JOHN 10:10

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

In contrasting His works with the devil’s, Jesus was contrasting God’s works with the devil’s. On one occasion Jesus said, “I must work the works of him [God the Father] that sent me” (John 9:4). Later when one disciple said, “Show us the Father,” Jesus replied, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. . . . The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:9–10). If you want to see God at work, look at Jesus.

It would erase all confusion as to where something comes from if we would read God’s Word. Many of us have heard unscriptural things all our lives. What we heard was the human mind trying to solve spiritual problems. And the human mind cannot solve spiritual problems.

Getting in the Word will straighten out our thinking. We must ask, “What does the Word say?”

In John 10:10, Jesus called the devil a thief. And that which steals, kills, and destroys comes from the thief. It’s the devil’s work, not God’s.

The Bible tells us that when Satan is eliminated from the earth, nothing will be left to hurt or destroy. That will be a great day.

But we don’t have to let Satan dominate us in the here and now. He’s the god of this world, but he doesn’t have the right to dominate believers.

It is important to recognize the source of our opposition is Satan and to stand our ground.

Too many people give up on something instead of realizing that Satan is trying to keep it from happening. Much of what we pray about—finances, healing, and so forth—must come to pass in this world realm. And Satan is trying to block everything he can.

At the least delay, some people say, “Maybe God doesn’t want me to have that after all.” They lose out and are defeated. They should see that the one opposing them is Satan and not let him defeat them.

The Apostle Paul told us, “Be strong in the Lord” (Eph. 6:10). Someone may say, “I’m trying to be strong.”

The Bible doesn’t say anything about our being strong. That’s where people miss it. They drop back into the natural and try to do it themselves. The Bible doesn’t say, “Be strong in yourself.” No, we’re told to “be strong IN THE LORD, and in the power of HIS MIGHT.”

On May 11, 1932, a crowd of 10,000 assembled to welcome the world’s largest dirigible, the U.S. Navy’s USS Akron, to Camp Kearney in San Diego, California. (At that time, the U.S. government was experimenting with lighter-than-air craft.)

The mooring appeared successful. Then a ring holding one of the two mooring cables snapped and the 785-foot airship started to lift. Two groups of sailors holding landing ropes attached to the cables attempted to guide the Akron back to its mooring mast. But strong winds buffeted the giant airship, and it broke loose, lifting many of the 200 sailors 10–20 feet off the ground. Some were injured as they fell. Then only three men dangled from the 300-foot cable as the Akron continued to ascend.

Enlisted men ran around wildly, unable to help the three desperate men clinging to the cable. Soon, two of the men could hold on no longer and plummeted 150–200 feet to their deaths.

Farther up in the twisted lines, a 19-year-old sailor from Oklahoma braced his feet in some wooden handgrips and quickly lashed other lines attached to the cable around his body. He kept holding on as the Akron rose to 2,000 feet. Onlookers thought his strength would fail and he, too, would fall to his death. Half an hour passed. Then the tiny figure moved—the man was alive!