To borrow a common expression, Satan robbed the human race blind when he tempted Adam and Eve in Eden. Jesus described Satan as a thief whose only purpose is “to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

Satan is still doing his thing, robbing God’s people of the gifts He wants us to have, including our joy, peace and purpose. Are you ever stumped about what to do or where to go next? That confusion is the result of Satan’s work. Before their fall, the only wrong choice Scripture tells us that Adam and Eve could make was to eat the forbidden fruit. Every other option they had was a good one. But after they sinned, they had all kinds of good and bad choices to make.

The devil is also stealing our financial blessings by tying us up in debt that’s often the result of a greedy desire for more. We get those letters congratulating us on our outstanding credit and offering us another shiny card that will give us the buying power and financial independence we so richly deserve. But the back end of that deal is financial bondage that could take us years to get out of.

Even more tragically than all of this, the devil is stealing our marriages and our families. We’re told that the divorce among Christians has now caught up with, and is surpassing, the national average. One reason Satan is so successful is that he never tells you the real deal up front. If a thief with a gun and a mask knocked on your front door and asked to come in, what would you do? You’d slam the door and lock it and call 911 right away!

But thieves don’t do that. They’re deceptive, sneaking into the house when no one is looking. Since Satan is a master deceiver, we need to be on alert for his approach.

Father help us to constantly be on alert in all areas of our lives where the enemy is preparing the heist that will rob of us those things that pertain to us. May we be spiritually

alert and aware in our lives our living and our lifestyles so that we do not provide an opportunity for him to pilfer what you promised to protect and to preserve.

Excerpt from: Free at Last by Tony Evans