Plans Of Good And Not Evil

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” John 10:10

I do not know what you have done but I have been sent to tell you that Jesus is merciful. Jesus is merciful. He is full of mercy and His mercy knows no bounds. Please read Matthew 20:1-15. Over the next few days, we will be learning about God’s boundless mercy from these scriptures. It is my prayer that as you faithfully read it, God will give you understanding. There are many portions of Scripture I struggled with in the past. The story of the prodigal son was one of them. I couldn’t understand that story until God gave me an understanding of it. Matthew 20:1-15 is another portion of scripture I have struggled with. I mean this is just not fair but God will give us deep understanding. Jesus is merciful. We are using the word merciful loosely. Loosely meaning, we are using it to mean Jesus is kind, Jesus is compassionate, and Jesus is tender hearted. So you can as well say Jesus is kind, or Jesus is forgiving, or Jesus is gracious, or Jesus is merciful.

When we look at the world today, even if all you are doing is flipping channels on your television, all you see is destruction – innocent people are being killed. It seems like every part of the world you look at, there is one form of destruction or the other taking place. And sometimes you ask yourself, where is God in all this? And believe it or not sometimes those questions creep up on my heart too. I wonder why God is allowing these things to happen. Then I read the scriptures again and it not only reassures me, but it gives me perspective. “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” John 10:10. Jesus is saying – if you see destruction, killings, and stealing taking place; it is the devil that is behind it. But when you see life and more abundant life flourishing, then Jesus is behind it. So God is saying, don’t blame Me for what the bad guy is doing. A time will come however, when Jesus is going to rule the world, every nation will be under His government. He is going to rule from Jerusalem and the time is getting shorter and shorter, believe me. Sometimes, we blame God for what God has no hand in and God says it’s not Me. The enemy tries to steal your marriage and you are saying, God why? God says it’s not Me. The enemy is trying to destroy the things you have worked for and you are saying God why? And God says it is not Me. So now that we know it’s not God what should we do? The Word of God says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. What we should do is partner with God, resist the devil, and he will flee.

Prayer: Father, I partner with You and enforce the Lordship of Jesus over all areas of my life and in all things that You have planned for me, in Jesus Name.