The Lord Jesus said in John 10:10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Does it mean that once you become a follower of Christ Jesus that the thief checks you off his list of “favorite places to visit”?  Not a chance.  No, if anything, he will come even more often just to see what he can get away with.
He knows once you commit to follow Jesus that the blessings of God will start coming your way, and that means there’s more for him to choose from to steal from you.  And being you’re a nice person now, you’re just going to let him have his way with you, RIGHT?  Well, not if you have a brain in your head, you won’t.  No, you don’t have SUCKER tattooed on your forehead, at least I hope not.  You see, being a follower of Christ Jesus doesn’t mean you are the devil’s doormat.  On the contrary, you should daily be becoming the devil’s worst nightmare.  He should find such slim pickings at your house available to him that he just stops coming around altogether.  But sadly, that isn’t how it works.  He will continue to show up to see what he can steal, kill, or destroy, because that’s just his nature.
But YOUR nature should be changing daily into a better and better image of Christ Jesus.  After all, Jesus is on the inside, right?  And what’s on the inside eventually comes out in the form of what you think, act, and speak.  You know the drill, junk in, junk out: Jesus in, Jesus out.  You have an obligation to God to become conformed to His image if you want Him to save you.  Now, do you think the Lord Jesus lets the devil steal ANYTHING from Him?  Talk to me, tell me what would Jesus do?  So, if you KNOW what Jesus would do, then why don’t YOU do the same, for if you do, you’ll get the same results Jesus did when He was here walking the earth.
When Jesus was tempted forty days in the wilderness, He never once gave in to the devil.  Jesus never surrendered even a thought to the devil, or a word in the sense of complaining about His trials, let alone letting the devil do anything physical to Him.  Jesus defended His territory quite nicely, AND, gave us the example of how to do likewise.  When you look at pictures of old castles and fortresses, they were built to keep the occupant safe and to keep invaders OUT.  Sometimes they had a moat full of alligators just for good measure to make life more interesting for the intruders.  What are YOU doing to make life miserable for the devil and his crew?  Well, alligators probably don’t bother the devil, but I’ll tell you what DOES bother him:  the Word of God properly applied makes it very difficult if not impossible for the devil to even get a foot in the door.
This past week four out of four ministry vehicles we have all were broken at the same time.  What are the odds of that happening?  Just chance?  Don’t you believe it for a moment, no, it was the devil coming here to steal, kill, and destroy our goods.  Just like you, we have to use the Word of God to defend our territory.  Then he broke one personal car and tried to break the other one. We came back against him even harder than he hit us.  We laughed at him, imagine, the devil thinking he can overcome God’s children!  And I reminded him, as a child of God, an obedient follower of Christ Jesus, we are the head, and not the tail, above ONLY and not beneath, blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed going out and blessed coming in!
I also reminded the devil that no weapon formed against us would prosper, that he must restore us sevenfold everything he steals from us, in Jesus’ name.  We intend to be too costly for the devil to mess with us.  Does it bother me when stuff breaks?  Sure, doesn’t it bother you?  But I know when the devil is hard after me, it’s because I’m causing damage to HIS kingdom, and he doesn’t just sit around and do nothing when he is being attacked, any more than I would.
Have you ever heard of an army winning a war with a good defense?  How about a sports team? Do they win because they have a good defense?  No, winners win because they have a strong offense.  And Christians only win if they are “overcomers”.  You see, too many of God’s children spend all their time ducking behind their “shield of faith”, which is a defensive tool.  Instead, they need to also be skillfully using their sword, which is an offensive tool.  So when we come under attack, we need to defend our territory, and there are none of us immune to attack, don’t deceive yourself, or you will even let your shield down and get struck down.
The devil often mounts an offensive against you and I.  How we react will determine how much damage he gets to do.  We should always be watching and praying and be aware of his devises.  And though he is a mighty adversary, WE, on the other hand are not limited in our weapons of warfare.  The devil is limited to that “such is common to man”.  That means material and physical stuff, poverty, symptoms of sickness, depression, oppression, fear and worry.  But what about OUR weapons of warfare?  Are they any match to the devil’s weapons?  A MATCH, you say?  Much MORE than a match!  It is written in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6,
2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
So, how do you hit the devil so hard that he will think twice before attacking you?  You mount a powerful offensive by walking in love as Christ Jesus would do, and keeping your thoughts and words aligned with the Word of God, as Jesus used His.  Give no space to the devil by word or deed or even your thoughts.  He isn’t looking for wide open doors, he’s looking for unlocked windows that are open just a crack.  He’s looking for areas of compromise in your life, where you know to do good, but because “everyone else is doing it”, you are not making a hard stand for Jesus.  Cover your territory with praises for God and worship Him often.  Live a life that gives glory to God and results in winning souls to Christ Jesus.
The devil has been around for a very long time, and he knows every trick in the book to steal, kill, and destroy whatever you have.  Never underestimate your enemy, because in the day you do, he will lop off your head when you aren’t looking.  But don’t fear him, either, for he is no match for a prayed-up, obedient man or woman of God.  Did you know the devil uses YOUR words to bring about your trials?  He has no authority of his own, so he uses the authority of YOUR words to bring calamity into your life.  The answer?  Pay close attention to what you are thinking and saying, to make sure your thoughts and words are aligned with God’s Word, as I said earlier.  I can’t stress that enough.  The devil being the devil, we cannot stop every attack or even hope to.  That’s why God gives us His Holy Spirit to defend ourselves.  But sometimes we allow ourselves to become lax in how we think and speak, and then we bawl and squall to God that we are under attack.  Often, we are our own worst enemy with our words, and then we try to blame the devil.  Can you blame the devil for using the weapons against us that we give him?
You can’t stop the devil from attacking, but you CAN turn the attack back around on him and leave him smarting and wishing he hadn’t messed with you.  The answer is under your nose.  Choose your words wisely, for they carry great authority in the heavens and on earth.  God put you here to OVERCOME.  That means you will have to defend your territory from time to time.