HEAR GOD: KNOW YOUR ENEMY AND AVOID DECEPTION

“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  Resist him, steadfast in the faith…” – I Peter 5:8, 9

 

In the Garden of Eden, God gave specific instructions to Adam and Eve even to what they could eat.  Satan, God’s enemy, came to Eve and through deception caused her to doubt the meaning of God’s instructions.  Adam and Eve chose to disbelieve what God said, and instead chose to believe Satan’s lies.

 

It is important to understand that Satan continues to deceive people today by using the same rationale as he did in the Garden of Eden: justification—God does not mean what He says.  Every time we do not put into practice what is found in Scripture, we are rationalizing contrary to truth and are being deceived.  God’s Word is truth, and by believing anything that is contrary to the Word of God, we are allowing ourselves to be deceived.

 

Our hearts bear witness to the truth.  Learning to hear Him begins with filling our hearts with His written Word.  When we hear something that does not agree with what is written in His Word, it is deception.  1 John 4: 1-3 tells us how to hear God, know our enemy and avoid deception, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.”

 

Prayer—Lord, thank You for giving me guidelines how to hear You, know my enemy and to avoid deception.  Thank You for Your Word it is life to me, in Jesus Name.  Amen.