The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. John 10:10 AMP
I was watching a recent Dharius Daniels sermon titled “Let Me Be Great : Beast Mode Pt2” where he made the point; “often-times we celebrate surviving situations that the devil only intended to steal something from us.” Dr. Daniels made a similar point in an earlier sermon titled “Moving on From the Life You Thought Pt1” in regards to the devil’s objective to steal, kill, and destroy. In this and two following posts I’d like to dissect the concept of Satan’s tactics to steal, kill, and destroy.
Steal
Satan uses an array of tools to attack us and impact our walk or faith in God. Theft is a very subtle tactic, and quite cowardly to me because it is typically a non-violent crime where the targeted party is usually unware that they are targeted, or have been robbed. I dislike it mainly because it is lazy, and a person is taking something that is not rightfully theirs, hasn’t been earned, and in the end leaves the robbed party with a loss of security and confidence. Theft in the spiritual much like the natural comes in many forms; Satan will send adversity which can cause doubt to grow which in turn steals our peace, joy, faith, etc. Oftentimes Satan is not intent on killing us because I believe that he gets his greatest satisfaction NOT at seeing our physical death, but of witnessing or causing our spiritual death (tactic 2). He brings this about by stealing the possibility or ability of us to enjoy/experience the promises of God: peace, joy, love, prosperity, etc. He can accomplish this by sending attacks that steal our praise, willingness to pray, and peace like the attacks that he sent at Job which wasn’t meant to kill him (because God wouldn’t allow it), but to make him curse God and bring about his spiritual death which would lead to a physical one because Satan is intent on making God a lie for his love for mankind. To accomplish this Satan actually robbed Job of several real things: health, wealth, his children, and his community status, yet none of these things was his target, it was Job’s praise, and his confidence in God that Satan was actually after (Job 1&2). When we experience job/financial loss, health issues, loss of loved ones, or any other kind of adversity, though it is hard, I would encourage you to remain focused on the large picture and main thing which is what Satan is actually after…..your relationship, faith, and confidence in God.
Reflection Time
What have you been robbed of? What do you know longer believe God for, pray about, or even dream about? Can you remember where you last saw/had the item, and are you willing to go back and reclaim what is rightfully yours and was stolen from you (1 Samuel 30)? Have you searched the word for the tools to overcome or avoid theft? Did you even realized that you have been robbed, or have you been too busy celebrating a false victory?
