We will be unable to recognize the lies until we bring them to the light of the Word. And when exposed, like cockroaches, they will flee!
Eve had lost her focus. 2 Corinthians 11:3 gives us a similar warning, "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."
We allow Satan’s influence to rattle our faith, lose our sight of hope, and lead us to feel unloved. It is easy to get sidetracked or distracted, and thus have a distorted view of truth. We may not recognize it ourselves if left to our own devices. God has given us His Word and His body, the church, as ways to keep us in check and help reveal those lies that have us entrapped, distracting us from true faith, hope, and love.
However, as James points out, if we don’t do anything about the truth we have seen, if we only listen to the Word, we are deceiving ourselves (James 1:22-25).
God longs to demonstrate genuine faith, hope, and love so that we can immediately recognize the false manifestations of those qualities of an abundant life. Satan “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14), and his goal is that of a thief: to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10a). He is using a toy gun, a weak tool that, when exposed, crumbles and, once out of the way, allows us to have life, and have it to the full in Christ (John 10:10b).
(taken from chapter 3, Who Has the Last Word?, available for preorder)
