by John Boone 

We know our enemy, the devil, comes to steal, kill and destroy.  He will do this in the physical realm, as Job experienced, and he will do this in the spiritual realm through guilt, doubt and unbelief.  These will rob you of spiritual vitality and effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.  In Luke 8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Four Soils.  Then, He goes on to reveal the meaning behind the four soils (path, rocks, thorns, good soil).  Notice how the first three soils tie into guilt, doubt and unbelief:

 “The seed is the word of God.  Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”   This is unbelief.  The enemy works to rob you from believing and trusting in what God’s word says.

 “Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.”

God allows times of testing to strengthen your faith.  But, the devil is quick to question why God would allow you to suffer.  Satan’s goal is to destroy your faith through doubt.

 “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”    The devil will use your struggles with life’s worries, riches and pleasures to kill your faith through an overwhelming sense of guilt.  “How can you be a Christian and worry so much?” or  “A true Christian is not someone like you who is so pleasure-minded.”

 We know that all of the devils accusations are meant to steal our faith with unbelief, to destroy our faith through doubting God’s faithfulness, and to kill our faith through guilt.

But, Jesus tells us that trusting in God and His word, holding onto His faithfulness and receiving His forgiveness will cause us to be those who “by persevering produce a crop.”

 Don’t let the enemy steal, kill or destroy your faith through guilt, doubt or unbelief.  Through standing firm on the truth revealed in God’s word, we will reject these deceptions and reap the abundance of God’s faithfulness in our lives.

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