“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examines the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-10
Today’s definition of love is so vague, that a person can look at another person and just like that they are in love. They’re soul mates! If one smells good, looks good, or feels good that can all quickly adds up to LOVE. Lust has become the hidden motivating factor for love now more than ever. The devil is using narcissism, lesbianism, homosexuality, fornication, adulatory, masturbation, deception, lying, gas lighting, manipulation and love bombing as new age weapons of warfare to deceive both the young and the old alike. The world has glamorized marriage, dating and sex. It no longer resembles the plan that God had originally designed for mankind in the Bible.
In today’s world how can you tell if you really know a person? The heart is so wicked no man can know it, but God. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” 2 Corinthians 10:4. Today you can be married to a person and not really know them, even after more than twenty years of marriage. For some even longer than that. Each new year reveals something different. In some relationships it might reveal something new and wonderful and in others something dark and sinister.
We must put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the devils schemes, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the breast plate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Take the helmet of Salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:11-17.
Without the spirit of discernment, our eyes can’t be open to the hidden traps of Satan. One of his primary traps come through deceptive relationships. Remember your enemy is subtle, he knows how to wait for the right moment to strike and he knows when and who to use against us to do it. Galatians 5:7 says “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth.” We must be vigilant! Our adversary, the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking who he can devour.” 1 Peter 5:8. We must test the spirits!
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for 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 of God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and is now in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:1-6.
We must enter all relationships with extreme caution! What looks like one thing can easily be something else. The enemy knows God’s plan for His children (Jeremiah 29:11) and he will move mountains to sabotage your destiny if given the chance. We must not entangle ourselves with unbeliever’s then think we will get them to change. According to 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Baelish? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement does the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God has said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their god, and they shall be my people. Therefore, go away from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Remember “whoever walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20.