So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”     John 8:31 HCSB

Jesus is talking to Jews who had believed Him. How did He know they believed in Him? Because God sees our hearts. He knows what’s in our hearts. We can’t lie to God. We can’t hide our sin from God.

In John 8:44, Jesus is speaking to those who don’t believe He is the Messiah. He tells them if God was their father, they would love Him. And then he says some pretty harsh words. He said, “You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.

There are a number of lies the devil likes to use on us. One is that God is so loving, He would never punish us for our sin. That’s a lie. We do serve a loving, merciful God. God will give us opportunities to repent and get out of our sin, but He will not overlook it. If we refuse and reject Him, we will suffer the consequences. Don’t believe that lie. If you sin, you will be judged. We serve a God of justice.

The devil also likes to tell us our sin is no big deal. Another lie is, “everyone does it” or “everyone is doing it”. We do live in a sin filled world and many are sinning, but does this mean you should do it? Go back and look at what Jesus said in our Scripture passage for today. If we continue in His word we are really or truly His disciples. If we continue in His word, we will know the truth. The truth will set us free.

When we fall for the devil’s lies, we are in bondage to him. We can’t be true believers in Jesus Christ and be in bondage to the devil. We have to choose one. If we truly love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind as Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 22:37, we want to obey His word.

Hearing and reading Jesus’ words are wonderful, but it does no good if we don’t do as he tells us to do. We are told in James 1:22 that we must be doers of the word and not hearers only. James goes on to say we deceive ourselves when we hear God’s word, but don’t do God’s word.

As I look around me in this world today, I believe there are a lot of us who are believing the devil’s lies. I know I did for many years. There are several topics I want to discuss, and I will do so this week.

I believe one of the biggest mistakes we make as Christians is falling for the devil’s lies. The devil is a liar. Jesus Himself said the devil was a liar and the father of liars. If we believe the devil’s lies, we are children of the devil and not children of God. I don’t know about you, but I want to be in God’s family.

If you are believing any of the many lies the devil likes to tell us, you are in bondage to sin. When we are in bondage to sin, we are right where the devil wants us.

If we believe the truth of God and His word, we can break free and remain free from the devil. When we experience the freedom found in God’s word, we are free indeed.

You must choose today. What will it be? Will you be in bondage to the devil and his lies, or will you experience the freedom you can only get from being a blood bought, believing, child of God? The choice is yours, choose wisely.

Have a great day!