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Lost in the Woods Fairy Tales
Lost in the Woods Fairy Tales
Wise Women: "Elsa and the Evil Wizard" - Look Sharp
Join Elsa as she squares off against an evil wizard with a penchant for turning women into lawn ornaments, battling him with her wisdom, steadfastness, and godly confidence.
The Warrior Bride - Daughter, Not Dirt (The Woman with the Issue of Blood)
https://youtu.be/HRTmH57z6B0
Raspberry facts
https://www.health.com/food/raspberries-nutrition
Wise Women: Episode 5
“Elsa and the Evil Wizard”: Look Sharp
Welcome to Lost in the Woods Fairy Tales ™. I’m your host, Autumn Woods, and I’m so excited you’re here. We’re continuing our adventures in Wise Women, stories of women who wield their wisdom against adversity. Women who are smart, discerning, creative, cunning, and skilled. Women who use those gifts and talents in a godly way to guard themselves and others against evil. Last time, we talked about using godly discernment to navigate through unknown and dangerous situations. This time, we’re going to talk about the wisdom of standing your ground in spiritual warfare, refusing the temptations of the enemy because of your confidence in Christ, and the freedom that results for you and those around you as long as you continue to stand firm in your God-given authority.
“Elsa and the Evil Wizard” is a modified translation and adaptation of a Swedish story called “The Magician’s Cloak.” I like this version best, because it illustrates the heroine’s strength of character, gives a vivid, symbolic demonstration of how spiritual warfare works, and frankly, it’s fun and funny to watch the bad guy get thwarted again and again. Without further ado, let’s get lost, as we read the story of (Elsa and the Evil Wizard).
The End.
I love seeing the enemy lose. May we all take back what he’s stolen from us by the authority of Jesus Christ. Don’t wander away from the campfire. We’re about to shed some light on the incredible treasure hidden in this story.
We begin with the bad guy. The evil wizard is obviously representative of the enemy in this story. He lives in a high place dedicated to himself, surrounded by a garden that seems to be teeming with life, but is, in reality, a lovely lawn of death, symbolizing Eden gone wrong. He delights in destroying and distorting what is good and beautiful. He uses and abuses others for selfish gain, objectifies women for sport, and freezes them, putting them in a state of hardened stone paralysis, forcing their lives and their destinies come to a screeching halt. Like the devil, he “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
We know that ever since Genesis 3, there has been intense hatred between women and the devil. God said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:18). Satan hates women for multiple reasons. He despises us because we are image bearers of God, created to reflect the Lord’s splendor and operate in a portion of His authority and power. “So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:27-29). Iniquity was found in Lucifer because he corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor, falling in love with his own beauty and abilities instead of using them to worship God in all His supreme glory. Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 tell us that Lucifer sought to take that glory and authority for himself and was cast out of Heaven. Imagine how furious he was, then, that God bestowed a portion of that same coveted glory and authority on men and women as a gift. It was entrusted to them. And women reflect the beauty and glory of God and mankind at the same time. We are double reminders of Satan’s failure.
Worse, we are able to partner with God and man to bring forth more people in the image of God, and train them in wisdom, to fear the Lord, shun evil, and devastate the enemy (Proverbs 14:16). As the promised Seed born of a woman, Jesus came into the world to destroy the works of the devil and defeat him (1 John 3:8). That victory is set in stone. Satan’s authority is limited. He can never conquer God, so he takes out his rage on those created in God’s image to wound the Lord’s heart and soothe his own bruised ego.
The accuser cannot create. He can only steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Perversion is one of the many ways he accomplishes this. Perverting someone or something robs it of its original splendor and rightness and makes it more difficult for the person or thing to fulfill its original purpose. The kingdom of darkness is rife with perverse systems and methods engineered to tear down and immobilize women. Sexual objectification is the wizard’s weapon of choice, so we’ll focus on that one. When someone objectifies you, they are reducing you to a fraction of who you really are. They are treating you as an object for their gratification rather than as a multidimensional human being created to reflect the multifaceted nature of your complex and majestic Creator. Objectification, sexual or otherwise, is a form of dehumanization. It attempts to rob you of your dignity and individuality. It prevents people from taking you seriously. It can make you too afraid to speak because, presumably, no one will hear you or care what you have to say. These women the wizard hunts are more than their beauty, but he turns their blessing of beauty into a curse by behaving as if they are nothing more than lovely objects for his viewing pleasure, reducing them to silent, gorgeous statues.
This is a favorite tactic of the kingdom of darkness against women. If you get objectified long enough, you will begin to self-objectify, viewing yourself through the eyes of others on a regular basis, which affects your thinking and your behavior. It germinates the seed of the fear of man, crowding out the fear of the Lord. It can cow you into silence. It can make you afraid to look people in the eye. Afraid to trust anyone. It can render you ineffective in ministry because you’re so busy protecting yourself that you forget to keep your eyes on Jesus; to reach out and help others or accept their genuine offers to help you. You move through the world as a beautiful shadow of the vibrant daughter of God you were created to be. Eventually, you may become paralyzed by fear and shame, with a heart as hard as the stone statues in the wizard’s garden, insensate to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit because you no longer have a heart of flesh. In effect, if you let it, it can separate you from God. The enemy wants you living less than half a life, disconnected from your loving Heavenly Father, so that you will not become an effective member of the family and Kingdom of God and a devastating threat to his schemes.
How does this cycle even begin? Often, it’s through deception. We’re told that “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). However beautifully he may appear in the spirit realm, Satan is a disgusting mess inside because he is devoid of the love of God. Similarly, the wizard himself is not truly beautiful. He’s described later on as having a cruel face, long, yellow teeth and blazing, red eyes. In imitation of Satan, he disguises himself as an angel of light, dressing like a nobleman, lining his lips with honey and spritzing his face with May morning dew in order to lure his prey into his clutches. No one would get anywhere near him, otherwise. If the enemy came to you as the defeated dragon he is, you wouldn’t buy what he’s selling. You’d see right through his lies. But if he comes in a way that looks like God orchestrated it, you’ll be more likely to listen and fall for the counterfeit. The human agents used to facilitate these destructive plans often present as noble, righteous, and authoritative, making you question yourself and what you know to be true, especially about goodness of God, inviting you to repeat the dangerous garden lie pattern all over again and tumble into destruction, the way the hapless maidens choose to step onto the wizard’s evil cloak.
Let’s talk about this cloak for a few minutes. A cloak is a mantle, a symbol of authority, anointing, and calling. Royalty wore them to represent themselves as the coverings and protectors of their people. Old Testament prophets wore physical mantles to symbolize their spiritual ones, their callings from God to be His mouthpieces to His people, set apart, ready to warn or exhort them as necessary. A mantle marks and identifies you as a bearer of authority. We see this with the mantle that passed from Elijah to Elisha when he inherited Elijah’s call and authority, and in the robe given to the prodigal son upon his return to mark him as an honored heir. Satan received his mantle of authority in the earth through trickery. By believing his lie that they could be gods unto themselves, mankind sold their mantle for forbidden fruit and gave consent for Satan to assume the dominion God had bestowed on men and women. Adam and Eve didn’t know that’s what they were doing, just like the women don’t realize they are sealing their doom by stepping onto the wizard’s cloak.
The cloak becomes a black pair of wings, allowing him to fly to and fro over the earth, in imitation of the Prince of the Power of the Air. It enables him to ensnare the women he tempts into bondage when they step willingly onto the hem of his garment. This is a complete perversion of the hem, or wing, of Jesus’ garment on which the tzitzit were attached. When the woman with the issue of blood grasped this in faith, she was healed. “But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2a). You’ll have to watch the video on this woman in my YouTube podcast, The Warrior Bride, to get the details in context, but for now, just know that the woman Jesus healed was pleading a covenant promise as a daughter of God by grasping the tassel at the hem of Jesus’ garment. Spreading your garment over someone in that culture indicated that they came under the power of your protection. In our story, the women who step onto the hem of the wizard’s cloak are unwittingly making a covenant with the kingdom of darkness, allowing evil to have free access in their lives because they are lured by the wizard’s false charm. Although they are naïve to it, they are stepping into bondage of their own free will.
This free will business is very important. We are given the opportunity to choose between life and death, blessing and cursing, and the Lord encourages us to choose life. When Jesus overcame sin and death, He made a way for us to reclaim our dominion under His authority. We have to use our free will to claim it in the name of Jesus and not give it to the enemy in fear. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The women can’t control whether or not the wizard attacks them, but they can choose how to respond. Unless they give him an opening, he has no power to truly harm them. Similarly, we as followers of Jesus have the ability to limit the impact of the enemy’s attacks by choosing not to give him a foothold in our lives. This doesn’t mean pretending he doesn’t exist or that we never have real troubles. It means we choose to guard our hearts, minds and mouths, keep our eyes on God, and praise, worship, and obey Him in all circumstances. As long as we don’t allow ourselves to become separated from God, no matter what our circumstances look like, we are secure because we trust in Him. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2).
As a Christian, you should be trained to expect that if you’re following God’s will for your life, you will face trials and persecution. There is a target on your back the minute you say “yes” to God, because you’re choosing to submit to Him instead of worshipping yourself or the enemy. You can’t always stop the attacks from coming, but you can choose how to respond. Jesus tells us, “In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). That’s not as easy as it sounds, and if you’re able to guard yourself well under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it makes you stand out. It practically dares the kingdom of darkness to test the waters like Satan did with Job.
Desirous of capturing a beautiful maiden with golden hair, the wizard flies around the valley longer than usual. Why is this detail mentioned and why does it take him so long to find his target? Golden hair is always prized in fairy tales, because it is a rare trait, symbolizing purity, beauty, righteousness and goodness. It’s often an outward sign of a woman’s inner beauty. The idea is that it takes a while for the wizard to spot Elsa, because someone with clean hands and a pure heart is a rare treasure, something the wizard, like Satan, would love to possess and desecrate. Long hair itself is a glory given to woman by God (1 Corinthians 11:15). By capturing a rare, beautiful, virtuous woman and turning her to stone, the wizard intends to rob her of her value and God-given glory.
Fortunately, our heroine is as smart and humble as she is pretty. Elsa is also industrious, and not afraid to get dirty if it results in a job well done. When we meet her, she’s picking raspberries. According to health.com, raspberries are versatile, full of antioxidants, and have been shown to improve memory and coordination. High in fiber, they help you feel full and satisfied, and aid in the removal of harmful things from your body. The right amount of raspberries in a person’s diet has the potential to help regulate blood sugar. They have also come to represent patience and endurance, because once the canes are planted, it takes about a year or two for them to produce. In a sense, we are watching Elsa gather contentment, purification, and endurance into her basket, things we are meant to glean through the word of God for our sustenance. “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).
Elsa is content and satisfied, steadfast and enduring, which makes it arduous for the wizard to tempt her throughout the story. She’s generally immune to his charms and flattery. “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread” (Proverbs 30:8). Her humility is evident in that she knows who she is. She doesn’t pretend to be more or less. Laughingly rebuffing the wizard’s elegant words, Elsa declares that she not too beautiful for hard work, and is more than capable of walking through the mud to harvest the good fruit. She gathers satisfaction into her basket, not minding the ache of bending down or the rough, muddy terrain. She doesn’t get giddy at the idea of this charismatic, well-dressed stranger popping out of the bushes to offer his cloak as her steppingstone. In fact, she boldly corrects the stranger’s misevaluation of herself and the cloak.
The thing that gets me is that the wizard would assume Elsa is impractical. We know he intends for her to step onto the cloak once and become his captive, but from her point of view, how would the cloak be helpful? She’d step across on it one time, and then what? She’s got a whole basket to fill with berries, and the day has just started. There will be a lot more mud to schlog through. Why ruin a perfectly good garment for the sake of flattery? The wizard underestimates his prey. Jesus tells us that we are to “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Just because someone has clean hands and a pure heart doesn’t mean she is a naïve fool, easily caught off guard by the enemy’s tricks.
Determined not to be thwarted, the wizard stalks her, seeking a new way to entrap her. He first tries to charmingly suggest to Elsa that she is fragile, in need of coddling and protection. Finding her full of strength, he switches tactics. Instead of sweet words, the wizard’s weapons of choice are now sharp objects. He creates a situation fraught with danger, enlisting a swarm of bees to irritate a billy goat into attacking Elsa, with the intent of duping her into believing that her confidence is a lie and that she truly cannot survive in an emergency without his assistance.
Notice how many times in this short sequence thorn imagery is used. The wizard hides behind a hawthorn bush. Elsa picks raspberries, which have thorny stems. The wizard attempts to use a horned goat and stinging bees to manipulate Elsa into stepping on his cloak. This is really loaded, so bear with me as I unpack it all.
Thorns were part of the curse resulting from the fall of mankind in the garden. They are an unfortunate part of day-to-day life in a fallen world. “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field” (Genesis 3:18). It’s true that the sin nature we were born into places us under the curse. But with Jesus’ help, we can overcome it. His sacrifice made a way for us to be reconciled to the Father. If we accept Him, God bestows on us the mind of Christ, and empowers us with the Holy Spirit. If we submit ourselves to God, we are blessed beyond the curse. Elsa is able to defeat every sharp attack against her. She masters the raspberry bush, the small, day-to-day difficulties of living in a fallen world as a child of God. She dodges the goat’s horns and the angry bees, which represents overcoming more severe attacks in spiritual warfare. As funny as the chase scene is, it hearkens back to God’s protection of David in Psalm 118:12-13. “They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. You pushed me violently, that I might fall, but the Lord helped me.”
The wizard using animals with ties to the occult to attack Elsa should not be surprising, as this is clearly a witchcraft related assault. The bee is sacred to witches because of the matriarchal structure of the hive, to early Egyptians and Masons because of the creature’s industry, and the goat, which can represent sin and stubbornness, has ties to both witchcraft and Satanic symbolism. In Leviticus, the Day of Atonement for the sins of the people involved two goats. One was sacrificed to the Lord and the other had the sins of the people transferred onto it by the priest before being sent away to the desert as the scapegoat. At the end of all things, Jesus will separate His sheep, those who accepted Him as Lord and Savior, from the goats, those who rejected Him (Matthew 25:31-46). Bees and goats are not truly evil, God made them and gave them good purposes, but mankind twisted them into idols, and so, scriptural language reflects those choices since the symbolism would be understood. With all this in mind, the wizard’s choice to send the bees as a mockery of Elsa’s industry and the goat as a dig at her steadfast refusal to give in to him makes more sense.
The chase is hilarious, with Elsa and the goat locked on each other and the wizard running around waving his cloak like a deranged matador. Elsa completely ignores him and rolls to safety, and the wizard catches the goat in his cloak instead, a scapegoat maneuver if ever there was one. For his pains, the wizard winds up with a giant rip in his mantle where the goat tore it with his horns. He’s practically fallen into his own trap, while once again, Elsa has managed to get away. “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I escape safely” (Psalm 141:10).
Of course, Elsa doesn’t realize that the cloak is a nefarious device yet. She has compassion on the wizard because he appeared to be trying to aid her, so she helps him in her own, humble way, using the tools that come to hand. Piercing one hawthorn thorn with another, she devises a needle, which she threads with a strand of her long, golden hair, and begins sewing up the tear in the black cloak. That is what we’re supposed to do for the people we encounter. See a need, meet a need, doing the best you can with what you have, including the resources, glories and creative abilities that God has given you. Jesus tells us, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Although Elsa is not yet aware of the man’s true nature, that’s exactly what she’s doing.
Unlike the tiny raspberry thorns, which are small and somewhat avoidable with care, Hawthorn thorns are large, vicious and can cause severe wounds and allergic reactions. The thorns can blind you if you aren’t wearing protective gear when you prune the plants. In the case of this story, they hold both obvious and concealed dangers. Remember that the wizard hid behind the hawthorn to sneak up on Elsa before attempting to trick her. But Elsa is able to fearlessly break off two thorns and use them to make repairs without harming herself. What is meant to hurt her is instead used for good. She combines her God-given glory, her hair, with the hardship of working with the thorns, to produce a good work, which has far-reaching ramifications more significant than she can possibly know. She thinks she’s just performing a reasonable act of kindness. But, by invading the wizard’s cloak with her hair and the thorn, she will make a way where there was none for the captive women on the wizard’s lawn to be released.
In this moment, we have a miniature picture of Christ giving up His glory to mend the rift between God and man and set us free through His suffering under the curse. Fully God and fully man, Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4). By being born under the law and the curse, into flesh prone to sin but choosing to live a perfect life, wholly surrendered to God, Jesus interrupted the pattern and dominion of sin in the human bloodline. Wearing the crown of thorns across His forehead, Jesus Himself became a curse so that we could be reconciled back to God. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).
Elsa’s selfless actions mirror this, as her intervention will force the release of the imprisoned women, whose stone hearts will once again become flesh. Also, the woman uses her resourcefulness and innovation to fashion a fully functionally needle and thread out of what came to hand. That’s pretty amazing. And it reflects of the Lord’s creative ability, which the enemy does not possess. Don’t you think that would be irritating for the wizard? The person he’s trying to destroy comes out unscathed, does something kind, and uses gifts from God to make a situation better? At my house, we call that “heaping coals” after Proverbs 25:21-22, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” When you do good to those who hate you, it makes them burn with shame, and, if they are unrepentant, it will intensify their desire and efforts to harm you because they’re angry at the disparity between your character and theirs. Remember that in real life, the wizard would technically be a human agent versus the devil himself, he just represents Satan in the story based on the fruit of his actions. It’s not wrong for Elsa to try to do him a kindness, but because he is unrepentant, he responds in satanic fashion, ungratefully criticizing her with the aim of debasing her to elevate himself.
Now the wizard launches his final attack against Elsa’s confidence. He snatches the cloak out of her hands and accuses her of mending it too loosely. It needs more stitches. This project that she put time, effort, kindness, creativity, and a literal piece of herself into is deemed unworthy. Stop me before I go on for forty-five minutes about this! This is a favorite line from the kingdom of darkness because it works so well. You are never enough. More specifically, your best is not good enough. Now, it’s true, on our own, we’re not enough, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). “…the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b). God cares about your heart first. He emphasizes that throughout the entire Bible. If all you do, you do unto the Lord, with your whole heart, with everything He’s given you, then that’s your best, and your best is good enough for the Lord.
Like the wizard poking at Elsa, Satan lobs thorny accusations against the saints, hoping to catch us in our weaknesses and disqualify us from all that God has planned for our lives (Revelation 12:10). Sometimes, those sharp, fiery darts land squarely in our chests because we don’t guard our hearts. We forget that we have a secure, established foundation in Christ and step out of covenant protection in fear, thinking that we need to defend ourselves based on our work alone. Up till now, we haven’t seen Elsa falter. She doesn’t make one wrong move until the integrity of her work, and therefore her personal integrity, are called into question by the adversary, and she feels compelled to defend herself to him. We’re supposed to be offensive and defensive in spiritual warfare, but we defend ourselves against the enemy, not to him. For one thing, he’s not our judge. He can accuse all day long, but the Lord decides the verdict. For another, we can’t defend ourselves by good works. Our righteous works by themselves are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We need Jesus, our wonderful counselor, to defend us, because He is the only one who is truly righteous, and He extends that righteousness to the children of God by the power of His blood. “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). When He was tempted in the wilderness and Satan was calling the integrity of Jesus’ identity into question, Jesus didn’t argue. Satan kept saying, “If you’re the Son of God, do this.” Jesus’ response was essentially, “Because I am the Son of God, I will not do this.” He made defensive moves against sin and temptation using the word of God as His weapon. He cut through to the truth of what the enemy was doing and refused to take the bait, reminding them both again and again that God is the supreme authority, and He alone must be obeyed. Jesus guarded His vulnerable humanity with the impenetrable perfection of His divinity as the Living Word of God.
And that’s what we’re supposed to do. We overcome the devil by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). That’s the written word of God and the things He’s said and done for you in your own life. When you start to defend yourself using anything outside that arsenal, that’s when you get into trouble. When Elsa leans forward to examine her work and defend its integrity to her wily enemy rather than trusting that her best was good enough and moving on, she becomes ensnared by the evil cloak and falls into the wizard’s power. Now, she sees him as he truly is. Monstrous, wicked, inside and out. Once her adrenaline quits pulsing through her veins, she’ll realize that he being evil is not fit to judge the goodness of anything.
I’m sure you can think of a moment when something like this has happened to you. Even the most seasoned follower of Jesus has chinks in his or her armor. It’s natural to want to run and defend vulnerable areas like identity and integrity when someone takes a jab at them, but in doing so, we can forget who our actual judge and defender is; that we are established in the Lord, and that means we don’t have to play by the enemy’s rules or go back and fix things to meet any standards other than the ones God sets. The adversary wants us to fail, and God wants us to overcome. He is love, and His mercies are new every morning. He willingly gives assistance to those who want to succeed on His terms, including the Helper, His Holy Spirit. It may feel more difficult to succeed on God’s terms because His kingdom runs upside down compared to the world systems that we’re taught from infancy to embrace. But Jesus tells us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
He’s not saying there is no burden or that you’ll never have to work. He’s saying the burden is lighter because He’s helping you carry it. You’re not striving on your own. There is no rest in the kingdom of darkness because your place on this side of things is never secure. You’re not loved there, and the masters are cruel. You will always be knocking yourself out to maintain your privileges and your relevance. In God’s kingdom, it’s the opposite. You get to find rest on this side and the next, because you are already accepted as part of the Beloved. You’re already established by God. From that place, you then do the good works you’re called to do out of love for the Lord, empowered by the Holy Spirit. “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).
Fortunately, there is grace and mercy for us when we realize that we’ve stumbled or are about to. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). He knows that we aren’t perfect, and that we’ll make mistakes during sanctification. A mistake doesn’t eradicate our identity in Christ. No matter how devastating or frightening it is, it’s an opportunity to learn and make us smarter and stronger, better able to guard ourselves and deal expediently with that kind of attack next time. Peter is a good example of this. Jesus warned him, “‘Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren’” (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus interceded for Peter so that he was not snatched out of His hand when he denied the Lord out of fear. He wasn’t stripped of his God-given destiny because of a moment of weakness. Peter’s heart still belonged to God and he was repentant. Afterward, Jesus gave him an opportunity for reconciliation, showing him that all was well and the plan for Peter’s role in God’s kingdom had not changed. Peter would then reengage with his mission armed with even more steadfast determination and stronger conviction, enabled by his harrowing experience to help liberate others for the kingdom more effectively.
Elsa experiences a similar rescue. Caught in the wizard’s grasp, she struggles to break free as they ascend on the wings of the wicked cloak. But the strand of Elsa’s golden hair woven into it catches on a tree and holds them fast, arresting the wizard’s flight, and forcing him to release Elsa as he struggles to free his cloak. We know as the story goes on that Elsa’s golden thread prevents the wizard from being able to kidnap or hold girls hostage. Even though she makes a mistake, her act of intervention is intact. As she falls under the category of people being protected from the wizard’s wickedness, he is compelled to let her go or lose all of his power. Similarly, we are able to cry out to God for help in the name of Jesus, who hung on a tree, and makes intercession for us before the Father even as we intercede on behalf of ourselves as others (Hebrews 7:25). “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man [or woman] avails much” (James 5:16). It can move the heart of God, especially if we are praying His word and His will, to act on our behalf, even rescuing us when we are overwhelmed. The Lord says that if we return to Him, “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible” (Jeremiah 15:21). And, if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will be forced to flee, just like the wizard has no choice but to release Elsa.
Freed from the evil wizard’s grasp, Elsa slips onto a lower branch of the tree and makes good her escape, running all the way back to the safety of her mother’s house. Once there, she seeks wise counsel from her mom, learning about her enemy and how to handle him the next time he comes around. It’s always a good idea when you’re up against something new to learn from seasoned believers and apply their knowledge and wisdom to your circumstances. The Lord says in Hosea 4:6 “My people perish for a lack of knowledge.” You need to know how the spirit realm works and the laws by which God governs all things if you’re going to fight wisely and effectively. That includes knowing your place under God’s authority, the authority that He’s given to you, and understanding the limits of the enemy’s power. Even though he is defeated, he’s currently still allowed to operate.
Elsa’s mother educates her about the evil wizard, instructing her that the only power he could have over her is through his cloak, and that she would have to choose to step on it of her own free will for that power to take effect. If your will is surrendered to God, the enemy does not have power over you. In fact, the Lord gives you “the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). Satan and his compatriots can afflict you and retaliate against you, but if you don’t give the kingdom of darkness room in your life because you’re following the Lord’s precepts with all your heart and you’ve surrendered your free will to Him, then the weapon may form, but it will not prosper.
While Elsa is growing in knowledge and wisdom, the power of her intercession is growing, too. In fact, it’s glowing. After throwing a tantrum about losing his intended victim, the wizard is tormented that night by the blindingly bright light emanating from Elsa’s golden stitches. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20). For seven days, the number of perfection and completion, the wicked wizard is tormented and incapacitated by the radiant stitches. Try as he might, nothing he does can dampen the glory of the light; in fact, it glows brighter after each futile attempt to destroy it. After a comical, weeklong montage of failures, the wizard is compelled to recognize that he is powerless to remove the seam. “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The enemy will never conquer God. Because of Jesus, we share in that victory. We are destined to overcome the enemy if we remain steadfast in the Lord.
The wizard wanted the glory of a virtuous person stuck in his house. He’s got it. And everything that goes with it. Virtuous, righteous people are bold, wise, and pure. They aren’t just pretty decorations; they are weapons of mass destruction. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Because of the Holy Spirit in us, we are equipped to carry on that mission. Our prayers and intercession in faith can wreck the plans of the enemy and expose the agents and schemes of darkness for what they really are, helping more people return to God, repent, and reclaim kingdom territory. Elsa doesn’t have to physically be there to cause trouble for the wizard and his domain. A piece of her glory resisting the enemy is all it takes to chip at the foundation of his hold on the women of the village. Your prayers can be everywhere you’re not. You can destroy the schemes of the kingdom of darkness from anywhere in the world because God gave your words power. Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Guided by the Spirit and word of God, you can speak death to the enemy’s plots and ask the Holy Spirit to flood those areas with His life, that God’s kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Your intercession pierces the atmosphere and inspires the Lord to do mighty works on your behalf when you pray His word and will into a situation, because He is faithful to watch over His word and perform it (Jeremiah 1:12).
The agents of darkness know this, and they hate it. They will do everything they can to get you to take back what you said, to give up praying before the finish line so that they can continue their reigns of terror uninterrupted. The attempts to stop your intercession may include bullying, temptation, onslaughts of doubt. Anything to make you lose faith in the goodness of God and drive a wedge between you so that you don’t pray anymore from hurt, anger, or exhaustion.
These are the kinds of things the wizard resorts to. He barrels out of his castle, down the mountain, into Elsa’s village, and up to her window in the middle of the night, compromised cloak in hand.
Awakened by the tapping on her window, Elsa recognizes the sinister voice of the wizard. In a very Smith Wigglesworth moment, she refuses to even come to the window and acknowledge her adversary. Initially, she shivers as his voice. But it doesn’t take her long to switch gears. Remembering what she learned about the wizard from her mother, our heroine wisely takes her stand. She doesn’t stay in the bed because she’s cowering in fear of the wizard; she just can’t be bothered to give him the time of day because she does not answer to him. He has no power over her. “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; therefore, I shall see my desire on those who hate me” (Psalm 118:6-7). Lies, threats, and bullying cannot frighten our heroine into getting up. Not even bribery can cajole her. Like Jesus repelled Satan’s temptations, Elsa refuses the wizard’s gold, farm, and riches. We are instructed, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). If Elsa had accepted any of her adversary’s bribes, she would be beholden to him. She would no longer have authority over him. You cannot take authority over the things you submit to. If Jesus would have skipped the suffering servant portion of His assignment and worshipped the devil in exchange for the kingdoms of this world, we would all be lost. Had Elsa taken the wizard up on his offer, none of the captured girls would be released from his castle, and the ones remaining in the village and surrounding areas would continue to live in fear of his advances. True freedom is worth missing out on worldly gain. Put another way, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul” (Mark 8:36)?
Furious that Elsa will not give in to his demands, the wizard storms back to his castle. Because of Elsa’s tenacious refusal to fear him, the only thing he can think to do to demonstrate his power to her is release one of the stone statues. Once his oppression is removed from the girl, she flies down the mountain and back home to the village. But even this move does not truly demonstrate the wizard’s power; it only proves that he is weakening under the influence of Elsa’s intervention. He doesn’t have the whole picture in mind when he makes this move. Similarly, we are told that if the rulers of the age knew what was really happening, they would not have crucified the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:8). What the agents of the kingdom of darkness thought was a brilliant move on their part to remove an adversary in fact played right into God’s covert rescue op to save the world. There may have been temporary relief for team darkness during the rigged trials and crucifixion, but it was short lived, because Jesus conquered sin and death and made a way of escape for any who will take it. “God…has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).
The wizard experiences a bit of relief, as the light dims slightly after he releases one of his prisoners, but the next day, the golden stitches blaze up brighter than ever. The enraged practitioner hurtles down the mountain and bangs on Elsa’s window, demanding she remove the seam. Steadfast and immoveable, Elsa firmly states that the seam does very well right where it is, and does not speak another word to her blustering adversary, who stalks back to his stronghold in defeat. Eventually, he is forced to release all the captive maidens in order to gain respite from the blinding light of the seam, but even then, it continues to glow, warning him that he will suffer if he ever attempts to use his evil powers in Elsa’s territory again.
We, too, must not give in to fear when the Lord has put it in our hearts to intercede for a cause or complete an assignment. If the enemy is bothering you and you’re seeing pushback and opposition, it means you’re probably doing something right. Keep going and don’t give up. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). We’re never explicitly told that Elsa learns about all the captives being set free due to her persistence. But she carries herself with strength and confidence, knowing that she is doing the right thing. Keep pressing on toward the prize. You never know who will be released from bondage because of your perseverance.
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