Are You Being Deceived? 4 Ways To Guard Against Deception

Are you being deceived? It’s a valid question to ask yourself. With so many voices and opinions wanting your attention, it can be challenging for anyone to sort truth from fiction.

In the last days the Bible tells us many will be deceived.

Are you one of them?

Throughout the Scriptures, we are warned against the dangers of deception- not only in the end times but our day-to-day lives.

If you think about it, guarding against deception in our every day lives is what ultimately prepares us to do so in the end times. It’s not something most of us think about every day, but we should give it attention, or it will sneak up on us and overtake us without our even knowing it.

The very definition of deception means that those who are deceived do not know they are deceived. So, it’s vital that we, as believers, are on guard against this trap from the enemy and diligently seek after the truth found in God’s Word.

Four Ways To Guard Against Deception To Keep You Strong, Free And Living In The Truth

1. Knowing The Definition Of Deception

One thing you need right off is this: anyone can be subject to deception. No one is immune.

In fact, thinking you can’t be deceived means you already are.

The first step to understanding what deception is, is to understand what it’s not.

When we do something wrong – and we know it’s wrong – that’s not deception. That’s making a poor choice. The only deception is that this idea will have no consequences to what we are doing.

True deception goes much deeper. It comes when you get swept away by the wrong idea, but you’ve become convinced that it is truth.

In 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Timothy said, “For a time is coming when will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will for teacher who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

“Itching ears” are those that only want to be told whet they want to hear. They want the message of God restyled to fir the times and the flow of society. This leads to mixing truth and falsehood until the accurate picture of Christ and Christianity is no longer present.

That’s the definition of deception – being swept away into believing as truth what you didn’t believe previously. That’s what happened in the Garden of Eden.

The nature of deception is a work of fear that begins with questioning . Adam and Eve believed what God said about the tree of knowledge of good and evil until another voice came along and told them they should question that truth. Then, they started to lean away from the truth through their own questioning, Is that what He really said? Is He trying to keep something from us?

Instead of going back to the source, they let questioning lead them away. That’s deception.

2. Prepare Ahead Of Time

Knowing how easily we can be swept away into deception. Paul strongly warned us to “take heed” in 1 Timothy 4:16.

To take heed means to beware, perceive and consider carefully. This means we need to prepare ahead of time to judge those things that present themselves as truth. And we should be able to decent quickly and accurately, using the knowledge we have built up.

Guarding Against Deception Is Proactive

Don’t wait until something comes up to try and figure out if it is truth or deception. Be ready for it.

How do you get ready?

You spend regular time in the Word of God. And don’t let the input of society outweigh the input of God’s Word in your life. Your time praying and fellowshipping with the Lord is the greatest preparation for stand on a firm foundation in the last days.

When some new thought comes along – like homosexuality or gender identity – you won’t be swept away by the ever-changing norms. You’ll stand firm in the light of the truth you already know.

If you analyze something with your own thoughts and opinions, you are setting yourself up for deception. As a believer, we have our own measuring stick- another foundation on which ti base our perceptions.” That measuring stick is God’s Word.

There will be greater and greater challenges at the end of the age, and the Bible tells us that large numbers of people in the Body of Christ will be led astray (Luke 21:8). That warning is not meant to scare you, but to help you. When we prepare ahead of time to control the Devil’s tactics, we are guarding against deception.

3. Compare Everything To The Word Of God

Whatever an idea, philosophy or doctrine is presented, you never have to wonder it it’s true. All you have to do is compare everything to the Word of God, and you will have your answer – that’s how to guard against deception.

There are plenty of people out there who are willing and able to cause deceit – especially when it helps them to justify their wrong and sinful living. Causing deceit means pressuring Som to accept as truth or valid, something that is not true.

We see that a lot of it these days.

The Bible has a huge number or prophecy that has come true, if you look at history and compare what has happened in the world I think you’ll be amazed.

There are those who want to believe it is acceptable to the Lord when they choose to vote for people who go against God’s word. How can killing innocent children accountable to God? How is homosexuality acceptable to God? when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for the exact same reasons. That’s deception!

Deception also disregards God’s law of sowing and reaping. To be deceived is to think you can plant apple seeds and harvest pears, to believe you can plant seeds of hate and reap life and love, or that you can plant seed of anger and reap peace.

Galatians 6:7 says “God will not be mocked, whatever a man sows, he will also reap. You can not sow one thing and get another.

I often look at the COVID deception. Many lies we were told – “We are all going to die,” “stay away from people you love,” “ get the vaccine and everything will be back to normal.” This virus that was no were than the flu that goes around every year. Spread fear and deception across the world. To deceive the people into doing what they are told to do by man.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For He will deliver you rom the snare of the Fowler, and from the deadly pestilence (diseases). He will cover you with His feathers. Under His wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand May fake at your right side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place. For He will put His angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the Lion and the serpent. You will trample the young Lion and the serpent underfoot. ‘Because He has set His live on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set hon on high, because he has known my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.

Psalm 91

When you compare everything to the Word of God, you will guard against deception.

4. Live By Faith

Finally to guard against deception, you’ve got to live by faith. That’s what will keep you out of deception.

There will always be challenges in the world. Even if you have faith, we must face them head on. One thing is different for believers in Christ. We know the truth. Don’t be deceived into thinking that anything less than victory I’d God’s will for you.

The world will tell you to expect defeat, failure, sickness, disease, broken relationships, and financial trouble. But if you walk by faith and believe the greatest book of prophecy ever written (The Bible). You will be guarded from deception.

Certainty And Doubt -The Power Of Both

Certainly and Doubt they both hold great power when it comes to certain things. Some people never ask themselves, “which one is a better motivator?” They both have their benefits but which is truly better? Let’s take time to pull the argument apart and see for ourselves which one.

I strongly believe that certainly has more power than doubt, but our brains are hardwired for doubt. Our faith in anything has to be a certainty. In Isaiah 41:10 it says if you doubt in your heart nothing will go right with you, but if you have certainty in God your plans will prosper.

Sometimes doubt can be a good thing when it comes to things outside our personal beliefs. If we have too much certainty and we try to do something and fail it comes with really feeling bad about ourselves. For example: if I’m out of shape and think I can enter a 5 miles marathon and come out in the top 3 places, my certainty is going to fail me. As little doubt is good for our moral compass to, it keeps us grounded.

If you’re wondering which is a better motivator it’s neither. They have to be put together or its worthless, excluding the grounds of faith. Don’t be too certain have a little doubt so if you fail your task won’t be too surprising.

The honest truth is you can’t have one or the other. It has to be all or none. They both have equal power and should be used together not separately. If they are not their potential is pointless. Doubt makes us fearful, but if we combine doubt and certainty great things are sure to happen.

Replace Bad Habits With Good Habits

We all have bad habits, and we know how these bad habits affect our daily lives. One thing is for sure, we can’t get rid of bad habits without adding good habits in there place.

Our brain understands that if it sees a trigger and it does the corresponding habit, it will get the reward. One example is: if you have coffee and donuts for breakfast, every morning when you get your coffee your brain understands you will then get a donut. Over time that’s what it wants – the reward (the donut). Sometimes the brain even skips the trigger (coffee) and just goes for the reward. What we can do is change out the habit to something more effective that still gives us the reward. Say having your morning coffee with a slice of raisin bread or a Greek yogurt.

That habit will still be there, but it’s changed.

Bad Habits And Psychology

Let me tell you a story about an old man with dementia and a history of alcoholism. He’s in his late 70’s and he can’t do much. He can barely stand on his own, but every morning he shaves his beard – a habit so deeply rooted during his years in the military, that he could not give it up, no matter how old or sick he was.

He can’t do much and his memory is short, but his brain still always remembers one thing: “If it’s morning, I have to grab my electric razor and shave me beard.”

He still has that habit because habits corn in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia, which is one of the oldest structures in the brain. It’s near the center of the skull, just where your spinal cord is entering your brain. When that man was old and his brain was damaged from disease and alcohol, that habit stayed there because that part of his brain stayed intact.

A lot of people start to lose their memory when they incur brain damage in their prefrontal cortex and other sides. But the part where habits develop lies deep in the brain and is very hard to damage. That’s why habits are so powerful; you need to understand what effect they can have in your life.

So how do we make sure we have good habits in this protected area of our brain? Well, we can replace bad habits we don’t want with good habits we do want.

Look at a habit you have but don’t like and think of something similar but more positive that you’d like to be doing instead. For example; that coffee like with a donut every morning. That habit can be swapped out with something else sweet but more desirable like a slice of raisin bread.

If your habit it smoking, that involves a lot of psychological stuff like breathing in and out. Instead of smoking try eating a Twizzlers. Some people become gum chewers – it’s much healthier to chew gum all dat that smoke three hours a day.

It’s good to find something that is similar to your habit but is more productive.

You also want to find something that still provides some kind of reward. This is where creativity comes in. You might have to think a little bit about this, but that’s what’s really going to lay the foundation for you to become a super successful person in the future.

By thinking about this now so that it can become a habit, it can become concrete in the future, and then you won’t have to think about it. Instead of mindlessly reaching for that donut or that smoke, you will mindlessly reach for that raisin bread or chewing gum, which is a lot better.

Discover What Bad Habits You Have

Another thing about habits is that a lot of times they’re also distracting, which means they keep you mindless. So you may not even realize you have a habit. A great suggestion is to ask someone in your house hold or some friends, “Hey listen, be honest with me, I’m trying to be a better person. If I have any habits that have ever offended you, or even something I need to change, tell me, I need to know.” Find someone who will be honest with you. I have friends and family members who wouldn’t bring stuff up that they probably should.

So how do we change the bad habits into something else – something better?

We all have triggers, which might be going outside to have a smoke, or heading to the refrigerator when we’re anxious or stressed. Fill in the blanks with your own triggers for bad habits.

Whenever a trigger happens, you need to be conscious and change the action. Mine is raiding the kitchen for sweets when I get bored or stressed. my action would be to take a hot bath or shower, playing with my dog. When ever action that you enjoy at the moment.

It might be taking some deep breathes, listening to some music, drinking a glass of water, stretching, chewing gum or cleaning out your desk.

Maybe your habit is you spend to much time checking out social media and that’s a habit that you want to get rid of. Whenever you feel the urge to get on those accounts, think about what the trigger of your situation is – maybe you’re just around friends and they’re not talking about something really interesting.

Write that down as a trigger. That’s the trigger that make you want to get on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter or whatever site that you want to check.

Most triggers from bad habits is the dopamine we get from it. Dopamine is compound present in the as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of the other substances including epinephrine.

Change The Response To Triggers

If you know that the trigger is a uninteresting conversation, instead of mindlessly checking your phone, or smoking or any doing any habit because your bored. Try to spice up the conversation, distract yourself.

It you feel like something is triggering a bad habit, replace it with something that jumps up your adrenaline (depending on the case and situation), like going for a walk, going hiking, or swimming. Something that gets your heart beating 160 beats a minute.

Just something that gets your heart racing. It will distract you from your bad habit triggers.

Here Are A Few Tips

1. Surround yourself with like-minded people who have similar habits.

For example, one of the reasons people smoke is simply because their friends smoke, it peer pressure (even if your 50+). We become the sun of the five people that we spend the most time around.

If your constantly around people who smoke, drink, do drugs, eat. That habit will be instilled in you. That same as if your constantly around people who workout, or hike all the time. Who do you need to start hanging around with?

If you want to get rid of bad habits start hanging around people who would almost look down on you for that habit and be like, “Hey you need to change that if you want to Hanford around with us.” That should motivate you.

2. Remove triggers and anything that you think will lead to an eventual bad habit.

You need to find those, understand what causes them, and get rid of them.

3. Change your environment.

Some people require a mental shift to open their mind to change their habits. Research actually shows if your kitchen is clean people are less likely overeat during snack times.

Have you ever been on a vacation and just get a wild idea? Sometimes you get these wild ideas simply because you’re outside of your usual environment, so you brain is going, “look at all this new data, look at all this new information, look at… What can we do with that?”

When we change or habits and environment s our brains come up with new ways to overcome problems and it will find new solutions, so getting into a new environment with new people and new experiences will help you break out of a bad habit more quickly.

How Long Does It Take To Create A Habit?

Many people day it takes 21 days to create a habit. Most of the reason they say that is because your motivation goes away around those days, so you remain with just the discipline and a formed habit to do it anyway.

Som if you make a New Year’s resolution on January 1st to do things like going to the gym or stopping a bad habit you have to go 21 days to create a habit. If you’ve made it that far why don’t you just go and do it until it becomes discipline and it’s concrete.

Decide to made a change today and you’re mind is your helping hand. If you say the change is happening today then you can and will start developing it instantly.

Of course, it’s good to take repetition. You need to do something over and over and over again For some it will take 21 days for other 67 days, the point is not to stop.

We need to persevere until we get the discipline. After that, the habit is formed and the task gets easier and easier.

Tell yourself right now – today I’m going to make a change. Kick your bad habits, continue to work at it and make it a lifestyle decision.

Be careful not to program you mind with the number of days.

When some people go on diets they may say, “I’ll start tomorrow”- but tomorrow never comes. Or they’ll say “ I’m going on this diet for 30 days and then I’ll begin eating normally. Then after the 30-days they gain all the weight back. After 30-days of different eating habits who go back to the same old eating habits.

You have to understand that when you want to create a habit, you have to say “This habit is for the rest of my life.” “Not just 21 or 30 days. It has to start now and continue until you die.

Every day from now on, thinking, “I’m going to use this habit to make myself better.”

Every Day!

Do Actions Really Speak Louder Than Words?

When someone tells you they’ll do something do you believe? Only to realize their words weren’t aligned with their actions. Words are cheap if you don’t back them up be actions. Our faith in others comes from whether they do what they say they will.

It’s what inside of us that comes out of us. Our behavior flows out of our hearts. And we have the power over what is inside of us. We have a choice in what we say and do.

The phrase “actions speak louder than words” has a rich history. But is it true? Do actions really speak louder than words?

The answer is both yes and no. To find out why we need to look at the history of the proverb, and what really matters to God.

The Origin Of This Phrase

This proverb dates back to the 1550’s. It began with different wording and has changed throughout time. A French writer named Michel de Montaigne said “Saying is one thing and doing is another.”

Over a century later (1668), a Englishman names J. Pym wrote a variation. That said, “A word spoken in season is like an Apple of Gold set in Pictures of Silver, and action are more precious that words.”

In 1735 A.M. Davis penned another variation saying, “Actions speak louder than words and are more to be regarded.”

Mark Twain (1835-1910) has his own version as well, He put it like this: “Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”

All these forms of the proverb illustrate a stark difference between words and action, giving weight to actions.

What The Bible Says

The Bible has much to say about actions and words. In Matthew 21, Jesus uses a story to illustrate how actions speak louder than words.

Jesus’s his story is about to sons whose father told them to go and work in his vineyard. Once said no, he would not go. The other said yes. However the one who said no change his mind and went to work, the one who had said yes, did not go. Jesus and the story with a question, “which of the two did the will of his father?”

The son who said yes but did not follow through failed to love and honor his father. The Apostle John put it this way: “ my little children, let us not love with the word or with the tongue, but in deed and truth.”(1 John 3:18).

Titus delivers a stern word about actions that contradict what is said. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him“ (Titus 1:16).

This is known as hypocrisy (behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe). Hypocrisy has a smell that repels. “ your actions speak so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying” – Ralph Waldo Emerson).

James addresses this “words and actions thing” by connecting it to faith because it takes faith to obey God, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without actions is dead” (James 2:26).

When looking at these Scriptures, do you find your actions betray you at times? Of course, they will because you are human. This is where what matters to God the mold comes in.

What Matters Most To God

It may sound by what you have read so far the actions are the end all, but that isn’t true. Consider the words of Jesus regarding a certain widow’s actions and others who had the same “action.”

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watch the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people through in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put two very small copper coins, worthy only of a few cents. Calling his disciples to him Jesus said, “truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all of the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty, put in everything – she at all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-44).

Both gave offerings but instead of the action being the focus, Jesus saw him through the widow’s heart, “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Paul instruct us to swing into the Lord and everything we do and say, “And whatever you do, and work or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” ( Colossians 3:17).

John reveals the heart of the matter I would love being in a person.

If someone has enough money to live well and see if his brother or sister in need but shows no compassion – how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children , let’s not merely say that we love each other, let us show the truth by our actions” (1 John 3: 17-18).

Jesus said is what’s on the inside that comes out of us. This means our behavior flows out of our hearts. And he also states that we have the power over what is inside us – we have a choice.

Are Self-Righteous? Is God Against It?

The dictionary defines being self-righteous as one who convinced of their own righteousness, especially in contract with the actions and belief’s of others. Believing that your ideas and behavior are morally better than those of other people.

But what does the Bible say? Why should believers avoid Self-Righteousness. The Bible states that these people have characteristics that are usually found to believe that they are superior to most, if not all, people. People who think they are “holier than thou.”

The Bible tells us to not judge but to love. Take the plank out of our own eye before we try to take the speck out of our brother or sisters eye.

To fully understand what the Bible tells us about self-righteousness, we need to look at a few examples of self-righteous people from the Bible and how it ultimately led them away from God and His will.

King Solomon

Although the wisdom of Solomon was world-renowned, Solomon had a downfall. He had too many wives, many who were from other countries and therefore had their own gods and demanded proper worship from Solomon. This ultimately went against God’s commands. In 1 Kings 11, we see this at its full extent:

“The Lord did not want the Israelites to worship foreign gods, so he had warned them not to marry anyone who was not from Israel… As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn’t like his father David,who had worshipped only the Lord God. Solomon also worshipped Astarte the goddess of Ammon. Solomon’s father had obeyed the Lord with all His heart, but Solomon disobeyed and did what the Lord hated. Solomon hilt shrines on a hill east of Jerusalem to worship Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. In fact he built a shrine for each of his foreign wives, so all of them could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.”

Solomon

Jonah

The second example is the Prophet Jonah. Jonah was at the top of his game as Israel’s prophet. But when God called him to the unthinkable, Jonah thought he could run and hide from the Creator of the Universe.

Even after everything he went through, with the whale, he was surprised that the Ninevites repented and turned to the Lord. He has so upset that God did not spite such a wicked people, that God showed them mercy and grace.

In the account of Jonah, God told him to go the the great city of Nineveh and speak out against it. God told Jonah that He was aware of how wicked it’s people were, but Jonah set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. In Joppa he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the crew just to get away from the Lord.

Sanhedrin

These were The who gave false evidence against Jesus because they were too proud to accept that they had faults and not representing the Lord as they were called, this account is seen in Matthew 26:57-67.

The Pharisees

One of the most famous examples of self-righteous people were the Pharisees. Jesus always made an example of self-righteousness, and one of the most renowned parables He told was about the Pharisees told in Luke 18:10-14,

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people- robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. As he prayed this, the other man the tax collector standing at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home and was justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Peter

The last and the best example is the Apostle Peter. Who could forget Peter’s assurance to Jesus that he would never betray Him only to betray Him 3 times in a row, as stated in Luke 22:58-62.

But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still insisted, saying “Certainly this man also was with Jesus for he too is a Galilean. But Pete said, “Man I do not know what your talking about, “ and immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And thee Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said ti him, “before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

No one on earth is any better than another. No matter the color or language we speak we all bleed the same and we all have feelings, and reactions. God is the only judge. We are called to love each other. Sadly today there are many who think they are better than others because of financial status, and race. We are all born the same way, and we all will return to ash when we die.

How Do We Humble Ourselves?

James 4:19 states, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” This is the most authentic way to remember that we are not better than anyone else. We must constantly look at ourselves with humility so that we don’t think we are better than those around us. We must strive and work in prayer to see ourselves accurately as the fallen sinners we are by nature, in need of Christ our Redeemer.

We have to accept that we make mistakes and stumble. This was the mistake of Sanhedrin and Peter. They did not accept that they could stumble, and ultimately that was their downfall, but the truth is that they could indeed stumble and have faults.

We must accept that we are merely humans and need God to lead us to the path of righteousness. It is not our own mind or being that makes us holy, but only God and God alone will defend us from our sins.

God does not play favorites. Each and everyone of us is unique in the eyes of God, and that is what we should never look down on others, but instead look at ourselves and contemplate if we are worthy of God’s love.