Has The Devil Taken Something From You?

I've been away for a few weeks spending time with my family at the Neshoba County Fair and my mother's re-election campaign. What a whirlwind it's been!

If you're like me, you feel a greater intensity when it comes to spiritual warfare. Where there is warfare, there is a fight to the finish. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus knew the thief personally as Lucifer in heaven. The thief isn't always violent. He is slick. The things he gets, he gets by fraud and by deception. The thief is empowered by you. Therefore, he has no power unless he gets it from you. But God said the thief must give it back in Exodus 22:1-9. If your joy has been stolen, your good name, your self-confidence or anything else has been taken from you, God is a judicious God and He will give it back to you.

Most people want to negate the Old Testament. They don't like what they read and they don't think it's relevant. There is so much to reveal about who God is in the Old Testament. God said in Malachi 3:6, "I the LORD do not change." Therefore, God takes theft seriously.

I Peter 5:8 says, "...Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Notice the word "as". The cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz acted like he was a roaring lion, but he wasn't. Stop believing in a big, bad devil and start believing in a bigger God!

If you notice, the devil starts out as a serpent in Genesis and ends up as a dragon in Revelation. How does he do that? By humans empowering him. The more attention and emphasis we give Satan, the bigger he grows. It's time to put an emphasis on the Lord who has already defeated him. Christ de-fanged the devil, so act like it!