“I had one of those ‘from-the-mouth-of-babes’ experiences yesterday that warmed my heart to its core,” Stan began one morning.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“I was out in the front yard yesterday afternoon doing some gardening,’ Stan replied. “A neighborhood child came by and we talked.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Oh, just little stuff,” Stan replied. “You know, the kind of things you talk about with a child.”
“But, out of the blue,” Stan continued, “this child said something like, ‘Mr. Stan, do you know that I can change the devil into a flea?’”
“How did you respond to that?” I asked.
“I told him that I didn’t know that, and I asked him how he knew that he could.”
Continuing, he said, “This sweet child told me it came from his Sunday school teacher. He said the teacher told him that if he told the devil he wasn’t going to do what the devil wanted him to do, that the devil would turn into a flea.”
“How long,” I asked, “did it take you to understand that the child was confusing ‘flee’, with an ‘e’, and ‘flea’, with an ‘a’?”
“I got it right away,” Stan replied. “I’m smarter than I look! But I didn’t want to embarrass the child. I merely suggested that he might want to talk to his teacher some more about that on Sunday, just to make sure he got it right.”
“Good,” I replied. “Never a good idea to embarrass children for something they innocently misunderstand.”
“Right,” Stan said, “but later as I thought about the whole conversation, I was thinking that the child, even though he had the wrong word in mind, was not that far off base by minimizing Satan in his life.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Fleas are pretty small little creatures,” Stan replied. “God wants me to resist Satan in every aspect of my being, so the devil will flee, but a good step in that direction is to at least minimize his evil influence in my life.”
It’s a whole lot better for me and my faith walk with God,” Stan concluded, “to make the devil little in my life, rather than for me to take the opposite track.”
“Opposite track?” I replied. “What opposite track?”
“Making little of the devil,” Stan responded with a smile! “I’m on the wrong road if I do not take seriously the influence Satan can have on my life and my walk with God.”
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Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your provision for resisting the devil so he will flee and leave me alone. You know how desperately I need help in resisting the influence he seeks to have in my life. I confess that too often I have chosen not to resist him, and have, instead, chosen to allow his influence in my life. Please forgive me. And please help me in following every step of your lead in doing whatever I need to do in order to resist Satan so he will, in fact, flee from my life and leave me alone. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Satan just loves to influence us to make bad choices. Where are you in recognizing what Satan wants to do in and through you? God has every provision for us to resist Satan and cause him to leave us alone. Where are you with that? Where would you like to be? What would that look like?
Comments, questions, suggestions, and the like can be addressed to S. Tory Teller at: waiting4thetrain@gmail.com.
Waiting for the Train 
Recently, a vivid picture, actually, I would consider it a sign from the Lord to our future son-in-law occurred. He related that as he pulled up to his house, three large crows were occupying his driveway. He immediately felt a pit in his stomach and sensed these were more than just mere large crows, but rather represented a pervasive evil trying to encroach. Immediately, not from the left or right but directly from above, a small little beautiful bluebird (Not a blue jay) came aggressively into the center of these large crows. Two of these crows rapidly flew away. One of them stayed as if challenging the little blue bird, daring him to charge him. Without hesitation, the little bluebird attacked the large crow and chased him completely away, only to return triumphantly landing upon our future son-in-law’s mailbox, victorious!
Now, anyone familiar with bluebird behavior knows that they are shy and timid birds that are NOT aggressive creatures. My future son-in-law called me shortly after in amazement to relate this story to me and ask my opinion. Knowing how much of an anomaly it was for a little shy, non aggressive, bluebird to aggressively attack three large crows (that had emoted a sense of evil and the bluebird “coming out of the blue”, I was sure it was a comforting sign from the Lord showing that He is in control. Our future son-in-law, who is working long hours performing orthopedic surgeries to repair broken bodies caused from often traumatic events, was tired from the “battling”, not only of fixing broken bodies from tragedies but also helping souls recover emotionally after surgery, as he counseled them by their bedside. He needed to know, “The battle is the Lords” and to rest in that. God’s got us. We are His, and our focus needs to be on Him, NOT the enemy or even in the brokenness, but the solution to our brokenness. Jesus, and His power through the Holy Spirit, represented by that beautiful bluebird…
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