“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” (Luke 10:19).
Whenever we serve God there is a real enemy and there are, spiritually speaking, snakes and scorpions that oppose us. Fear is a terrible enemy and, in particular, fear of the unknown can torment us. The enemy I can see may be imposing, but the enemy I can’t see is even more alarming. Whenever we do ministry we engage a malevolent foe we can’t see with our natural eyes. We don’t need to be afraid because Jesus has given us authority that overcomes all the power of the enemy.
When we read “Nothing will harm you” we may ask, what about martyrs who die for their faith? When Jesus told them “nothing will harm you,” he was reinforcing what He had said in Matthew’s Gospel, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). We are safe in God’s care and He holds the power over death. When a believer dies he or she goes to heaven to be in the presence of God forever. The enemy can’t prevent that.
When Jim Valvano, coach of North Carolina State basketball team, made his final speech before losing his battle with cancer, he expressed what every believer holds to be true. “Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.”
We are safe in God’s care. He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy.
