Time to Take Back What the Enemy Has Stolen

While I was in Michael’s a few days ago, I saw the Fall décor 70% off sale. I saw this little squirrel that reminded me of the sandwich-snatching squirrel we met up with at Sea World. My daughter reminded me of the encounter. We had just sat down in a shady spot to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and my six-year-old granddaughter was just about to take a bite of hers when this vicious (okay, not vicious, but heister) squirrel grabbed the sandwich out of her hands. Staci said: “Mom, you were like a kamikaze, wonder woman, freak of nature, princess warrior, Joan of Arc, going through no man's land and ready to die at the stake for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Hell hath no fury like a woman whose grandchild had her sandwich stolen by a squirrel!” Okay. So my daughter embellished that story just a tad, but I remember my first instincts were to let that squirrel know he had messed with the wrong grandmother

As I thought about that hilarious scenario, I started thinking about the enemy of our souls and how he is always trying, and often succeeding, at stealing from us. For example, we woke up this morning with an overwhelming sense of great expectation that something good is going to happen to us this day. But then, the car doesn't start which causes the kids to be late for school and we are late for work AND the extremely important meeting we had to be at on time. That's the heister squirrel, rather the enemy of our souls, endeavoring to steal our joy and great expectations. What about the argument that we had with our spouse or child or friend yesterday? We shouldn't think it was just a random disagreement. It was the enemy trying to steal our peace. Realizing it's the enemy that is endeavoring to steal our joy and peace is the first step in apprehending him before he gets away with it.

Jesus said, “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). According to these words of Jesus, the thief is out to steal, kill, and destroy everything good in our lives. He wants to steal our job, our joy, our happiness, our health, our finances, our marriage, and our kids. The thief just wants to ruin anything he can get his hands on!

That reminds me of the pickpocket that stole my husband's wallet when we were in Cancun, Mexico. Along with the wallet, his credit cards, money, and identity were stolen, too! We’ve all experienced painful loss of some kind. Imagine we're given the opportunity to not only get back what was lost, but we even get back double for our trouble. Because Jesus came to give us life abundantly, we also find in Scripture that God wants to abundantly restore what we’ve lost. "Come back to the place of safety, all you prisoners who still have hope! I promise this very day that I will restore twice as much to you." Zechariah 9:12. Wow! That means I should have gotten two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from that heister squirrel!

Perhaps you’re living in a season when you feel deprived and taken advantage of by the enemy. Maybe you've lost something or someone valuable to you, the least of which is your peace and joy. I assure you, God wants you to live life in all its fullness and give you double for your trouble. Get on the offense against the enemy. Grab those things that the enemy is trying to steal from you or has stolen from you quickly! Grab hold of that scripture in Zechariah and reclaim what has been taken from you. Fight for what is yours with relentless, kamikaze determination!