Distractions and Deception Steer Clear of Both

21 Mar Distractions and Deception Steer Clear of Both

March 20, 2024

Distractions and Deception steer clear of both.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. 1 John 4:1 AMPC

The Bible instructs us on everything: the good and bad, mistakes made, victories won, how to do things, and more. Full of the truth and the consequences when we miss it. A few passages jerk the slack out of me each time I read them, one of which is 1 Kings 13 (read). In it, you will find the account of a young prophet who was given instructions on what to tell the king and what to do once he had delivered the message. The young prophet did everything up to a point, and then he got deceived by an old prophet and lost his life.

Distraction and Deception

A Distraction is anything that takes your attention away from something. This day and age are full of them. Our cell phones are always on and within arm’s reach. Social media, unexpected calls or visits from people, anything that reverts your focus is a distraction. Then there is Deception which is the intentional causing of someone to accept something as valid, which is false or untrue. The young prophet in our story experiences both, so look at these scriptures. I Kings 13:14-18

14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. (Distraction) 15 “Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.” Just say no! Reviewing the instruction from God can sometimes serve as a reminder or a warning.

18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. Satan is the master of Deception, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation.” 12:9

I believe that this old prophet was a false prophet or one who had fallen from Grace with God, and that’s why God hadn’t used him to speak to the king. In jealousy/being used by the devil, he set up the young prophet. There have been times in many of our lives when we believed a misguided person just because they were an adult or a person of authority, which is what I think the young prophet saw in the old prophet, but God is the higher authority.

Obedience is better than sacrifice. 

Hearing and obeying is the highest level of the anointing. 1 Samuel 15 tells how King Saul was rejected as king for disobedience. “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22. As for the young prophet, verses 23-24 tell us what happens, “So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse.” I told you it would jerk the slack out and remind us of the importance of obedience. Thank God for scripture passages like this that can help us today.

Stay Focused

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2. Undoubtedly, the young prophet in the natural was hungry, and God, as I’m writing this now, shows him/us what the temptation in this assignment would be: food and drink. 

Prayer

Father God, in the name of Jesus, help us beware when someone tells/asks us to deviate from your instructions. or we are asked to do something morally or spiritually wrong. Help us to always stay focus and remember the first instructions received from you Father God are the ones we keep. Lord Jesus steer us clear of Distractions and Deception in every shape, form and fashion they may come to us. Amen! 💕

Theresa Woodard