Trick or Treat?

As I knelt down at my wife’s side this morning, I looked at her and began to sing another children’s song that she had written many years ago voicing out:

♪ “I am blessed, I am blessed

    I am very, very blessed.

    I am blessed, I am blessed,

    I am very, very blessed,

    For its Jesus living in me,

   That makes me very, very blessed, you see!” ♫

Then as I picked up our healing confession sheet off her bed stand my thoughts drifted off to what day it was and immediately I had the revelation that Papa God is a God of “treats” and not of “tricks!”  For it is “Jesus living in me that makes me very, very blessed!” 

Jesus told us in John 10:10 that the enemy of our souls “does not come EXCEPT to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (English Majority Text Version)  Those three activities describe one whose main intent and purpose toward you and me is to sneak into our lives and cause havoc.  The thief comes with a premeditated plan “to mar, to bring to ruin, to render useless and even to slaughter” (Strong’s and Thayer’s) any and everything in us that we allow him access to!

Jesus, on the other hand, came that we “may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.” (EMTV)  That definitely sounds like a “treat” and not a “trick” to me… what do you think?  Our Papa God is a God of hope and not hopelessness.  His Word is the source of faith and not fear.

As I was preparing lunch yesterday, my wife and I listened to a nationally syndicated Christian program segment on the radio.  The subject caught my attention as they mentioned that they were going to be talking about what to do when you receive a bad report such as cancer in a loved one.  Without going into much detail, I have to admit that I was shocked and deeply saddened by what they said.  I forced myself to listen for about 20 minutes of the half hour program and then had to switch it off!  During that entire time they never once mentioned ANYTHING about having faith in God.  The program centered around accepting the fate of death and making the best out of it.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but that sounds more like a “trick” of the enemy to get our eyes off of the Healer and stuck on to the natural circumstances.  I am not implying that we ignore or deny the physical symptoms, but I am saying that our trust and our hopeful expectations should be focused on God’s abilities rather than on the hopelessness of man’s!

According to Strong’s the phrase “may have life” describes one who “takes possession of” or “actively participates” in the God kind of life that Jesus came to bring to us.  When the hard times of life come to me, I want to make sure that I am participating in God’s game plan and not just sitting on the sidelines resigned to what I firmly believe the enemy of our souls is attempting to “trick” me into believing.  

So what will it be for you as we find ourselves on this Halloween day (at least here in the US…)?  Will you be “tricked” by the schemes of the enemy, or will you choose to take possession of and participate in the “treats” or blessings that God and His Word avail to us?  Ah… let me think about that for a moment…  Kind of a “No-Brainer” wouldn’t you say? 

Have a great day and go forth letting His blessings in you be a “treat” to those you interact with throughout this weekend.  Stay in tune to God’s Word, and keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting today?”