1 John 3:4-9

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"Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." 1 John 3:4-9


It is so easy to be deceived. Daily we are deceived by false advertising, by stories in the media, and by so many other sources. With all these mixed messages going on around us it is incredibly easy to lose site of the life we have as God's children. We lose site of His love, His mercy, His grace. We lose site of what it means to have a relationship with God.

Once we lose site of those things that are of God we so readily begin believing the lies we hear around us. We begin believing them and then repeating them to ourselves over and over again.

"Youre not worth it."
"You're not good enough."
"You're a failure."
"You can't get beyond your past."

The lies seem to come at us from many different directions. We hear them at work, thru acquaintances, the media, etc. Ultimately, however, they all come from only one place... one person... Satan. Satan tries to convince us in many different ways that we are not worthy of God's love; of God's grace. And, if we're not worthy of God's love and grace, what does it hurt to sin? It shouldn't matter because we're no good anyway. Right?

There couldn't be a more untruthful thought. We are all worthy of God's love and of God's grace. No matter our history and no matter our sins. We are all worthy. If we actively choose to follow Jesus and to accept Jesus and his teachings as a very real part of our life, He will destroy the work Satan has done in our lives.

Verse 7 tells us"...let no one deceive you...". We need to stay focused on God and not on Satan and all those lies he places in front of us that draw us away from God. If we keep our focus on God, no one will be able to deceive us... God will show us the truth. He will show us the way.

It reminds me of the song "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns. God's voice, the voice of truth, tells us a completely different story. God's story brings no deceit. If we choose to listen to God's voice, there will be no deceit. The works of Satan will be destroyed.

9 Thoughts Shared:

mama2dibs said...

I tend to have a low self-esteem and take ALL problems on my own shoulders. In the (recent) past, I have definitely done some stupid things because I have believed the devil's lies over God's truth. I still hear those lies and it's still very hard for me too quiet them, but I have been trying to go straight to God, if not His word, when I start being overwhelmed with the thoughts that I'm just not good enough and that I'm basically just a waste of space in this world. I can see God working in me when I just go to Him and let Him. Satan hasn't stopped trying to attack, but the time I spend feeling sorry for myself (which IS a sin) is starting to shorten each time. Thanks for sharing. Sometimes we need to know that we aren't the only one that deal with certain things in life.

Aunt Angie said...

Melanie...my eyes teared up when I started to read your words. I have been battling this for several days/weeks now. (That I am nothing...can do nothing good for Him...wasting my time, etc.)Possibly when I started on this "Faith Book Project".
It seems that the enemy uses people's words...that generally would NOT hurt---but seemingly the simplest word gets twisted in my heart.
I KNOW it sounds crazy...but even those who seem to have it all together (outwardly) struggle inwardly with attacks from the enemy. YOUR post is right on time and on target!
Keep up the preachin' sister! This girl from Florida needed to hear what you said today!!!

Marsha said...

Wonderful post, Melanie.

I too, have been 'hearing voices' lately full of untruth. I've found myself easily offended the past week or 2. It's an area I'm really praying about.

Just when you think "Wow, Lord, life is great!", Satan attacks with words of untruth.

Thanks for sharing this.

Also, thanks for your comment on my blog earlier. What you shared was a great way to come along side someone who is hurting. Thank you for your heart of compassion.

Anonymous said...

How important it is to focus on the truth of God's Word and abide in Him rather than what the world tells us about ourselves.

Tricia said...

Oh Melanie,
What a great post, and so very timely.

I am in the midst of preparing to teach a youth girls class at church and we will be doing "Lies Young Women Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free." Your post is so true, so many people are so easily deceived and are in such bondage, all because they do not know the truth or they chose not to accept the truth.

I could go on and on, but I won't...

May I use your post with my class?

Blessings!

Nancie said...

Melanie,

Thanks for this encouraging post. May God give us grace not to believe the lies that threatened to overwhelm us but to believe in His Words, His love and mercies.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragements. Thank God for preserving and strengthening me daily as I continue to wait upon Him. Take care!

Tracy said...

This is often a struggle for me. Even though I'm a "daughter of the king"...I regularly have to pray away the voices that tell me I have little worth. I love that song by Casting Crowns! Can't tell you how many hundreds of times I sing those words! Such an encouraging truth. Thank you for this great post! = )

Blessings,
Tracy

LAURIE said...

Hi Melanie, thank you for visiting my blog earlier and for your comment. I love the song "the voice of truth", what a great reminder to us that God has so much more for us and that the enemy is nothing but a liar. Thanks for sharing with all of us on this great topic. -blessings, Laurie

Anonymous said...

hmmm... this is very good...thank you for sharing your wisdom with us... I needed to soak it in :o)