I’d like to bring before you a question we should all ponder: Why do people who have received so much from the Lord fail Him? God can bring a person out of darkness into the Gospel light, deliver them from all their sins and give them eternal life. The miracle of salvation is the greatest gift there is. God delivers people from alcoholism, drug abuse and many other sins. He breaks their bondages and sets them free.

So what causes a person who has received the great gift of salvation to eventually turn their back on God? There can be many reasons, but each one begins with deceit; and that is anything that is false or misrepresents the truth.

When Jesus lived on Earth, He told the Pharisees that the devil was their father because they were full of deceit. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it (John 8:44). There’s no truth in deceit.

Jesus also said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). Only the Gospel truth can set you free; so if you turn your back on that truth, you will become deceived and end up failing God. The Pharisees thought they were full of truth; but when truth was standing right in front of them, they didn’t recognize it. People are the same way today. The Word of God is full of truth, but so many people don’t recognize it because they would rather embrace deceit.

Never Leave the Word

Paul wrote to Timothy, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (II Timothy 4:2-4). That time is now.

Many people leave the truth in the Word of God because they are drawn away by their own lusts. They no longer desire the same things God desires, and they actually become offended by the truth. They would rather listen to fables than the pure truth of God’s Word.

How can you protect yourself from being drawn away by the devil’s deceit?—by letting the Word be your safety. Whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe (Proverbs 29:25).

Beware of Deceit

James pointed out, If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain (James 1:26). There’s that word “deceive” again. When a person is deceived, they will believe that something false is truth, even though at one time they knew it was false.

The Bible teaches, The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). You must live free from sin to make it to Heaven, but many people have turned away from those Bible truths; and they are accepting doctrines that teach “once saved, always saved” and “everyone sins a little.” Why would anyone do that? The Bible says, But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:14,15).

The Devil Seduced Eve

Again I say, deceit is the root cause of why so many people fail God. The devil began using deception in the very beginning of the human race with Adam and Eve. When they were in the Garden of Eden, they heard all that God spoke to them; but they were not doers of His words. They were drawn away by their own lusts and were deceived, and they failed God.

When you start to lust after things of the world, seducing spirits can come in and deceive you. Their goal is to convince you that false is truth and truth is false. Eve lusted after forbidden fruit because she thought it would make her wise like God. Eve knew the truth, but the seducing spirit in the serpent convinced her that what God had told her wasn’t true.

Seducing spirits can work through people just like they worked through that serpent in the Garden. A person who is full of deceit can sound so sincere and believable, and part of what they are saying may be true; but that truth is also mixed with false.

If you are being drawn away from the truth of the Gospel, and you question whether or not a person can really live free from sin, then seducing spirits are working on you. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (II Timothy 3:13). If you are following someone who is deceived, you will become deceived.

Resist the Devil with the Word

Paul told Timothy, Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned (II Timothy 3:14). In other words, be a doer of the Word and let the Word be your safety. The Word of God is not a storybook for your entertainment; it is a study book to help you grow in the Lord. How deep is your knowledge in the Word? How quickly are you able to use a scripture to counteract the thoughts the devil brings to your mind? The Bible tells you that the Word is to be your sword; but if you are not skilled in using that sword, the devil will have a chance to deceive you.

Your survival in this final hour is going to depend on how much time you spend in the Word. The Spirit of the Antichrist is getting greater and greater, and you can see the end-time signs all around. There is so much deceit in this world that you must be very careful of what and who you listen to, or you can easily be swept away.

God’s Prophecies Are True

There is a story in I Kings 13 about a man of God who was sent by the Lord to speak judgment on King Jeroboam. The king had sinned against God by setting up two golden calves and encouraging the children of Israel to worship them and commit idolatry. Because of that, God was angry with King Jeroboam; so He sent the man of God to deliver a message of judgment to the king.

The man of God obeyed the Lord’s instructions; and he spoke to King Jeroboam about the altar he had made saying, Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out (I Kings 13:3). When the King heard those words, he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him [the man of God]. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him (I Kings 13:4). Then the king watched as that altar was rent and the ashes were poured out just as the man of God had said they would be.

When a message comes from God, it will come to pass. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good (Numbers 23:19)?

The devil will try to make you doubt that the prophecies of God are true because they have not yet all come to pass, but God’s timing is not our timing. Just because something has not yet happened doesn’t mean that it won’t. Look how long it took for the prophecy of the Messiah to be fulfilled. Also, it’s been almost 2000 years since the Lord promised He would return for His Bride on Rapture Day, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.

Never Disobey God

The King changed when his hand dried up; and instead of trying to lay hold on the man of God, he asked him if he would pray for him. Suddenly, he was seeking God for a miracle for his hand, and the Lord restored it.

After receiving that miracle, the king invited the man of God home with him so he could give him a reward; but the man of God told him, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest (I Kings 13:8,9). God had given the man of God strict instructions to follow; and he was obeying them, even though the king had given him a special invitation.

When the man of God left the king to return home, an old prophet of Bethal followed him. He found the man of God sitting under an oak tree, and he asked him to go home with him to eat bread. The man of God told him, It was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest (I Kings 13:17).

That old prophet was full of deceit; and he said, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he [the old prophet] lied unto him (I Kings 13:18).

The man of God should have answered, “I don’t care who you are or what angel spoke to you. I received those words from the Lord, and I’m going to obey them.” But he didn’t do that. He listened to the deceit of that old prophet and went home with him rather than holding fast to the words of God.

That man of God had passed up an invitation to eat with a king and receive a reward, but he listened to an old, lying prophet; and God was not happy. The Bible then tells us, And when he [the man of God] was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him (I Kings 13:24). How sad.

The Word in Action

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). The devil is your adversary, and he is seeking night and day to deceive you and cause you to fail God. The man of God lost his life because he listened to someone he thought he could trust, and you must not let that happen to you.

Paul warned the Galatians, But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8). You must let the Word of God be your safety. Be alert, and don’t let the devil deceive you in this final hour.

You will not be deceived when you are a doer of the Word. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22). You must put the Word of God into action in your life. If you think you can be a Christian only on Sundays and then go out and do your own thing the rest of the week, the devil has deceived you.

You can’t expect to be fully equipped if you listen to the Word of God only when you are at church. The Bible says, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15). If you don’t study the Word and put it into action in your life, you will not be ready for the trials and tribulations that will come your way.

Use the Word

Jesus is our example. The Bible says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Jesus was full of grace and truth. He came to Earth in a human body to show us the way, and He spoke nothing but the truth.

When you study the Word and put it into action, you can use it to defeat the devil just like Jesus did. After Jesus had ended forty days of fasting in the wilderness, the devil came to tempt Him and get Him to fail God; but Jesus was able to resist the devil’s attacks because He used the Word on him saying, It is written (Matthew 4:4,7,10).

If you had just ended a long fast, and the devil came to tempt you, would you have enough of the Word in your heart and mind to fight him off? Jesus was physically weak from not eating, but He was spiritually strong because He was full of the Word of God; and He was putting that Word into action.

You have to be steadfast and unmovable in obeying the Word of God. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (I Corinthians 15:58). You can’t depend on the word of people; you have to depend on the Word of God.

The devil can use people to misdirect you and cause you to lose focus on something that is not truth. If you are not rooted and grounded in the Word of God, you will give the devil opportunities to tempt you and cause you to fail.

Get Rid of Hurt Feelings

Everyone gets hurt at one time or another; it’s a part of life. In those situations, you must have a firm foundation built on the rock, Jesus Christ. Then you will know how to counteract those hurt feelings with the Word of God. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:29-32).

When someone does something that hurts your feelings, the best thing to do is immediately forgive that person, even if they are not seeking forgiveness. If you don’t put that situation under the blood and move on, you risk having that hurt turn into bitterness. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled (Hebrews 12:14,15).

The devil loves to cause conflict within the body of Christ. He knows that if he can plant seeds of bitterness in your heart, you won’t be full of God’s love; and you won’t love lost souls. That’s why it is so important to have a strong foundation when the devil sends the storms of life and conflicts your way. Then you can overcome them with the Word of God.

A Foolish or a Wise Builder?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about the importance of yielding to the Lord’s Word. One example He used was of a wise builder and a foolish builder. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it (Matthew 7:24-27).

Every good builder knows that you must build upon a strong foundation, or the structure won’t be stable. Only a fool would try to build on the sand, so are you a wise or a foolish builder in this final hour? If you aren’t putting the Word of God into action in your life, you have built upon the sand; and when the storms of life come your way, you will fall. That is why Jesus must be your rock and your foundation. Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation (Psalm 89:26).

The foolish man had the same opportunity to build upon the rock as the wise man did, but he failed. Maybe he wanted to do things his own way and not put forth the time and effort needed to lay a proper foundation. Maybe he was trying to take shortcuts. Many people don’t want to spend the time with the Lord needed to build a strong foundation and have a good relationship with Him.

The Parable of the Sower

When you hear or read the Word of God, do you let it sink into your heart and mind; or does it go in one ear and out the other? In Matthew 13, Jesus told a parable about a sower planting seed. In that parable, the seed represents the Word of God; and Jesus described the different types of ground those seeds landed on and what happened to them.

Some of the seed was sown by the wayside; and Jesus explained, When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side (Matthew 13:19). When the wicked one snatches the Word from your heart, it doesn’t have time to germinate, take root and grow before he takes it.

Some of the seed fell on stony places; and Jesus said, But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended (Matthew 13:20,21). When you are not rooted and grounded in the Word, you will not be able to stand when tribulations come.

Some seed landed among thorns. Jesus said, He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful (Matthew 13:22).

Finally, Jesus described the results of the seed that was sown into good ground. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Matthew 13:23).

Examine the Soil of Your Soul

The different people Jesus described in that parable each heard the same Word of God, but they didn’t all receive it the same way because of the condition of the soil of their soul. How can you make sure you are one who has good ground and understands the Word? The Bible has the answer: Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:3-5).

Jesus said, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6). You can’t seek for the things of God only halfheartedly in this last hour. You must first make sure you have good ground in your soul. Then you have to study the Word, let it sink in and allow the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of it from the knowledge of God.

The first three people in the parable of the sower failed God because the Word was not rooted and grounded in their heart. Friend, if you have become an unfruitful Christian, then somewhere along the way, you have let the devil’s weeds spring up in your heart and choke out the Word. The Psalmist said, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalm 119:11). If you keep the Word hidden in your heart, your heart will stay fertile; and the fruits of the Spirit will be brought forth abundantly.

Have the Love of God

Child of God, if you are not in the habit of studying the Word, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Let me encourage you to start in I Corinthians chapter 13. That is known as the love chapter, and divine love is the foundation of your salvation.

God gave the plan of redemption because of His great love for humanity. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). In I Corinthians 13:2, it says that without charity, meaning love, we are nothing.

When you come to Calvary, you become a new creature in Christ. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17). You receive a new heart that is full of God’s love; and that love is so important that Jesus said, Love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34,35).

Friend, does the world know you are one of Christ’s disciples? Can they see His love in you? Can they see that you have the love of Jesus for your brothers and sisters in Christ as well as for lost souls? People have been failing God since Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden because they don’t love the Lord with their whole heart, soul and mind as the Bible says we should. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment (Mark 12:30).

Don’t Be a Demas

Demas was a young man who worked with the great Apostle Paul to help spread the Gospel message. Demas knew firsthand the many sacrifices Paul made and the determination he had to reach lost souls. Demas got to hear Paul preach the Word; and he no doubt was able to see the Word being manifested as God poured out signs, wonders and miracles. I’m sure Demas saw people’s lives being changed when they received deliverance from all their bondages.

Demas was blessed with a great opportunity, and many of us would have loved to work with Paul as Demas did. Philemon 1:24 tells us Paul thought so much of Demas that he called him a fellow laborer, so it is heartbreaking to read in the letter Paul wrote to Timothy that Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world (II Timothy 4:10).

Demas didn’t just forsake Paul; he turned his back on Jesus and failed God because he had more love for the world than he did for Jesus. Think how Paul must have felt when he watched Demas leave to go back into the world. Think how Jesus must have felt knowing that Demas had allowed the devil to deceive him.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed many people who are like Demas. At one time, they were on fire for the Lord; but now, they are out in the night doing their own thing. They made their choice, but it was the wrong choice. You can’t afford to make that same mistake.

Again I ask, why do so many people fail God? It’s because the deceit of Lucifer and his lies become louder to them than God’s truth, and you must never allow that to happen to you. Keep your heart and mind stayed on the Word of God and go deeper than you ever have before. The Bible says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3).

Receive Salvation and a Miracle

Friend, if you think no one can live free from sin, you are deceived. The Bible says, For sin shall not have dominion over you (Romans 6:14). Don’t be a Demas and turn back because the hour is too late.

This world is getting darker every day, and the only thing that matters is souls. God is counting on you to help win them. You must live in the Word every day and put it into action in your life.

Friend, if you don’t have Jesus Christ in your heart, you can have His love fill your heart today by praying with me. Say, Oh, God, save my soul. Forgive me for my sins. I’ve come home to serve you the rest of my life. I believe the blood of Jesus Christ washes away all of my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus. Come on in, Jesus. Amen. If you meant that prayer, you have Jesus in your heart.

Now, let’s get your miracle for you. Raise your hand in faith and believe that God will heal you. It’s all according to the Word of God. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (Psalm 107:20).

Lord, Heavenly Father, you know what the needs of these people are. Break their bondages today and set them free in the blood name of Jesus. Heal them in the holy, blood name of Jesus Christ, I pray, and let everything come to normal in their bodies. Heal! in the holy, blood name of Jesus. Amen.

Friend, look for every sign of improvement and give God the praise, the honor and the glory for the miracle that is being bestowed upon you today. Glorify Jesus and thank Him for all He is doing in your life.