Visits from Satan: The Act of Denial: The Act of Lying to Ourselves

Eph 4:22-25 January 9, 2017

In my walk as a Christian I have discovered deliverance is an on-going experience. As human beings we are resistant to change because it brings the anxiety of being in unfamiliar territory. As a result, most Christians resist when the Lord tries to deliver us from an emotion or feeling we are at home with. When these things are destructive we may even deny their existence in an effort to keep them hidden or to resist a change the Lord wants us to make. In resisting, we often deny these characteristics to the Lord, to others, and often to ourselves. We may become so good at it that we can mask our true feelings on the surface and appear as though everything is just fine. But in our spirit, in the depths of our soul we can’t hide it. This problem may fester and eat at us until it is compounded and will not be resolved until we have a crisis.

Don’t resist Jesus’ gentle urging when he wants to deliver us from something undesirable. It may be familiar or comfortable in the short run but in the long run it will only hinder us and bind us up. This action could block us from receiving all the gifts God has to offer us. Obedience to Jesus is desirable and saves us a lot of pain down the road. Deliverance is never easy, but it is easier when we take Jesus’ word the first time instead of waiting for a crisis to occur. Denial does not protect us from the truth, it only keeps us lying to ourselves and ultimately in the dark. A few Scriptures:

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.” Eph. 4:22-25

“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?“ Heb. 12:5-7

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Heb. 12:11