Our enemy is a thief
By Ivan Ho First written 10 Mar 2018
The enemy only comes to do three things amongst us: steal, kill and destroy!
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
What does the enemy steal? If you suffer monetary or materialistic loss, they can be recovered. But there are more vital things in life that the devil comes to steal from you and a lot of people are not even aware of it. If you suffer financial loss, the enemy cannot really hurt you permanently, but if he can succeed in stealing the word of God that was sown into your life, it is not the physical things you possess, but you yourself are lost! If you loose your destiny, inheritance, calling, even salvation in Christ, you lose everything!
That is why whenever someone sows the word of God in your life, the enemy will always try to use someone else to change the contents of that word. That is what stealing is all about. You don’t even know the word was stolen from you. If you are aware of it, it’s not called stealing.
There are basically two ways how the enemy comes to steal the word from you.
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Matthew 13:19
How many people, when the word of God is sown to them, immediately loose what they have received because they fail to understand what God is saying to them? The word was sown in their heart, but they allow the enemy to steal it at the head level. When they failed to figure out the word of God with their mind, the devil came and snatched the seed away from them.
But there is another way the enemy comes to steal the word from you. He does it by sowing another word.
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:24-30
When the man of God gives you the word of God, beware of satan’s agents who disguise themselves as God’s servants to alter that word, often times slightly, so that the original contents of God’s word that was sown was lost.
Jesus comes to give life, and life more abundantly. Abundant life is in the word of God. However, many people are not experiencing the abundant life of God as they should, even though they may have been saved, because they allow the thief to steal the word of God from them. They may be hearing sermons week in week out but God’s words are not taking root and bearing fruits in their lives.
Some hear but they don’t understand and so the enemy comes and takes away the seed soon afterwards. Others are constantly in a state of spiritual slumber and open themselves to inputs from all kinds of wrong sources. They may have heard the word of God on Sunday but by Wednesday, another word from the enemy is already contesting with the original word that was sown. The seeds sown by the enemy can come from the people around us, the books we read, the movies we watch and so on, sometimes with Christian tags on them.
The enemy is a thief and his tactics is to make sure you are totally unaware what he has stolen from you.
God speaks, the devil also speaks. We need to test every word that comes to us against the Word of God that is written.