a way to combat the devil's lies with God's fact

by using David Jeremiah, Voices Contributor | Thursday, June 24, 2021 David Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain neighborhood Church in El Cajon, California | Screenshot: The Christian publish

It’s challenging to understand when a person is mendacity. a number of ex-FBI or CIA agents have developed books and seminars designed to assist us spot lies through learning body language, eye glints, facial expressions, voice pitch, and different things. however respectable liars may also fool polygraph machines. 

Psychology these days ran an article last fall via Christian L. Hart, a university psychologist who focuses on deception. Dr. Hart admitted, “There quite simply are not any behavioral cues that reliably indicate when someone is lying. Researchers like myself have searched excessive and low for such cues for decades. The most appropriate any individual has come up with is a small number of behavioral cues that are extremely unreliable.” 

“but don’t abandon all hope simply yet!” wrote Hart. “There in fact are some pretty positive easy methods to in fact notice liars.” It’s no longer through trying to read physique language. The precise key's to listen carefully to what’s being said. 

“lying is nothing more than speaking false assistance,” talked about Hart. We have to pay consideration to the counsel we’re informed, see if it aligns with rationale, with proof, and with what we recognize or can learn. We should ask questions and see if the story stands as much as scrutiny.

That’s first rate tips after we suspect an extra adult is mendacity. It’s also how to take care of the certainly not-ending lies of satan. He’s an authority liar, as Jesus mentioned in John 8:44, when He instructed His critics, “you are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you need to do. He...does not stand in the actuality, because there is no actuality in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own materials, for he's a liar and the father of it.” 

The NIV says, “When he lies, he speaks his native language.” 

devil certainly not tells the truth, however he’s a grasp at twisting the actuality. mendacity is his native language, and it’s the language of his people today. If we aren’t cautious, the devil even prompts us to lie to ourselves, often without realizing it.

The devil is so cunningly misleading that we instinctively believe what he whispers in our ears. listed here are four different lies he commonly tells us:

1. “God doesn’t desire me to be happy”

one among devil’s worst lies is telling us God isn’t the source of happiness; indeed, He’s a hassle to it. Vocalist Andrew Cameron Cline has a tune in which he says, “All that I truly need is to be attractive. I don’t care what it costs; I most effective are looking to be satisfied.”

That’s the want of literally billions of people. 

How ironic! in keeping with the Bible, God has made us in His photo, He loves us, we are His handiwork and craftsmanship, and He longs to fill our lives with pleasure! Yet most people reject Him and go off trying to find happiness on their own.

if you’re fighting considerations related to happiness and joy, I are looking to advocate Psalm a hundred and forty four, which starts: “Blessed be the Lord my Rock... i will sing a brand new tune to You, O God” (verses 1, 9). The Psalm ends: “happy are the americans whose God is the Lord!”

analyze this passage and practice it to your self. handiest the fact of God’s notice can wash devil’s lies out of your intellect.

2. “I’m no first rate” 

The satan additionally wishes us to suppose we’re no first rate. We regularly feel that method because of faults and regrets that hang-out us, and often we damage our self-photograph via evaluating ourselves to others. Admittedly, with out the grace of Christ, we are warped and ruined by sin. There’s no denying that. In Romans 7:18 the apostle Paul noted, “For i know that in me (this is, in my flesh) nothing respectable dwells.” 

however Jesus positioned a high price on us. He died and rose once again for us. With Christ within us, there is just one “no decent” we need to claimâ€"the promise of Psalm 84:eleven: “No respectable aspect will He withhold from those that walk uprightly.”

I are looking to suggest you examine Psalm 84 if the devil is telling you that you just’re no first rate. The twelve verses of this fantastic Psalm will fight the satan’s distortions, reassure you of your value, and find sparkling benefits out of your Heavenly Father. 

3. “I’m a failure” 

another fabrication of satan is that we’re disasters. sure, everyone fail at many issues, but the act of failure doesn’t translate to who we're as americans. In Christ, we are people who view disasters as getting to know experiences and as alternatives to find God’s most useful plan for our lives. Psalm seventy three:26 says, “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the power of my coronary heart and my element invariably.”

Commander man Snodgrass, a TOPGUN Navy pilot and instructor, wrote about failing a practice dogfight over Nevada. His teacher actually flew circles round him, and guy would had been blown out of the sky three times had the fight been real. He dreaded what his instructor would say. 

within the briefing room, man defined all he’d achieved wrong, and he wrote on a whiteboard the entire objects he needed to master. Then he braced himself for rebukes and corrections. but his teacher comfortably observed, “average, i believed you probably did very neatly. great job.” The teacher went on to claim that aerial competencies take years to grasp and we don’t be successful except we be taught the value of failure.

man’s takeaway: “When adversity strikesâ€"because it all the time doesâ€"refocus your resolution and check out again. commit to making day to day greater than the one before. Then do it once more tomorrow. in the end, people care way more about who you're than what you do.”

If the serpent is hissing failure on your ears, take some time to analyze Psalm 73. The creator of this Psalm struggled with a way of failure and frustration, however he overcame the lies with God’s truth, announcing, “My innermost being changed into wounded... Yet i am all the time with you; you hold my correct hand. You e book me together with your tips, and later on you're going to take me up in glory... My flesh and my coronary heart may additionally fail, however God is the power of my coronary heart, my element forever” (Psalm seventy three:21-26). 

4. “i will’t overcome this temptation” 

in addition to the devil’s other lies, let me mention an additional. he is a grasp at deceiving us with self-destructive habits. He needs us to claim to ourselves: “i will’t overcome this temptation.”

To counter that lie, I imply Psalm fifty one, which is David’s wonderful prayer of confession after his ethical failure. He implored God’s forgiveness, and in verse 12 he prayed, “repair to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me via Your generous Spirit.” 

we will’t withstand temptation in our personal strength, but the Lord forgives us, restores our joy, and then upholds us by using His generous Spirit. he'll uphold you in temptation. study Psalm 51. accept it as fact, and the certainty will set you free from satan’s debilitating lies.

Don’t hearken to a single word from the devil as a result of mendacity is his native language. be taught to identify his lies and to counter each and every one with the surprising fact of God’s infallible word.

Dr. David Jeremiah is among the many most effective established Christian leaders in the world. He serves as senior pastor of Shadow Mountain community Church in El Cajon, California and is the founder and host of Turning element. Turning point‘s 30-minute radio software is heard on greater than 2,200 radio stations each day. a new York instances bestselling writer and Gold Medallion winner, he has written more than fifty books.