A  middle-aged friend left my house the other day, and saw an important Kingdom principle play out right in front of her eyes:She and I had been talking about her recent heart-breaking discovery that her older brother had sexually abused before she had even started attending school.  She had repressed this memory, and worked to deny that such an event had happened. But circumstance had brought it to the fore.  Our discussion went on for some time as we talked over her feelings of devastation and her thoughts of confusion.  We had read Scripture about God comforting us in the midst of our oppression.  In prayer we released her burden. We claimed Christ’s victory over the experience.  Understandably, she left exhausted, and drove home feeling a heavy load of shame and anger.Later she called me and told me this.  “A most remarkable thing happened as I drove home.  On the road in front of me, a large snake slithered across the road and I could not avoid hitting it. I ran right over it, killing it.  It happened so fast.  But immediately, I felt relief  from my emotional turmoil.  The heaviness lifted.  My silent tears turned to a surprising joy, and all because I had run over and killed the snake!” Here is the marvel of this event.  My friend experienced in real life what Scripture has told us from the beginning.  God has killed the snake in our path.  Christ has crushed that slithering enemy’s head.  Satan’s power is gone, GONE!   Notice what happened — she identified how the devil had attacked her.  We applied Scripture and prayed against the evil.  And within minutes of that, my friend had driven over the serpent. She had killed Satan’s representative, and was freed from her feelings of oppression.Believe this:  Satan, the snake, has been crushed, and defeated.  Christ did this on the Cross.  When God gives you favor because of your obedience to Christ, the devil has go to get out of your way.