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"Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer." (John Bunyan)

"Prayerlessness" is an enormously powerful principle. If you don't apply this principle in your life, it truly is an open door to deception.

In Luke 22:40, we have the account of Jesus and His disciples in the garden of Gethsemene: "When he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation." Jesus repeats this warning in Verse 46: "Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."

Twice Jesus warns His disciples that a failure to pray could lead to temptation. Satan, of course, is the tempter. Remember, James 1:13 says: "Let no man say when he is tempted. I am tempted, tested, or tried of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." Satan cannot draw you into temptation unless he can deceive you. He can't force you into temptation. He has to deceive you into choosing to enter in by your own free will. Since you won't fall prey to temptation without deception, I believe we can safely and accurately insert the word deception into Luke 22:46, thus rendering it: "Rise and pray, lest you enter into deception."

The principle being presented here is this: Prayer has the power to close the door on every form of deception Satan tries to promote in your life. When Jesus walked this earth, He revealed the truth. He preached the Word to multitudes, and on many occasions He further explained it to His inner circle. After His ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit in His place to do the very same thing for us.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13), and as Jesus said, "He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26) If you are lacking truth in some area or don't understand a certain passage of Scripture, the Holy Spirit's ministry is to bring the Word of God to your remembrance or reveal the meaning of Scriptures you don't understand. Prayer is the way you receive revelation of the truth -truth by which you recognize deception and choose not to enter into it. In fact, this is the way you can close the door to all deception in your life. Satan will see to it that tests, trials, and temptations come, but the proper application of the power of prayer in your life will keep you from being deceived.

Exactly how do you pray for this revelation knowledge? We find part of the answer to that question in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8: "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." The word mystery here means something that is initially hidden from your natural or intellectual understanding.

There are a lot of things about God's plan for your life that He keeps a mystery for the same reason He kept Christ's resurrection a mystery: If Satan and his crowd knew all of God's plans for you, they would know where to concentrate their efforts in trying to stop it from unfolding.

The Holy Spirit has been given to you to reveal the things God has for you. These are the things that await you in God's plan for your life here on earth. When you are born again you become a temple of the Holy Spirit, but you are not automatically filled with the Holy Spirit the moment you become a temple. That is the role of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It results in a complete "embracing" of all the fullness of the Spirit.

If you are one of the many Christians who have been taught that you receive all of the Holy Spirit you are ever going to get the moment you are born again, please keep your heart open as I show you a couple of Scriptures from the book of Acts. In Acts 19:2, Paul approaches a group of new Christians in Ephesus and asks them an interesting question: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" What's their answer? Look at Verse 3: "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." And a few verses later we read: "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied." (Acts 19:6)

Acts, Chapter 8 also demonstrates quite clearly that there is more of the Holy Spirit available to you after you are born again: "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized and born again. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized and born again; in the Name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost." (Acts 8:5,12,14-17)

Either directly or indirectly, every scriptural mention of the baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanies a reference to speaking in other tongues. Tongues are clearly the evidence that proves you have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Bible says that Jesus is the One who baptizes in the Holy Ghost and fire and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Matt. 3:11; Heb. 13:8). That means if Jesus baptized in the Holy Spirit yesterday, then He is still doing it today. And He will be doing it tomorrow.

Here is what I want to make sure you see from all of these Scriptures we have examined: the key to avoiding deception is walking in revealed truth - and the level of revealed truth you walk in is a function of having the fullness of the Holy Spirit's operating in your life. His ministry is to reveal to you the things God has prepared for you. You can't know them without Him because they are a mystery to your natural mind. First Corinthians 14:2 confirms what I am telling you: "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries."

According to the Bible, when you pray in tongues you speak mysteries to God that are hidden from your natural understanding. One of those mysteries is God's plan and purpose for your life. When you pray in tongues, you may very well be talking to God about the things He has prepared for you. In the Spirit you can unravel that mystery and gain understanding of those things. But if you can't understand what I you're speaking, how do you know the plan? First Corinthians 14:13 holds your answer: "Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret." Your understanding doesn't have to be unfruitful. God is not trying to keep His will a secret from you but from the forces of darkness that would otherwise pose obstacles to that plan. God wants to reveal His plan to you. If you will just ask for the interpretation when you pray in tongues, He can reveal it to you without revealing it to the enemy.

Now, if all this sounds more than just a little strange to you, 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells why you might not be able to make much sense of it: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The only way these things will make any sense to you is for the Spirit of God to reveal them to you. For that to occur, the Bible says you need to be one of those who possess the baptism of the Holy Spirit in all its fullness. Then as you pray in tongues believing you will interpret, things will become clear to you. The Spirit will give you a revelation of truth in your life, and that is your greatest defense against deception.

Source: Doorways to Deception by Mac Hammond.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers

Author Biography

Mac Hammond
Web site: Mac Hammond
 
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
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