The counterfeits. What is a counterfeit? A fraudulent imitation of something else; a forgery. It is a "knock-off." A distraction. A replicate of something else. Sham. Lookalike. Substitute. Fake. Dummy. Mock-up. Falsify. Copy. Imitation. Tease. Feign. Likeness.
The Lord tugged at my heartstrings one day and had me evaluate all the counterfeits the enemy had used to detour me from my purpose and revealed my knowledge of the truth. God's truth. So many times, we could avoid such pain; if only, we knew and was aware of the schemes the devil uses to distract us and lead us astray.
If you do not think there are evil forces trying to take you out of this world and destroy your life, you are naive. If you choose to turn a blind eye and not evaluate the sin(s) that so easily entangle you; you will continually fall for your vices and the counterfeits that the enemy loves to use against you. How do I know? I have lived it. I choose to turn my eyes toward Jesus every single day of my life; you know, why? I am a child of God and I have a target on my back. Without God, I will fail. I have many times when "I" took charge of my own life. The evil that exists in this world has tried to take my life and has appeared as the perfect "counterfeit" for me to dig my own grave. Basically, the devil handed me my own shovel and I started digging...until I allowed Jesus to step in.
If dabbling into harmful acts were not fun, enticing, and felt "good" there would be no war in this world of good and evil. Good cannot exist without evil. And evil cannot exist without good. And how do we know the difference? We are created in God's image. It is the enemy's job to imitate everything we "want" and what "feels good" so that we may live in sin and never come to Christ. Because Satan is the ruler of this fallen world and when we align with our fleshly desires knowingly or unknowingly, we will experience emotional, physical, or spiritual harm and a lot of times all three at once. That is when we feel the tug-of-war if you are a follower of Jesus. It is the grapple of your mind and heart.
As a woman, who can now speak openly about my own struggles, it was not easy giving up my own vices and my own counterfeits. As much as it hurt me, for a long time, the devil had me believe the lies. The lies that if it felt good, it must be good for me. The lie that alcohol is legal, so it is not harmful. The lie that recreational drug use is normal, and it is okay to participant in. The lie that casual sex does not hurt; unaware the soul ties I would have to break to live in peace. I fell for all kinds of counterfeits. ALL of them harmed me in some way or another. A lot I did not realize the damage- until much later when God had me "clean up my own house." And I was carrying weights of the imitation of love, belonging, security, and wholeness that no one or no substance would ever feel but Jesus.
2 Corinthians 2:11
"In order that Satan should not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes. so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs."
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