10 Aug August 9th Weekly Devotional
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1
Paul writing his first letter of record to Timothy. These are those who are once in the faith, and they will fall away. They will give heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Specifically there in Ephesus, they were being influenced heaveily by Greek culture. The temple of the goddess Diana was there.
We don’t have the temple of Diana here, but Satan uses anything he can get his hands on to tempt us and draw us away from the truth. He can use our own minds against us to where we make anything and everything right in our own mind, and even give ourselves the false hope that our own hearts are right with God, but in reality they are far from it.
Jesus would say in Matthew 15:14, speaking of the hypocrites, the Pharisees, They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into the ditch…..Their hearts are far from Me. They honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are lost.
We are CONSTANTLY at spiritual war with Satan. He is CONSTANTLY trying to get us.
One of the most COMMON things that Satan will use against us is COMPLACENCY. There are some, on the outside, who appear to be as righteous as Zacharias, but on the inside, are as complacent as a member of the church at Laodicea.
We may be the most DEDICATED church goer that anyone knows, but be separated in spirit from the Lord.
Some church congregations may have a false hope, believing they are in the spirit and truth, but the reality is, they are spiritually weak.
It is a scary thing to be a church who believes they are righteous. (For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9)
The apostle John would write down what Jesus told him of the seven churches of Asia, and in Rev. 3:14-18, he writes, “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Sometimes we get so used to going through the motions, that we become blind to what is really going on, and we must, from time to time, step back and take a good long look at ourselves. Sometimes we have to take those rose colored glasses off, step all the way out, and look at things from the outside before we realize, what is truly going on.
Are we deceived? Are we hearers only, and not doers? (James 1:22)
The Laodiceans were complacent. They were doing the right things. They felt “rich”, but were far from it. They felt they didn’t need anything, specifically, spiritual exhortation, edification. “We are doing just fine” they may have even said of themselves.
They could not see that they were blind, naked, poor, pitiful, wretched, disappointing to Christ. They were lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, so He would spew them out.
He who has ears to hear, let them hear. Has your faith become complacent? Has the congregation of the Lord’s church where you attend become complacent? I can help.
So on a busy Saturday, let’s each examine ourselves, and see where we are at. I love you.
