Recognize Christian Self-Deception: Biblical Signs and Symptoms

Recognize the subtleties of Christian self-deception

Understand the biblical signs and symptoms of deception

Learn how to identify and overcome self-deception

Discover how to live in Christ and avoid manipulation

Music Music Our message today is dealing with a subject that most of us cringe or repel from wanting to hear about. But I believe that we need to hear this message in the church of God today. It is a subject that scripture constantly warns us to be on guard for and, as I just said, to be aware of. We are going to speak about the subtleties of deception. And this word deceived is, according to the scripture, the description of every unregenerate human being without distinction of persons, educated or uneducated, regardless of race, culture, or gender. Apostle Paul, in his letter to Titus, in Titus 3.3, Titus 3.3, please go there with me. For we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deluded and misled. We too were once slaves to all sorts of cravings and pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy and hatred and hating one another. Paul says Titus we too were also deceived so let us not forget that Paul in his deceived condition he was a religious man walking to the righteousness of the law in his day and this is one of the hardest things that we face as we come into the knowledge of the truth and peer into the facts laid out in the scriptures, and that is that every unregenerate man or woman is first of all deceived by his or her own deceitful heart. Jeremiah 17.9 declares this for us when the prophet says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely mortally sick. Who can know it? Who could perceive or understand and be acquainted with his own heart and mind? That's a scripture that we have heard a lot about in various teachings. And Paul speaks of something more about the deceitfulness of our own sin. in the book of Hebrews 3.12 as he trumpets the warning. Please, let's look there as well today. In Hebrews 3.12 Therefore, beware, brethren. Take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart which refuses to cling to trust in and rely on him, leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God, but instead warn, admonish, encourage one another every day as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened into settled rebellion by the deceitfulness of sin, by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamour of his sin may play on him. Wow! Wow. We must understand that the God of this world, who is also called the great deceiver, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they should not discern the truth, preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the deception of the evil one does not end when an individual is saved and his or her renewal or regeneration is in process. It is only the truth and the light of God's word that removes the blindness of our spiritual eyes. And it is here where the deception and lies of Satan are supplanted and banished. And only the light of the truth illuminating the darkness will vanquish the deception, precious ones. It is necessary for us to understand as well that until we are well grounded in the truth of God's word, even though the heart is being renewed and our wills are turning to God, yet there is a deeply ingrained proclivity of disposition or temperament to self-deception. and the presence in some measure of the blinding and deceiving power of the evil one. If this were not so, we would not read sprinkled throughout the scriptures the warnings such as, The man is deceived if he is a hearer and not a doer of the word of God. James 1.22 And or the warning, a man is deceived if he says he has no sin. 1 John 1, 8. Another, a man is deceived when he thinks himself to be something when he is nothing. Galatians 6, 3. A person is deceived when he thinks himself to be wise with the wisdom of this world. 1 Corinthians 3, 18. Or, a man is deceived by, if anyone thinks himself to be religious, piously observant of the external duties of his faith and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart. This person's religious service is worthless, futile, and barren. James 1.26 Or a person is deceived if he thinks he will not sow and not reap what he sows. Galatians 6.7 One is deceived if he thinks the unrighteous will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6.9 He or she is deceived if they think that contact with sin will not have its effect upon him or her. 1 Corinthians 15.33 Dear church, how this word deceived absolutely repels us, and how it is done contrarily and perversely, and how every human being hates it and resents as it is applied to themselves. People are so offended by the scripture at first when this is pointed out. They think so highly of themselves and say, this is not me. There is such resentment and offense when this truth is pointed out. And they have no idea that even this response of repulsion to the truth is the work of the great deceiver in their lives. this has been the work of Satan in keeping the deceived ones from knowing the truth and being set free by the deceptions that he so cleverly has blinded the individuals with in order for the unrenewed mind to see the light of the truth of the gospel of salvation all of God's children have been deceived as Apostle Paul spoke in the book of Titus when he said, We too were deceived. And we came into this world with our fallen nature due to our first parents, Adam and Eve. And Satan, the great adversary, is eagerly seeking to add to the self-deception of God's people with his hordes of hell working diligently over time to lead astray and confuse those who come to Christ. Now, how do we understand this subject of the subtleties of self-deception which we are speaking on today? Should we look at ourselves as victims and excuse our own sin nature and view ourselves as innocent of our blindness and hardness of heart, which is a result of deception? Can we continue to lay blame on the devil for all of our choices which Paul says come from our own fleshly cravings and self-seeking pleasures, our own jealousies and hatreds? The world never looks at their sinful conduct as a result of their own choices and willful rebellion against the knowledge of God. And even though God has put it in the heart of every human being, in the four corners of the earth, to know right from wrong, God has just planted this knowledge within the consciences of humankind, no matter what creed, nation, and gender we may be. So, then we have to say that self-deception is where man has preferred to not acknowledge the grace of God when he has brought the truth of his Son, Jesus Christ, before them. Remember, Apostle Paul has said in Titus 3, 3, For we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deceived or deluded and misled. We too were once slaves to all sorts of cravings and pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy, hatred, and hating one another. Dear one, a man or woman has never deceived himself or herself so much as when they attempt to deceive God. And the word tells us that God will frustrate the devices and plans of the crafty so that their plans will fall through and will not prosper. Job 5.12. In Job 5.12, the word tells us that God frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of lasting worth. And he catches the so-called wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end. Paul also spoke that same word in 1 Corinthians 3.19. You see, this way of manipulation or being crafty in self-seeking motives is a great reason why so many people in the church of the living God today never prosper spiritually, nor do they inherit the promises which come only by living in Christ. Living in Christ means that we are attached to him as the branches to the vine. in Christ there is no manipulation no craftiness in dealing with people or in ministering the word of God manipulation means to control someone or something in a clever way so that they will do what you want them to do and being crafty means being clever at getting what you want And this is done by deceiving and manipulating people to get whatever that is. And because of clever and crafty manipulation, the Word of God says that the gospel will be hidden to those who have impure motives The book of 2 Corinthians 4 2 Corinthians 4 We have renounced disgraceful ways, secret thoughts and feelings and desires, underhandedness, the methods and art that men hide through shame. And we refuse to deal craftily, to practice trickery and cunning, to adulterate or handle dishonestly the word of God. But we state the truth openly and clearly and candidly. And so we commend ourselves in the sight and presence of God to every man's conscience. Verse 3. But even if our gospel, the glad tidings, also be hidden and obscured and covered up with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God, it is hidden only to those who are perishing and obscured only to those who are spiritually dying and veiled only to those who are lost. For the God of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds that they should not discern the truth, preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the Messiah, who is the image and likeness of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, But Jesus Christ is Lord and ourselves merely as your servants and slaves for Jesus' sake. Also, in 1 Corinthians 3.18, laying our foundation. 1 Corinthians 3.18, let no person deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool. Let him disregard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull and stupid and foolish without true learning and scholarship that he may become really wise. Verse 19. For this world's wisdom is foolishness, absurdity, and stupidity with God. For it is written, he lays hold of the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts and reasoning of the humanly wise and recognizes how futile they are. Well, the apostle warns us here with the personal responsibility to not deceive ourselves. Once the truth of the knowledge of God comes to us, Our part is to believe and do not doubt what God tells us in this liberating word and way of life, which comes by practicing the knowledge of this victorious way. Self-deception proceeds or springs forth from the practice, especially in forming judgments or receiving impressions from our own habitual ways of conduct and our own fallen nature. For example, in judging our character, we are very apt to make note of and even openly declare the good qualities we possess, giving ourselves credit for the things that we do not have or possess, and ignore the evil qualities, the bad traits and conduct that should really be seen by us. another way we deceive ourselves and stay in the dark is by the manner of our conduct we are very prone to persuade ourselves either that our actions are not so wrong or that the particular circumstances under which we were placed were so beyond our control that we allow ourselves to remove the actual guilt of wrong when it was the Holy Spirit of God who was giving an unction or conviction to our spirit that this particular action was sinful and evil. And another subtlety of self-deception is the contrived or improper weight of reality of our repentance because we have taken so lightly the grace of God and pet our sin saying to ourselves, Oh, God knows my heart. Or continually choosing to wear the victim mentality mantle and walk around with the arrows in our back as the evidence of our innocence. There are so many, many ways by which we can deceive and delude ourselves, dear ones. And because of the self-deception, people stay blinded to the truth in God's word. They deceive themselves about God, about our Lord Jesus Christ, about the Holy Spirit of God, and of course, even the Word of God. And the results and subtleties of self-deception is very great and dangerous. And it leaves men and women in the bondage and slavery of procrastination, and it leads them to continually overrate themselves. thinking more highly of themselves than they ought, where they will continually walk in the craftiness of their own minds thinking that the ideas of their vain imaginations is a God revelation and whereby they walk deeper and deeper into the darkness. Jesus declared in John 8.31, in John 8.31, if you abide in my word if you hold fast to my teachings and live in accordance with them you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free hallelujah it is only by the truth by living in the word and practicing the knowledge of what we learn that we will be truly free of deception. Our earlier scripture in 1 Corinthians 3.18 declares, Let no man deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool. Let him disregard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish without true learning and scholarship that he may become really wise. Verse 19, For this world's wisdom is foolishness, absurdity, and stupidity with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts and reasonings of the humanly wise and recognizes how futile they are. can i tell you that paul was speaking to believers in the church here he was speaking to them and warning them and this includes us today be not self-deceived the warning is that if people prefer their old foolish ways being wise in their own eyes and the carnal reasonings of their brains the futility is that God will expose it and show it for what it really is. Craftiness is an instinct of wickedness. And this is what the hypocrites and the Pharisees were known for. No true Christian who lives in Christ is a hypocrite, who devises and schemes to outwit or outsmart anyone for self-gain in any way. There is no disguise or mask, precious ones. A hypocrite or a wise person in their own mind devises skillful and cunning ways to craftily manipulate their own selfish desires and insidious plans. Insidious means to await a chance to entrap by using a seductive or subtle plan or method. And this is also called lying. because the motive is impure from the get-go, because it is crafty. Honesty, however, is opposite of deception and manipulation and insidiousness. Honesty has root. It has a root. It lives in the realm of truth and the light. And living in honesty and truth comes from the holy precepts of the commands of God. And those who dwell in this place are not blind or ignorant or easily deceived. Their eyes are enlightened and they have a reverential fear of the Lord. And they value the ordinances of God because they know the ways of God are true and righteous altogether. Our earlier scripture in Job 5.13 is the same scripture as I had said earlier that Paul spoke saying that God delights to take or catch the so-called wise in their own craftiness, their own self-deception and bring the schemers to their end. Job 5.12, he frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of lasting worth. He catches the so-called wise in their own trickiness and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end. Some time ago, while visiting with the brother and sister in the Lord in a public place, The woman that I was talking with said something about that she was glad that she had the right DNA. And I said, are you referring to belonging to the new race? The new race being redeemed by the blood of Jesus and belonging to the royal family of God? Is this what you're referring to? And the man standing beside her said, as he looked at me very serious, and he lowered his voice. and kind of whispered in a hush way to me and he said, Sister, you better be very careful about talking about the blood. We live in what's called the Bible Belt here and we have very few who preach about the blood. Well, I didn't stay in the conversation too long to find out more, but I did say to this man, I said, Sir, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation, for the deliverance from eternal death to everyone who believes with a personal trust and confident surrender to God. And dear church, it is only by the blood of Jesus that this precious and so great a salvation is made possible. Amen. Hallelujah. But nevertheless, for those who do not preach the blood of Jesus, they are blind and are deluding others into a doctrine of demons and self-deception for personal gain. This is also called apostasy. And the scripture says God delights to take these carnal-minded people, these hypocrites and deceivers and catch them in their own craftiness. They are like spiders hung in their own webs. God hates a mix and diluting the word of God brings great and swift judgment in its time. If there is no repentance, these people's end is not good. It's not good. There is one account in the Old Testament that vividly depicts this swift justice of God in the life of an individual who had a covetous heart. And we'll find this in 2 Kings 5.1. And the man's name was Gehazi. We've all heard, if we've been in the church for any length of time, we've all heard of Gehazi. And with one swift move of the word of God Gehazi had received his quick judgment swift and quick judgment Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. And then she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy. And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And then he brought the letter to the king of Israel which said, now be advised, When this letter comes to you, I have sent Naaman my servant to you that you may heal him of his leprosy. And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and he said, Am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? and therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. It was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes that he sent to the king saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. When Naaman went with his horse and chariot, he stood at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you, and you shall be clean. Verse 11. But Nahum became furious, and he went away, and he said, Indeed, I said to myself, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. And verse 12, are not the Abahan and the Parfar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in rage. And his servant came to him and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet has told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then when he says to you, wash and be clean. So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God. He and all of his aides came and stood before him and said, Indeed, now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now, therefore, please take a gift from your servant. But he said, As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So Naaman said, Then if not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth, for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offerings or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord. Yet in this thing, may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the temple of Reman to worship there. And he leans on my hand and I bow down in the temple of Reman. When I bow down in the temple of Reman, may the Lord please pardon your servant in this thing. And then he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him in short distance. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared Naaman, this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him. So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well? Verse 22. And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garment. So Naaman said, Please take two talents. And he urged him and bound two talents of silver into bags and two changes of garments and handed them to his servants and they carried them on ahead of him. And when he came to the citadel, he took them from their hands and stored them away in the house. Then he let the men go and they departed. Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, Where did you go, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant did not go anywhere. And then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever. And he went out from his presence, leprous as white as snow. Wow. Here we see the account of deception that was quickly detected and punished by God. after his miraculous healing Naaman was proceeding on his way grateful in his heart hopeful now in his future and very joyful and here comes Gehazi running after Naaman and asked him for the gift that his master Elisha had refused this had all happened reminding you this all happened behind Elisha's back Verse 21 says that Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. And he said, is all well? And Gehazi says, oh yes. He said, but my master has sent me to tell you that two young prophets from the hills of Ephraim have just arrived. And he would like $2,000 in silver and two suits to give to them. and verse 23 take four thousand dollars in our terms of our monies just putting it in that sense from another translation take four thousand dollars Naaman insisted and he gave him two expensive robes tied up the money in two bags and gave them to two of his servants to carry back with Gehazi but when they arrived at the hills where Elisha lived Gehazi took the bag from the servants and sent the men back on their way and then he hid the money in his house. Gehazi presented a great lie and he manipulated Naaman into giving him what his heart lusted after. The secret of Gehazi's great deception was covetousness. he longs after that silver and he resolved in his heart to go for it regardless of the cost we have a New Testament account with Judas of Iscariot same greed same greed blinded Gehazi and Judas same greed same spirit And we see here that God quickly punished this sin of Gehazi, short-lived, we see, is the prosperity of the wicked. Short-lived. If Gehazi was to have Naaman's treasure, then he was going to have his leprosy too. And was mentioned from the beginning of this word today. one of the subtleties of self-deception is manipulation. That's it, boy. Hey, I said, that's it. Free at last. Free at last. Good God Almighty, free at last. Hey, we gonna take over. They gonna have to listen to us. We gonna have all the money, have all the money, have all the money. I declare, let me make you listen to this, the Lord telling me to say something. I declare in the name of Jesus, at this pool, we'll be the greatest wealth transference that ever transpired since Jesus rose from the dead. Money is coming to me now. Shout out. Hey! Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. and wrong motives, and it's driven by the author of deception, Satan the devil. Until the heart is renewed and the people of God are living in the light of the truth and practicing the knowledge of this truth, there will only be a deceitful heart at work in our lives, motivated to satisfy every selfish desire therein. Apostle Paul warns us in our earlier scripture be not deceived or do not deceive yourself What personal responsibility this places upon each of us Sin is deceitful and therefore we have a great need of caution in Paul's exhortation to us to not deceive ourselves. so what are some of the subtleties of self-deception that we could delude and deceive ourselves about or into what are some of these one is the thought or diminishing of presence of sin and the seriousness of what God declares about sin and its transgression against the law and putting it in the realm of all my sin isn't so bad or it's just a little sin and thinking that there is no recourse from God in possible loss of eternal life just a hard heart there and those who are deceived think that the righteous justice of God against sin is exaggerated and that it does not apply to them another subtlety of deception with those who amuse themselves with the hope of a deathbed repentance. They put off overcoming sin and they just amuse themselves that they'll just repent on their deathbed. Well, still another are those who flatter themselves with the idea of safety while they continue to expose themselves to danger. They tempt God with foolish reason and these are truly under great deception. Tempting God. And there are those as well who are terribly deceived, who think that the state and condition of their soul is good when it is contrary to God's precepts. Great deception. These think and imagine that they are justified and they are pardoned when they are in a state of receiving the wrath of God and do justice for living a lie. It's like walking on thin ice. We must remember that God cannot be deceived and he knows all who are truly his own and also those who are not. It is risky to live in the subtleness of self-deception because one day all those who are deceived will one day be undeceived to know the futility of their foolishness and perhaps it will be too late for them to repent. What can we learn through this message today regarding self-deception or as Paul warned us, Do not deceive yourselves. Well, one, we can learn that right now, present and allowed deception in your life will just add increase to future misery. That's one thing we can learn. Sin right now, in this moment when it's allowed deception in your life or my life, it adds to future misery and increases. And may we take serious this word in our lives today and see the necessity of self-examination if we have allowed subtleties of self-deception in our own lives. And we might learn from this small lesson today that we have the advantage in this time and season to cry out like David when he said in Psalms 139, verse 23, Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. One of the greatest questions that we could ask ourselves is, do I have a teachable and a submissive spirit? Am I teachable? Am I submissive to do what God calls me to do? You see, this is what David is showing us here in this scripture. David says in verse 24, God, if you see anything in me that is wicked or evil or hurtful, please show me and lead me on the right path. The work of deception is easy. It proceeds from the perversion of the truth, and it cannot escape the punishment of God. We must come to the point that we are like David and must be unsparingly before God and expose our sin and admit it and hate it with a passion just as God hates it. You know, it's just like this. You just come to the point where you really begin to hate the things that God hates. And you love the things that God loves. And can we please know that God hates evil of all forms and kinds. And he loves righteousness and purity and truth and honesty. And this is the work of God's Holy Spirit in the life of every true believer in Jesus Christ. His work is great and tedious as he endeavors in every way to shine the light of truth in the darkness of our souls. And as he does this, it is then our responsibility to live in each of these truths as our new way of life. As we might fight against this beautiful process of God's way, It only prolongs the Spirit's work and possibly in time we might become guilty of grieving Him, God forbid. The caution we have from Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews 3.12, which we have covered today, is to take heed. Take heed. Hebrews 3.12 Therefore beware, brethren. Take heed. And take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart, which refuses to cling to, to trust in and rely on him, leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God. Verse 13, but instead warn, admonish, urge one another and encourage each other every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened into settled rebellion by the deceitfulness of sin, by the fraudulence and stratagem and the trickery which the delusive glamour of his sin may play on him. We're personally warned to take heed yourselves. This is Paul's warning to us. Take heed yourselves. Take care, take heed. And this is saying, be alive to a sense of your extreme danger. And let us consider what we are, how deeply fallen in our nature that we have been, and for some, still are. By this warning, Paul is saying, be circumspect and weigh the dangers and the ploys of your adversary. and with the Spirit of God at work in your life because this is a rightful place of concern and desire in your own heart. It will begin to lay the foundation of caution and quicken your spirit to know the subtleties of deception in your own life. Make it your desire to seek for the illumination or understanding and truth of God's sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit in your life. And may He make you tender to His conviction and convincing of sin in your life. Examine your own heart and rightly weigh your action to and against the sin in your life. You can ask yourself, do I compromise with sin? Do I use presumption and or justify my sin because I blame others for my reasons for sinning? Lastly, as Paul warns us to watch over ourselves by praying, the other exhortations he gives us, he says, Be sober-minded and watch in all things. So watchfulness will lead and keep us to a strict guard over our thoughts and our words and our actions. And we have a wonderful helper in this awesome renewal of our lives. Precious Holy Spirit is diligently working in all might and power to uproot every deceptive motive and intent in our lives if we will allow him. see he won't work against our wills precious one he will not fight against us for this territory he will demand nothing of you nor me he wants us to willingly submit our will to his will and when we do this he exposes the deceptive heart within us and now this is something that we desire and we do not fight against if we are practicing what we learn as we grow in the word of God. Let me leave you with this question today. Have you been convicted of any of the truths laid out in this subject today in the subtleties of self-deception in your own life? and if you have do not treat it lightly nor make excuses for it but may I suggest you take it to the throne of grace and repent of it and renounce and plead for the mercies of your heavenly father and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ and the help of the Holy Spirit to lead you on the good way and path and then do not go back to the old habitual ways of lying, of justifying your sins, of compromise and presumptuous ways, but produce fruit in keeping with your repentance. Live in the word of God and prefer his heavenly manna every day as spiritual food and diet. Because, remember, only the truth will set you free from all deception and lies. Only the truth alone will break the power of the deceptive lies and doctrines and vain imaginations of the lying spirits of Satan. And the truth of God concerns all the principles and laws of God's ways of righteousness. And this is where we want to dwell. Living in the righteousness of God's ways brings every other promise of God into being which is helpful to us in our walk and gives us the support when we are undergoing trial in our lives. And this is where we learn to love living in the light of truth and forsaking every false and deceptive way in our lives. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Keep a teachable heart and continually give the Spirit of Grace permission to examine your heart and lead you in the way that you should go.

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