PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 13:14-23
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear… so be on your guard.” (Mark 13:22-23)
Jesus is talking about a specific time – AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the temple.
He uses hyperbole – “never to be equaled again” (19) to stress how bad it will be.
But history shows us many, many times where such deception and devastation took place.
In these times false messiahs and prophets show up to deceive Jesus’s followers.
These messiahs and prophets do great things, performing signs and wonders.
They hold up bibles and claim to speak for and serve God, and are hailed as heroes.
And many people including christians, have been deceived, thinking they were on God’s side.
This warning from Jesus is to me, that I be sure I am not being deceived.
And the thing about being deceived is that we don’t know when it is happening.
How do I be on guard, how do I protect myself from being deceived?
Keep my eyes on Jesus, and compare any prophet or messiah or teaching to Jesus.
The best way to spot a counterfeit is to know the real thing really well.
Do their words and actions bring faith, hope, love, grace, mercy and peace like Jesus?
I hear Jesus warning me to be on my guard, for false messiahs and prophets still come.
PRAYER
Lord, impress on me your character so that I may know and show it more and more, and that I may recognize false messiahs and prophets seeking to deceive me.
I know that if I ever replace my trust in God with something else – I’m down a path to desolation. My heart is Christ’s throne – that I want it to be. O Lord help me to keep all other abominations/distractions from displacing my faith in you. I see this abomination that leads to desolation as a personal challenge but also I see it in religious practice – even in our own church – there are idols of tradition, worship and practice – that distract us from true service to the King. I see it in the false security of affluence – it led Solomon down the wrong path and so it does for many today! Help me to be a wise steward – not an owner of all that you entrust to my care and use!
Jesus is the answer. Open my eyes Lord. Open my ears Lord. It is only in Your power that I am free. May I always fix my eyes on You in all I say and do. Lead me and guide me by Your Spirit so that I will walk in Your way, Your SonShine, following the Master.
When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way;
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.