When The Devil KnocksSýnishorn

The Deceiver

When you eat out at a restaurant, you get a little piece of paper as proof you received your food and the restaurant received your money. What’s it called? A receipt. When you realize the waiter refilled your lemonade six times without telling you refills aren’t free, what’s that? Deceit. 

Receipt and deceit come from two important words in the Bible: receive and deceive. 

The second half of these words is the same. “-Cieve” means to grasp, or take. What makes these two words significantly different is how they begin: “re-” and “de-”. In words like receive, “re-” means, back to the original place. In words like deceive, “de-” means, down from, off, and away from. 

Put it all together and to receive is to grasp back, or to get something back. Makes sense, right? A receipt is proof you got something back. But to deceive, is to take something away from, or down from, where it was. A receipt puts everything in the open. Deceit pulls everything into the dark.

Why focus on these two words? Because one of them describes our response to God, and the other describes the devil’s. Don’t miss this. We receive. The devil deceives.

The devil has deceiver written all over him. God in His might cast Lucifer, the devil, down from Heaven when he tried to take away from God’s worship and glory. Then, Lucifer deceived one third of the angels and took them down from Heaven with him. Why? Because he hates God. He only desires to take away from God. 

But, God can’t be deceived. So, how exactly does the deceiver attack God? By trying to deceive God’s creations, including you. He questions God’s Word. “Did God really say that?” He denies God’s word. “Come on, the Bible doesn’t actually mean that.” And he twists God’s Word with lies. “God says He makes all things work together for good, right? Just try it once.” Everything the devil says sounds like a trick to get back what you think you deserve, but it’s actually a trap to take away what you’ve already been given. 

The devil wants so badly to keep you from seeing God’s love and God’s truth.

Back to you, the receiver. How do we fight back? By receiving God’s love and truth, the Gospel. You grasp back from the original place, the eternal gift you’ve already been given. Jesus died to make you free. He already paid the bill. You are about to read the paper-proof, the receipt, God’s Word. Read the truth, receive the truth, live the truth, and the truth will set you free. Because he who the Son sets free, is free indeed.  

Pray: God, I receive Your love and truth. What deceptions have I believed? In the name of Jesus, I take back what the devil has tried to take away. Set me free from deceit. Amen.