Just as combat challenges troops around the globe in physical attacks, Satan launches his own attacks in the spiritual realm at the personal level. With the battle for our minds at stake, he makes every effort to render us ineffective in living for the Lord. On many fronts, he uses deception to disguise his ploys. One of those deceptions is mentioned in James 1 and 2.
"Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like". (James 1: 22-24)
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder." (James 2: 14, 18-19)
Satan wants our minds to be sterile and numb; idle and brain dead, we might say. God, on the other hand, has called us to dive deep into His word and not just listen to what is says or simply say we believe in this or that. There is nothing hidden from our Father in heaven, for He knows all of our ways. He longs for us to search out His heart through the Word and then respond with an action of our own. The Holy Spirit will reciprocate a willing heart ready to respond to what the word says. Let us commit to reading the Bible consistently to seek God's direction. Is there anything the Holy Spirit has been nudging us to do in response today?
