SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
10/12/2014 10:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Do not be Deceived
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2
Thessalonians 2:3a
Message of the
verse: “Let no one in any way
deceive you.”
One of the things that I try to pray about each day
is Proverbs 3:5-6 and there is also a quote from a book that is written by
Charles Stanley and both the Proverb and the quote help me to keep from being
deceived: “Pray that the Lord will give
me wisdom in all of the
decisions that I have to make today.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not
lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will
make your paths straight.” “I’m putting
on the belt of truth. I ask You to make
it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to
reject. Help me to see clearly the
motives of others as they deal with me and converse with me. Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions
and choices according to Your plans and purposes for my life.” This quote comes from a book by Charles
Stanley on the spiritual struggles of a believer and what to do to prevent
these troubles.” The reason that I do
this is because I have been deceived on a number of occasions and do not want
that to happen to me again. The people
in the Thessalonian church were deceived about the Day of the Lord and that is
one of the reasons that Paul sent this letter to them, to show them that they
were not in the Day of the Lord. John
MacArthur writes the following on the word “deceive”: “Paul’s command is a strong prohibition. The compound verb exapatao (Deceive), a strengthened from the verb apaitao, means ‘to deceive completely,’
or ‘to delude.’ The apostle also used a
double negative (me tis; medena),
saying in effect, ‘Do not let anyone by any means or any method lead you astray
in any way.’ There was really no excuse
for the Thessalonians to have been so gullible, despite the seemingly
convincing forged letter. They should
have realized that Paul would not abruptly contradict in a letter what he had
so recently taught them in person and in his first epistle. The Thessalonians’ gullibility was an
emotional reaction to the stress of their situation. However, truth is not determined by emotions
or circumstances, but by Scripture.
Believers must allow biblical truth and theology to rise above every
situation.”
When we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ will return to earth, and know the circumstances to which He will return
to we have a wonderful truth that helps us share Christ with others. By the grace of God I will begin a Bible
Study in our home later on this month, and I am praying and trusting the Lord
to bring the people that He wants to come in order for me to tell them what the
Bible teaches about the endtimes. This
was what God showed me just before He saved me and because of this I want to
tell others about it too. Peter writes
to believers in his last letter that is recorded in the Bible and tells them
that in the end the world will be burned up, it will be uncreated, and the
reason that he tells them this is because he wants to urge them to live lives
that are pleasing to the Lord. This is
one of the wonderful reasons why we as believers should know about the end
times, and the Thessalonians were being deceived about this truth and therefore
were afraid that they had already missed the rapture and this was dishearten to
them.
MacArthur ends his commentary with
the following paragraph: “A correct hope
in the Lord’s return produces not only accountability and purity but also
joy. Fearing that they would experience
the horrors of the Day of the Lord robbed the Thessalonians of joy. That fear also robbed them of the hope of the
Lord’s promise to ‘keep (them) from the hour of testing, that hour which is
about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth’ (Rev.
3:10). To avoid losing the purity and
joy of true hope the Thessalonians needed to remember the truths Paul had
taught them.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I do not
want ever to be deceived again, and I want to have the correct motives in
learning and teaching about the end times.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs
3:5-6.
Memory
verses for the week: Colossians 3:5-11.
5 Therefore consider the members of
your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For
it is because of these things that the wrath of God has come upon the children
of disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But now you also, put them all
aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander,
and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do
not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil
practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the One who made him- 11 a renewal in which
there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave and freemen, but Christ is all, and in all.”
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Sheba”
(1 Kings 10:3).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who was Joseph’s first
master in Egypt?”
Answer
in our next SD.
10/12/2014
11:30 AM
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