Devotional: Do not be deceived - February, 2025

Bible text– Mathew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.(KJV)

Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you,
Matthew 24:4 NLT

Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you [deceiving you and leading you into error].
Matthew 24:4 AMPC

Yeshua answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray!
Matthew 24:4 TLV

What is deception?

Deception is a deliberate act of leading a person astray. To deceive is to mislead a person and cause them to err or fall into error. Deception is the act of fooling a person till they make a costly mistake.

Can a Christian be deceived?

Deliberate Christian, it is clear from today’s text that the fact that someone is born again does not mean he or she cannot be deceived; otherwise the Lord Jesus would not have warned us against deception. Deception is making a person believe in a lie and causing him or her to follow the wrong course. Satan is a master deceiver. He succeeded in deceiving one third of the angels in heaven to follow him when he proudly rebelled against God. He deceived Eve in the garden of Eden and caused her to eat the forbidden fruit. He also deceived Judas, a disciple of Jesus, to betray the Son of God. 2 Cor 2:11, Rev 12:9

Being born again does not offer automatic immunity to deception

Deliberate Christian Quotes

How the devil deceives

Asides being a deceiver, satan also recruits men as tools in his deceptive mission. Every genuine child of God should know that for every genuine and authentic act of God, Satan will always have his cunning counterfeit. That is why in 1 John 4:1, scripture says, Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world”. Not everything that has the appearance of godliness or sounds godly is of God. Which means, success or prosperity does not imply godliness in God’s kingdom. 2 Tim 3:5, Eph 6:11, 1 John 3:7-8

Introspect

Has Satan succeeded in deceiving you that it does not matter how you live your life as long as you are born again, you can’t forfeit your salvation and miss heaven? If Satan could deceive one third of the angels to rebel against God and follow him, and succeeded in deceiving Eve, it means we must make every effort to heed to the warning of our Lord Jesus Christ by putting on the whole armor of God. Know this, there is more to making heaven than just being saved. Luke 13:23-24, Mat 7:14, Rev 3:5

Prayer

Oh Lord grant me the spirit of discernment and frustrate all attempts by Satan to deceive me in Jesus mighty name.

Have a deception – free day! Jesus is LORD.

Written by Bro Adeoye Ariyo and edited by Dunmininu Makoyawo for Deliberate Christian Devotional.

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