Good Morning,

2 Corinthians 11:3 (NIV)
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

This fear that Paul had for the saints in Corinth should be present in all of us even to this day...maybe ESPECIALLY during these difficult times in which we live.

How many people do we see who are, even now, being deceived by the enemy and his lies? It doesn't take much looking, if we're at all observant, to see people going this way and that hearing Satan's lies, believing them, and going down paths which should not be traveled. You've heard the lies, I'm sure. "Hey, that's no so bad. Nobody will be hurt. Go ahead, it will be enjoyable." "You can look at those videos. After all, everyone in them is having so much fun. And, you know how much you like to see them." "Now, you know that God wouldn't have made this to feel so good if He hadn't wanted you to do it." "Isn't this magazine great? The pictures are so good and the stories so exciting to read." Well, you know...the list of the enemies lies goes on and on and on. We're subject to them all the time.

Things really haven't changed much since the beginning of creation, have they? Satan is still running around seeking to deceive God's children into doing things which lead us away from God. After all, that's his job and he takes it very seriously. Deception, half truths, outright lies, fraud, trickery, treachery, cunning...these are all the tools of Satan that he will use against us in order to, as Paul wrote, "Be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." It seems that it's a never ending battle, this fight we have trying to stay on the straight and narrow path we know we ought to be on. Every day, even sometimes every hour of ever day, we are inundated with lies which originate because of Satan's desire to do all he can to lead us as far away from devotion to Jesus as he can. Unfortunately, he wins many of these battles. No, he cannot, he will not, win the war...but that doesn't stop him from fighting battles that can keep us from being effective in our service to God.

At our church, our pastors are teaching us in a sermon series concerned with Spiritual Warfare. It seems that this verse which has come to us today is right in line with what Pastor Eric and Pastor Bryan are bringing to us. God is so very, very timely, isn't He?

My friends, we ALL need to be afraid...very afraid...just as Paul was in Corinth of Satan's deceptions and what we face each day.

The best advice I can give here is to be constantly on our guard and to do all we can to secure our minds against the lies which come our way. We need to be always aware of everything that comes into our minds. We need to be living a prayerful life, asking God to send His Holy Spirit to help us in this struggle...and it IS a struggle, I know. We need to help each other in any way we can. We need to ask for help when we find ourselves in places we know we ought not to be or doing those things we know we ought not to be doing.

Let us keep a constant watch on all we allow to enter our minds. With God's help, we can win these battles.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David