Liar Liar

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Dion Todd October 19, 2015 - Filed in Devotional - 13,052 views
  You are of your Father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44 WEB
  
  When I would try and pray, crazy thoughts would run through my mind: 'God has abandoned you. He doesn't hear you or care, in fact no one cares about you anymore. You are alone. Why don't you just end this? That idea will never work because you are a failure. Soon you will be homeless and your spouse will leave you for someone better, get ready for it.'
  
  We had been out of work for months and bills continued to pile up around us. The worst part of it was that I had not heard from God in a while. That is always the real test, the cold shoulder and the feeling of abandonment that comes with it. See a timely word from God changes everything and makes things easy, but when that is taken away, you get to see who you really are inside.
  
  I know that God is always there for us, but there are times of testing. God left Hezekiah, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart (2 Chron. 32:31). When Jesus bore our sin (2 Cor. 5:21) on the cross, God turned away from Him and it broke His heart. Jesus said 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?' (Matt. 27:46). There are times when God is silent and His word comes 'after many days' (1 Kings 18:1). Think of it as a dramatic pause.
  
  For me, it was a time of testing and silence, but it was not completely silent. I heard doom, despair and agony everyday from the liar. It was a difficult, dark time in my life, but it passed and God came through. When all hope was gone and we were packing to move out of our house, suddenly, within about forty-eight hours, we were pushed into full-time ministry and all of our bills paid for the month.
  
  The doom and gloom was all a bunch of lies. God was merely promoting us and this was the path. Jesus called the devil, 'the father of lies.' All day long he whispers lies into your ear.
  
  First he just gets you to listen, maybe by asking a question like he did with Eve, 'Did God really say'?'. Then comes a lie: 'You will not surely die (Gen 3:4).' Next, he will provide an opportunity for you to act on it. The goal is to hurt God by getting you out of His will and causing God's judgment to fall on His own child. If you do follow the liar's advice, he will then turn on you and accuse you before God (Zech 3:1).
  
  Don't listen to the liar. God will come through for you. Do not give up and turn back to your old life, or end it. Learn to recognize the voice of the liar and mute him. When you have thoughts of failure, defeat, loneliness, depression, poverty and such, you can be sure that is from the liar. Push these thoughts aside and hang onto God another day.
  
  Prayer: Father, strengthen me. Teach me to lean on You and never give up hope. Touch my life with Your presence and help me always see the light through the darkness, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.