Abundant Life (John 10:10)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
– John 10:10

Oh, what a verse! Jesus saying, First, “Open your eyes. There is a thief. There is an adversary”. He’s talking about the devil here and all his demons that want to steal life from you today. They want to kill. They want to destroy. Do you hear this language? There is an adversary in your life today who is working to destroy you. He does not want you to experience the abundant life that Jesus came to give you.

John 10:10 contrasts the Enemy’s work with Jesus’ love.

So be on guard. He will tempt you, distract you, deceive you, discourage you. He is working nonstop for your destruction. Open your eyes to this reality. Jesus is making it super clear to us.

At the same time, he is saying, “I’ve come so that you can have abundant life, life to the full with me as your Shepherd leading you, guiding you to that life”. That’s what he goes on to say right after this. The very next verse, John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd”. What a picture. Jesus wants to lead you today to life that’s full and abundant in relationship with God, and he loves you. The adversary hates you, wants to steal, kill, destroy you.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, loves you. He says right after this, “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”. This is what Jesus has done for us at the cross. What he did, he talks later in this passage, “nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord”. Jesus willingly gave his life, died on a cross, so that you could be forgiven of all your sin, restored to relationship with God, filled with his Spirit in you to have abundant life now and forever.

John 10:10 directs us to fix our eyes on our shepherd.

And you might think, “Well, I’m going through some circumstances in my life right now that don’t feel abundant, that are really hard”. And there’s no question that is a reality all over Scripture that we see. I even think about this imagery of Jesus being the Good Shepherd. Think about Psalm 23, “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. Just because the Lord is our Shepherd doesn’t mean there aren’t deep, dark valleys. But the promise that Jesus is giving us here is that when we walk through those valleys, we are not alone.

There is an adversary who wants to destroy us in the valley, and he will bring all kinds of thoughts into our minds. “Where is God? Why is this happening? You can’t trust God”. Keep your eyes fixed on the Good Shepherd. And he promises not to destroy you in the valley, but to bring you through the valley, to pursue you with goodness and mercy all the days of your life, to prepare a table for you in the middle of the darkness that you can feast on his goodness, his grace, his promises, his comfort, his love for you. You can trust him as your Good Shepherd.

This verse explains God’s protection from the enemy.

And so we pray. God, we exalt you as our Shepherd. Jesus, we praise you as the Good Shepherd, and we praise you for coming to give us abundant life in relationship with you, God, forever. Today and tomorrow, and for the next 10 trillion years and beyond. We praise you for delivering us from the devil’s attempts to steal, kill, and destroy life from us. So God, we pray that you would help us to experience abundant life in you as our Shepherd today.

Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. We pray that you’d provide for everything we need. Lead us, guide us, direct us, help us. God, we pray that you would guard us from the adversary’s attempts to steal, kill, and destroy life in us today. And God, we pray in light of what you’d say later in verse 16, Jesus, that you have other sheep that are not of this fold that you’re bringing in.

God, we pray that you’d help us to point others to you as Shepherd today. We pray that you use our lives to bring others into the fold. God, we pray for people around the world who don’t know you as Shepherd because they’ve never even heard about Jesus, the Good Shepherd. The truth about you laying down your life for us.

Prayer for the West Niger Fulani People

We pray, God, today for the West Niger Fulani people. Oh God, for this people group that is almost totally unreached by the gospel, 700,000 of them. God, we pray that they would hear. We pray over the West Niger Fulani people that they would hear the good news of your love for them, that you would thwart the attempts of the adversary to steal, kill, and destroy life from the West Niger Fulani. Bring life to them, we pray, through your people, through brothers and sisters in Christ there in Niger and others you send to Niger

We pray this, oh God, all in light of your Word and in light of the promise for which you came. Jesus, we praise you as the One who came, that we might have life and have it abundantly. Help us to experience that life today that’s found only in following you and making you known. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.