Welcome to "Fan the Flame" Friday.
This is a weekly post that will be "short and sweet" (kinda like me...)
Just a word and a phrase, a sentence or a question...just a little something to "fan the flame" of your creativity!
Today's word: deceive
What does it mean to deceive someone?
How does the world deceive us?
How does the devil deceive us?
Do you ever deceive yourself? In what ways?
Let me know what you think!!
"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you…For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
(SIDENOTE: Tomorrow I'm starting a new weekly feature called SATURDAY STROLL. I will be *interacting* with Scripture - making it a conversational walk of faith. C'mon over and join me - you know we can all use the exercise!!)
BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"
Hi Sharon,
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to deceive someone? To deliberately mislead someone to believe something false is true.
How does the world deceive us? Through the implied promises of satisfaction through the acquisition of things.
How does the devil deceive us? Through lies, fear, unbelief in God's word.
Do you ever deceive yourself? In what ways? Yes. Believing I could earn God's love. Believing that I have not been forgiven. Believing God witholds grace, love, and forgiveness. That little sins don't affect my life.
Thanks Sharon,
MTJ
I really like MTJ's answers...perfect and to the point...can't really add much to them...except to write that deception is like a chain...the enemy makes the world think it's all about them, instead of God...they promote this deception...we start believing the lie and convince ourselves and others that we are right...
ReplyDeleteThank God our Saviour came to break that chain....
Well, no use in repeating what MTJ has said because those answers are as correct as can be. We just have to be careful that we don't believe the lies and take every thought captive to His obedience.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining my new blog, Sharon. I appreciate it.
Hugs~
Deceive, to twist and turn around the truth of something so you believe it, until you find out its been a lie. The enemy is great at doing that; us too for that matter, we think the lust of the eyes or the flesh is so much more better; world does that too, now that I think of it; more money will buy you happiness, a bigger car will make you happy, etc. I've been known to deceive myself, especially when it comes to eating, that bag of candy won't make me gain weight :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, we need to watch out and be alert and make sure we are not deceived by our flesh, enemy or the world!
Enjoy the weekend Sharon!
betty
I came here earlier and tried to put an intelligent thought together, but I decided to wait and see what others said.
ReplyDeleteI liked the thoughts in the first comment.
I believe Satan deceives us in a variety of wasy, but the most common way is to deceive us about ourselves.
I would say more, but everything I think I want to say just sounds stupid tonight. LOL
There's a book out called "The Lies We Believe In" So many lies we deceive ourselves over, it's a good book and most people will recognize even one lie that they always believed was the truth.
ReplyDeleteSharon I like the answers of the first one too. I think we deceive ourselves without even meaning too. sandie
ReplyDeleteI love what you write...I love the thoughtful comments that your readers leave too. Looking forward to scrolling through the scriptures with you tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteBlessings Sharon... So as not to be deceived... or misled... or deceive you... I skipped right to the comments and I'll read the rest after I answer, OK?
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to deceive someone?
I guess I usually think of "deceive" meaning that someone or something has set us up or trapped us into believing as true something that's false; deception really gets me.
How does the world deceive us? With all the promotions and traps of media that 'whatever' it is, we need and to be like[or liked by]others; to conform to what may appear grand... needed; "everyone's doing it"... to be selfish and self centered
How does the devil deceive us? in ohhh so many ways, but the obvious is through LIES, FEARS, negative behaviors and thoughts; thinking less of ourselves; wanting more and better, not believing what God or His Word says; thinking we can get by "it won't be noticed, it's just a small thing"... etc. you get my point, I'm sure.
Do you ever deceive yourself? In what ways? YES; in all of the above; [the following are not specifically about me (lol)]:giving up; believing the lies and telling yourself the lies; repeating the past even when it's been dealt with and covered by confession, forgiveness & God's love; believing what others say about you or to you now or in the past;
not thinking you're able or capable or good enough...all the lies; turning away from God or His Word or church; following cults or wrong beliefs thinking they're right; not testing the spirit or discerning with God's wisdom... endless, I told you! The battlefield is the mine; and the enemy has planted little mine fields everywhere and his strategy is to defeat; the enemy makes lies look like truth and truth look like lies... quite cunning, quite deceptive, quite the enemy of our souls, only out to destroy, rob and convince us we've got it wrong!
Good food for thought and discussion, what say the rest? Thanks Sharon for stirring the flame, (I think)but this one just makes me mad...ok upset, ok ready to battle... putting on my full armor!!!
Love, and peace... and a little JOY (won't let the enemy steal that anymore),
Peggy