Walk the plank! A pirate captain didn’t hesitate to make such an order for a disobedient or deceitful crewman. The first thing to come to that crewman’s mind? Probably “How long can I tread water?” It’s always a good idea to keep in the good graces of your captain. And never allow others to keep you from your duties.
In the end times, many will be deceived. Many will fall away because they do not have the truth in them. Fear will become a huge factor, and those who are not strong enough in their faith will easily be swayed by Satan’s tactics.
The good news is that those of us who have Jesus in our lives will not be fooled then and we should not be fooled now.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth (1 John 2:20–21 NIV).
Sometimes, we may feel like we’ve messed up and disappointed our Captain. We may feel like He’s made us walk the plank, and now we are fighting just to keep our heads above water. Perhaps that’s the case. Perhaps we believed a lie and went astray. But unlike with a pirate captain, it’s so easy to get back into our Captain’s graces. Just repent. And the next time, learn how to spot the enemy. We just need to look for the lie.
Verse 22: “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.”
It is so important to stay fresh in our faith; to stay in the Word and to keep trying to bring others to Christ. In the end, the strong in Christ shall survive. We know who we are and now we know how to spot the enemy.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother (1 John 3:9–10 NIV).
So, hold your head high in the sea of life and don’t let Satan’s pathetic tricks cause you to sink.
When you recognize the Enemy, the only water that will engulf you will be living water.
Debbie Mitchell