desires, like those leaves and twigs that fall constantly from that tree every time the wind blows.
And when we allow his seeds to take root, they seemingly grow overnight into problems, sometimes into strongholds in our life that must be pulled out root and all. We can grow weary with the battle, as Bob and Jerry grew weary fighting off that “god-awful cottonwood tree’s” influence on our property.
We have been granted the authority (exousia) and power (dunamis) of Christ Jesus. We were raised to sit with Him in heavenly places. Paul has repeatedly told us to “stand firm” in Ephesians 6:10-18, and to “stand firm in the faith” in 1 Corinthians 16:13. Let’s pick up that armor and get serious with the enemy of our soul. He’s a defeated foe. Isn’t it time we treated him as such?
