“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4, NLT)
According to the scripture above, Satan has a goal. Can you see what he is trying to accomplish? His tactic is to “blind the minds” of those who don’t believe. Without faith, people are led astray by Satan through manipulation. Satan manipulates the minds of unbelievers in order to “blind” them so that they are “unable to see the glorious light of the Good News” (2 Corinthians 4:4). They don’t understand the message and mission of Christ. They go about their lives blind to the true nature and love of God.
Satan does not like people to see God. That is why he “blinds” them. He uses all kinds of manipulations to blind people like you from seeing and experiencing God. Some are blinded by greed and lust. Some are blinded by the attractions of this world. Some devote themselves to worldly pursuits that do nothing for heart and soul and mind. If a person is totally blinded by worldly things and actions and situations, it is very difficult for them to grow closer to God.
Nineteen times in the gospel of John alone, Jesus mentions the importance of learning God’s truth. Jesus even went so far as to say that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He urged His followers that the “truth would set them free” (John 8:32). He taught that true disciples must worship in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). On the other hand, Jesus mentioned in John 8:44 that the Devil has “no truth in him”. He is known to not only speak lies but support those who lie.
If you put all these facts about Satan and Jesus together, you can see that while Jesus promotes the truth, Satan promotes lies. Where Jesus is an advocate for everyone knowing the truth, Satan is a proponent of all kinds of evil deceptions. True followers of Jesus are known to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Those who are unfaithful are known to be liars and deceivers. In all reality, Satan loves deception and lies and people who are blind to the truth. God has always fought for the truth.
The closer you get to God, the more you know the truth and speak it. The farther away from God you go, the more you believe lies and promote them.
Charlie worked out of town. Still, he tried to make it up to his wife and family. Every weekend and vacation, he devoted his free time to family pursuits and to making time for his wife. Being a Christian and a family man was Charlie’s joy. However, that all came crashing down when Charlie found out his wife was having an affair. For seven months, Charlie’s wife had an affair with a friend from her work. Charlie was heartbroken. Throughout the divorce proceedings, his wife’s lawyer painted Charlie as an absent and unloving father. His wife turned his children against him.
When Charlie sought comfort from his best friend, his first question was, “How could I not have known she was having an affair? I now see some little things that were signs I missed. I knew we argued more lately, but I had no idea that she was seeing someone behind my back.”
Charlie was blind to his wife’s affair. He didn’t notice the signs until it was too late. His wife kept Charlie in the dark. She hid the affair from the children and her husband. She acted innocent in the divorce proceedings. She made the court believe that Charlie was a bum and an absent father, when he was not. Charlie’s wife told lie after lie to hide her affair. Then, she told the court many lies in order to get child support and alimony from Charlie. In the end, Charlie was a broken man. He broke off many relationships in his life. He left his church. He stopped praying. It took him years to trust others again. It took him years to come back to God.
Charlie’s life was turned upside down by lies and deceit. He was blind to the affair and the underhanded tactics of his wife. Sadly, Charlie blamed a lot of his losses on God. He was angry at God for a long time. What Charlie took years to realize was that it was Satan who enjoyed the profits of his divorce and self-destruction. Satan’s lies fueled his wife’s affair and divorce. Evil took its toll on everyone involved. Charlie’s blindness to the lies being told and to the evil so close to him caused much harm. It was not God who wanted Charlie to be blind to the lies. It was Satan. So why was Charlie angry with God? Why was he not furious with Satan?
Most Christians do not realize the dangers of taking God for granted. We think that we know the truth. We think God would protect us from lies and deceit and Satan’s follies. However, we can all too easily be deluded into believing Satan’s lies. We often are led down the wrong path by those who play around with the truth or utterly deceive us. All deceptions and lies are sins. Yet, we don’t often look for the lies. We trust those who tell lies. We don’t “test the spirits” around us to look for evil (1 John 4:1). We don’t ask God to open our eyes to the truth. We would rather look away than believe the lies we are told or the lies we tell ourselves.
James 4:7 teaches you to “be on the alert”. Why? This verse explains that “your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” If you are too naïve to see the lies or evil or deceptions in your midst, you are apt to be fooled by the lies of this world. You are in danger of falling for Satan’s mind games. James 4:7 says that a person who resists the devil must be “firm in faith”. If your faith is shaky and filled with doubts and fears and insecurities, Satan has a way to inject lies into your life, lies that deceive and destroy.
John MacArthur wrote that “Countless people have pastored churches, taught Sunday school classes, led Bible studies, sung in choirs, and been involved in every conceivable area of ministry only to one day abandon their ministries and embrace the world. Somehow they stopped resisting the Devil and lost the courage to stand firm.” (Drawing Near, p. 268) In the end, these people fell for Satan’s lies. They began to lie to themselves. They gave up on the truth. They didn’t want to see the results. They were blind to the consequences.
Many people are relying on you to speak the truth in love, to be alert for the devil’s schemes, and to be honest to God. If you let yourself believe a lie, it will blind you to what is true and right and godly. It will cause untold damage to those around you. It will support Satan’s work.
Can we trust that you will be a faithful child of God, who speaks God’s truth and is not blinded by the lies of this world? Is there a lie you tell yourself even today that is blinding you even now? Be on the alert!
Satan does not like people to see God. That is why he “blinds” them. He uses all kinds of manipulations to blind people like you from seeing and experiencing God. Some are blinded by greed and lust. Some are blinded by the attractions of this world. Some devote themselves to worldly pursuits that do nothing for heart and soul and mind. If a person is totally blinded by worldly things and actions and situations, it is very difficult for them to grow closer to God.
Nineteen times in the gospel of John alone, Jesus mentions the importance of learning God’s truth. Jesus even went so far as to say that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He urged His followers that the “truth would set them free” (John 8:32). He taught that true disciples must worship in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). On the other hand, Jesus mentioned in John 8:44 that the Devil has “no truth in him”. He is known to not only speak lies but support those who lie.
If you put all these facts about Satan and Jesus together, you can see that while Jesus promotes the truth, Satan promotes lies. Where Jesus is an advocate for everyone knowing the truth, Satan is a proponent of all kinds of evil deceptions. True followers of Jesus are known to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Those who are unfaithful are known to be liars and deceivers. In all reality, Satan loves deception and lies and people who are blind to the truth. God has always fought for the truth.
The closer you get to God, the more you know the truth and speak it. The farther away from God you go, the more you believe lies and promote them.
Charlie worked out of town. Still, he tried to make it up to his wife and family. Every weekend and vacation, he devoted his free time to family pursuits and to making time for his wife. Being a Christian and a family man was Charlie’s joy. However, that all came crashing down when Charlie found out his wife was having an affair. For seven months, Charlie’s wife had an affair with a friend from her work. Charlie was heartbroken. Throughout the divorce proceedings, his wife’s lawyer painted Charlie as an absent and unloving father. His wife turned his children against him.
When Charlie sought comfort from his best friend, his first question was, “How could I not have known she was having an affair? I now see some little things that were signs I missed. I knew we argued more lately, but I had no idea that she was seeing someone behind my back.”
Charlie was blind to his wife’s affair. He didn’t notice the signs until it was too late. His wife kept Charlie in the dark. She hid the affair from the children and her husband. She acted innocent in the divorce proceedings. She made the court believe that Charlie was a bum and an absent father, when he was not. Charlie’s wife told lie after lie to hide her affair. Then, she told the court many lies in order to get child support and alimony from Charlie. In the end, Charlie was a broken man. He broke off many relationships in his life. He left his church. He stopped praying. It took him years to trust others again. It took him years to come back to God.
Charlie’s life was turned upside down by lies and deceit. He was blind to the affair and the underhanded tactics of his wife. Sadly, Charlie blamed a lot of his losses on God. He was angry at God for a long time. What Charlie took years to realize was that it was Satan who enjoyed the profits of his divorce and self-destruction. Satan’s lies fueled his wife’s affair and divorce. Evil took its toll on everyone involved. Charlie’s blindness to the lies being told and to the evil so close to him caused much harm. It was not God who wanted Charlie to be blind to the lies. It was Satan. So why was Charlie angry with God? Why was he not furious with Satan?
Most Christians do not realize the dangers of taking God for granted. We think that we know the truth. We think God would protect us from lies and deceit and Satan’s follies. However, we can all too easily be deluded into believing Satan’s lies. We often are led down the wrong path by those who play around with the truth or utterly deceive us. All deceptions and lies are sins. Yet, we don’t often look for the lies. We trust those who tell lies. We don’t “test the spirits” around us to look for evil (1 John 4:1). We don’t ask God to open our eyes to the truth. We would rather look away than believe the lies we are told or the lies we tell ourselves.
James 4:7 teaches you to “be on the alert”. Why? This verse explains that “your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” If you are too naïve to see the lies or evil or deceptions in your midst, you are apt to be fooled by the lies of this world. You are in danger of falling for Satan’s mind games. James 4:7 says that a person who resists the devil must be “firm in faith”. If your faith is shaky and filled with doubts and fears and insecurities, Satan has a way to inject lies into your life, lies that deceive and destroy.
John MacArthur wrote that “Countless people have pastored churches, taught Sunday school classes, led Bible studies, sung in choirs, and been involved in every conceivable area of ministry only to one day abandon their ministries and embrace the world. Somehow they stopped resisting the Devil and lost the courage to stand firm.” (Drawing Near, p. 268) In the end, these people fell for Satan’s lies. They began to lie to themselves. They gave up on the truth. They didn’t want to see the results. They were blind to the consequences.
Many people are relying on you to speak the truth in love, to be alert for the devil’s schemes, and to be honest to God. If you let yourself believe a lie, it will blind you to what is true and right and godly. It will cause untold damage to those around you. It will support Satan’s work.
Can we trust that you will be a faithful child of God, who speaks God’s truth and is not blinded by the lies of this world? Is there a lie you tell yourself even today that is blinding you even now? Be on the alert!