08/06/2013 - TEMPTATIONS ALLOWED BY GOD

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If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,  and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3

Our journey of faith is filled with beautiful events, but sometimes we are put to the test. It is good to be prepared for such times because the Lord will allow us to be tested in order to reveal what is in our hearts (I Thessalonians 2:4). So it happened with Jesus, after all it was the Holy Spirit who led Him into the wilderness to be tempted (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1). Therefore, those who have decided not to serve him will fall into the snares of the devil.

The above-mentioned verses from Deuteronomy speak of people who are capable of saying a special word or making wonders. When we come across such individuals we feel good, but we had better be prudent and stand firm on what the Word says because they can be used by the enemy.

It does not matter what someone does in your sight, since their failures cannot weaken God’s Word and their success will not strengthen it because it does not change. Whatever the Almighty allows you to understand when reading the Bible or listening to the preaching of the Word is His voice, which you should heed. Do not change what your heart has learned from the Father for anything, because whatever is more than these is from the evil one (Matthew 5:37).

Temptation may reach the point of you being invited to go after other gods. Obviously hell will come up with less attractiveness such as doctrines that have no biblical basis, phenomena that never occurred in the days of the prophets, of the apostles and of the Lord etc. So flee from it and do not give in to the pleas of the devil, however alluring or more spiritual they might seem to be. Go through the trials with your head held up high.

Before any temptation pray, but go even further: look what is written in the Bible. God has no new biblical revelations to give us, as His Word is complete and sealed. What the Holy Spirit does today is to guide us into all truth (John 16:13a). He will tell us what He has heard from the Father, but always based on the Scriptures. Moreover, the Lord will never change what His lips uttered.

Our love for God must be exercised with all our heart and all our soul. The order, therefore, is not to hear what the false prophet says. Believing, for example, that God will make you a widow(er) for you to marry who you believe you will be happier with is to listen to Satan. You must heed and serve only God. He who does not speak according to the Law and to the Testimony has no light (Isaiah 8:20). He who truly loves the Lord will never get carried away by fads and situations that produce false success and seduce the unwary.

In Christ with Love,

R. R. Soares