Deception-Proof?

When I came to pray today I was struggling to know how to pray, other than for a friend who needed prayer support. And as I asked why I wasn’t hearing much, I felt led to my journal from Wednesday – and came to realise God was waiting for me to release what He had showed me then, before I could go further. I am so grateful for Him making it clear when to share here! So here it is…

Overnight I had had a dream. I don’t remember much of it other than I woke up with the words ringing urgently in my ears “lest even the elect be deceived”. I heard it as a warning to pray into, and I woke up several times through the night feeling the urgency of those words each time. So when I came to pray in the morning the first thing I did was look up the verse it referred to…

Matthew 24:24 – “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and they will provide great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect (God’s chosen ones)“

Not being able to remember the rest of the dream, I meditated on this verse for a while, and asked God what He wanted to say through it. To be honest, there was quite a lot of resistance that I had to deal with in order to hear, but praise God He is patient and faithful to help! It had been such a battle that I was not initially confident in sharing what I believe He said, so this morning’s prompt to share was just what I needed. But as always – please test this for yourselves. Having just read about false prophets, I do not want to be one! I am not infallible and we all see in part – while I believe God both spoke and called me to share, it is essential that you hear Him for yourselves too!
So – to the best of my ability, this is what I believe He said…

‘Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots – but I have called you to trust in Me. The horses and chariots of old have been replaced with the idols of understanding, feelings, and experience. But I have not called you to trust in your own understanding (science), or in your feelings (emotional senses and physical sensations), or even in the experiences you have had that seemed important. I have called you to trust ME.’

To be honest, there was so much weight and revelation in just those two sentences that I wanted to stop there and let it sink in. But God continued…

‘The reason why it is not possible to deceive My elect is because they know Me. I am the Truth, and it is very difficult to deceive one who knows the Truth as long as they keep walking in the present light of truth.
My truth is not confined to the shallow layers of head-knowledge, feelings or past experiences (though I have made sure I can be found in all of those areas). No, I dwell much higher, and to find the truth that guards against deception, you must push past those feeble altars to find Me. It is only in relationship with Me where truth can be found.
You humans with your shortcuts and instant gratifications, you look for truth as if it is something that can be received once and for all. But truth is a place of journeying that can easily be lost/ left when distracted by the twinkling lights of deception.

And I saw a picture of a tribe in the desert being led by a cloud to an oasis, but a mirage appeared with twinkling lights, drawing them to what looked like a safe city to dwell in. Once they moved there, the comfort of settling with what they ‘knew’ & felt safe with caused them to remain there while the cloud moved on to the next oasis without them – and they dried up because there was no real life there.
And God continued,

‘Truth – as My Spirit – is a cloud of glory that must be followed across wildernesses. It is not stationary, as if one movement could reach it. It is a life-long journey of being led from revelation to revelation – in relationship with Me.
My children, how My heart burns for you in the days that are to come. How My heart breaks as I see the deceptions assigned against you to lead you astray as you turn to head-knowledge, feelings and experiences to help you decide what or who to believe.
Turn to ME in humility. Cry out to Me. I long to fill you with My Spirit, My truth – but it will only be found in living relationship with Me. Lay down your idols and seek Me only with all your hearts. My Spirit is with you as you humbly seek Me above thoughts, feeling and past experiences. As you lay down what you think you know, feel, or have experienced so far, turn your hearts to My Word and seek My revelation.
I want to be known. I invite you to deeper relationship with Me. Seek Me and you shall find Me. Draw near to me and I will draw near to you. I do not lie. I call you friends – will you come closer now?

In Matt 24:24 it seems like Jesus is saying His ‘elect’ are deception-proof, even in the midst of people claiming to speak for Him & using persuasive signs and wonders to convince people… But that does not mean that all who claim to be Christians are inherently immune. Far from it – the Bible is clear that many will fall away in the last days. So it was clear from what God then said, that He wants to equip us to join the elect.
As we see darkness increasing in the culture we live in and the love of many growing cold as we get further in to the last days, it is clear that the spirit of deception is already active. No wonder Jesus told us to watch & be alert as we wait for His return. We MUST have our lamps full of oil – walking in light, full of the Spirit Who leads us to all truth while we wait. Otherwise we will fall asleep to the danger that surrounds us. And as God spoke to me about the idols of human understanding, feelings and past experiences so prevalent in our current culture it became clear that He was highlighting the doors through which deception comes to lead us astray. So we MUST be able to identify them in us and resist them if we are to be God’s deception-proof elect!

I do not believe God was saying to ignore our past experiences of Him, any more than we should try to live without understanding or feelings. That would be insane. Yes we need to know the spiritual realm as a higher reality than the temporal worldly one, but we are still created to live in the physical too – it’s good to have our minds & understanding renewed, to feel God’s love & compassion for others, and to be witnesses testifying about His faithfulness to us in times past. But I believe God is revealing that these blessings have been allowed to take over and have become idols that have negatively influenced our faith & distracted us from looking straight to Him.

If we trust in our thoughts and opinions instead of humbly asking God for His, we can easily be deceived. Rather than cling to what we have been taught or what we think is true, we must ask God to reveal HIS truth through HIS Word (both logos and rhema). Science, opinion (including pop psychology) and the traditions of doctrine can become strongholds that keep us trapped for life if we do not turn to God in humility and acknowledge that only He is the source of all revelation. We must beware of putting our trust in the news, social media or any other source. We must hold our opinions lightly. Only God knows the full truth, because He IS truth.
Similarly, if we trust in how something makes us feel, we will easily be deceived there too. A prevalent lie in our current culture is to ‘listen to your gut instinct & trust your heart’ – but Jer 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things! Of course it is good to be aware of our feelings, and God is an emotional God too – feelings are not inherently bad. But feelings are fickle and can be influenced by many factors (the pressures of life, the weather, what we’ve eaten, the media, hormones etc). So feelings can be helpful signposts but they must always be submitted to God’s higher truth.
And trusting in past experiences to guide us also leaves us vulnerable to deception. This is obvious when we think of bad experiences: eg a past history with an abusive parent will leave a person with a badly skewed perspective of relationships, including God as Father. But it’s not just the negative experiences. Even the good things that God has done in our past can become idols if we stop growing at that point. Testimonies of God’s past faithfulness may encourage us to trust Him, but we mustn’t live in the past – He wants to lead us to increasingly deeper revelation & new encounters every day. How sad if our only testimony was something God did twenty years ago. He wants to meet us daily, in new places.

So God’s elect do not trust in their own understanding, or feelings, or past experiences. Their protection against deception comes as they walk in relationship with God day-to-day, submitting all to His truth, ever led into deeper revelation. But with them it’s not a pride thing (another idol that is rampant among us). It is ONLY by leaning entirely on the Holy Spirit that we too can become deception-proof. If we ever allow ourselves to think that we have arrived, in that instant we disqualify ourselves (like those in the vision God gave above, who set up camp in the mirage when the Holy Spirit moved on). God’s elect do not even trust their own opinions of themselves, but remain humbly submitted to God, always seeking to be led by Him.

Lord, may we be deception-proof! Reveal to us where human understanding, emotions and past experiences have become idols in our lives, and help us to step free of them. And may we walk with You daily – growing in relationship and an ever-increasing knowledge of Your truth & awareness of the reality of the Spirit-realm. Amen.