It is so much more than just a lie. Deception is trickery wrapped around a lie. To deceive is the goal of deception. You take the lie and add a little truth to it then use trickery to make it believable. That is when the person that it is used on begins to believe the lie and becomes deceived.

Deception is the main weapon that Satan utilizes. His trickery is to tell you what YOU desire, what your sinful flesh wants to hear by adding a little truth to it. He may use your past sins, your failures, your faults, your addictions, your grudges or any combination of these. Once he has your attention then he continues to lay on more and more of the lies until you believe them over God’s truth.

It is what Satan used when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Each temptation was accompanied by a piece of scripture as the trickery to try to make his lies more believable. But Jesus saw right through them all and quoted scripture back at him as His reply.

The Parable of the Lost Son… please read Luke 15:11-30. The younger son had decided to believe the lies that Satan had been whispering in his ear. The lies of having to follow his dad’s rules. Doing whatever his dad told him. Not able to just enjoy life and live as he wanted. To be treated as he thought he should be treated. He was tired of being held accountable to his father. The deception had done its job!

After he left he went and did as he pleased, partied, drank and squandered all the wealth that he had. Once the money was gone so was his friends and bought companions. Soon he found himself in need so to survive he took a job feeding pigs. His hunger was so bad that he soon began to eat the slop he fed the pigs. This is where the deception and all the lies had finally taken him. All sin is tied to arrogance and pride getting you to believe that you don’t need anyone, not even God.

He realized that he should go back home in the hopes that his father would be willing to take him back as one of the servants. For he new that his father treated the servants good and they ate better than he did. His greatest fear was that his dad would not take him back at all.

But what the son didn’t expect was what his father did next. Upon seeing his younger son returning home he ran to him, hugged him and kissed him. The son told his father that he had sinned against heaven and him and wasn’t worthy to be called his son. But his father wanted to throw him a welcome home party instead. That is how God loves you! He doesn’t hold your mistakes and bad decisions against you but loves you in spite of them.

Satan’s plans are to use deception to get you to believe the lies so that he can pull you away from God’s Word and His truth. For he can try to separate you from God’s truth with his deceptions but Satan can NEVER separate you from God’s LOVE!