Occasional Deceitfulness Is Being Deceptive
“No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes” (Psalm 101:7).
Brethren, this message is a warning from the Lord. It is common practice among Christians today to behave deceitfully, because it is so easy to ask the Lord to forgive us if we ask Him to. And so Good! The Lord do forgive, however, when we asked for forgiveness did we repent from that spirit or are we continuously obeying that spirit as and when the situation demands (Romans 6:16)? If we do, the danger is we are possessed by a deceitful spirit and instead of obeying the Lord and act truthfully we act contrary to the truth and disobey the Lord (Ephesians 2:2).
This reminds us how deceitfully Peter behaved when he saw some of the Jewish converts and for that the Apostle Paul reminded him to live in accordance with the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:14). In this rebuke to Peter we learn that truthful conduct should never be compromised despite the influence and expectations of others around us. God expects of us to be faithfully committed to Him (1 Samuel 26:23) imperfect as we are, faithfulness does not betray the truth and our treasure [the truth] is where our heart would be (Matthew 6:21).
How To Avoid Being Deceitful
To overcome the spirt of being deceitful, the most important thing we need to consider is how is our relationship with the Lord? Let me use a marital situation to illustrate our relationship with God, if a husband or wife shows contempt and disrespect for the other party it should be clear that there is no love in that relationship, and at times neither would there be any marital faithfulness. Now likewise, if we disrespect the Lord by deliberately disobeying His Word, our love for Him would be questionable and if we act deceitfully we hurt the Lord and love does no harm (Romans 13:10). Additionally, it would be safe to say that one of the most obvious ways of showing our contempt for the truth and to others is when we fail to DO what we promised to DO. As a reminder, we have written an article a few years ago “Keeping our Words and Promises” to encourage truthful behaviour and today, the Lord is warning Christians that being unfaithful is being untruthful and deceitful. With such behaviour God places no trust in such a dubious witness (Proverbs 12:22). Furthermore, if we consider how proud God was of Job that tells us how pleased He was of Job. As we know, Job was not perfect but he was a man with an unquestionable integrity, honesty and faithfulness towards both God and man (Job 1:8).
With love and concern for members of the Body of Christ, in our years in Ministry and as a Christian, we have personally witnessed how shallow and unstable some Christian’s are. Furthermore, we can further tell, that some of these brethren we observed appeared flawless in their Christian speech, but in their conduct it reveals the deceit in their hearts (Jeremiah 17:9). Today, this is evident through the various social media where people declares their lofty status’s to attract others while their hearts are void of the truth (2 Timothy 3:5). Thus, the power of the gospel and of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is to be armed with the truth and righteous conduct (John 8:32). Additionally, it is true a deceitful Christian is a betrayer and has the spirit of Judas, untruthful in conduct and an instrument of Satan (John 13:27). Thus, the truth is imperfect in the heart of a deceitful Christian and the bondage of inconsistency plaques his or her life (John 8:32). Sometime ago, the Lord warned me not to make promises to my children that I don't intend keeping because that is being deceitful. How often do we make promises to others just to receive a favour from and after we got what we needed we fail to deliver leaving others broken, does this not cause our brother or sister in the Lord to stumble? (Romans 14:21).
Finally, please see consider the following few questions to evaluate truthfully your Christian conduct. Do you betray the trust of others and use their mistakes to discredit them to others? If so, such conduct is loveless, slanderous and gossip (James 4:11). Are you inconsistent in your prayers, Bible reading and Church attendance? Do you always make promises to God and people and unable to deliver? Such behaviour is NOT innocent, but deceitful in accordance with Satan’s personality of NEVER being truthful (John 8:44). Are you in the habit of lying purposely? Well, that makes you a false Christian. To further clarify this point, the Lord once showed Charis in a vision how Satan accused a Christian brother telling him that with his lying spirit nobody would take him serious and that he has no credibility in the eyes of the devil.
Brethren, this is very SERIOUS and makes a Christian lives way too close to the Devil. Someone once said, “Under promise and over deliver and your integrity will have a touch of honesty”. Do you like to show off to others that you care, but you always feel burdened to give? Now, this is a worst betrayal of being truthful it reveals the spirit of Judas, loveless care (John 12:6). Also, Christians should remember that ONLY those who truly cared for the needy and poor will be gathered to the Lord’s Right hand to received blessing and glory from Him (Matthew 25:34-40).
In conclusion, brethren let us make every effort to live truthfully in both our speech and conduct this will reveal our obedience and respect for the Lord and His Presence will NEVER depart from us (Hebrews 13:5).
If you have been living too close to the devil and deceitfully, you can still repent today and reform your ways and follow the Lord faithfully and in a spirt of truth. If you still do not know the Lord we have a suggest prayer which prayed by faith should lead to your salvation. So please prayer our Prayer of Sincere Repentance. For any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.
Blessed Grace
Brother Glenn
