Exposed! … It’s the weekend and I hope my musings will give you some insights for living in this crazy world. I am prompted to write this after watching the State of the Union, the spate about the China balloon issue, the Santos deception, and the ungodly greed that is wrapping up Arizona’s Super Bowl where even grocery stores are charging more for this week-ugh. Yep, it’s a lot of topics but they have much in common and much to do about every single one of us. In 1 John 2:16-17 [Voice] we read:

“All the things the world can offer to you
the allure of pleasure, the passion to have things,
and the pompous sense of superiority—do not come from the Father.
These are the rotten fruits of this world.
This corrupt world is already wasting away as are its selfish desires.
But the person really doing God’s will—that person will never cease to be.”

We so easily fall into the traps Satan baits us with. A few days ago I had a phone call that almost could have wiped out my bank account—the deceit is so well masked you can get sucked in quickly. I have always prided myself that I would never fall for that—don’t rely on your ‘never’ please!

I watched a wonderful podcast by a dear friend and writer, Lysa TerKuerst, the founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries. She was asked to speak for a 20’s-something group in how to recognize and avoid the traps Satan wants to lure us in with. With her permission, I share 3 significant lures based on Satan’s plan for Adam and Eve—which truly impacts all ages. Find the deceit in each one…

ONE: Make them crave some sort of physical gratification to the point they become preoccupied with it.
TWO: Make them want to acquire things to the point they bow down to the ‘great god of materialism’. Keep them distracted by making their eyes lust after more and more stuff.
THREE: Make them boastful about what they have or do. Keep them distracted and obsessed with their status and significance. Choke the life out of them using the tentacles of their own pride.

Do any of us fit into these 3 categories—I’m sure we all have at one time or another. Let’s face it, we want to be popular, have stuff that makes us happy, have the finances to do what we like to do and buy. There isn’t anything wrong with wanting this unless it becomes our idols and that is exactly what Satan is hoping for. As the TV flashes all the newer, bigger, and latest things we ‘must have’, our minds get off-track and we dive into primordial soup! Just those few issues that prompted me to write this devotion are perfect examples of how easy lies, deception, boasting, greed and a plethora of more temptations ruin lives.

Think of your own traps and their results. How did God rescue you? What in your life changed so you can “operate in God’s all-powerful truth?” I ask because we have a story to tell others who are caught in those traps and don’t know they have a God who can rescue them. Let’s use our “trap stories” as a testimony to help others get out of this prison of traps. After all, who doesn’t need God’s grace and forgiveness, God’s mercy and wisdom?
God’s promises are no match for ours or Satan’s even if our society thinks otherwise. The proof of that was when Satan tempted Jesus…and how did that end? Jesus shut him down with THE TRUTH OF GOD! That same power lives in us by the Holy Spirit so let’s do the same. Imagine the outcome?! In God’s strength we can do this—AMEN.