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 fullest.
The "thief" in this verse is generally understood to refer to
the devil. Never lose sight of the fact that the devil has
an unending desire to steal, kill, and destroy anything he can in your
life.
When any of us become a Christian and begin to sell out to God the devil begins to invade. Just as God has a plan for our lives, so does the devil. The difference is that the devil wants to destroy us and everything we put our hands to. He wants to destroy our friendships, Churchs, families, and everything else in our lives.
We must get ready to go to war when we become a Christian because we do enter a war. In Ephesians 6:12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms." We begin to see that there really is an enemy who will come against us and battle for us just to make us fall and turn our backs on God! The worst thing we can do is RUN! I have always run when things get tough and I don't know how to handle it! This time I have learned some things that are going to help me burrow in and fight.
I have learned that when you are doing things right, that is when the devil will come to fight against you. If you are doing your own thing and not living for Jesus, then you are not a worry to him, but when you get fired up and begin to serve the Lord, the devil comes to stop you. He wants you to fall so your friends will not serve the Lord, so families will be hurt, and so your Church will get hurt. God wants us to stand firm against the devil and his schemes so that he will flee. We have got to be in the Word of God so we have the weapons to fight.
This youth group is doing good things for the Lord and when we look at the last few months you can see how the devil has fought to stop what is going on here. He uses people and he likes to offend people. People hate to be offended and will turn against others. This is why we must watch what we say to others and how we say things. When we offend someone we must make things right and we must forgive.
God has called us to do great things and we must continue this good fight. Please do not give in and walk away. The worst thing would be to give up and lose the fight. When you feel the battle is beginning to take a toll, reach out to God and your friends who will help you fight through. God has a plan, you are chosen, keep up the good fight of faith and you will be victorious! This is just one more step in learning to "walk out our salvation".
