Higher Ground

Yesterday, I woke up and decided to water our plants and our trees.  When I went to water one of the trees I noticed the biggest spider web I have ever seen that was connected to two of our trees.  I sprayed the web.  Once I started spraying the web, I noticed the spider began to scurry along its web.  I was curious to see which tree it was going to run towards, and it ran to the bigger tree, in an upward motion (the other tree was smaller and the spider would have had to have run in a downward motion).  Once the spider was on the tree, I started spraying the tree where the spider was to see what it would do.  It ran upwards.  I sprayed above the spider to see if it would run down, and it wouldn't budge.  Even through the force of the water that was ahead of it, it continued to run up.

This intrigued me, so I did what any sane person would do... I kept trying to out squirt the spider.  It never fell off of the tree, or stopped in its tracks while I was spraying it.  It never tried to hide behind a leaf or even crawl to the other side of the tree. It would just run upwards.  Once the spider was too high for me to spray I left it alone, but I was still intrigued.

I quickly felt the Holy Spirit ask me if that's what I do in times of despair?  Do I run upward, towards higher  ground?  Do I resist the enemy by running to my God, the most high, until I am out of the enemy's reach and he flees from me?

The truth is, I don't know if I press on as much as this spider did.  Don't get me wrong, I run upward quite often.  But I must admit, I do, at times grow weary in running upward with the water falling on my back.  I run upward, but sometimes, I find myself thinking, I can rest here and seek protection behind this leaf.  I run upward, but the raging waters of my enemy that I see in front of me can make me hesitate to press on or push through the water.  I run upward, but sometimes I run around to the other side to try to hide.  I run upward, but can sometimes feel like letting go of the tree, instead of clinging to it, because it seems like it's easier to just let go.  All of these things cause delay.

Which brought me to another thought... when I pray, do I pray out of an offensive spirit, or a defensive spirit.  Do I pray things in such a way to claim victory over what Christ has already said is finished?   Or do I pray things in such a way to defend myself from my worldly troubles, to protect me from the troubles instead of embracing them and pushing through them with the victory of the Spirit of the living God within me?.

Today, I choose to pray on the offense and seek higher ground.  I pray that this would begin to come naturally to me, as naturally as it came to the spider.

"Father, thank you for suffering for us Lord so that we would no longer have to suffer eternally.  I claim the victory of everything you did for us on that cross, that even when I feel sick or broken, I am sharing in your suffering Lord, and for that I rejoice.  You say that by your stripes we are healed and I am claiming that promise over my body and my life, in every situation, right now, in Jesus name.  I pray that you would pour out the blood that you already sacrificed onto my broken body,  and my heart.  Transform it, make it line up with every word of God and the way He created it to be.  It is already finished thanks to you Jesus, and I am claiming that victory over my body and my life, right now, in Jesus' Holy name. Amen."