“Now it shall come to pass,
if you diligently
obey the voice of the Lord your God,
to observe carefully all
his commandments which I command you today,
that the Lord your
God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
And all
these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you,
BECAUSE
YOU OBEY THE VOICE OF THE LORD YOUR GOD…"
Deuteronomy
28:1-2
There are two ways of making it through this life.
The one which most people choose is to put your trust in yourself in
all the facets of your life. If you are not born again, then you're
on your own. Whenever a situation arises in your life, you can use
all your "wisdom" to manage it ...but ...you're on your
own.
One reason people don't want to surrender their lives
to the Lord is that they just cannot let go the control, they just
cannot let go to someone else the oversight of their lives. Their
strong self-will compels them to be in charge of everything, every
decision, every choice, every recourse, every solution. If an
impossible situation arises, maybe a situation of life or death, some
might in such an occasion cry out to the Lord, the Lord whom they've
ignored all these years. But if the situation passes, they again take
up the reins of their lives and maybe give a momentary tip of the hat
to the Lord for his help, and then they go their merry way.
The
benefit of belonging to the Lord through being born-again, that is,
through being born into his Kingdom, is that the Lord takes over the
responsibility of all that touches the believer. It puts an end to
all the questions of what to do, where to go, how to proceed, because
his life is now under the dominion and authority of the most high
God. I remember the day I was born again. The person who led me to
Christ asked me the question, "Are you happy with the way your
life has been worked out under your control?" That was an easy
question for me to answer, because my life was a shambles. But for
someone else, it may be an easy question to answer if their life has
been happy and successful. Why would such a person want to change
who's running it? In many cases, the Lord has to bring a person to
the end of themselves before he can have their full attention. If you
have not been born again and everything is going wrong in your life,
that's not a bad thing, it might very well be God preparing you to
come to the end of yourself so that you will turn and surrender your
life to him.
Satan is the father of lies. He is active in
every life, doing all he can to steer a person away from God. He
constantly puts lies into a person’s head - lies about God, lies
about one's self, lies about everything because that's all he knows –
lies. He continues this way because it works. His lies have kept many
a person away from God. His lies have suggested that God is not fair,
that God is a harsh and unloving God, that God might ask something of
them that they do not want to give. "What if he sends me as a
missionary to the Amazon?" they might reason. All sorts of
pictures remain in their hearts of a God who does nothing but demand,
and that his demands are always distasteful and fearful.
Friends,
if any of these thoughts have come into your heart and taken up
residence there, recognize that they are LIES.
The
truth is that God is good. Whatever his plan for your life is, he has
fit you for it. If his plan were to send you as a missionary to the
Amazon, then he would have placed within you an all-consuming desire
to do just that. Speak to a missionary and he will tell you that he
couldn't imagine life any other way, his heart is in all that he's
doing and he loves what he does. Your heart is not in the Amazon?
Don’t worry, you won’t be sent there.
Do not ever
forget that the same God who created you put a unique personality in
you with interests and likes and dislikes and it's all designed to
perfectly fit you for whatever he has called you to do. Do NOT
compare yourself with someone else, because you do NOT have within
yourself what it takes to be that other person, you could never in a
million years be like that person or do what he/she is doing, because
you're not equipped that way.
God's plan for your life is
the best possible plan that could ever be. It is personally and
uniquely designed for you and for you alone. No other person on the
face of the earth could carry out what your call is. If you're
running from it, you're running from that which would make you the
most happy and the most successful in life.
It all comes
down to your opinion of God, how you see him, whether or not you
trust in his integrity. If you think you cannot entrust your
life to him, then proceed on your own for an unsatisfying journey
which will bring you to its end in a state of regret. But if you
believe that God is the way, the truth, and the life - and that you
can entrust your everything to him, then prepare to start a journey
you never could have imagined, one that will lead you to satisfaction
and joy and all that is good.
Pray with me:
Father,
I've believed lies. Satan has totally misrepresented you to me. He
accuses you to me and I've fallen for it. I realize that just as you
have a plan for my life, Satan also has a plan for my life and he
plans to lead me through it with lies. I can't see him, so I've
thought that those things coming into my mind were coming from me, I
didn't know that he plants lies into our minds. Thank you for showing
this to me. I am ready to surrender all to you. Please forgive my
sins and receive me into your Kingdom and from this day forward be
the Lord of my life, for I place all in your hands. I ask for grace
to cooperate with you in all you want to do in me, knowing that
sometimes it will be painful but that you will use those things to
mature me. Keep me at your side always, protect me by showing me when
a lie comes to mind. I surrender all ...in total faith in who you are
and how much you love me.
Jesus said:
"The
thief (he was speaking of Satan) does not come except
to
steal, and to kill, and TO DESTROY.
I have come that they may
have life,
AND THAT THEY MAY HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY."
John 10:10
Satan Lies To You About God - Have You Believed Him?
October 27
