The Powers behind DECEPTION and TEMPTATION (Part 1)

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.  James 1:13-15 NIV

 

The power behind deception is imagination.

The power behind temptation is emotion.

American Christians think spiritual warfare is primarily about the intellect.  Information.  Logic.  Reason.

But think about it.

What convinces you to believe or do anything?

Emotion!

Passion!

Of course, the emotion must be founded on convincing truth (or a convincing lie believed to be true), but what moves people is an intense emotion aroused in the imagination.  When we are deceived, we believe what we IMAGINE!  We believe our PASSION!

When we are tempted, the challenge is to resist believing that what we are imagining or feeling is true.  Because if we know anything, we know what we are feeling.  We know that what we imagine, if it happened, it would either be wonderful or terrible.

Therefore, in every deception and temptation, if they are effective, they trigger intense emotions in our imaginations. 

Movies that move us do so in these very ways.  So do books, blogs, texts, or people!

Because of this, we should shift our focus in resisting Satan and demons in this way:

We should not just focus on truth intellectually, but the Spirit’s power behind the truth that He reveals to us.  We should seek the Spirit’s conviction behind the revelation.  And we should seek to live and speak in such a way as to bring deep conviction to conscience, compelling pictures to the imagination, and deep passion for God in the emotions, bringing motivation to God centered actions!