Verse of the Week: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
Truth of the Week: God calls us to live with a war-time mentality, which means remembering that we are in a battle and that we have an enemy. Our adversary is Satan, who is a slanderer, an accuser, and the father of lies. Although we do not want to give the devil undue attention, neither do we want to walk unaware of his schemes.
The evil ones aim is to blind us to the truth and he continually, and often convincingly, whispers lies in an effort to accomplish this goal. One of the main lies he would have us believe is that God is not who He says He is. Satan would have us lower our gaze to our circumstances and call to question God’s goodness, His power, His wisdom or His love. His lies sounds something like – “If God is really loving, then why did He let this hardship happen?” or “If God is so powerful, why didn’t He stop this tragedy from ever occurring?”
Not only does the evil one lie to us about who God is, he also tries to defeat us by telling us lies about who we are. He condemns us and accuses us, and would have us believe that we are unloved, undesirable, uncared for, unknown, and unforgiven (just to name a few). Sadly, because of the wounds we have acquired while walking in this broken world, his lies often find fertile ground in the soil of our hearts. He loves to lure us into a pity party, shift our focus from our all-glorious God, and have us forget our true identity in Christ.
So, how do we battle the assaults of our adversary? It seems to be stating the obvious, but we must battle falsehood with truth. We must forcefully lay hold of the word of God and speak it to our own hearts. We must store up and meditate on Scriptures that remind us of who God is and of who we are in Him. Not only that, we must keep in mind that our enemy is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and that those who walk alone are the easiest prey. Therefore, we must be faithful to speak words of truth into each others lives as well. We must pick up the sword of the Spirit, and side by side, wield it against the attacks of the evil one.
Satan is a liar, and he delights in our destruction, but we can take heart because he is a defeated foe. Although our own words pose him no threat, he cannot prevail against the penetrating and powerful word of our God. May we cling to truth, and refuse to listen to his lies!
Quote of the Week: “The word of God makes us strong to overcome the evil one because it saturates our mind with truth – truth about Christ, and truth about the cross, and the Spirit, and faith, and who we are in Christ, and the meaning of sin and calamity and sickness, and the sovereignty and goodness of God. And by this Spirit-ignited, passion-producing truth, we are made strong against the lies of the evil one.” (John Piper)
