Scissors Don’t Kill Bears.

Scissors Don't Kill Bears. Ask Me How I Know.

Years ago, I was lying in bed. I must have just woken up. It was nighttime, and my bedroom felt chillier than usual. Then I started hearing noises I wasn't used to hearing. I scanned the room, trying to fully wake up and figure out what was going on, and I realized there was a door in my bedroom that led outside, and it was cracked open.

Someone had opened my door while I was asleep.

I wondered what unhinged stranger had a key to my room and enough nerve to leave the door open. I started yelling for my mother, who was somewhere else in the house. She came running, and I told her, "Ma, someone opened my door!"

My mother did what all good investigators do: she started taking pictures of my bedroom and the open door.

Suddenly, we saw a ginormous black bear through my window.

His fur glistened under the moonlight. His frame didn't even fit within my field of view. He was huge. He paced back and forth, looking directly at us like we owed him money or a meal, and he had come to collect.

I ran to the cracked-open door, slammed it shut, locked it, and went back to the window to see Smokey's next move, praying he would give up and go away.

The bear then stood on his hind legs and started walking toward the door I had just locked. Footsteps full of persistence and absolute terror. I couldn't even see his face through the window anymore because he was so tall. When he reached the door, he tried to use his paw to turn the knob.

I started yelling at him to go away.

"Leave! Ahhh!"

It didn't work. He wasn't leaving. He meant to come in by any means necessary.

He walked back to the window where we had originally seen him and started clawing at it, trying to break in there. Still couldn’t get in.

What happened next freaked me out the most, though.

He began inspecting the outer wall of my bedroom. He was looking for another entryway, and he found one. He positioned himself at the corner of my bedroom from the outside. There was a tiny crevice there, just the slightest opening. Somehow, the bear was able to squeeze through it. And now, he was inside my bedroom.

My mother and I took off running. My dad heard the commotion and came running behind us. But the bear caught my dad. I looked behind me and saw the bear with his paw on my dad's shoulders, walking him downstairs like it was a hostage situation. The bear was conducting himself like a human. I had to come up with a way to save my dad fast.

I ran to the kitchen to get scissors so I could stab the bear in the neck. I knew it wouldn't kill the bear, but I did it anyway.

I ran toward him with scissors in hand. I jumped up and plunged the scissors into his neck.

And then I woke up.

It was a dream. Thank You, God.

But it was still a warning dream, nonetheless. A couple of things stood out to me.

1.) Why was I just realizing there was a door in my bedroom that led outside? Why was that such a surprise to me?

Because it was spiritual.

At the time, I was unaware of how real the spirit realm is and how we all have doors and openings in the spirit that either deny or grant access to outsiders.

When I had that dream, I was dealing with sexual immorality in real life. I was watching things I had no business watching, listening to things I didn't need to be listening to, and doing things I should not have been doing. And sometimes it all seemed harmless. An intense movie. An old-school love song. A video game I enjoyed playing. A YouTuber I liked watching. What I deemed harmless was actually unlocking doors in the spirit and leaving them wide open for demonic intruders to come in.

Remember when God warned Cain in the Bible?

"If you do what is right, won't you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."

Doesn't that sound like a predator waiting for your downfall? Waiting for your slip-up? Waiting for your miscalculation of your Christian liberties? Sin is waiting to come in and take over. And God's warning to us is that we are to rule over sin, not let sin rule over us.

2.) If this dream was showing me what was happening in the spirit realm around me, then it was also warning me that I was spiritually asleep, slumbering, catching Z's in enemy territory, leaving myself wide open for attack and takeover. I woke up to a breezy bedroom and outside sounds inside the house. My door had been opened, and I didn't hear it happen because I was asleep. I woke up to the aftermath. I woke up when it was too late. The rebuke to Israel's leaders in Isaiah fits so well here:

"All you beasts of the field, come to devour,

all you beasts in the forest.

His watchmen are blind.

They are all without knowledge.

They are all silent dogs.

They cannot bark,

dreaming, lying down,

loving to slumber."

Isaiah 56:9-10 (ESV)

Loving to sleep.

Isn't that exactly what happened in my dream? The beast came to devour. My lack of spiritual sobriety was an invitation to the bear.

Remember what Peter said:

"Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour."

If I cloud my spiritual judgment with worldly things that are not eternal, sowing into my flesh day and night, then I am going to reap the harvest of my flesh. I'm going to be blind to my enemy's movements in the spirit. I won't hear the Holy Spirit speaking because my ears will be full of whatever I stuffed them with: TV shows, music, bad doctrine, gossip, unfruitful works of darkness, and more.

"For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

3.) The bear paced back and forth, looking directly at us through the window. We were his intended targets.

In the dream, I ran to lock the door. I made sure the windows were shut too. But I missed a spot. There was a tiny crevice I ignored because I thought, "There's no way the bear could fit through there." That was a mistake. There are things in our lives we aren't paying attention to. Things we see as harmless liberties. Things we don't even consider sin, so we call them safe. Things we want to do because everyone else is doing them. Things we want to say because everyone else is saying them. And those little things are creating crevices, entryways into you and into your space.

How many times has the Holy Spirit told you:

• "That's not for you."

• "Don't do that."

• "Don't touch that."

• "Don't watch that."

• "Don't listen to that."

• "Don't hang with them."

• "Stop that."

• "Don't drink that."

• "Don't go there."

• "Don't go back."

"Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."

It's the little things that can spoil everything. Paul warned the Ephesians to give no place and no opportunity to the devil.

"Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit."

4.) The bear got into my bedroom, but it impacted the entire household.

What you do doesn't just affect you, especially if you are the watchman or intercessor in your family. Are you inviting the presence of the Lord into your spaces, or are you inviting something else? Your people can pay dearly for your poor decisions.

5.) Scissors don't kill bears, just like yelling at a train won't stop it.

If you have allowed the enemy in, you need to repent. Tell God you're sorry for ignoring Him, for grieving His Holy Spirit, and for your disobedience. Turn your back on the sins and distractions that so easily entangle you and steal your affection. Then turn to Christ. Trust in the finished work of the cross. The Holy Spirit empowers you to resist temptation. He always provides a way of escape. Always. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the little foxes in your life. And when He reveals them, ask Him to help you remove them, deny them, resist them, and kill them, whatever is appropriate.

Now keep your eyes from worthless things, and your ears too. Guard your heart. Keep your doors closed to the enemy. Wake up. Be sober. Be alert in the spirit before it's too late. There is a predator outside your home waiting to come in. The Word of the Lord is your weapon. Jesus fought the enemy with Scripture.

I want to close with another dream I had earlier this year.

In the dream, I was staying at an Airbnb. I was seeking the Lord. Praying. Fasting. Deep in His Word. I was spiritually awake. Very sober-minded. While I was spending time with the Lord, I heard a ruckus next door. Someone had attacked my neighbor. They broke in and beat him down. Big dude too, probably 270 or 280 pounds and over six feet tall. I got up and went to my front door. Outside, I saw a young woman pacing back and forth, upset that she couldn't get in to attack me next. My door wasn't locked. But there was something inside my home and inside of me that kept her from entering. She was maybe 5'6", around 150 pounds. Then she pulled up a lawn chair and posted up outside my door, waiting for a more opportune time to break in. Waiting for my slip-up.

She looked at me.

I looked at her.

Then I walked away and went back into the presence of the Lord.

And then I woke up.

Your actions and daily habits always invoke a presence. So tell me, who did you invite to dinner tonight?

Jesus said:

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." And if that's true, then the opposite is true too. They come in by invitation. And Satan doesn't come just to eat.

He comes to devour.

Scripture References

Genesis 4:7 (CSB)

Isaiah 56:9-10 (ESV)

1 Peter 5:8 (CSB)

Galatians 6:8 (ESV)

Song of Solomon 2:15 (ESV)

Ephesians 5:15-18 (CSB)

Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)