2 Corinthians 11: 1 – 20
When I was growing up, it was a much simpler time in all areas. There were not as many choices for one thing. Phones were stationary and had only one function. Churches didn’t have a myriad of programs. And television had somewhere between 3 and 10 channels. Amazing isn’t it?
Another thing was true too. Good and evil were relatively easy to distinguish. There were indeed gray areas as well, but not as much as today.
Today we have so many good things, it is very difficult , at times, to determine what’s best. Evil has been dressed up, concealed and promoted as either something good or simply something we should tolerate. So many of the lesser evils have become “normal” in our world. When compared to the evil of terrorism, they seemingly fade into the dailiness of life. And right there is the danger.
Satan is the father of lies. His character is all about deception. He twists things around and gets us thinking toward sin instead of away from it. He wears us down bit by bit with subtle lies until we start believing his propaganda. This is precisely what Paul is warning against in 2 Corinthians 11.
Warnings. . .
Twice in this passage Paul flashes a warning about satan’s deception. In verse 3 he reminds us how in the beginning he deceived Eve by leading her mind astray. In verses 14 & 15 Paul tells us that he disguises himself as an angel of light. And, his servants appear as servants of righteousness. This is scary stuff.
If we are honest – if I am honest – he has tricked us in so many ways. Often we are afraid to come against something if it seems it’s “not a big deal”. Or, we simply don’t see it coming. It’s so incredibly subtle that we don’t recognize what’s happened till much later.
So how do we fight back? How do we retake the ground that’s lost? How do we stay vigilant against deception? Is there a way to stand firm against the subtle lies? Yes.
What to do. . .
One way is to pray the Armor of God. Yes – the Armor of God again. . . .Get dressed every single day. Ask God to quicken our our spirit to anything that’s “off”. Ask the Holy Spirit to give us special discernment for satan’s lies and cloaked deception. Ask God to wake us up out of our spiritual slumber so we can remain on alert. Remember that there is a battle going on, whether we see it openly or not. We must acknowledge that it exists. By keeping that thought in the forefront of our minds, we are automatically positioned to see the truth. And above all we must stay in God’s word everyday and pray. God’s word is truth. God’s word is our Sword of the Spirit. We can do effective battle with knowledge of God’s word and prayer.
One other thing helps so much and is often missed when discussing the battle for our minds – Praise. Praise and worship songs are so very helpful. Psalm 22:3 tells us that God inhabits the praise of His people. Where God is, satan cannot be. I also love Romans 12:2 which says, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” That’s huge, because it’s basically saying we need to re-wallpaper our mind. And how do we do that? We do it by re-wallpapering with God’s word, with prayer and praise. We saturate our minds with Him so satan can’t find any room for his lies.
God’s Not Dead !!
So take courage dear one. We need to do this together. Yes, we’ve allowed our minds to be deceived probably in many ways. But that stops here. This is war and we must put on the Armor and re-wallpaper our minds – serious renovation. God is faithful and with His help we won’t be deceived anymore. In the words of a song – “God’s not dead. He’s surely alive. He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion.”