Most men that I know have a tool that they love to go to when working on almost any job. It is their go to tool, that when all else fails, that they know they can get the job done with. It's the one thing in their toolbox that they will grab when nothing else works....even if it isn't exactly the "right tool" for the job. For some it may be the trusty hammer, for others it may be the vise grips....and for some, it's aways the duct tape. And as funny as that is to think about, have you ever thought about how the enemy operates in much the same way? The enemy has goals for your life just like God does. And has a "toolbox" full of tools he is going to use to try to drag you down, get you to walk away from the purpose God has for your life, or even just keep you at a comfortable distance from God. He knows what will work for one person will have no affect on another, so he must try different things in each of our lives. For someone who has an addictive personality, he will attack that....for someone who may be naive, he will attack that.....for someone who is prideful, he will use that. And as much as I could go on and on with different ways the enemy comes after us, there is a tool that the enemy will pull out when all else fails. And IF he can catch us in the right set of circumstances, he knows it just might work. And the tool I am talking about today is DECEPTION. Deception is something the enemy goes to because he knows when our flesh is weak, and when we desire something in our selfishness, then he can deceive us into believing almost anything to get what we want. Sometimes we also refer to this as "justification". It's the place where the enemy can get our minds to convince us that we can find the good in something that is not good for us.....we can find the excuse as to why we deserve something....we can find the reason why something that once looked so wrong to us, doesn't look so wrong now. It is a wearing down of our convictions and a dulling of that part of us that allows the Holy Spirit to guide us. Why do I speak about this with such understanding? Because it is an area of my life that I so foolishly allowed to be attacked at one time. And because I know how far and how hard I fell, I know that anyone is capable of it if you're not careful.
A good magician is only as good as his ability to fool you is. His performance will only be as good as his ability is to get you to believe what you are seeing is real....or is possible...no matter how impossible you know it is. No matter how much you know that the physical thing in front of you can't just disappear into thin air, a good magician can get you to believe it just did. And that is exactly how the enemy begins to work on us. He comes at us and attacks that place between knowing, and believing. He will work on us through circumstances and wear us down, so that what we once KNEW as truth becomes something we are not so sure that we believe anymore. Is it because God's Word changed? Is it because Gods truth changed? Is it because what is accepted by God suddenly became different? No, no and no! So what did change then? The way we are receiving God's Word. The things we are calling the "truth". The things we are calling acceptable in our own lives......THAT is what changed. And it's scary because the enemy has a way to make us "feel" like that's all ok. And if we take a hard look at our lives at times like this, and we'll be honest with ourselves, we can see that we have allowed ourselves to be "dulled down". We have let things creep in that got us where we are. It did not happen overnight, it was a long slow process that the enemy did to us to get us where we are. God didn't move and God didn't change....we did! But the beauty is...God is also still there with His arms open wide just like the father of the prodigal son, saying "stop being deceived and come back to the truth. My love has been here for you the entire time you were deceived and it is here now".
Jesus was very clear in His teachings, and the moment we have to try to "look deeper" into them to make them look the way we want them to, then we have begun to "bend" the scriptures to fit into our lives. We cannot do this....we must bend our lives to fit into the scriptures. When you have an owners manual to a machine that you've bought, it shows you how to use that machine. If you chose to use it differently, and it starts not working correctly...having problems....it would be because you are not using it as the manual instructed. Well, the bible is our owners manual, and when we begin to live in a manner that does not match the manual, then don't be surprised life starts having problems. Especially problems that didn't exist when you were in Gods will. God's will is called perfect because He designed our lives to be a certain way. And when use our own free wills instead of His will, then our life becomes flawed. Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect". When we are walking in Gods perfect will for our life then our life should not look like the rest of the world. If yours does, then ask yourself at what place this began to happen, and ask God to help you fix that. Galatians 6:7-8 says "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life". If life has become harder than it used to be, then ask yourself what you have been sowing. Like I said earlier, it is not God who moves, but us. So if you feel further away from Him, the ask what got you there. What stands between you and Him? Guilt, shame, your plans, pride...deception? James 1:22 warns us by saying "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves". The moment we are no longer doers of God's truth, we have stepped into deception. Period!! And finally, Proverbs 10:9 says "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out". So if you know some of the things you are doing are being done in the dark, then your walk of integrity has become corrupt. Just because you allow those things to become more public doesn't mean they are suddenly ok, it means the deception has also turned into desensitization, and the enemy has you more fooled than you even realize.
Please know my heart in this blog today....it breaks for those being deceived. I've been there! I allowed the enemy to rob me of years of my life by living deceived....but I didn't have to. And neither do you! There is NO shame in turning back to Jesus and admitting you've got it wrong and your ready to make it right. That's the beauty of the story of the prodigal son. It says in Luke 15:17 "when he came to himself", meaning, when he came to his senses, when he stopped being deceived. This is when he came back to his father and received the father's love, and the father's forgiveness!
God, so many people are being deceived by the enemy and my heart breaks for them. God, this is a place I once lived and I don't want to see others in this place. Please God, send people into their lives to speak Your truth to them. Please Holy Spirit speak truth into their hearts so their eyes will be opened and so the truth can set them free! God, please help them humble themselves and come back to You so Your perfect will can be alive in their lives again. Thank You Jesus for the grace, love and mercy that awaits us when we come back to You....it is always more than we deserve, but exactly what we need. Thank You for that! In Jesus name, Amen.
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