July 15, 2025

”10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.“ This word from Yeshua [Jesus] defines the only two options available to humanity, for understanding our life’s challenges and conflicts… you may think otherwise, but you would be wrong. There are two kingdoms and you are destined to embrace and live out your life in one or the other: they are the kingdom of God [Yahweh] and the kingdom of darkness [Satan’s realm]. There is NO “dual citizenship” available… You are born into the world as a descendant of Adam, and his sin, and only when you are born again, in Christ Jesus, are you grafted onto/into the kingdom of Yeshua sharing His heritage… praise Yahweh.

Paul the Apostle puts this in perspective in his greetings to the Colossians:

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” col 1:9-14 nkjv

We did not achieve this status of “kingdom” saints by the work of our own hands nor by our great wisdom or understanding… Yahweh chose us “out of” the devil’s hands. We need to fully understand the anger and frustration that this caused our mortal enemy, the devil… who is now working relentlessly to recapture us. This is the reason we need to understand who our adversary is and how it is that he ploys his trade. Even though he may use people, even those we love and are close to us, his main pursuit of our souls is by cunning and deceit… in these days, deception will increase exponentially. Yahweh foreknew all this, and He provided the Holy Spirit to coach us through the “valley of the shadow of death.” Our real enemy is in our spiritual life, thus, as the title verse notes, where Paul defines the realm and players that we mut learn to resist and oppose in faith with knowledge of the Torah [truth] and not take up any of their persuasions and treacherous arguments… You can be sure the devil’s offers will look and “taste” good, but they are the potion of death. Here is a companion scripture for our protection:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2 cor 10:3-6 nkjv

As a final though, I think the issue in all of this, for the believer, is to remember that Yeshua will never let go of our hand… we must be careful not to let go of His. I think one of the most treacherous snares is that of being distracted… and it seems to me that life is more bombarded with distractions nowadays than I have ever seen in anytime past. If we rebuke the devil’s distractions, we will get to the celestial city with fewer wounds and scars… He bore our wounds and scars so we could live life more abundantly… Remember:

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” jn 10:10 nkjv

Shalom, John