“He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.”
—Psalm 23: 2-3
Last week I asked you to read something two times: I am not taken in and deceived—nor should YOU be either—due ONLY to [us] having a true Friend.
Eve was the one who was deceived, but it was Adam who sinned, which is explained in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, where we learn of Eve who was deceived by the serpent (who I prefer to refer to as the enemy). We learn how the enemy slithered in and told Eve something that was a lie. That’s when the temptation begins to take hold of her with doubt “did God really say…???”, then the lie is fed by Eve when she then adds to what God said and she goes on to say, we “can’t [even] look” at the fruit. Finally, the deception turns to temptation after she eats what is forbidden and she offers it to Adam. It’s when he eats what he’s been told not to eat that results in the sin, the fall of all mankind. So, it was Adam’s sin, through Eve being deceived.
I bring all this up to share with you what happened when I asked my Heavenly Husband and Best Friend how and why all the ex-ministers were deceived. First He reminded me of where it says, “MANY will say to me...Didn’t we” (see Matthew 7:22–23), which proves that it’s not the unbelievers but it will be the MANY Christians who honestly believed that they were doing what they deem as “good” who will be cast out. All the “good” Christians who were living the current “Christian” lifestyle will believe all they did would undoubtedly save them.
Yet, if you read what the Lord says—it instead is not about any amazing things Christians claim prove they are one of His. HE says, “I never knew you”—because He wants to know US personally—just as a man “knows” his wife—intimately.
As most of you realize soon after arriving, RMI is not a ministry focused on restoring marriages, instead, restoring marriages has always been the “net” that He chose to catch and gather all the men and women who are in pain and who are desperately in need of His love. He needs to be and must be our First Love. If a man’s first love remains his wife and it is she whom he seeks, then, as He says, He will remove his wife and/or He will remove or continue to have his wife loath him as her husband. This isn’t my opinion, but what He says in Psalms 88:8, 18.
It’s when we are in adultery, longing after anyone or anything but HIM when we move out from under the protection of the Lord of Hosts… where we can easily become deceived—a place, a position, a mindset I never want to be in. And it’s not just for my sake either. As a mother and grandmother and minister, I need to be sure that the path I take, no matter how narrow it becomes or how difficult it is to travel, it must always be with Him holding my hand. And everyone who knows me well will tell you the same thing: I live this way, every day, every moment. I honestly can’t, not just won’t, live any other way. I’d never survived.
So, then, this is when each of us can easily open ourselves up to the power of deception—whenever we stray from His love due to our unfaithfulness to Him. And yet, we can just as quickly be back and connected to him again just by calling out His name with the heart that yearns for Him. PLEASE never ever forget that. No matter what you’ve done, no matter how far you’ve strayed, He is right beside you hoping you reach out for Him.
Could you or I become deceived? Yes, each of us could easily fall into deception and without having a Best Friend who can always navigate us around or through the pitfalls of something so dangerous, it’s where we could easily remain.
So, this week ask your Friend to become your Best Friend (if you haven’t already) and then if there’s anything that you’re not at peace or excited or hopeful about, talk to Him about it so that He can set the record straight that what’s been said is not from Him.