Christian Living

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The Great Deception
By: Rick L. King
June 23, 2015

Mathew 4:

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Colossians 2:
23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

Colossians 3:
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Jesus was faced with the devil at the end of His 40 day wilderness experience. Look what the devil told him. He was told that the devil would give him all these things. This was the Son of God and he well knew that that was not where life was so he commanded him to leave. Jesus knew that satisfying the flesh was not life. Scripture tells us:

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The flesh does not profit. It is only the Spirit that gives to us life. We are told to set our affections on things above and not on the things on the earth. Why is this?

Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

God even says that they that are in the flesh cannot please him. The reason is that in the flesh it is all about self. It is not building God's kingdom. It is not about anything that God desires. It is not seeking God and His power to accomplish His will on earth. It is all about self. Because Jesus knew that life only came in the Spirit he could easily reject what the devil thought that he could tempt Jesus with. It didn't work with Jesus but unfortunately it has worked with much of the church and the world. Spiritually speaking most of the church is unfruitful as it is satisfying the flesh and not the Holy Spirit. Heck, many churches will not even admit that there is a Holy Spirit and the ones that do are afraid that if they allow the Holy Spirit free reign that they will lose control and not have what they want anymore.

The great deception is that it seems so many believe the lie that life comes from all the things we possess, all the money we have, or the things that we can do to satisfy our flesh. They have no idea this is walking in deception and do not have a clue what true life is. It is the Spirit that gives life, not the things or the flesh.

There is nothing wrong with having things as long as you have them and they don't have you. What do you use the things and your money for? Is it to promote God's Kingdom or to satisfy your flesh?

I hope and pray that someday very soon God will open the eyes of the Church and they will allow the Holy Spirit to rule so people that are hurting and dying without Jesus, or never finding real life and freedom may enter in to what God has wanted for them all along.

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