Sept 17, 2020 … Don’t Be Deceived !!

Berry Patch Devotions in 2020 - Day 261 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... </b>    …   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Marty Mullins singing … No Hold On Me … powerfully singing of how Satan's lies  and power should have no hold on a Christians heart, mind, and choices due to Christ’s work on the cross. 

Deceptive - but destructive - spotted lanternfly 

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Highlight Passage:  Genesis 3:1a  [ESV] ... 

1a Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. …  

…    The craftiness of Satan in deceiving Even to eat of the forbidden tree.   

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …   Genesis 3:1-7 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK … 

…  Satan is the master of deception as he was with Adam and Eve. 

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Reference Passage: …  Psalm 119:9-11 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK …   

… God’s prescription to avoid sin and the deception of Satan in our lives.  

Reference Passage: …  Isaiah 14:14 [ESV] …   

14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 

…  Satan’s desire is to become - and appear - like God.    

Reference Passage: …  Ezekiel 28:17 [ESV] …   

17  Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.  I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. 

…  Ezekiel speaks for God of the beauty of Satan exposed before kings.  

Reference Passage: …  John 8:42-44 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK …   

… Jesus declares why unbelievers cannot believe God’s truth, … because they choose to believe the “father of all lies,” … Satan.   

Reference Passage: …  2Corinthians 11:13-14 [ESV] …   USE THIS ... 

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 

…  Paul exposes false teachers who will be like Satan, disguised as an “angel of light.”

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Alyson Kieda, AT THIS LINK  writes of the deceptive insect, the spotted lantern fly (see photo), which is a beautiful creature but deceptive in that it can destroy plants which it infests.  

And the ODB author uses this this beautiful, but destructive, insect to illustrate the father of all lies, Satan, who fell from heaven, desiring to become like God (see Is. 14 and Ezek. 28), becoming the father of all lies and appearing to mankind as an “angel of light.” (see 2Cor. 11:14)  And we know that Satan deceived Eve first and then Adam to eat of the forbidden tree, which infected all mankind with their sin, … all because they believed the lies of Satan, disguised as a beautiful serpent.

And fellow Christian, … I’m praying we all have learned to recognize and deny the deceptive lies of Satan, which are so pervasive these days in our world.  Because, as Marty Mullins sings in the linked song, … Satan does not have a hold on any true, born-again, Christian. Therefore, I pray that we become discerning agents of God’s truth by becoming so well versed in God’s word (see Ps. 119:9-11) that we can recognize and reject the lies of Satan in our world. 

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving me the guide of Your truth to give me the power to discern the lies of the enemy an his world. 

My Prayer Today:  Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to use the clarity and power of God’s word to be able to discern God’s will and avoid Satan’s lies.  … Amen

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.