Deceived?

Romans 8:38-39 - ...for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

The Holy Spirit. A powerful force in this world. Unseen yet still there. The third Person of the Trinity...just as much God as God the Father and God the Son. We cannot see any of these three but by faith we who are in Christ and have been filled with this same Holy Spirit upon receiving Christ know He is there...They are there.

We all know evil exists. We see it on the news daily if we watch or read about it in newspapers, magazines or online. Funny how the ruler of darkness, ruler of these principalities...AKA satan...is so evident. I suppose it has to do with his need to be noticed. Just my imagination there. His pride and arrogance got him booted out of heaven after all. It's why he's so bitter, hateful and vengeful today, determined to "get back" at God.

He is the one behind the evil powers that lurk in this world. He is fully aware his time is short and his desire is for darkness to cover the earth so people cannot see, so they stumble in this darkness, so they are blind to the approach of One who is greater than he.

Jesus WILL return, sooner than later. He's just as hard at work drawing men unto Himself. Some receive, most do not because the things in this world appear more glitzy, more tempting...more blingy...more tasteful than the things of God. This is the great deception of our enemy who IS the greatest deceiver of all time.

And it's not just physical stuff we are enamored with. The deceiver has done wonders with things like false doctrine, lust, pride-vanity-arrogance, lying, false dreams-visions-miracles, bitterness, lack of faith, which things I read about recently. I've been victim to some...like we all have. When we live with these areas in our lives we are in sin...and according to the Word of God we are dead.

Jesus came to deliver us from these deceptions. He came to remove the blinders that we might see what is true and just and give us life...THROUGH Him. And He has commanded those who follow Him to pass this same word on that others might see. Again, the deceiver does not want us to have this life. He had it, let it go to his head and was rejected in God's kingdom. God will reject those who follow in the same way.
Acts 26:18 - Jesus said: [I am Jesus...I send you...] to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.

God shared His plan of salvation. He shared His Son. He gave us His Son that we might receive Him to ourselves and obtain eternal life. The deceiver has a place already mapped out for him in the netherworld. And those who follow him will have theirs too. Jesus has gone ahead of us and prepares a place for us in Heaven. I doubt very highly the deceiver could care less where in his netherworld people reside...just that he get as many as possible there.

In Christ, thankfully, we cannot be separated from Him or the Father. We are heirs to the kingdom if we have sought the Light of the world. His light shines bright that we might see His wonders, to understand His truth, to experience His power through the gift of His Spirit which resides in us when we receive Him. His Spirit, His power, is greater than the powers of darkness...if we lay claim to that Spirit by way of Christ. Death may come to us but it's only physical and our spirit lives on forever.

In the last days it is told to us that these powers of darkness will become greater. We will wrestle
against these powers, not what we perceive to be peoples or nations. We see it happening. The work
of the enemy. Many blinded into believing his lies in all avenues of business, family, churches, government. A little leaven, so they say, leavens the whole lump. If a little leaven is in one person, imagine the amount in the world...pretty scary.
Ephesians 6:12 -  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

But there is hope. His name is Jesus. He is our Hope, if we can see past the charade of one whose plan is to deceive us. He will return to fight the adversary...and He will win. That means all who have put their faith in Him and have received His Spirit into their lives will be winners also. We all like to win. Imagine losing this war. Won't make for anything but sore, literally, losers. Burned by the loss.
John 12:31-32 - Jesus said: Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.

Romans 8:37 - Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.