One of the most destructive creatures to a garden is the gopher. These little suckers can tunnel under a garden and pull down plants from above and into their storage bins. Gophers are vegetarians and if it’s green they’ll eat it. They come to steal your edible plants, to kill and devastate your garden, and to destroy your work.

Have you ever noticed that without fail, every time you plant a seed, it germinates, and begins to grow; what rears its ugly rodent head? Just like the gopher, the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy [1].

v10a The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy. . .: [John 10:10a KJV]

Who comes on the scene without fail when you plant a seed into another soul about Jesus? Who comes on the scene when you do a good deed for someone or if you make advancement in your faith? Who tries to steal your joy [2] when you want to live by the Spirit [3]? Satan comes on the scene immediately to try and discourage, ridicule, or condemn you because of your faith in Christ. If we give Satan a foothold, he’ll try and steal your whole garden from you.

However, John 10:10b and verse 11 reassures us in whom we should place our faith and trust.

v10b . . .I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly [John 10:10b KJV].
v11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep [John 10:11 KJV].

Christ came so that we might have life and to be able to live it to the full. Jesus told the Pharisees in verse 11 that He was the Messiah and making reference to Psalms 23:1 [4] when David was praying to Him.

So like the gopher, when the devil and/or his minions roams about looking for whom they may devour [5], stop them immediately dead in their tracks with the Word of God [6]. When he wants to pluck your fruit from your garden of faith, paralyze him with the Word [7]. Submit to God and resist the Devil [8].

The best way to submit to God and to resist the Devil is to know God’s Word and speak it to the enemy [9]. Satan hates this and he must cease and desist [10].

Happy gardening!

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[1] John 10:10
[2] 1Peter 5:8; Job 1:7; Second Corinthians 4:8, 9; Nehemiah 8:10
[3] Galatians 5:23, 24
[4] Psalms 23:1 states that “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. . .”
[5] 1 Peter 5:8
[6] 2 Timothy 2:26
[7] 2 Timothy 3:16
[8] James 4:7
[9] Romans 10:17; Mark 16:17
[10] Mark 16:17; Ephesians 6:11; James 4:7