March 19, 2014 Temptation And Deception (3)
Wednesday March 19, 2014
Temptation and Deception (3) God is a Holy God and He made us in His image so that we would have an intimate relationship with Him. However, sin separates us from the eternal life that God created us for.
Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. (Isaiah 59:1-2 NLT)
When God has said something is evil, there’s no condition or argument that we can present that will make it good. God lovingly, through Jesus Christ, calls us to a relationship with Himself and He will faithfully communicate, in every situation we may encounter, the best path for our lives. No amount of money, sex, dopamine rush, prestige or power will satisfy us and give us safety or true freedom. All that will happen, as we seek after these things, is that we’ll hurt ourselves and others.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. (Isaiah 5:20-21 NIV)
The ultimate deception is to believe that we’re safe from deception. We are prone to being deceived every day of our lives and must stay on guard. God is available to help. We can choose to build our lives on what God is saying through His word and the promptings of the Holy Spirit will keep us on the right path. When we come to accept the truth of God’s word we will experience freedom from all condemnation. We can then turn from what the evil one is whispering in our ear and call him the liar he truly is. We cannot think two thoughts at once so why not renew our minds with the truth of God’s word in the Bible and turn away from the temptation and deception the devil is trying to draw us into.
There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 MSG)
Lord open our ears to hear what your Holy Spirit is teaching us.
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