The Lie That Gives Power to Our Sin

6 Days

Day 5

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Do you trust God?

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. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:14-17

If yesterday we paddled downstream to see the repercussions of our actions, today we’re learning to look upstream and check out the source of the deception that leads us to destruction. Once we see this falsehood for what it really is, then we can turn towards God’s truth in our lives. So, what is the lie that gives our sin so much power in our lives? Let’s paddle upstream and uncover it together.

Summary

The way to fight temptation is to look downstream at the destruction, and to look upstream at the deception.

The nature of the deception is to attempt to convince us that every good and perfect gift is not from above, coming from our Father. The lie that gives power to our sins is that God is not a good dad that will take care of us.

Every behavior is undergirded by our belief. Our beliefs give strength, power, and stability to our behaviors. Analyze what you really believe about God and yourself. Addiction at it’s root is an intimacy disorder—not believing that anyone cares about you or will accept you.

One of the best ways to fight the battle is to believe that you have a Father in heaven that loves you. When you believe that He loves you, you believe that He is good. And that even in pain, you will be humbled. When you rest in the love of God, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and His grace.

The devil convinces you that your God doesn’t care about you, so you go to other places for comfort. He starts with distrust. To make sin look attractive, he makes God look ugly.

When you rest in the love of God, you will keep yourself from going to many deceptive streams to find relief.

What's next?

Draw the battle line at the lie and go to war there. Choose truth today, and bring those lies to your Heavenly Father. You may not know the scripture that immediately counters them, and that's ok because you can always ask a trusted mentor, search for them here on Passion Equip or elsewhere. The important thing is that when you find the truth to replace the lie with, you place it on a sticky note, mirror, or phone background so that daily you can breathe in the Word of God, and speak it against the lies of the enemy. Let's start by asking some hard questions:

What is the deception that’s leading me to temptation and destruction?
Write out the lies that are giving energy to this addictive behavior in your life that you want to seize.

Scripture References

31Jesus answered them,

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

47For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

“ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

48When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

5If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.

17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.