Checkmate

In the game of chess, checkmate means to check an opponent's king so that escape is impossible. The game is over, the opponent loses.  In the living of life, the devil sometimes screams in our ears repeatedly checkmate ... it's over ... you've lost ... that door is closed permanently ... knocked out ... down and you'll never get up ... that sickness will take you out ... you can't get out ... you'll never find a job... your child is forever hooked on drugs ... you'll never find a mate ... .

Thank God for Jesus.  When you've lost your job, the enemy screams checkmate -- nobody's hiring.  Jesus promises to supply your every need.  When a loved one has been killed, brutally murdered, satan yells checkmate -- you might as well die too.  Jesus says my peace I give, my peace I leave with you.  When the doctor reports there's nothing else that can be done, the thief's almost deafening roar is checkmate ... it's over for you.  Jesus reveals himself as the Great Physician who can heal and restore the very body parts He created. 

Checkmate is a trick of the thief who comes only to steal, kill and destroy.  One of the many great and precious promises to us from Jesus is that He came that we might have life and that life more abundantly.  (See John 10:10.)   Be ever mindful that chess is a game, life is not.