Day 10,  Less Living With Lies and More Truth 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

Do you believe that God can and wants to use you? Do you believe that you are qualified and able to be involved in ministry with Jesus? Do you truly believe that God has completely and totally forgiven you of your sin and made you clean and worthy in His sight? Do you believe that God wants the very, very best for you and wants to give it to you?

If you are like many, the answer deep in your soul is “no!” I am not good enough; I have too much stuff in my past for God to bless me. I don’t have the training to be involved in ministry; God could never use me in any significant way, I have too many issues and sin to be used by Him. And so we sit in the shadows, sure that God could not use us and bless us and give to us the life we know He promises. 

John 10:10 is one of the most significant statements in Scripture about who Jesus is and who Satan is. Satan is called the thief whose only mission is to steal, kill and destroy people like you and me. Why is this the mission of Satan? The answer is simple. Satan hates God with an undying hatred. But, he cannot hurt God, so he targets those who are made in God’s image - you and me. In hurting us, his real intention is to hurt God. To keep us from God, hurt our relationship with God, and prevent us from experiencing all that God designed us for. He wants to rob us of the joy Jesus promises and, if he can, cause us to end up in the ditch of life, hurt, ineffective, bitter, and missing out on God’s blessings. He wants to destroy us. 

Satan is the life-taker! Jesus is the life-giver. Jesus says, “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” 

I have come to give you the life you have never experienced, 

a joy that you have never known, 

a relationship with me you could never dream of, 

a life mission you could never have believed, 

and an eternal destiny that is your true home. 

Hear what Jesus is saying. Satan is the life taker, but I am the ultimate life-giver.

So how does the Evil One steal, kill and destroy? He tells us lies. Listen to what Jesus said about him in John 8:44, speaking to those who opposed him... “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan tells us lies that rob us of the life Jesus designed us for if we believe them. Here are some examples.

• With what you have done, God could never forgive you!

What is the common theme of these lies? They are designed to convince you that you are not good enough for God, cannot know the true life He offers, and they are designed to keep you discouraged, joyless, and ineffective. But, and hear this: They are lies. Lies!

Here is the truth:

• Jesus forgives us fully and completely, and when He looks at us, He sees a clean and redeemed son or daughter of His.

Satan knows that if he can convince us to believe his lies that he can hurt us in many ways. So Jesus says, resist the lies of the thief and believe the truth of your Savior. Take some time today to reflect on the lies you have bought into that are from the thief and not from the Savior. And then, banish those lies to the ash heap and embrace the truths of the Savior. It will change the direction of your life in every way.

Father: I admit that I often believe the lies of the thief instead of the truths of the Savior. Help me recognize those lies and embrace your promise to give me life and, more than that, the fullness of life or life abundant. Help me live in the abundance of the life you came to give. Amen.

The question for today: What lies have I believed that I need to abandon for the truth of the Savior?