JUDAS
Luke 22:1-6

Jesus declared in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The thief that Jesus was talking about was active then and is still active and alive today. Jesus was not talking about imaginary thief but the thief that is moving around and looking for one to devour, regardless of that one’s stand in the Lord. The thief is actively active more than ever before. Two things a thief will put in place before his strike are: A thief will not announce time or the way he will take in his attempt to strike. Secondly, when a thief comes, he will have a need for an entrance into the ground of his strike. In order for thief to gain an entrance, an opening will have to be in place or he will create the opening if you allow him. That thief is the Satan himself. When the thief visited the disciples of Jesus, he was looking for whom to use in selling Jesus. In Judas, the thief was able to locate an opening that granted him entrance for his agenda, Luke 22:3, “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.” Satan was able to enter Judas because there was an opening for him in Judas. Judas, a disciple of Jesus, left himself opened for Satan. Are you having any opening that Satan could enter into? It does not matter who you are or how long you have been following Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, when the thief locates an opening, he will hesitate to operate from your inside until you loose your number among those that are called. The effect of Satan’s gaining entrance into Judas is stated in Luke 22:4, “So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.” Satan’s entrance caused Judas to go out of the Way into his own way. The entrance gained by the thief made Judas to step outside of the Way into the way that seems right to him. There is only one way that leads to life and every other ways, including the one that seems right to you does not have life to offer but death. Proverb 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Judas took to his own way and he conferred with Satan and his agents on how he was going to betray the one and only Master of all masters. Are you seriously paying attention to your self so that there will be no any conscious or unconscious opening that will give a place for the thief? Stay close and not walk outside of the Way He will lead you into life.

Prayer for today: Ask for God’s presence to fill every opening in your life.