GOD SPEAKS

Most of the times, after being deceived we blame others’ role. Further, we never try to recognize our flaw in this process. From the day of Adam to till date, this is what is happening. People are being deceived by the deceiver and not recognizing where actually they have fallen into his trap.

Let us see various stages of you being deceived by the deceiver:

Stage (1): In your contacts:  If you are with Him, the deceiver cannot approach you. As you do not do well, sin lies at the door. It shall have a desire to be with you. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you”. James4:8.  Remember the Satan came to Adam and Eve when the God was not with Him.

Further, you may see the deceiver came to Eve when she was alone. Devil had easy contact to deceive her as she was away from her God and husband. This contact made her to disobey the command of God and was deceived. Therefore, have fellowships with the children of God as it is written in the Bible- “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20”. You see the God’s presence and the devil cannot approach you to tempt and deceive you.

Stage(2) Listening: Though we have no fault with us to be blamed and tempted by the deceiver, he may still come to us to deceive us. At this stage, he may come and start his conversation. He starts his conversation with his direct words and sometimes with his evil thoughts. Let us see, how this happens: Example : And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ?Genesis 3:1 If you give him an opportunity and listen to him, He creates doubts. You may see all his words resemble the words of God, but makes you to misunderstand it. Thereby, you will be deceived to do sin. Exactly he did it in the case of Eve. He repeated all the words of God with an intention to confuse and misled Eve to deception.

Also, you may see how the deceiver provokes David and he heard it –“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number  Israel.1 Chronicles 21:1” He plays with your mind to see that all you have had from your own strength ( people call it now a days- self confidence) but not on Him that gave you all.

If you are a strong believer, you will notice the difference between the voice of the deceiver and the Lord. As it is written in the Bible, And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him : for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him ; for they know not the voice of strangers John 10:4-5.” You will flee from the deceiver as soon as you listen to the voice of the deceiver. Otherwise, you will be attracted to it and start conversing with him, as Eve did, to be deceived.

Stage (3) Understanding: Even after you have listened to his words, still there is a way for you not to be deceived. See-“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Matthew 4:10.” The devil referred the words from the Bible to confuse the Lord Jesus who himself is the Word of God. Here, you see the devil using the false teachers to deceive us. You and I cannot stop them. But your understanding or meditation of the word of God daily can stop the deception. Ask Him to open your eyes to see the great things from the word as you and I can see it only when He opens it. In this regard, you may refer to Luke 24:45 wherein he opened their eyes to understand it better.

Stage (4) Talking back to the deceiver:    From the two verses Genesis 3:1-2, Matthew 4:10, You may see that the mere giving answers from your mind cannot defeat the deceiver as you know he is more subtil (Genesis 3:1) than us. You and I will be deceived easily unless you reply to him with the Word of God as Our Lord Jesus did reply the Satan when He was being tempted.

Stage(5) Acting upon it:  Though you speak the word of God, the deceiver may not leave us to tempt and deceive us. Therefore, resist the devil so that he will flee from you. Submit yourselves therefore to God. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. James 4:7”. Resist the devil or deceiver with word of God, with the armor of God ( Ephesians 6:13) and command him to flee from you in the name of Jesus.

You see from the verse –“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever Revelation 20:10 “.Do not let the deceiver take you with him to be thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstones.

Therefore, you –

(a) Be near to Him and have fellowship with the believers

(b) Know the difference between the voice of the Lord and the deceiver

(c) Mediate the word of God daily to understand it better to avoid deception

(d) Have the word of God and

(e) Resist the devil with armor of God to make him flee from you to avoid deception.