01-23-24-ENG.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 

1 John 4:1–3 

Satan tries to trip us up individually, but he also does so collectively. This is because there are consequences to living a life apart from God’s kingdom values. Satan knows that if he can get one person off-track, that person’s thoughts, words, and actions will have a negative impact on someone else. So, if Satan can’t get to you, he may seek to get to someone you love instead. That’s why we need to be prayerful for those we love on a daily basis. We need to pray for protection for them, not just physically but also for spiritual protection. For example, if one player commits a foul in a football game, the whole team is penalized. That’s just how it works. The whole team has to start over. The whole team gets what they just executed wiped from the books. The whole team suffers. 

We see this play out in Scripture at the start of recorded time when Adam sinned and the whole world fell into chaos. What’s true with Adam holds true today, too, in many ways—sin has a way of affecting much more than those in the immediate circle of the sinner. Satan knows the impact of sin and its far-reaching effects.

That’s why he is so persistent at planting seeds that seek to displace the root of truth in a person’s life. The goal of deception is to keep you away from God. The longer you believe lies, the longer you live apart from God’s abiding presence with you, as well as the divine assistance He makes available to you. 

This is because God cannot partner with or participate in a lie. Now, lies come in all shapes and sizes. Even the Antichrist will go on to perform great miracles and signs with wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:1–10). A person can be tricked with things that seem good. Have you ever heard the phrase “too good to be true”? Just because something is a miracle doesn’t mean it is from God. That’s why we are told in 1 John 4:1–3 to “test the spirits” in order to determine and discern which is from God. Just because someone or something sounds good doesn’t mean they are good or it is good. 

Satan is very clever at knowing exactly how to trip you up. He has the playbook on all of us in order to go after us according to our own personal weaknesses. The chaos in our culture today and the social calamities we face globally are due to the majority of people on this planet watering the seeds of the lies from the devil. For example, our culture believes his lies about homosexuality and gender, family structure, abortion, premarital sex, and many other things. Satan’s deception creates confusion as he seeks to redefine what it means to be a man, woman, or family; or what it means to be a certain race or ethnicity; or what it means to be popular, valuable, or significant; or even what it means to be attractive. Satan subtly erodes the fiber of our futures through redefining the content of what it means to have character. He doesn’t want you or me living according to the kingdom values of the kingdom of light. He wants you and me to embrace his kingdom values from his kingdom of darkness. And so he seeks to deceive each of us in our own unique ways, knowing that what may work for one person may not for another. 

Reaction: 
In what way has Satan had a negative impact in your life through the sins of someone else? Is there something you can do to help remind yourself to pray more consistently for the spiritual protection of your loved ones? Describe a condition in our culture today that is the result of the consequences of collective sin. 

Prayer:
Jesus, I ask that You will cover and protect my loved ones against the schemes of the devil. Open their eyes to see Your truth and to recognize the deceptive strategies of Satan. Bring people into their lives who will speak truth to them. I pray for a hedge of protection against the enemy, not only for myself but for those within my circle of influence. Keep us all from the Evil One, that we may not buy in to his deception. In Your name I pray, amen.