“And (Goliath) drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening” (1 Samuel 17:16). Our enemy wants to defeat us in our thinking, especially in the morning and evening. 

This is part two of what I shared in last week’s blog called “Goliath’s Morning and Evening Taunts”. Click here to read it.

Good sports teams understand the schemes and tendencies of their opponents. In practices before the game, they will work on their plan to defeat these strategies so they can win the game. 

Our opponent, the devil, is a deceiver. He deceived Eve in the garden (Genesis 3) and has been seeking to deceive everyone ever since. Deception means what we believe is true is not true. And the nature of deception is we don’t know we are deceived 

Every area of our life that does not glisten with hope is under the influence of a lie (Romans 15:13), and that is an area where we are deceived. It is often in the morning and evening that our lack of hope manifests the most. In these times, our circumstances and feelings are trying to send us a message to “mix our faith with”.

“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:2). The people of the Old Testament had an opportunity to experience blessing (profit) but did not do so because they did not win the battle in their self-talk (in their thinking). 

The best defense against the lies we hear is to have a good offense of consuming truth. We are not called just to resist darkness, but we are called to turn the light on in our lives. Darkness (lies) must flee if the light is on. It is similar to how they used to train people to detect counterfeit money. Bank tellers would repeatedly look at the real bills as their plan to see deceptive bills. They were not trained by studying counterfeit money. As they repeatedly looked at the real, the counterfeit would be spotted easily. 

In the same way with our beliefs, as we consistently “look at” the truth concerning God’s nature, our identity as a new creation, and the benefits of the cross and resurrection, we will detect lies in our thinking more easily. 

“Steve, what practically can we do to look at truth and win the battle in our thinking, especially in the morning and evening? Here are some things that help me:

1. Go to sleep with His presence and word - This could be listening to worship music, recorded declarations, or audio Bible. We can also meditate on scripture passages as we are going to sleep. 
2. Feast on audiobooks and podcasts - This keeps us in a forward-moving and growth mindset which makes us more resistant to just playing defense in fighting lies. 
3. Declarations in the morning and evening - We cannot think a lie when speaking the truth. “Faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17). Here are a couple of powerful lists of declarations you can use. 
4. Defeat feelings of guilt - There is legitimate guilt and false guilt we all face. If there is something we need to make right with God or people, our inner victory will be increased as we do so. But we also need to resist false guilt caused by the devil’s condemnation of us that we are not perfect. 
5. Celebrate your wins - Take time to reflect on how much you have grown and the right things you have done. 
6. Evaluate non-hope-filled emotions - What are the lies creating this? What needs to be believed to have hope?
7. Limit exposure to negative media and negative people - If we mix our faith with what they are saying, then it will not only not profit us, but it will hurt us. 

“If you abide in my word, you are My disciples indeed; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).

My prayer over you today is that you will be increasingly intentional in abiding in what Jesus is saying (especially in the morning and evening). As you do, you will not only overcome deception, but you will also experience great freedom in your emotions and in your life.