The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 9 November 2022 – Deception About The Day

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TOPIC: Deception About The Day

READ: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (NKJV)

  1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
  2. not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
  3. Let no one deceive you by any means; for [that Day will not come] unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
  4. who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
  5. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
  6. And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
  7. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains [will do so] until He is taken out of the way.
  8. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
  9. The coming of the [lawless one] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
  10. and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
  11. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
  12. that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

THE MESSAGE:

Living in the throes of sustained persecution, believers might reasonably ask, Where is God? When will Jesus help us? The fear mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 suggests that some members of a First-Century Christian community answered these questions by saying that Jesus had already come (and perhaps somehow did not help them, because of neglect or an intent to punish them) or that ‘the Day of the Lord’ was immediately upon them. The response that 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 gives – a confusing discourse about the rebellion, mystery of lawlessness, and powerful delusion that must precede Christ’s return – may not have soothed readers’ anxieties but only redirected them. The passage suggests that conditions will worsen before they improve.

Also Read: Open Heaven 10 November 2022 – Divine Victory Over Mental Sickness

Do you hear the truth of God but continue to harden your heart? Is it possible that the more you hear the Gospel, the more your heart hardens? This is the “strong delusion” spoken of here. We are either prepared for the Lamb or for the Beast. The Gospel either melts our hearts, grabs us and permeates our living or it doesn’t; there is no middle ground! Many of us grew up in Church and have heard this over and over again. But one new thing is that we could be more fit for hell now as we grow in lawlessness in a world that is full of lawlessness. What are you being prepared for? Let us not be ignorant about what is to come! Let us heed the warnings of what is to come and not be given over to pleasure and delight and lawlessness.

PRAYER: Almighty God, help me that I may not be deceived by pleasures and lawlessness of this age, Amen.