Self-Deception (Daily Devotional)

Hello and welcome to Living supernaturally. We are so glad that you could be here. We’ve been doing a series on how God’s word is an antidote for everything and anything that might be damaging to the life of a believer. One of the things that can be damaging to a believer is self-deception- where the believer is so deceived that he/ she walks away from God and doesn’t even know that he/ she is deceived. Now the scriptures talk about certain situation where a person can be deceived, a person can deceive oneself and we see this in the book of James. We are going to look at James chapter 1; it looks at 3 scenarios where we can be self-deceived.

Here is scenario number 1, James chapter 1 and verse 13 to 16, says, ‘let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed and then when desire is conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.’ Verse 17 talks about how every good and perfect gift comes from Him, there is no shadow of turning, He is the father of lights. So, what do we understand from here? When we attribute to God something that He doesn’t do, when we attribute falling into temptation and committing sin and we say God made me do it/ God is the one who has created such an opportunity and He is the one who is causing me to fall, we deceive ourselves. Because God is a God who is the Father of lights and in Him, there is no variation or shadow of turning, He is good and He intends good for us, He is for us. This is one way in which we can deceive ourselves. So, what is the antidote? The antidote is the correct picture/ evaluation of God- know God as Scripture describes Him, know God as God introduces Himself through the words of Scripture. Which means that the word of God needs to be in us so that we won’t be self-deceived.

The second scenario is something we see in James chapter 1 and verse 22 which says, ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.’ This is another scenario where we can deceive ourselves, how? When we hear God’s word, but we do not apply/ do not obey it, or we have no intention of carrying out. It could be for an intellectual appeal maybe we just criticize God’s word, we just listen to the word, but we have no intention of/ fail to apply and carry out God’s word. In such a case, we deceive ourselves where we think that we are living God’s word out, but in reality, we are not. So, all that God’s word can bring into our lives is actually not happening. Faith, a correcting understanding of God’s word, instruction which the Holy Spirit can quicken to our hearts all come from His word. So, if we just hear and not apply it, we are deceiving ourselves.

The third area where we can deceive ourselves, we see in James chapter 1 and verse 26, ‘if anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.’ So, verse 26 says that if you think you are spiritual/ religious and are following God, but you don’t bridle your tongue or reign in your words- there is loose talk, unedifying talk, maybe there is vulgar/ filthy language, maybe there is blessing and cursing; we deceive ourselves. The antidote is this - I need to align my words with what God says, with the truth of God’s word. So, as we pray, may it be a time of reflecting and coming back to God and saying, ‘Lord I do not want to deceive myself in these areas, let your word be my antidote.’

Let’s pray, Father, we thank you Lord, that in all these areas where we can deceive ourselves, we thank you for warning us, even as we step in and carry out what you have called us to do, that that will be the right antidote for self-deception. Lord, may we experience the power of your word, the truth of your word today even as we apply it in our lives, in Jesus’s precious name, we pray, Amen.

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