One of my favorite board games to play is Risk. I love strategy-type games and the competitiveness that comes with it. Relationships are definitely stretched during this game. If you've played it before, you know what I mean. It is a game where you have to conquer the rest of the world against the people you are playing against. There is only one winner, and you have to choose when you want to form an alliance with someone and when you want to break said alliance with them. You typically try to get everyone to trust you, even though secretly you are thinking in your head about when you are going to break this alliance. You have to be smart, strategic, and deceptive in a way. People always get upset when an alliance that they put their trust in gets broken, even though it is part of the game. You tend to feel shocked and upset when you are deceived by someone that you trusted. Some act like they never saw it coming, but you have to look out only for yourself in this game.
Have you ever felt deceived or tricked by someone else? Have you ever deceived yourself?
The Bible talks a good amount about deception. We can easily be deceived by others, the evil one, and even ourselves. At times we will place our trust in others when that is not a good time to do so. What is one of the hardest things to grasp is that we cannot even trust ourselves. Jeremiah 17:9, says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" If we cannot even trust others, our own thoughts and feelings, what can we put our trust in?
God's Word. The Bible must be what to look to for absolute truth and guidance in our lives. It is where we look to know who God is, how he loves us, and how we can live for him. If we look to others or our own feelings, we easily can be deceived and wander from the truth. In Ephesians 6:10-18, we see the armor of God and how we are to put it on daily to protect ourselves from deception and sin. We are called to be strong in the Lord, not ourselves, and to put on the armor of God. Only by putting on God's armor can we take a stand against the devil's schemes.
It is so important to know who we are and our need for the Lord in our lives. On our own, we are sinners in need of a savior. There is no defense against sin that we can put together on our own. Instead, we must tap into God's power and salvation to see clearly. This is the only way we can face the deception in our lives. We must look into our lives and honestly look at where we fall into deception. We must turn our trust and eyes to the Lord of all. The one who we can put all of our faith and trust in. We must turn to him for absolute truth, even when others around us, or even ourselves don't want to. Let us cling to his Word and stand firm in our salvation in our daily lives.
Are you equipping yourself with the armor of God in your life?
Have you ever felt deceived or tricked by someone else? Have you ever deceived yourself?
The Bible talks a good amount about deception. We can easily be deceived by others, the evil one, and even ourselves. At times we will place our trust in others when that is not a good time to do so. What is one of the hardest things to grasp is that we cannot even trust ourselves. Jeremiah 17:9, says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" If we cannot even trust others, our own thoughts and feelings, what can we put our trust in?
God's Word. The Bible must be what to look to for absolute truth and guidance in our lives. It is where we look to know who God is, how he loves us, and how we can live for him. If we look to others or our own feelings, we easily can be deceived and wander from the truth. In Ephesians 6:10-18, we see the armor of God and how we are to put it on daily to protect ourselves from deception and sin. We are called to be strong in the Lord, not ourselves, and to put on the armor of God. Only by putting on God's armor can we take a stand against the devil's schemes.
It is so important to know who we are and our need for the Lord in our lives. On our own, we are sinners in need of a savior. There is no defense against sin that we can put together on our own. Instead, we must tap into God's power and salvation to see clearly. This is the only way we can face the deception in our lives. We must look into our lives and honestly look at where we fall into deception. We must turn our trust and eyes to the Lord of all. The one who we can put all of our faith and trust in. We must turn to him for absolute truth, even when others around us, or even ourselves don't want to. Let us cling to his Word and stand firm in our salvation in our daily lives.
Are you equipping yourself with the armor of God in your life?