Don’t Let Satan Steal What Is Yours

There are many NT warnings to us as believers in Jesus not to let the enemy steal what is ours. They are recorded for vital reasons! Unfortunately, it is all too easy to either ignore or forget, and let Satan steal away what God wants you to hold onto.

Here are some of the ways Satan can hinder your progress and that of God’s Work. Take a look at these, and see how they could apply to you.

1) Indecision

In Jesus’ parable of the sower, He points out that:

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart (Matt 13:19).

Satan sees that the recipient is vacillating. That indecision is the devil’s chance and he knows it. He rushes in to undermine the truth of what was said, to cause you to doubt it, or question it, and while you are trying to make up your mind, his dart has hit the target with a death-dealing strike.

When you are indecisive and ‘wobbly’, you can go either way. But God won’t force you to go His way. So, when the devil gives you a push, it’s easy for you to let him push you over the brink – unless you are alert to his tactics.

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (Jas 1:8). Let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord (1:7).

2) Fears

He who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles (Matt 13:20,21).

The devil can steal away what is yours if you let him induce irrational fears. Jesus commands you not to fear those who want to harm you physically or even take your life (Matt 10:28). He says, “Don’t worry about your life...” (Matt 6:25).

Not only are we encouraged not to fear to suffer for Jesus’ name, but we are also directed to rejoice:

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. REJOICE and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven... (Matt 5:11,12).

Therefore, since Christ suffered... in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind... (1 Pet 4:1).

3) Physical cares

Another major deterrent to the progress of God’s work and of your spiritual growth is something very simple. Jesus portrayed it like this:

Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful (Matt 13:22).

John expressed it further:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world, and the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 Jn 2:15-17).

Lust is insatiable desire.

Satan hinders God’s work by appealing to your inner desires. When you give in to them, instead of doing what is right according to God’s Word, you sin and make room for the devil in your life. The little of God’s Spirit you have is neutralised or pushed out.

Don Francisco wrote in one of his apt ballads that “our own desires deceive us”. Indeed they do!

God commands you to love Him with ALL your heart, soul and mind (Matt 22:37), not put yourself first. Whenever you put something else ahead of God, you commit idolatry and shut out the Spirit.

I will never forget a man in Kenya who received some money for the purposes of spreading the truths of God’s Word. A laudable objective, you may say. But, because his heart was not surrendered to the will of God, he put his own selfish ambitions first, and God’s ambitions second. He could not see that his own desires had deceived him. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matt 6:24). He was worshipping a false god. His ‘eye’ (motivation) was bad (Matt 6:23).

Paul explained the way to deal with this inner perversity:

I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified (1 Cor 10:27).

Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things... (1 Cor 10:25).

That word “temperate” is not heard much today! Much less practiced!

That man in Kenya fell away. And he was not alone. MANY have fallen the same way. Paul mentioned one who fell away from his entourage:

Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world... (2 Tim 4:9,10)

Notice the words “be diligent”. That’s the only way you can hinder Satan’s schemes. You won’t do it half-heartedly, nonchalantly, lukewarmly.

How People Let Satan Hinder MM

Some months ago God gave this dream:

25th February 2008. M. The devourer devours.

We were growing plants, but as fast as the plants could grow, they were being devoured. I couldn’t see what was devouring them. They were being totally eaten away like caterpillars eat lovely soft fleshy Brassicas.

Meaning: MM literature is sent to various people at our expense, to try and wake them up. For example, today four packets are going to a very well-known worship leader ‘across the pond’.

But the response from this is generally negative. They take what they want from it, don’t send a donation to offset our costs, and find what they disagree with to step back from moving forward and embracing the fulness of the truth.

Satan is the devourer. He uses all sorts of appeals to human nature to ruin and hinder spiritual growth. And people submit to him, giving in to his temptations. This is how Satan manages to devour ‘our plant’.

You may not realise the importance of putting God first. He commanded Israel to give Him the FIRSTfruits; not the second or third. The tithe is the first tenth of your income (profit), not the leftovers.

When you put God first, He puts you first. He provides for you, takes care of you, delivers you, heals you, sustains you, loves you. You are to love Him the same way. But if you don’t care for Him, you will let Satan steal away what is yours that God wants to give you.

Putting God’s Work first is part of the equation. Whatever He has called you to do for Him, make sure you give Him that priority in your life by doing what He has assigned to you. Then He will come through in your life, and help you with whatever you need help with. It could be:

1. Health and Healing.
2. Deliverance from oppression or possession.
3. Peace and emotional stability.
4. Spiritual Gifts.
5. God’s guidance and direction.
6. Some desperate physical need(s).

How People Let Satan Hinder Them

What will deter God working for you? Here are some clues:

1. Laziness, apathy.
2. Compromised motives.
3. Self-interest and self-will.
4. Unwillingness to give up a sin.
5. Pride.
6. Unforgiveness.
7. Carelessness in obeying His Word.
8. Neglect.
9. Resistance to correction (stubbornness).

I’m not elaborating upon those points here. You can seek the Spirit’s enlightenment for yourself by taking the list, and on your knees in prayer before God, asking Him to show you by His Spirit what applies and how. He will speak to the truly contrite.

Don’t Be Unwise

Another way Satan steals what is yours is through lack of wisdom in handling the truth. Jesus adjured us all: Don’t cast your ‘pearls’ before ‘swine’ (Matt 7:6). He also said that it’s not right to give the children’s bread to ‘dogs’ (ibid. and Matt 15:26).

If ‘dogs’ in the analogy refers to those whom God is not reaching in this age – just as Gentiles were for the most part deliberately excluded by God from the Promises to Israel under the Old Covenant – you are being unwise if you try to share God’s precious truths indiscriminately with everyone. You must be discerning by the Spirit; be receptive to the slight inner prompt of the Spirit as to whether it is right to share God’s truth with this person or that.

Put God First

Three methods Satan uses to hinder and steal from you personally, and from God’s Work, are:

1. Distraction.
2. Temptation.
3. Wrong direction.

God gives you a little to do His Work, but if you let Satan distract you through an unforeseen circum- stance, he will steal away what God gave you to do His Work. You have to be single-minded and vigilant. God offers you healing, but if you doubt and question His promise, and turn to a substitute instead, do you think God is going to come through for you? You have just shut the door on Him. Smith Wigglesworth vowed that he would never let the doctor’s knife cut open his body! Because he was stalwart in his trust in God, He healed him after enduring several years of pain.

He who endures to the end shall be saved (Matt 24:13). And:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth... but... treasures in heaven... (Matt 6:19,20).

Malcolm B Heap
 

Further Reading: Guidelines For Evangelists (75p), Witnessing For Christ (£2), Faith And Healing (£3),
Faith: Raising Our Level of Expectation (£2), Casting Out Demons (£2).