Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Every generation has its favorite children’s TV programs - my source on the newest programs, of course, is my three-year-old grandson. The other day he told me about an animated character named Swiper who appears on this one show. Swiper is a fox who keeps - you guessed it - swiping things from the little girl who’s the star of the show. But, thankfully, the other characters are not defenseless against this little thief. Oh no, they have learned to shout three little words when the larcenous fox shows up - “Swiper, no swiping!” If they yell it three times, Swiper has to give back what he stole. Right!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “No More Swiping!”
There’s a “swiper” in real life, it turns out. He’s probably trying to steal from you. And the counter-attack against this thief is not all that different from the way those TV characters get rid of their Swiper.
In our word for today from the Word of God, John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” As you study Scripture, it becomes clear who this thief is - it’s the devil himself. And he’s trying to steal from you and me that “life to the full” that Jesus came to give us.
Over and over, I have watched the devil working in his sinister role as what I call the “blessing robber.” If you belong to Jesus, he’s lost your soul forever. But he’s trying to rob from you the blessing, the joy, the beauty of everything Christ is doing in your life. If God has just been working big-time in some part of your life, you can be sure the blessing robber will come in and do something to keep you from enjoying all God’s good stuff. He loves to blind you to all that’s beautiful by getting you to focus on your frustrations, on people who annoy you, on some basically unimportant glitch.
Satan is the king of negativity, and he loves to steal your joy by taking you there. He’s that voice saying, “Oh sure, there are some positive things happening, but look at this garbage over here.” The sad thing is, all too often we fall for it. Maybe you’ve been falling for Satan’s distracting, discouraging ploys.
But you don’t have to keep letting your enemy keep stealing the joy that is supposed to be the natural (actually the supernaturally natural) attitude for a child of God. James 4:7 describes a simple defense - “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Notice - it doesn’t say resist the devil and he will fight with you. Now, why will the devil take off just because we resist him? Because he is so used to you and me just going along with his efforts. He’s use to cooperation, and he’s shocked when we resist him!
So, if the swiper from hell has been getting in and stealing your perspective on the things that really matter, and if you’ve allowed your enemy to get a foothold in your attitude … if you’ve let the blessing robber steal your joy and steal your focus on your Lord - well, you know what to do. Stand up in Jesus’ Name and you shout, “Swiper - no swiping!” If you keep resisting the swiper from hell, you can get back what he’s been trying to steal from you!