The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
—John 10:10 (NKJV)
The enemy wants to steal your passion—your peace—your joy—your health. His ultimate purpose is to destroy your faith. He is so jealous of anything Jesus has given you that he comes against you with sickness, fear, worry, despair, and every lie he can plant in your mind to keep you from experiencing the abundant life Jesus has for you. The enemy challenges everything Christ has given you. He deceives you, trying to make you believe more in his lies than in the truth of God’s Word. He knows if you realize the power Christ has given you, he will have no power over you. He is aware that if you know God's truth, it will free you from his lies (John 8:32).
When you realize you have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead living inside of you (Ephesians 1:18-19), nothing the enemy attempts can steal, kill, or destroy your faith in the security of the relationship you have with the God who loves you.
The thief that comes to steal from you can only steal what you possess. He can’t take what you don’t have. You have the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You have the healing of Calvary and freedom from the sin that once defined you. Jesus paid the price to set you free. Satan only fights you for what Jesus has given you. He tries to steal your peace, stir up fear, and create frustration—make you angry, jealous, and impatient. He knows if he can destroy your confident hope in what Jesus has done for you, you will have a defeated life.
When we know our identity in Christ and what salvation has given us, it is hard for the thief to steal what we possess. When we know that God chose us as His own—that we are blameless in Christ—that we are secured and sealed by the Holy Spirit—that we are God’s heirs to His inheritance of an abundant life of peace and joy and mountain-moving faith, we can rebuke Satan with the authority that Jesus has given us. God is our Abba Father. He is the power within us.
When the naked man, terrorized by the legion of demons, met Jesus, everything in his life changed. He was healed. He sat down peacefully at Jesus’ feet—right in his mind and fully clothed (Mark 5:15). When we realize that we can be delivered from Satan’s lies like this healed man, we no longer are naked with no defense from the enemy. When we clothe ourselves in our new identity in Jesus’s finished work of grace, we know our authority and speak it. And we take back any gift the enemy has stolen. And these are gifts Jesus died for us to possess—joy—peace—health. Jesus doesn’t have to die again for gifts to be ours. His agony on the Cross was enough to finish it all. We need to take and live and believe and speak the miracle of grace we could never give ourselves. Jesus bought salvation and healing and provision for every need. He gave us the authority of the power of God (Luke 10:19). If we don’t exercise what He died to give us, we make what cost Jesus His life worthless. God wants you to have an abundant life. He wants you to have the life Jesus died for you to have.
Whoever you submit to becomes the one to whom you listen—the one who controls your mind and your feelings. Submit yourself to God, and resist the enemy. He will flee from you (James 4:7). Rebuke and resist and stand against the liar who comes to steal, kill, and destroy your faith. Yield yourself to God, the lover of your soul. You have the authority and the power of God within you. And Christ has already won your deliverance.
God promises you abundant life, filled with His spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). The power of life and death is in what you speak (Proverbs 18:21). Speak with the authority He has given you. The promises of God are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). God is faithful. He always keeps His promises.
© 2022 Lynn Lacher
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