Do Not Be Deceived!

I'm realizing that in these last days, the enemy will do whatever he can in his conniving, sneaky, ever so subtle ways to take our eyes off of God and His Word and start falling away and believing garbage. The intensity with which Jesus Christ and the Bible are being attacked these days are actually proof to me that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and the Light of the world and likewise His Word is Truth. How else can we explain why Christianity and Jesus and everything about Him is the only 'religion' that is attacked from every possible side? It really does increase my faith in Him! Because through this I can clearly see that the enemy, or Satan, is as the Word says 'like a roaring lion' deceving the nations and keeping people in bondage, accusing the brethren day and night. There is no truth in him; he is a liar and the father of lies. He speaks from his own resources. He knows that Jesus is the Son of God and will do everything in his power (and blindness) to draw people away from Him, blaspheme Him, turn against Him, and fight Him, Him meaning God.

Having said this, we have to be so careful these days, and I say this as a reminder to myself! If we don't stay close to the Word while being mindful of what we hear and what we watch, we are going to fall for some weird, demonic doctrine and find ourselves lukewarm and indifferent to God and His Word. Or we will be watching something on T.V. or video or whatever which will lead us towards temptation and sin. The enemy knows where we're weak and will use what he can to lead us astray. No wonder Jesus said 'If you love mother, brother, wife, husband, children more than me, you are not worthy of me.' You know why? (And I'm just realizing this myself lol) Because if we get caught up trying to please them more than God, you can be sure we won't be doing what pleases God...we will be doing what pleases those around us more, and whatever that 'thing ' is might be hurting us and leading us away from God. God has to be our number one love. We have to be willing to do what He desires, even at the cost of hurting someone that is resisting it. If we get caught up in the emotions, our faith will dwindle. And without faith, it's impossible to please God.

I learned some hard lessons in my last relationship regarding this very issue. I realize now that disobeying God can start leading me to make the wrong decisions and become indifferent to Him and His voice. He eventually rebuked me, yes, and it was at a shameful price. I let my love for someone else take precedence. I let the enemy sway me by trusting my emotions. I let the flesh lead the way. And the last few days have opened my eyes more to the reality that every day is a battle, a spiritual battle, against the enemy and against the flesh. And I told the Lord 'Father, I'm so tired of fighting this battle every single day! Why? I'm so tired of the sin, so tired of the pain, so tired of this corrupt world feeding me lies and lust! I want to be FREE! Free from it all, once and for all!' And I do want to be free...and I will be! And I can be, but being free is dependent on my being dependent on Him and yes, fighting the good fight every single day! And after I've endured, when my time has come, I will finally be totally free!

But while I'm here...while we're here...we must fight. Don't be deceived by the world. Stand firm, keep your guard up and follow Him and love Him with ALL your heart, mind and strength. =)