They now use sheep’s blood to produce antivenom for various snake bites. You see, the lamb’s blood causes the poison that the snake injects into its victim to have no deadly power. Let’s say a farmer has a lamb bitten in the face by a snake.

The lamb’s face will swell up, but he will experience no lethal consequences because its blood will begin to produce what is needed to overcome the snake’s bite. The blood of the lamb essentially makes the bite of the snake powerless.

Satan injected sin into the world in the Garden of Eden. He attempted to steal all joy and hope from humanity through his lies of deception and his tactics of temptation. But remember what John the Baptist said as Jesus traversed the rugged pathway along the Jordan River, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Soon after, Jesus was baptized, the hope of humanity sprung up from the waters of the Jordan and splashed into our world. Then, Jesus was taken into the wilderness, and the devil’s temptations tested that hope. Our lives can take similar paths from victory to defeat, and hopefulness to despair. It is part of the human condition to undulate like waves, up and down throughout our lives.

But in the lowest of times, when we apply the blood of Jesus, the precious Lamb of God, to our circumstances, through grace and faith, we can overcome both sin and Satan, and our joy and hope are miraculously restored.

Isaiah 40:31 NIV but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

What poison is coming against you? What sin has bitten you and won’t let go? What sickness is overtaking you? What pain is trying to take you down? What circumstance is trying to steal your hope? The devil, that Serpent of Old, will sneak into the safety of your garden and clasp his fangs into your skin, injecting you with his venom that seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.

But oh, the blood of Jesus! What a beautiful flow that washes away all the consequences of our sin. In the name of Jesus, apply the blood of the Lamb into your wound and watch as it supernaturally begins to heal. We cannot save ourselves from sickness, pain, depression, confusion, or sin. Only the blood of Jesus saves us from it all!

Revelation 12:11 ESV And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

When you feel overwhelmed and reeled from an unexpected bite of the enemy, know that the Lamb can reverse and cancel all the enemy’s evil schemes.

Proverbs 23:18 ESV Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

There is healing power in the blood!

I was driving the other day, and while sitting at a red light, I looked on the corner, and a young man was holding and spinning a yellow sign that read, “Everything Must Go.” I suspected this was one of those announcements from a store that is having a big sale or is going out of business. As the light turned green and I pulled away, those three words rattled around in my spirit like a nickel in a tin cup, and I asked myself, “What does the Lord want me to know about those three words?”

As I continued driving, I started to think about some issues in my life, an inventory of things that are out of season, items no one else wants, and old objects that take up the space where new things are meant to be placed. Idols, thoughts, worries, doubts, and questions remain folded on shelves and hanging on racks that should have been removed long ago. I asked the Lord to search me and show me what needs to go, so I have room for everything that will allow him to fulfill his plan and purpose for my life.

Psalm 139:1-6 ESV O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

My dear friends, what if you looked at your bitterness and said, “No, you cannot stay because you’re taking up the place where forgiveness should be.” Or, to misery, say, “No, you have to go because this is where joy belongs. What if you spoke to despair and said, “You cannot remain here because hope must be put in your place?”

God showed me through that yellow sign that anything that no longer has value or robs you of your hope must go. As we filter our experiences through the lens of the Word of God, we may realize that we have picked up some habits and patterns we shouldn’t have. Those things steal our joy and prevent us from advancing in our walk with Jesus.

What are those things for you?

I will be honest with you; the past year has been a difficult one for me. I could fill a jar with the salt from tears of worry and weeping. Perhaps you have also faced troubles and sadness this year, and it is hard to feel hope. I like how Max Lucado describes hope in his book God Came Near,

“Hope is not what you’d expect; it is what you would never dream. It is a wild, improbable tale with a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming ending. Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no, it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on God, who loves to surprise us from our socks and be there in the flesh to see our reaction.”

THAT is the kind of hope that God longs for you to have. But to possess that ridiculous kind of hope, some things must be removed. It is time to tell the enemy that you have had enough and that he can’t have you any longer. You can break free from what’s no longer helpful and run to the Father; for whom the Son sets free, is free indeed.

Ephesians 3:16-17 NIV I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

God has given you too much power and authority to stay in hopelessness any longer.

Let it go!

Romans 8:24-25 ESV For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

One summer day, I was working in my garden, the July sun warming my face, and I was amazed at how much my flowers have grown since spring. It wasn’t that long ago that snow covered the ground in a blanket of white. And as time flies like the wind, blowing through the trees, rustling thick branches, and bending pointed leaves only to disappear as quickly as it arrived, the snow will soon cover the ground again.

My perennials will be buried deep in the cold, hard ground in the winter months. The bulbs are there in the dormant season and are quietly laboring to grow even more extensive and deeper root systems—preparing themselves for the right time and season to break forth from their hidden home and bloom.

Lamentations 3:24-25 ESV “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Some of you feel like you have been praying for something, a need, healing, or a dream, but it hasn’t come to pass. The hope you felt the first time your knees touched the ground and your lips uttered your request waivers each day that prayers go unanswered, so you think it is dead. But I am here to tell you that it is not dead; it’s just sleeping.

Solomon tells us in Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes a heart sick.” Prayers for salvation for a family member that goes unanswered, the search for a new job that seems to go nowhere, the battle with cancer that lingers, the arms that ache for another baby lost in a miscarriage—all can make our hearts sick as we eagerly hope for something and it keeps getting postponed.

1 Peter 5:10 ESV And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

You see, it’s easier to worship God in summer’s glory, with its vibrant colors, when the sun’s golden fingers caress your face. But can you learn to trust him in the cold and gray of winter when the sun hides for days, and the frigid wind stings your cheeks?

Allow God to prepare for you what you have been praying for. Stay close to him, pray, read his Word, and allow him to work while you wait. God is doing miraculous things in the secret place so that you can continue to grow and expand your roots, anchoring them into the soil of his love and grace.

Psalm 130:5 ESV I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

His timing is perfect, and he is working all things together for your good. As it is written in Isaiah 60:22, “When the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen.” Be blessed in your winter season, my friend. Let God do what he needs to do in the invisible so that you will be fully prepared for what he has planned for you when your spring arrives.

Our unfulfilled desires, unanswered prayers, and deferred hopes can lead us to a rich encounter with Christ Jesus. Like a balloon that escapes a child’s hand and drifts away, allow your hope to float to the Lord, who alone is the fulfillment of all that we pray and long for.

Philippians 1:6 ESV And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.