The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10
Due to the nature of my work, my weekends are usually Sundays and Mondays. And I love it. I do enjoy having Mondays off. Before when I started blogging, my Mondays were full of chill and happy times. Once I decided to start blogging, most of my time on Mondays would be dedicated to reading, studying, and writing. I enjoyed it. After some time I began to notice that I would wake up depressed pretty much every Monday. I would spend the whole day in bed crippled by challenges, concerns, and discouragement. Then sometime in the evening when the larger percentage of my day has been effectively wasted, I would start feeling a bit better, and then I’ll get up to do some domestic chores and prep for the week. Over time it got so bad that I could barely do a blog post in a week.
While all this was happening I honestly did not think much of it. Adulting can be hard, life is tough, It’s okay to be sad sometimes. These were the thoughts in my head. I did not pay much attention, I just assumed it’s part of life. That perspective changed when I decided to just chill and watch movies on Monday. I observed that I woke up happy and excited on Monday because I had nothing planned, while I woke up discouraged and heavy-hearted on Wednesday, the day I had scheduled to study and write. Now I knew something wasn’t right, so I began to study. I came to learn that when the bible says the thief comes to steal, one target for his theft is Joy, You know why? Because you lose a lot when Joy is gone. Here’s a list of a few things you lose if he steals your joy.
He steals Joy = He steals your time
How productive are you when you are sad? How productive are you when you are depressed? While it is important to not spiritualize everything, to live life ignorant of the enemy’s strategy is costly. One of the ways the enemy keeps us from living productive and impactful lives is by stealing our joy. While as humans we cannot rule out difficult and sad days where all we want to do is stay underneath the blanket and do nothing, living that way for a prolonged period is one of the enemy’s tactics to make your life unproductive and unfruitful. If time is the unit for destiny and your time is stolen, what do you lose? your destiny.
Your Assignment: I’m learning that you can be involved in many good activities in church and otherwise and the enemy would not not be threatened. But that changes once you discover the one assignment you are on earth for. Once you narrow your focus and time to developing the gift God has given you and you focus on walking in your calling, be rest assured he’ll try to stop you. One major way is by stealing your joy. Loss of joy can come in many ways: as discouragement, as challenges, as pain. The target is your time. The goal is that you spend time on everything else except your assignment.
Knowledge of God: It takes time to know God. If the enemy successfully steals the majority of your time, how much of God would you know? One way he keeps you from knowing God is by attacking your time, and one tool he uses is sadness. He steals your joy, he steals your time.
He steals Joy = He steals your strength
….for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
Joy gives strength. Weakness thrives in sadness. My focus today is not on strength but trust me, there isn’t much you can accomplish for the kingdom and in life without strength. One good example is your harvest. The Bible says in Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” To faint is to be weak, to not have the strength or capacity to receive your harvest when it comes. So if the enemy wants to steal your harvest, one potent way is by stealing your joy.
He steals Joy = He steals your creativity
There is an atmosphere that allows for the flow of ideas, solutions, and strategies. It is an atmosphere of joy. Even when things go wrong, having an attitude and an atmosphere of joy opens you up to finding solutions faster than in sadness. The earth yields to you in an atmosphere of joy.
He steals Joy = Wrong Atmosphere = blocks your blessing
When you are joyful, you create an atmosphere that allows for the flow of your blessings to you but sadness creates an atmosphere that hinders your blessing. It is a costly thing to create or position yourself in the wrong atmosphere.
While there may be many more impacts, I’m sure you get the point. Your joy is a target and it’s one thing you must protect. In wrapping up, let me talk about one of how he steals. Remember the scripture that says no weapon formed or fashioned against you will prosper? To fashion means to make, to construct. The enemy studies you before fashioning a weapon against you. He looks for the places of pain, regret, disappointment, dissatisfaction, and questioning, then he sends thoughts to those specific areas. Once you entertain and think about these thoughts, you begin to lose your joy. If you keep thinking this way for a while, these thought patterns become neural pathways, which means you easily default to thinking like that most of the time, keeping you sad for the most part.
Because the enemy is subtle, these thoughts always seem like your thoughts, you would not easily interpret them as darts shot against you. These thoughts are in most cases based on facts, things that have happened and you can see as true in your life. This is why the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. You cannot overcome using your logical mind, you must engage your weapons to rise above.
Knowing this truth does not mean you’ll never have a sad day, no, not true. Knowing this empowers you to war effectively and not tolerate sadness for a prolonged period. Protect your joy, losing it will cost you too much.
Love Always
Obebi
