Pondering Deception

Prayer-Soldier · Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:19 am Post subject: Pondering Deception

Many blessings to all,

Through the ages, Satan has offered many temptations to man. He has lured us to sin through deception, appealing to our weakness, but we must face the fact that it is our choice to yield to his deceptions, it is our choice to give in to our weakness, it is our choice that takes us away from the path of the Lord.

Our weakness may be found in many forms and even in ways we wish to deny. Our desires of the world may lead us to apathy in our faith. Our desire to get along in a secular society may lead us to deny Him as Peter denied Jesus. We may lack the strength or courage to demonstrate our faith; we may succumb to the pressures of a society which drives us to hide our faith.

As we seek to follow our personal pleasures, we may be lured away from time in prayer, of time in worship, of time in doing His will in service of others. At times we may fail to understand that what we do in our relationships, when we cause another harm or fail to care for another, leads us away from that which Jesus sought to guide us, to love one another.

Our blessing is that though we may be weak, though we may sin, though we may too often make the wrong choice, the Lord continues to beckon to us to come back to the path. He offers us strength to resist the temptations of sin if we seek Him. We may not understand why we cannot seem to just set sin aside, but even in our weakness, God is with us; through prayer, God will guide us in our faith.

There is no love greater than His, for this we are blessed, for this we should be thankful to the Lord that he continues to offer His mercy, His grace, His love, His forgiveness if we seek Him in contrition for our sins, if we seek Him with our own love, thanks and praise; if we seek Him in understanding that the best means to demonstrate our belief in Him is through living according to His word.

May the Lord be with you,
Prayer Soldier

nam-eno · Newbie Joined: Jul 05, 2007 Posts: 77 Status: **Offline**

Prayer Soldier,

The challenge of deception is that we are not only prey of the attempts of Satan to deceive us, but we may fall victim to deceiving ourselves. We deceive ourselves when we know the truth of the Word of God, but we seek to rationalize the truth away from our accountability in what we do and what we fail to do. We deceive ourselves when we only find comfort in a portion of the Word of God, but seek to set aside the portions of the Word which reveals our sin.

As you point out, we are blessed with a patient and loving God. When we finally discover that we are walking away from the Lord, that we are succumbing to deceptions which lead us astray, our first step is to recognize the source of our sin and to take sorrow in our sin. We should also rejoice in the forgiveness of the Lord in that whatever we have done, we still have the opportunity to live in the light through the mercy and grace of God. Though I once walked in the darkness, through the blessing of the Lord, I rejoice in the light.

May peace be with you,
Nam Eno