“The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness.” John 10:10
Have you ever really thought about the things that we allow in our lives? How we allow things to steal our joy? How we let other’s agendas and moods kill our plans for a great day? How we let a small conflict destroy our peace? Why do we sit back and allow this to happen? I think it is because we allow the bad feelings to keep us from inviting God into the situation.
In Romans, Paul asks a series of questions about who can be against us, accuse us, condemn us, or separate us from God’s love.
“In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God’s chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty! Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? As the scripture says, “For your sake we are in danger of death at all times; we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!” Romans 8:31-37
If the answer is no one and nothing to Paul’s questions, why do we let little (or seemingly big) problems throughout our day keep us from going to God? Jesus came to give us life, abundant life. Why settle for a life of abundant problems?
Recently I got a vision that really drives home what we allow. There are times we take personally what someone else says to us. Or we focus in on wrong that was done to us. We let it play in our mind on repeat. Even as we start to move on, the thoughts or comments come back to us and once again we sit and entertain them, even though they steal, kill and destroy our peace, joy and abundant life.
Talking to someone who struggles with being a victim of things said about her and done to her, I asked “if this person vomited on you, would you walk around in that all day, week, month or year?” Of course the answer was no. Maybe a mom with a new baby, for the day, but most people are repulsed by the smell of vomit. So why do we choose to walk around with people’s word vomit all over us for days, weeks and even years?
We need to just wash it off. Discard the words and actions, and stop walking around with the vomit others have put on us. I like the saying “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” We don’t have to entertain others words abut us. We don’t have to continue being the victim of what has previously been done to us. Doing so is allowing the enemy to bring the past into our present.
We have to stop allowing the enemy to steal, kill and destroy us. He only has the power available that we give Him. We need to let Jesus come into those areas and bring abundant life.
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