Several years ago, thieves smashed the windows of 8 cars in our church parking lot during the Sunday morning worship service.
It was devastating. When those members came out to their cars after the service was over, they discovered shattered glass on the ground and found valuable property stolen.
How could such a thing happen on church grounds - on God's property?
But it happens all the time. I'm not talking about just the natural but in the supernatural.
Let me explain.
I've been meditating on John 10:10 lately in which Jesus called Satan a "thief:"
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 (John 10:10).
In the natural, you would take safety precautions if you knew you lived among thieves, wouldn't you?
At our church, we normally have security guards patrolling the parking lot during our Sunday services.
But we found out later that no one was on guard that particular Sunday. It turned out to be a costly oversight.
Consider your life. Has the enemy destroyed or stolen something from you?
I can think of several things he is robbing Christians of right now:
- Health
- Relationships/marriages
- Children's futures
- Finances
- Peace of mind
- Joy
Are we doing everything we can to protect our territory which the Lord has given us?
The enemy loves to use our emotions against us.
Scripture gives us another warning about the protection issue:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
We cannot allow ourselves to get "drunk" off food (gluttony/bingeing) or anything else in the natural that keeps us bound.
Too often in the Christian community, we minimize eating issues.
So while we are mentally impaired, the enemy is robbing us blind!
Isn't it time that we sober up and start standing guard over our territory? The Lord is ready to help.
The following are 2 ways you can start protecting yourself better when it comes to your health:
1. Internal Protection
To me, this is the area where Christians fail to protect ourselves most. We allow the enemy to sow lying thoughts into our minds and let them grow.
I define a lying thought as any pattern of thinking that contradicts God's word.
When we don't take the time to find out what God's word says and implement it, then all we have is what the devil says.
That is the default programming of this world.
Many Christians are walking with the enemy in their daily lives without even knowing it. And of course, the devil is happy that they keep him close so that he can keep on stealing!
A good question to ask yourself in your thought life is:
"Where are these thoughts taking me?"
Some thoughts lead you where you don't want to go! The enemy can deceive you into making darkness your closest friend.
2 Corinthians 10:5 gives us this guidance:
...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,"
Romans 12:2 also says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. So this is the main work that you must do if you want to take back what the devil is stealing from you.
If you are in bondage to negative thinking and mental strongholds, then I urge you to check out the Take Back Your Temple program because I show you how to get free in this area, using Biblical wisdom.
2. External protection
Assess your environment to see what foods you keep close. Here's a simple guideline:
Keep close those things that help you to do good; keep away those things that lead you into doing bad.
Here's an example from many years ago:
A lady wrote me about her weakness for cookie binges. She told me that she had cookies in her cabinet right then and was tempted to eat them.
She wrote that she didn’t know why the Lord didn’t remove the temptation from her.
Here's a question for you: Let's say you had a known thief who lived in your neighborhood. Would you leave the door to your house wide open for him to come in and steal what he wanted?
Of course not.
Would you expect the Lord to come down from heaven and shut the door for you?
I hope not - otherwise you'd be waiting a long time! You see, the Lord gives us wisdom on what to do. Our responsibility is to do what the Lord says.
I am sure that the Lord told the lady she needed to get rid of the cookies because they were a snare to her.
But here's an uncomfortable truth; sometimes people want to have an affair with the enemy while being married to Jesus!
They want to leave the door open just a crack so that the enemy can sneak in for what they think will be a short, midnight visit.
But the enemy does not work like that.
If we give him an inch of territory, he will eventually take it all!
In the lady's case, she wanted to keep the cookies close so that she could still eat them when she wanted. She was making provision for binge eating in her environment.
I understand this issue well. I’ve written about how I love the taste of Pepperidge Farm coconut cake. I used to buy a cake with the intention of just eating one slice a day.
But it never happened. I would always eat up eating the whole cake in one sitting.
Eventually, I faced the fact that this cake was a weakness of mine. Even though it's been over 13 years since I ate a whole cake by myself, I still don’t tempt myself by bringing cake into our house.
I no longer make provision for binges/gluttony.
I live by a principle in the martial arts: "The best way to win a fight is to avoid getting into one in the first place."
It is wise to keep your food weakness far from you. – at home, work, whatever territory you occupy.
Good planning beats great intentions every time!
If you are not willing to do this, then you need to confront the fear behind it. Ask yourself:
"What do I fear will happen if I don't keep my food weakness close to me?"
If you are not sure what specific internal and external protections you need to put in place, then seek the Lord in prayer about it. Ask Him for wisdom.
Seek Him with all your heart. Your heart is the "Holy of Holies" in your temple.
The Lord is your best defense because He is committed to seeing you finish well. He wants you to walk in freedom in Him, not in bondage to anything.
God will do His part in securing your protection.
Will you do yours?