“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:3
As I come to You in these early morning hours today, I cannot but help to praise You, Oh for You are the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the Great I AM! You are so very worthy to be worshipped in all hours, at all times and during all seasons, regardless of plenty or drought, or in peace or turmoil, or when I have the good sense to do so or if I feel nothing. I would not know good, love, grace nor mercy would it not be for You. I also this morning am waiting with eagerness for the hastening of the day when there shall be no more tears, nor sin, nor failures, nor pain, nor wicked governments, nor the despising of Your word. The distractions of this world are so many, to the right and the left, there are just so many paths leading to my destruction.
I am so often reminded of my utter frailties and weaknesses, and just how fallible I am; and here too shall I praise You this day, for in all of this You cause me all the more to look and run to You – so how shall I boast in anything of myself?
Yet, in knowing this, shall I not take heed and caution? Shall I not be alert and prepared? Shall I give too much room for simple knowledge just to be deceived by the deceiver? Even here, if only left to a mental ascent with no applicable understanding, and no wisdom to respond authentically, am I not being deceived by Satan’s cunning? A cunning to make things difficult, believe twisted truths, be lost in lies, and in reality be wayward thinking I am walking in truth?
Oh, here I must be watchful and careful not to do two very dangerous things: First, I must be careful, even as I sit here before You, not to give too much of any kind of credit to Satan beyond that of which You have already declared in Your word. Second, I must be careful not to think of myself too highly in any good respects. For Satan cannot be blamed for my disobedience and sin, however, he does stand as my accuser and does too often use the old man, that being my past sin nature, to deceive my thoughts. Having said this plainly, I believe it is good for me to be reminded of some simple ways that I can easily fall should I not remain at the ready. And should it be a good and gracious thing in Your site that someone may read this, would it also not be good for them as well to be reminded and understand such deceptions? Maybe this will spare some, including me, much failure, much waisted time and much regret over not walking much more closely with You? Oh Lord, may it be! “…and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.”248
Lord, here let me dwell for some time, for I must guard against my own pride, a lifting up and exalting myself in fashions aimed towards selfish, and most devilish, gains, regardless if they be in the spirited-pride of life or personal strengths; either way I must not have even the ounce of credit in my salvation. The evil one is all too ready to encourage me and lift me up in such sinful ways of thinking about myself; even the smallest of things, to behold some power and/or superiority over another is terribly evil. In this way, I am robbed of spiritual power (if such can be said or done), this being the power to overcome the sins and evils that must be fought every day and at any given time. I cannot but help to think of Sceva’s seven sons and how they were absolutely humiliated when they could only pretend to have the same authority and power as You gave the Apostle Paul.249 Lord, does not the prideful arrogance of boasting in myself lead down roads of believing the lies of trusting in works, especially religious works and duties, as being somehow right with You? Does this not lead to eventually making the work the boast and even the trust? Does this not then twist even further into becoming the self-justification and ultimate destruction of the soul?
“…he [Satan] deceives great multitudes about the state of their souls, making them think they are something when they are nothing; and so eternally undoes them; and not only so, but establishes many in a strong confidence of their eminent holiness, who are in God’s sight some of the vilest of hypocrites.”250
Who will stand before the Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus Your dear Son, on judgment day and say,
“Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?”251
Will such a man or woman live if their hope and trust and faith rest here? NO. Oh, that cunning evil one! Help me, oh Lord, to never forget such deception that I may not fall.
“…he [Satan] brings it to pass, that men work wickedness under a notion of doing God service, and so sin without restraint, yea with earnest forwardness and zeal, and with all their might. By this means he brings in even the friends of religion, insensibly to themselves, to do the work of enemies, by destroying religion in a far more effectual manner than open enemies can do, under a notion of advancing it. By this means the devil scatters the flock of Christ, and sets them one against another, and that with great heat of spirit, under a notion of zeal for God; and religion, by degrees, degenerates into vain jangling; and during the strife, Satan leads both parties far out of the right way, driving each to great extremes, one on the right hand and the other on the left, according as he finds they are most inclined, or most easily moved and swayed, till the right path in the middle is almost wholly neglected.”252
Lord, I shall also be reminded that the real battle does not consist in the wrestling “against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”253 With this being Your word, and I know Your word to be the truth, then I have to ask myself how I could ever think to win such a battle if I am so mesmerized and enthused with the things, the ways and the men of this world? For it truly is the strategy of the evil one to distract me, lie to me, persuade me and to guide me straight away from You, the One True God.254
The evil one loves to belittle the good works that You have called me to do while casting doubt into my mind; thus he tries to instill guilt for not doing work that other people are doing. Is he not busy doing such manipulation through media and technology? Oh Lord, how many today are being deceived under a false guilt and heavy hand of Satan in believing such a lie? For I must be wise and admit how easy it is to fall prey to Satan’s cunning. I must be aware that he can so easily deceive me to wrongly compare myself to everyone else. Indeed, this is a most heinous and chaining error!
“Away then with all perplexing fears and desponding thoughts: to undertake vigorously, and rely confidently on the divine assistance, is more than half the conquest, ‘Let us arise and be doing, and the LORD will be with us’ (1 Chron. 22:16).”255
So then, shall I not follow Your orders to prepare, suit up, stand and wield the battle attire?256 Oh by Your armor that I “may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”257 And it is to this end that I must “keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”258 Oh, that cunning evil one! Help me, oh Lord, to never forget such deception that I may not fall.
Lord, I shall also be reminded of how the devil tempted Your Son so that I myself would not think that somehow I am all alone when the devil tempts me.259 Let me not think that such deserts could not be in my future, for if my Lord was so treated by the devil, will I not also be tempted and treated in such ways? Most assuredly! However, I must remember that You will never tempt me;260 I will so often be tempted by my own selfish desires.261 You may test me, especially in sanctification and the breaking down of my roots of pride, through a great many means, even means that were meant for evil by the devil. And yet,
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.”262
Jesus was tempted in every way like me263 and yet without sin. What a faithful high priest He is,
“For our sake he made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”264
"Consider, that all of your trials and troubles, the calamities and miseries, the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world, is all the hell that ever you shall have : here you have your hell, hereafter you shall have your heaven; this is the worst of your condition, the best is to come.”265
For because of Your dear Son, the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy266 is unable to do so to me,
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”267
And although the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour me,268
“…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from Your Father. But even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”269
Oh, that cunning evil one! Help me, oh Lord, to never forget such deception that I may not fall.
Lord, shall I not also be reminded of what a burdensome, heavy, hard and destructive load it is to be under the hand of Satan? And yet Satan would say to me that his are but easy, entertaining, fun and popular with others, but herein is the deception. For like Leonard Ravenhill used to so often say, “Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy.” So true. I know the burdens of Satan are heavy and full of toil, for as he deceived in the garden, so resulted toil, pain, hardships and many worries over the immediate world.270 But I want to remind that ancient serpent, it is Your word, oh Lord, where it is said,
“Cast your burden on the LORD and He will sustain you.”271,
and,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”272
Satan knows he cannot touch Your child beyond that line he is given,273 however he most certainly makes it his business to destroy the works of my maturity and witness as a Christian. I am so very thankful for how Jesus intercedes on my behalf274 and how He prayed for me that past precious time.275 You have reminded me again of Molly McPherson’s prayer at the prayer meeting long ago,
“Lord, I don’t want to carry burdens others make for me, nor burdens the devil makes for me, nor burdens the church wants to put on me, nor burdens from myself. But I do want to carry the burdens You make for me.”276
Oh, that cunning evil one! Help me, oh Lord, to never forget such deception that I may not fall.
Lord, I am sure I could go on and on with all of how Satan’s cunning could lead me into being deceived, however, I would find it best to stop with some last general thoughts and spend much more time praising You – even more so privately than in these printed words. Let me be reminded in a general summary of Satan’s strategy in his cunning ways.
But You oh God, You… You are my strength, my portion, my shield.278
You have reminded me here, that I am not to pray for being noticed and receiving praise.279 Oh dear Lord, my God and my good Shepherd, please make these things contained, things said before and things yet to be said, to be true realities that mark my soul; and let these things be edifying to someone; let not my heart become conceited and puffed up. Oh, please never Lord! You know, Lord, You know; and not only do You know this, You know me and the very intention of my thoughts.