All the devil must do is tell a lie with one simple, crafted question, and the question he will ask is the one you’re afraid of. That’s it. Then you, like Job, will say, “The thing I feared most has come upon me” (see Job 3:25). The church even has a cute acronym for this fear: False Evidence Appearing Real. Even though we know this, we fall for it all the time.
In Genesis 37, when Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery, his brothers need a cover story. They don’t want to lie to their father outright, so instead they create a crime scene and set up a wild beast as the culprit. They take Joseph’s coat, dip it in the blood of an innocent animal, the scapegoat, and rip it to shreds. When they arrive at home, they hand the bloodied, torn coat to their father: “Is this your son’s coat?” And with that question, Jacob crumbles. He immediately concludes that Joseph has been torn to bits by a wild animal and is dead.
Friends, the devil will do this to you every time. He is the king of fake news. He will lie by way of a question. He will show you his so-called evidence. With just one question, he has fed you a fake news story with the worst possible outcome. You look at the evidence and immediately conclude that all is lost, but it was a lie. None of the evidence was real. So how do we stop from falling prey to this tactic?
Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” The reason the enemy can so easily knock us down is we are living by our natural senses. Simply put, we’re living by the flesh. But as Christians, we are to live according to the Spirit. “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). When you need to know what the facts are, you must turn to the Spirit of God.
The truth was that though Joseph’s brothers sold him, God was setting in motion a great plan of salvation and redemption. What looked to be a horrific tragedy and end to a dream was, in fact, the very opposite. So Joseph’s brothers lived with the guilt and shame of what they had done for the next 22 years, and their father Jacob mourned away his days for nothing. He lived in sorrow for fake news.
Saints, 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us that we are not ignorant of the devil’s devices. We know how he operates. Let’s get busy advancing the kingdom. We must be taking territory right now. There is a famine of truth, and we have the answers. Like Joseph, we are to be taking our places of authority and setting the strategies for deliverance and prosperity in these last days.
Let me encourage you today. At the moment you see “evidence,” stop. Instead of jumping to conclusions, ask the Father what you’re looking at. Get heaven’s perspective and walk by faith. The victory will be ours! {eoa}
Jaime Luce is an author, blogger, podcaster, speaker and monthly contributor to Charisma Magazine. She attended The Kings University in Southlake, Texas, with studies in biblical and theological studies. Her constant endeavor in every mode of communication is to encourage and strengthen the body of Christ through the power of God’s Word. Her website is jaimeluce.com. You can reach her by email at [email protected].
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