To hear this Morning Devotion, please click here Endless stream of lies
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It’s amazing, actually, at how predictable the schemes of the Enemy really are.
So why don’t we all avoid sin like the plague?
Because of pride, that’s why.
Others who dance with the Devil get their toes stomped, but that won’t happen to us, we sometimes believe.
We’re so easily hustled into believing we’re really good dancers who can stay one step ahead of the Enemy’s pointy-toed, snakeskin boots.
Yeah, right.
Listen, there is no asterisk on Romans 3:23 regarding our name.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
If we’re not continually careful and humble and immersed in the Word and prayer, we will embrace the lie that God can be bumped to second place and yet He will still deliver us to heaven as if He were first-place in our hearts.
Please remind those around you, and perhaps even yourself, that nothing good comes from believing Satan’s lies.
Particularly the lies that masquerade as being faithful.
Lies such as the one represented in today’s One-Year Bible reading. 2 Kings 16 describes how King Ahaz of Judah feared destruction by the Assyrian army and so a huge payoff of gold and silver from the Jerusalem temple treasury was made to the Assyrian king.
The looming attack was averted and then Ahaz paid a visit to the pagan king, Tiglath-Pileser. While there, Ahaz saw a pagan altar worshiped by the Assyrians. Ahaz was infatuated with the altar’s appearance and ordered Uriah the Jerusalem temple priest to make a copy and put it in the Jerusalem temple.
That was terrible enough.
But then Ahaz directed that the pagan altar be placed where the bronze altar — long before ordained by God as the primary place of sacrifice — had been located. The bronze altar was moved off to the side, no longer used for sacrifices to Jehovah but instead for “seeking guidance” (2 Kings 16:15).
Other changes were made to the Jerusalem temple’s main worship area as a result of Ahaz’s infatuation with Assyrian worship practices.
Devaluing the place of Jehovah in temple worship led only to problems for Ahaz, though. Rather than repent and remove the false worship icons and altars, Ahaz made things worse.
2 Chronicles 28:24 describes how Ahaz took even the furnishings of the temple, “sent them away” and closed the doors of the temple, instructing the now-corrupted priests to “set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.”
It got even worse.
“In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and provoke the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger” (v. 25).
Satan loved all this, of course.
Remember, his greatest desire is to anger God.
He hates God.
That’s why it is SO important that we make no choices that serve Satan’s agenda. For once we start down that road, we can very easily drive off the cliff.
Please remember these two absolute truths:
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Satan is a liar who wants to destroy you and deny praise to God
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God is Truth and wants to deliver you into an eternal life of praise to God
Test every thought and offer from others, my friend. If it doesn’t point in some way toward biblically honoring God (Colossians 3:17), don’t embrace it.
Satan won’t like your choice. But God will.
As always, I love you
Martin
