How to Get Life, Abundant Life

This is from December 8, 2012. Almost done adding past devotions. :)

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

Satan comes into our lives for one reason and one reason only. He comes to destroy our relationship with God. Sometimes He tries to destroy it even before we have come to have a relationship with Him. Sometimes that doesn't work and we are saved by Christ and then he tries to separate us from Him.

He will use any and all tricks in the book to either steal our relationship with God. Or kill our relationship with God. Or destroy our relationship with God. He will use fear, anxiety, loss, torture, shame, abuse, and on and on.

When he does we have a choice. We can let fear bind us up or we can come to Jesus. We can let anxiety make us question everything and do nothing or we can come to Jesus. We can let loss eat away at us and cause bitterness or we can come to Jesus. We can let torture turn us into those who seek revenge or we can come to Jesus. We can let shame make us hide ourselves or we can come to Jesus. We can let abuse make us believe we deserve it or we can come to Jesus.

We often have no choice over what happens to us, but we have a choice to stop the thief from taking from us the one thing that we desperately need. We can choose to come to Jesus and let Him have all of it. See He already took all of it upon Himself anyway. He took it at the cross. See He’s seen that and done that and defeated that already. When we bring it all, and I mean it all to Jesus, we have that life and have it abundantly that He talks about in John 10:10.

I have always wondered “how do I really get that?” I think He’s told me. I have to give Him every stolen, dead, and destroyed thing that Satan has messed with and He will take it. If He takes, and He will, then what am I left with? Life and it is abundant!