March 17, 2014 Temptation And Deception (1)
Monday March 17, 2014
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:6-9 NLT)
Once we have cleaned up our lives from all past involvement in sinful practices we are home free for a life of joy and peace and blessing, right? Wrong! That’s the very time the devil will do everything in his power to draw us away from what we are experiencing with God. As God is drawing us into a deeper relationship with Himself, or a greater experience of His blessing and influence, the devil and his forces of darkness will try to steal that blessing from us. We need to be on guard and not participate with him. A wise phrase is “know your enemy”.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. (1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT)
We are ultimately deceived when we believe that we are not dealing with deception today. We are in desperate need of hearing and speaking truth every day we live and breathe. We needed it the day we turned from drugs, alcohol and other addictive practices, and we need it no less today. In fact, the devil is more actively seeking to deceive us today because we have turned away from his evil agenda and are actively seeking to follow God’s ways. Only the voice of God’s Spirit of Truth will reveal to us what is truth and what is deception. We need to pay attention to what the word of God says regardless of our feelings
Jesus said: “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you..... And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ....However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 14:25-26, 16:8, 13 NKJV)
Lord open our ears to hear what your Holy Spirit is teaching us.
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