The Devil Wants To Kill, Steal, And Destroy Your Worship.

“The Devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy WORSHIP”

By

Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER: Why did I come to church? What’s my purpose? Am I fulfilling the reason and purpose stated?

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”.

A thief is one that takes that which does not belong to them. They will often try to acquire that which does not belong to them without being noticed; however, they will destroy things in order to get what they want and will even kill you to get that which doesn’t belong to them.

Now let me give the identity of the thief. 1st Peter 5:8 says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. WATCH THIS;- your adversary is not the person that made you upset, it is not the person that cut in front of you on your way to church. It’s not your spouse that got on your last nerve. It’s not the praise team that didn’t sing your favorite song. It’s not the pastor that preached the message that ended up whipping you up one side and down the other. Your adversary is the devil.

Adversary:- a person, group, or force that opposes or attacks; opponent; enemy; foe. One that contends with, opposes, or resists : ENEMY. In the Hebrew satan saw-tawn' from an opponent; especially Satan, the arch-enemy of good:--adversary, Satan, withstand.

You need to understand who the adversary really is before we can go any further in this message.

Today I want to talk about how the devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy you and your worship.

Worship is important to the individual and to the church. As a matter of fact both are powerless without worship. WATCH THIS:- If you don’t worship as an individual down through the week there is no way you can truly worship on Sunday during a church service. WHY:- because worship is a lifestyle and not just something that we do on Sunday morning.

Worship is how we get into the presence of God. The Bible says in Psalm 22:3 “But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel”. We take this scripture and say give praise because God inhabits the praise of His people; however, for us to come into His presence we must worship Him. WATCH THIS:- If we don’t go into the presence of God we cannot grow spiritually, therefore we die spiritually.

When we come into the sanctuary to worship we need to get our minds off all the stuff and negative things in life and concentrate/focus on God. Understand that we can’t worship God if our focus is everywhere but on God. When that is done you are nothing more than a Hypocrite! Jesus said it like this Mark 7:6 “He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with [their] lips, but their heart is far from me”. The heart must be focused on Jesus in worship.

Worship equals acquisition – we don’t worship to get stuff, but you get stuff based upon worship. Worship is what brings revival. Worship brings us into the presence of God. Worship with the power of the Holy Ghost produces breakthrough, deliverance, peace, and victory. When we worship in spirit and in truth, we are preparing the way of the Lord. When His way is prepared, He steps into the service and does a great work in the lives of people. And the devil can’t do anything to stop it. He can’t stop them from receiving their breakthrough, from being delivered, set free, cleansed, made whole, and getting the victory.

That’s why the devil wants to hinder our worship. He understands that worship is what gives us the strength to get up out of that current condition and go on to higher heights and deeper depths in God. He knows if we don’t worship we become weak and frail and easy to defeat; therefore he will do whatever it takes to distract you to the point that when you get to church you don’t feel like worshiping God if you even come to church in the first place that’s how he robs us of our blessing.

We can’t allow the devil to bind our worship, especially now when the world is in a perilous condition and Jesus is soon to return.

OU TEXT:- says 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.

So, what does it really mean to kill, steal, and destroy and what is it that the thief is trying to kill, steal, and destroy?