2 Peter 2:8-9 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
When Yeshua (Jesus) was attacked by Satan during His temptation in the wilderness, He countered every attack with the Word of God. But notice in Satan’s second attack – the enemy himself quoted the Scriptures, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:6 was a quote from Psalm 91:11, but the phrase, “to keep thee in all thy ways” was absent from Satan’s quote).
If we learn anything from this, we will realize that Satan has knowledge and some understanding of Scripture, and that he will use the Word attempting to deceive us with it into wrong actions. This tactic goes back even as far as the Garden of Eden where the adversary twisted God’s word saying, “Did God really say you shall not eat from every tree in the garden?”
So it is today, that all around us we are hearing constant abuses, questions, and attacks against the truth and reliability of God’s Word. Did God really create the world…in six days? Did God really say that marriage consists of a union between a man and a woman? Is God really going to judge the world and destroy it with fire? Has God really defined absolute moral truth?
The enemy is constantly attempting to erode and destroy the foundational truths of God’s word using distortions, corruptions, half-truths, and modern “interpretations”, for he knows that “if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)
Let’s not be deceived by these subtle ploys of Satan. If we agree to alter or dilute the Word of God to accommodate our circumstances or natural inclinations, we will end up exactly where that serpent wants us; in disobedience, sin, and sorrow. You know, Satan has been using religious language to tempt the saints since the beginning of time, even to the point of trying to persuade people that he doesn’t even exist. We must be discerning. If we want to live and walk in the truth we will believe God’s Word undiluted without compromise or private interpretation, seeking to understand it with the help of His Holy Spirit, Who is the only perfect interpreter. If we do, the enemy’s deceptions will fail, and we will be delivered from every temptation!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Over the past few days, one of our servers that hosts roughly 20 different web sites was breached and used to send SPAM. While there was no real damage done, the thousands of bounced messages literally caused the server to shut down. There was no personal information stored on the server, however, the hours spent setting up a new server in the midst of a speaking tour created chaos which we really didn’t have the time to deal with. However, the worst of it is all over, and we’re back! Just as we’re getting ready to launch another website (https://worthy.bible) for the Kingdom … we get attacked from all sides!
This is a story relayed by Corrie Ten Boom, “It was Christmas, 1944. My sister, Betsie, had died. I was in a hospital barracks in Ravensbruck, a Nazi prison camp. Dark it was in my heart, and darkness was around me. There were Christmas trees in the street between the barracks. Dead bodies of prisoners had been thrown under the Christmas trees. I tried to talk to the people around me about Christmas, but they mocked and sneered. At last I kept quiet.
I came across an old legend about three cowboys crossing the desert on horseback by night. Suddenly, as they reached a rocky spot, a voice came from heaven and commanded them: “Friends, pick up some pebbles, put them in your pockets and do not look at them till morning.” The men looked at each other in astonishment and began to do as they were told. The voice went on to promise that if they obeyed, they would be both glad and sad. The perplexed men put a few pebbles each in their pockets and went on their way.
Once upon a time, there was a prince who received a very rare and beautiful bird. He named her Goldie and placed her in a lovely, 14K gold cage. But the poor creature was not impressed by the gold at all. She pleaded for her freedom but the prince loved her much too much to part with her. Still, she continued to beg. In final desperation, she asked that he at least allow her go to her relatives and tell them that, though captive, she was still alive.
The baby that came into the world through the scenario above was named Ishmael. According to Islamic belief, it was Ishmael that was offered as a sacrifice by Abraham, and through him that they became the rightful inheritors of the promises of God. In other words, Ishmael was the seed through which Islam was born. Hmmm.
When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson, one of his first projects was the development of a children’s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected that he would be fired. When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception. “Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks!” Apparently, Mr. Johnson wasn’t joking! Years later, Johnson & Johnson remains one of the largest multi-national manufacturers of pharmaceutical, diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, personal hygiene, baby and biotechnology products.
In her book, Let Me Be a Woman, Elizabeth Elliot records the story of a friend who had great difficulty accepting the looks God had given her. While everyone this girl knew had grown beautiful golden hair, hers was black. And while they were all still growing, she had stopped. She grew to be only about four feet ten inches tall.