Not Permitted

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

In another parallel to dealing with spiritual attacks (see yesterday's blog), I recently compared the enemy to a childhood punk who steals our lunch. He takes the very best things out of our lunchbox and leaves us with nothing worthwhile. He is the hooligan who always takes our Hostess cupcake and leaves the celery sticks behind. He doesn't want us to have anything to find joy in, but aims to leave us feeling short-changed and disappointed. 

I don't mean to diminish the attacks of the enemy (or those that love celery sticks) with my illustration. I simply want to draw attention to the discouragement that can be used against us. We have to recognize that our enemy, the thief, has come to steal from us. He isn't interested in our well-being or our happiness, but only wants to make us miserable by taking our focus off of God. If we want to fight back we've got to grasp the full life that God offers and refuse to allow anything to dissuade us from that path. 

The truth is the best gifts come from God and the enemy can't take those from us if we don't give him permission.