Robbed

Genesis 3 : 2 - 7, And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. NKJV

Have you had something stolen from you, or perhaps you allowed someone to borrow something, and it hasn't made its way back to you? After you realize that someone has taken/or kept a possession of yours without your permission, then you must deal with the myriad of emotions that explode in your soul. When you are robbed, you feel violated. However, when you work through the process of trying to rationalize or make sense of such a dastardly deed, you soon come to the conclusion, "Satan has robbed me."

I bring up the subject of being "robbed" to share some powerful truths about the one whom Jesus called, "The thief- Satan." We read in today's scripture that Satan appears to Eve as a serpent. The thief loves to operate in the element of deception. I heard a story the other day where a woman's cell phone had been stolen. The thief saw a number with the name "husband" listed in her contacts and texted him, pretending to be his wife. Since the husband didn't know the phone had been stolen, the thief asked him for personal information; the husband sent it to the thief and was robbed. The thief was operating under the cloak of deception and, therefore, was effective in robbing the victims of their money.

After Satan came to Eve in the form of a serpent, he began to challenge both her knowledge of God and what He had said about the forbidden tree. When Satan disputed the truth with Eve, it caused her to doubt God's commandments as truth. Consequently, when she doubted God and believed Satan's lie, he was allowed to rob Adam and Eve; and he did so with their cooperation. It's one thing for someone to rob you, but to collaborate with the enemy like they did is dumbfounding. Even so, that is exactly what they did; and Satan was laughing at them the entire time. 

We know that God had already blessed Adam and Eve. The Lord had given them many promises, which are also called "our inheritance" in the New Testament. However, when Satan caused man to sin against God, man gave Satan the power to rob every person who would be born after them. Anytime we struggle with doubt, fear, and unbelief Satan is allowed to rob us of our spiritual inheritance. Only when Christians get to heaven and stand before the judgment seat of Christ will we see all that our flesh and Satan took from us on earth. 

Well, the Lord has given me this word  today to challenge you to take back from Satan what he has stolen, or is currently robbing from you and your family... before you get to heaven. You can do this by getting in the Word and reading about your spiritual inheritance in Christ, and then standing on the promises that pertain to your life and those of your family. Joel tells us in chapter 2 that God is the God of restoration. We must not doubt God's Word or His faithfulness to us, lest we allow the enemy of our soul an opening into our spiritual house. It's time the body of Christ takes back all that the enemy has stolen because God has laid it up for His people. It's time for the wealth of the wicked to be transferred to the righteous people of God. Just before God delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh, He had the women borrow the wealth of the Egyptians. The Jews came out of bondage WITH their natural inheritance. Payback! 

Take Back Your Inheritance,
Pastor Asa Dockery