Love God and His Word!
Jesus said, "The thief (the devil) comes only
to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that you may have Life,
and have it to the full" (John 10:10).

Knowing, Loving and Doing God's Word Protects Us From Falling into the Devil's Traps
The Bible is God's revealed will—what He has done, what He plans to do, what His plans are for us, and what He wants us to do. Jesus said He came to give us Life--and that we would have life to the FULL!

Let us examine this verse again. What are the devil's plans for us? To steal, kill and destroy.

On the otherhand, who offers us life to the full? Isn't this what we all want? So, why do we fall for the Devil's trappings?

The devil steals. He steals our peace of mind. He steals our time--time we need to spend building relationships with family and others. The devil dangles in front of us, 'the good life,' and sin, and all we want. He tempted Jesus in the same way. He said to Him, "You can have all this if You will worship me." Today, he says the same to us. He promises everything, but if we follow him, in the end we will spend eternity with him (the devil). The devil's ultimate aim is to steal from us an eternity spent with God.

The devil kills. Ultimately, he kills everything. In little bits, he kills our time and everything we hold dear. He uses people to kill the reputation of others (gossip and slander). He is behind all murder and suicide.

The devil destroys. He tries to destroy our relationship with God and with others. He tries to destroy us--our character, our well-being, our finances, our family. His aim is to destroy everything.

This is what he does, so, why do we fall for his lies? We are deceived. We believe his lies rather than the truth.

What is truth? Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). When we believe Jesus, that He is Who He said He is, the Son of God--the One who came from Heaven to show us the Father, and receive Jesus as our personal Savior--the One who died for us--for me, then Jesus comes into our lives. We are born again. Living Truth begins to live in us. We have His power, His Faith to believe every one of His words.

We begin a relationship with Him, and we grow in our love and knowledge of Him. As we read His Word, we discover His Truth in His Word. We belong to Jesus and now He is Lord. He is the One we follow. He is the One who leads and guides us.

The moment we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, comes into our lives. He flings open the prayer gate in our lives so that we can begin to talk to God as our Heavenly Father. We speak to Him (we pray). He speaks to us (in His Word and to our spirit). We are communicating.

We read His Word and believe every one of His words. These words are His words, and His words give Life, life to the full. We do what His words says. He is Lord. We worship Him only.

We discover we can read His word, then pray it back to Him. As we do, we agree with Him. We love His word. His word says (Jeremiah 15:16): When I discovered Your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear Your Name, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies.

We can say this to God in prayer. Lord Jesus, when I discovered Your words, I devoured them. Your word is my joy and my heart's delight because I bear Your Name, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies. Thank You.

We read this in His word (Luke 10:20-21): "Don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven." At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and He said, "O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way."

We can pray this to God: Lord Jesus, I will not rejoice (only) because evil spirits obey me; I rejoice because my name is registered in heaven. Jesus You were filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit when You said these words to Your Father in heaven and I say them too. Jesus, I used to think I was so wise and clever when I rejected You and ignored You and kept You out of my life. But You were gracious to me. I called out to You like a little child and You revealed Your truth to me. My name is written in heaven because I believe in You. Thank you for revealing Yourself to me.

We experience all God wants us to experience. He is with us. He guides and helps us. We listen to Him and follow Him. He gives us His wonderful peace. We experience His abundant, full life.