The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.  Revelation 12:9  WEB

“I just don´t believe in devils or demons, and I think the church pushes all that stuff to keep people scared so they come to them,” a woman blurted out indignantly. She was tired of hearing of God from puffed up Christians whose lives did not really demonstrate the qualities they said knowing God brings. It was not that the woman was uninformed, but rather sufficiently informed to see that the people who were pushing religion on her were not really seeking to be transformed into the kind and loving people who reflect a loving and forgiving God. Do we realize that we are in constant danger of being deceived too!

Whether we make much of it or not, the Bible does teach that a great deceiver is at war with God, His Son, and His angels. We could scoff at mysterious powers that we cannot see, but we can also easily see that there is a lot of bad, harmful evil in the world. The greatest deceit that we could fall into is to have our chance to encounter God stolen from us. Whether we already embrace the thought of God and lift Him up above everything, or have a lower view of Him, we cannot afford to let anyone deceive us into thinking that He does not love us or want to grow closer to us all the time! Let us each pray that no deceiver will sneak in and steal away our chances to come to know the Lord more fully today!

Dear Lord,

Help each of us stop what we are doing now. Let us look beyond all the speculation and seek to find You! Open our hearts to learn to walk more intimately with You, we pray!

Amen