Focus

Relax and clear your head. Listen for the voice of God. What is God saying to you today?

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Read

2 Peter 2:1-10a (NRSV)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment; and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on a world of the ungodly; and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment—especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.

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Reflect

How many false prophets exist in our lives? As Christians, we seek to worship the one and true Lord, but we know we fall prey to the sins of the world, to false teachers expounding on what we “need” in a society that craves instant gratification. Athletes, musicians, actors, and even preachers and teachers have led more than one flock astray by claiming to be the ideal of what we need in our lives. Technology has sneaked in and created martyrs out of entities such as Facebook, Twiter, SnapChat, Tumblr, etc. The list of misdirection that humans hold too close to their hearts could go on and on and on. It’s sometimes difficult to see these ideas as false prophets because we may agree with what they are saying. Yet, God warns us that “many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers, the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words.”

We must remember that these people teacher by word, but even more by deed. Those who teachers of the world seek to produce and develop what is in the world and of the world. Their teachings are false. Only God has the power and divine right to guide our lives. We must make room for God in our hearts and our minds, dismissing the false prophets and their arguments What we need is God’s love, God’s teachings, and God’s grace.

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Pray

Dear God, how many times have I put a false prophet before you? Allowed a false prophet to direct my thinking and my heart?. Help me to see those that are false and turn only to your word for guidance and direction. Amen.

Go with God.