(Excerpt from Waking the Dead by John Eldredge)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. John 10:10 The cumulative effect of days upon years that we do not really understand, is a subtle erosion. We come to doubt our place, we come to question God’s intentions toward us, and we lose track of the most important things in life. We’re not fully convinced that God’s offer to us is life. And we had no idea that we were born into a world at war. It’s almost as if there is something set against us. Sometimes the accumulation of event after event that we do not like and do not understand erodes our confidence that we are part of something grand and good and reduces us to a survivalist mindset. Life has a way of undermining our settled belief that we matter to God.

The glory of God is man fully alive. (Saint Irenaeus). When I read that statement I think, “Could it really be?” When reading John 10:10 some may say, “Well, yes of course, John is talking about eternal life. But that is like saying getting married means, “Because I’ve given you this ring, you will be taken care of in retirement.” And in the meantime? Isn’t there a whole lot more to the relationship in the meantime?

Have you ever wondered why Jesus married those two statements in John 10:10? “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Jesus had a reason that he said them in one breath. By all means, God intends life for you. But right now, that life is opposed. In other words, yes, the offer is life, but you’re going to have to fight for it because there’s an enemy in your life with a different agenda. There IS something set against us. We are at war. This is not Eden. You were born into a world at war, and you will live all your days in the midst of a great battle. In the garden, we were all that we ever wished we could be, we were – and more. We were fully alive. We were crowned with glory and honor. Psalms 8:3-5.

The birth of Christ was an act of war, an invasion. The enemy knew it and tried to kill him as a babe. (Matt. 2:13). The whole life of Christ was marked by battle and confrontation. War is not just one among many themes in the Bible. It is the backdrop for the whole STORY, the ontest for everything else. And what is God fighting for? Our freedom and restoration. The glory of man fully alive. In the meantime, Paul says, arm yourselves, and the first piece of equipment he urges us to don is the belt of truth. (Eph. 6:1-18). We arm ourselves by getting a good, solid grip on our situation, by getting some clarity on the battle over our lives. God’s intentions toward us are life. And those intentions are opposed.

Until we come to terms with this truth we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be very hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are life abundant; it will be even harder not to feel that somehow, we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some really awful things about God.

BUT TAKE HEART!

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” Eph. 1:18

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18)

How do I not lose heart? Look at what you cannot see. This is saying there is a way of looking at life, and that those who discover it are able to live from the heart no matter what.

Jacob falls into a dream under the desert stars and sees a ladder “resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God…..ascending and descending on it.” (Gen. 28:12). He wakes, more awake than he’s ever been in his life, thanks to the dream, and realizes for the first time that there is more going on around him than he ever imagined. “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” (28:16)

You are not what you think you are. There is a glory to your life that your enemy fears, and he is hell-bent on destroying that glory before you act on it. The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.

Remember who lives in you and who will fight the battle through you and with you. Have you asked God where He is in the circumstance that is making you lose heart? Have you asked Him if He has anything to say to you regarding your mindset? Even though it’s rarely audible, His voice goes straight to the heart. He speaks through His word, through others, through our minds and nature etc. Things are not what they seem. Will we trust Him? When we know we are loved, and we are not alone in the battle it changes everything.