Lies and Deception
ICS Daily Devotions
1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
One of the devil’s schemes is to fill people’s minds with confusion. Whoever controls a person’s mind can also influence their health and emotions and hold them captive spiritually. Gradually, the devil will establish a stronghold through deception to dominate and exploit the person’s self-image, emotional status, and thought life.
There is plenty of confusion in the world today, such as gender confusion. The devil is creating a playground in people’s minds, causing depression, self-harm, and suicide. Hope for them can only be found in Christ and the work of His redemption.
Satan will also use music to elevate himself to be a god to people. The influence can be subtle or obvious if you listen to the lyrics. Music affects our emotions, which dictates our moods. This is why there is a higher suicide rate among those who listen to music with explicit lyrics about death and suicide. There are also many social media influencers today. Words have power, whether the Word of God, written material, audio, or social media posts. They tell us what to believe, influence our thinking, rationale and
values, and feed our wants and desires of the flesh. They weaken our defences against sin and temptation.
Satan will devour the ignorant and the weak who are unaware of his existence. We can only resist, stand firm, and take authority when we know his scheme, destructive ways, and intrusive thoughts. The devil will keep pounding us with his fiery darts—lies, suggestions, accusations, and allegations—until they wear us down mentally. He will move and take us captive when we are weak or let our guards down.
The devil is the father of lies. We are deceived when we believe his lies. It is dangerous to credit these lies as the truth and let them dominate our minds and control our emotions. He will also work in the minds of those with insecurity and rejection by putting suspicion in our minds
that so-and-so are against us. We will then start reading into every conversation, text message, and action. Slowly, he will create a victim mentality in us. That’s why the Bible advocates for us to speak to the person directly to clarify and make reconciliation if possible. The devil destroys relationships, but God is a peacemaker.
Lastly, the devil causes us to doubt God’s love by making God the source of all forms of suffering and pointing out all natural disasters, calamities, and pandemics as acts of God. He will paint a picture where he is nonexistent and has no influence on people’s lives. He will inject questions like, “How can a loving God create hell?”, or “How can such a good person suffer?” He also wants us to believe that God inflicts sickness, illnesses, and pain to discipline us because we have sinned against Him.
Without a clear theological conviction, we are easily deceived. Therefore, we need to know God, His Word, and the work of redemption by Jesus Christ, and pull down the strongholds in our minds.
Sermon Series: The Weapon Of Our Spiritual Warfare
