Now Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and he
          was laying them on the fire, when a viper crawled out
          because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

          Then [Paul simply] shook off the small creature into
          the fire and suffered no evil effects.

          And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my
          name [the name of Jesus Christ] shall they cast out
          devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

          18 [And if] they shall take up serpents; and if they
          drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall
          lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

     I have never been bitten by a real snake. However, I have been bitten by cutting words.

          They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent;
          adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.

     Recently, I watched a Joyce Meyer video titled, "Shaking Off Serpents." It was about
     how to resist satan at his onset, before his snake bite festers into gangrene and destruction.
     Just like Paul did, we simply shake it off. Don't allow the poisonous words stay on you.

     Shake them off.

     When someone calls you a bad name, simply shake it off. When someone laughs at you
     in mockery, simply shake it off. When someone falsely accuses you, simply shake it off.
     When people you witness to about Jesus Christ, reject the Word you speak, simply shake it off.

     We do not have to allow the teeth of the snake to stick to us. God's grace acts like a barrier
     that wards off the snake bites. But if we keep the snake dangling on our hand, the poison
     will reach our heart. So shake it off as soon as it bites.Don't wait and talk about it and
     complain about it and mull it over and over in your mind and then talk about it to all
     your friends. Simply shake it off as soon as it happens. This is what the believers did when
     people rejected the Word God gave them to speak.

          But they shook off the dust of their feet against
          them, and came unto Iconium.

           And when they opposed themselves, and
          blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said
          unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads;
          I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.