Building the House of Deceit

Let's conduct a little experiment. When I say a word, I want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. Ready?

Satan.

Now what was the first thing that came to your mind? I don't know exactly how you're going to tell me, but let me rattle off a couple of common things people might think of.

1. All around bad guy that God kicked out of Heaven

2. Some kind of evil entity

3. The dude who Christians are supposed to fight against (even if they don't know what that means)

None of these are wrong, but when I think of Lucifer, (another name for Satan) I think of one of his most memorable titles. That is, of course, "the father of lies."

Now, this title seems kind of strange to me. Think about it. Out of all of the horrible things that Satan could be the father of, (evil, lust, old tuna in the back of your fridge) Jesus makes it a point to list this guy as the "father of lies." (John 8:44)

Why is this? Out of all of the things that we could recognize Satan as, what makes his name as the daddy of fibs so special? I believe it is for this reason:

It's how he works best.

Let's consider this: Lucifer's been around the block a couple times. He first learned to use deceit in the garden of Eden, where he told Eve that she could become God by eating a piece of fruit. In fact, that was the first technique of temptation he ever used. I guess Satan thinks that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. In other words, it's an excellent way to get people to do what he wants.

So, over the millennia, he's found out how to use lies to work himself into the human psyche. And, if I'm gonna be honest with you, he's gotten pretty flippin' good at it. Go figure.

Now, in trying to address the way Satan lies to us, I am going to limit myself to one aspect of his lying. Since there are many kinds of deceit that I could talk about, (lies of pride, lies of hate, lies of self-worth) I am just going to address one aspect of our response to his lies:

Often we don't believe the lies of Satan, but we still walk in them.

Let me explain with a personal example. I am part of a brotherhood of believers and we all have the same objective of glorifying God and pursuing Him. In this group, we place a huge importance on the unity of the Spirit among all of us. In any instance of being angered by one another, we always try to address it and deal with it head-on. One night, as we were all hanging out and discussing different things we struggled with, I explained to the group that I was dealing pretty heavily with some lies that I wasn't the right fit for the group and that it wasn't my place.

And here's the thing: Even though I knew they were lies, I still let them affect me and fester in my mind. This led to an atmosphere of disunity that prevailed in my mind. So when I addressed them of this issue, they reminded me of the fact that we are to rebuke the lies of Satan and not let them get a foothold in our minds.

Scriptures have long been aware of this fact. Ephesians 4:25-27 says "Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil." (Emphasis added.)

So when the deceiver comes to tell you that you're not good enough, or that you're not pretty enough, or that you're a failure, or that you'll never amount to anything, do not - I repeat - DO NOT let those thoughts gain any kind of traction in your thought processes. Because once you do, he's already won. Once he can can get even just a tiny seed of non-truth planted in your mind, he's done all he needs to do, because Satan knows that we will just add more fuel to the fire with our own way of thinking through things.

Think of it this way. Satan doesn't need to build a house of deceit in your mind. He just needs to give you one small brick. Once you've got the brick, you'll add more of your own. So the next time he tries to give you a small brick of lies, take a wrecking ball to it.

In regards to dealing with the attacks of Satan and his minions, check out my post on spiritual warfare.

Give him the boot, and remind him of his defeat.

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