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Liar Liar, Pants on Fire!
The word “liar” gets our attention, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to fall victim to a liar. To be deceived is to be disappointed, sometimes to suffer great pain. In today’s passage, Jesus warns us not to be deceived by false prophets. He discusses this in the context of the end times, referring to those claiming to be the Messiah. But, does this verse have broader application in our lives? Absolutely.
Sometimes we forget that Satan, the biggest liar of all, is among us. In our fallen world, the enemy’s lies come in so many forms. He is a master at finding our areas of weakness and identifying ways to capitalize on them. I sometimes forget this and let my guard down. This was definitely the case last year. 2008 was difficult for me–for a variety of reasons which I won’t bore you with here! Fortunately, I never doubted that God was there and working. But, I later realized the huge role the enemy’s deception had in my struggles. Had I been watching out for his deception, my year would have undoubtedly been different.
Last year was filled with loss, confusion and depression. Satan meddled in my area of greatest vulnerability–my emotions. Simply put, my feelings were HUGE. Intellectually, I knew that my emotions of anxiety and hopelessness were not based in reality. Yet, I listened to what Satan would have me believe. For quite some time, I allowed my emotions to become more real to me than God’s truth.
Through a series of events, God opened my eyes to how deceived I had been. I began to counter those negative thoughts and emotions with the truths found in His word. The truth is that God has great plans for my (and your) future and that nothing is hopeless when we have Him!
Thanks Carla The reminder about Satan prowling around ready to take us caaptive with lies is always a good way to start my day. If I start my day in God’s truth then it is easier to spot Satan’s lies. Praise the Lord He gave us His word to know Him and make Him known.
Thanks, Carla, for being vulnerable! I’d say you are true to what you were looking for in a church. I appreciate the reminder that Satan is the biggest liar of all and that he is able to use my areas of greatest vulnerability (my emotions are also one area) against me–to keep me in bondage or on the shelf in Kingdom work here on Earth. I went through a period of time that I used to build what Jim Logan called “Truth Towers;” I would put the areas of struggle/weakness on paper and start collecting verses that spoke Truth to those areas. When I encountered a verse that gave a warning or the consequences of falling out of Truth in that area, I would draw a line under my collection and start a basement/dungeon area of my tower. I will be visiting my Truth Towers today!
Carla, I have had you on my mind for days and was so blessed to read this. I get going so fast sometimes I forget to discern who I hear – is it really God or is it Satan in disguise…how do I know….and boy when I get fooled it really hurts…so I know I have to slow down, truly pray and (the hard part) listen carefully.
Hugs to you,
Norma
Carla, thanks for your thoughts. I have to agree with you one hundred percent on the tricks of the devil. I am reminded by your words of a saying my Sunday school teacher used to say when I was little. She would get up in front of the class and say…”Remember the devil goes after the saved the hardest, because he already has the non-believers in his pocket.” That is about as real as it gets.
Thank you Carla for you words. I forget that it is not the big bad things in life that undermine us but really the small ways that Satan works to take us out of focusing on God.
That daily choice can be such a struggle – sometimes it is easier to buy in to the lies, we do buy into the lies, because what ‘we’ can see is so limited and doesn’t make sense in the economy that we know, in 1 + 1 = 2. We don’t understand why we are where we are, and yet. He calls us to trust, He calls us to choose differently, to not allow Satan to steal our joy – and to abide in Him, to know that His ways are better than ours, and that His economy is teh one of eternity. One of Satan’s manyweapons is for us to think that no one else is going through what we feel, think, see – surely if we have been a Christian for so long we would not still be struggling with THIS?
Take heart, my friend, and know that He is Lord!