I know that I have been remiss in posting things here lately, but there is so much going on and I have so much to do in order to be ready for my release next May. I have many projects I am working on. The most significant thing has been completing all of the first drafts for my book of daily devotionals. My dear friend Diane has been hard at work interpreting my torturous printing and doing the typing to get it ready to be published as an E-book (hopefully in November…stay tuned). It is a major step for me in my walk with God, and I am humbled at the work He is doing through me. The title of the book is “Today Is….A Gift From God”, and I would like to share this entry for August 14 with all of you. Your comments would be deeply appreciated.

August 14

TODAY IS…

the perfect day to take back what has been stolen from us.

 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” 
Romans 16:20a NIV

            Every single one of us has had something stolen from us by Satan. No one has escaped except for Christ. We all have given into temptation and we all have sinned and every time we have sinned, we have allowed Satan to take something else from us. We have been his willing victims.

He has stolen dignity from some of us. From others, he has stolen decency. He has stolen our faithfulness to our spouses and our faith in God. He has stolen our truthfulness, and he has stolen our integrity. We have let him slip away in the darkness with our morality, and we have let him get away unnoticed with our kindness. He has pocketed our happiness, and smashed the windows to our souls and left the space empty. He has cheated us out of our love for ourselves, leaving us unable to love anyone else. He has conned us out of our certainty, leaving us with our doubts.

When we weren’t looking he walked away with our compassion, and left disdain in its place. While he distracted us with self-indulgence, he swiped our desire to help others and replaced it with selfishness. He has stolen our tolerance while trying to convince us that hostility and impatience were better suited to our personalities.

He has stolen our sight, making it impossible to see the pain of others and he has taught us to lie, cheat, and steal while we have hungrily pursued the education.

More than likely, what Satan has stolen from you is somewhere in this list. If not, it needs to be added, because everyone has lost something. Some of us have lost more than one thing, and perhaps more than a few have lost it all. He will try to prevent you from calculating your exact losses. He will try to cloud your judgment, distract you, or take something else from you. He pretends to be the best friend you ever had, but he is – in reality – the biggest danger you have ever faced. He will suck everything good out of you until there is nothing left but your last breath and then he will take that as well.

But the Good News is that today is not going to be like yesterday. Today we are going to take it all back. God has been waiting for today for a very long time, and He is glad that it is here. We must reach out and ask God to take our hand and tell Him we want everything Satan has stolen from us. Today is the perfect day to take it all back, and God is the PerfectOne to help us all get it.