“He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.
Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.”
Psalm 101
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
thedailylily.com 
I think it’s very sad and disconcerting when one hears about the life and character of lies and deceit that one has lived right after a funeral of high praise of their Christian beliefs and face they had shown in church and to the ones they were deceiving. It may make one pause and think on scriptures like this one. Angry may erupt in your being. Pain in your heart. Among other emotions or thoughts.
I heard it say recently that one could be a hypocrite and not know it! Not going to pretend I understand this.
I will say I just recently heard about one such as this!
When I hear new stories of heartbreak from being deceived the pain myself and others suffered a few years ago from a close church friend named Jean reappears. It has seem to me overwhelming to try and sort out deception and lies from church faces. I can surely understand why God has no use for such people. I pray for wisdom in discerning this horror. A friend told me this am it destroys the work of the church.
Thinking on deception reminds me of the verse from Matt 7:15…”They come to you disguised as sheep, but in their hearts they are vicious wolves.” A really good disguise conceals a person’s true identity. That must be why it is so difficult to distinguish. 2 Tim 3:13 calls these people imposters. The dictionary says an imposter “a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain.” That sounds like a predator which is what a wolf is.
When I was reading further up in Matt 7 it talked about the narrow gate into God’s kingdom and Life is very narrow and difficult (one translation says full of problems). It says only a few ever find it. From thinking on Psalm 101, I can better see why. The wide gate to hell makes allowances for lies and deceit.
Perhaps the saddest part deception is when one is self-deceived ; making excuses, promises to oneself to change….tomorrow….but not ever really changing. How can one who is self-deceived go to Heaven if he/she is in fact a deceiver, even if it is oneself?
“He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house”
After I read this blog yesterday, I can’t help but think on the verses in Proverbs. Proverbs 6: 16-19 (NLT) “There are six things the Lord hates–no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.”
“I can surely understand why God has no use for such people” Sara, seems you have it right.
I think this scripture pretty much covers it all; “Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.” (Joshua 1:8, NLT)
Some of us study plenty but obey little? Sounds like ‘Sadducees’to me! Meditate on something we heard from old folks like wise tales or way we did it in yonder years and forget what we just read, like the scripture on this blog. Some try the obeying without guidelines from the law. The flesh hanging like a flab when muscle is gone.
Study, meditate, obey = success! Might be worth looking into when we sees what the opposite of this success is by the guidelines from the book of law.
And look at what verse 9 says in Joshua 1: (NLT)”This is my command–be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Now that’s encouragement!
I agree with Tammy of the great encouragement from Joshua 1:9….This verse (9) gives the success from the cocktail injection of verses 7&8….”7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
John Wesley writes…”WHERE THE LOVING eye of the soul is continually fixed upon God, there can be no darkness at all.” Whoa, The great Reverend John Wesley seemly understood the Eternal Flame!
I noticed that John Wesley said ‘loving eye of the soul’…hmm, opposite of that would be hateful which is evil. So just fixing our soul eyes won’t do it, must be loving soul eyes.
“evil eye hastens after wealth”…Prov 28:22
there is also haughty eyes, seductive eyes, adulterous eyes, lustful eyes…Matt 6 speaks about evil eyes and our eyes being the window into our body…
Listening to recorded version of Ephesians this morning the verses that I have read probably 100 times in my Christian life jumped out at me. We all know them….can quote them….yah, yah, ….But it hit me like a ton of bricks. Paul was sharing secrets, tips, helps in these certain passages. These are invaluable gifts of survival and victory that Jesus Christ has revealed to us [in Ephesians]….the Church that ….well, I will speak for myself…have not regarded, or just taken for granted, etc. But the Word says to take the WHOLE counsel of God to heart.
Eph 6: 7…tells us to ”render service…readily with a willing heart to the Lord and not as to men.” GET THIS!!! “Knowing that for whatever service or good [ with good will] ANYONE does he/she will receive a reward from the Lord….”
Now, I know we all know this, but do we KNOW it? The reward comes from the Lord because of the “willing heart to do it”! This is very freeing to me. And these good works God had already prepared ahead of time for me [us] to do. These are the works that are set before us to do as unto the Lord Who prepared them for us when He wrote our names in the Book of Life…so that we will have rewards and crowns to offer at HIS feet when we see Him.
Thus the works are His, the Rewards are His and the Crowns are His and the people for whom we do the good works are HIS. HALLELUJAH PRAISE THE LORD. I have tried to write this as I GET IT in my heart.
There’s more…to be contd.
“WHERE THE LOVING eye of the soul is continually fixed upon God,”…that seems to help explain to me what “turn not from it to the right hand or to the left” means. One translation said “Don’t get off track, either left or right” and “give it everything you have, heart and soul.”
Would you say getting off track means doing things my way,? my dime,? my time?
Yes, I would agree with that.
That makes me recall an incident from my horse riding days competing in a cross country event that had a prescribed course and sequence of jumps, etc. The horse jumped flawlessly and kept to the prescribed course. But at the end of the event, the time-keeper’s clock clicked. My time was too fast resulting in a disqualification.
Yes, I would say there are severe consequences in choosing to do anything ‘my way, my dime and my time’. The consequence may not show up immediately, but it will one day.
Debi…..That was a surprise ending to your true life story. As I was reading your phrases….”flawlessly” and “kept to the prescribed course” I would have thought you and your obedient horse would win the prize. I was not aware that an entrant could be penalized ….even having gone through all the paces exactly and correctly and still be disqualified for the prize.
There’s a spiritual lesson in that, I know, as you wrote above. Could one say that you “out-ran” the clock? Or you finished before your time? Would that be good in a spiritual sense, do you think….to finish your course before the time? Just wondering as your story bro
Debi…..That was a surprise ending to your true life story. As I was reading your phrases….”flawlessly” and “kept to the prescribed course” I would have thought you and your obedient horse would win the prize. I was not aware that an entrant could be penalized ….even having gone through all the paces exactly and correctly and still be disqualified for the prize.
There’s a spiritual lesson in that, I know, as you wrote above. Could one say that you “out-ran” the clock? Or you finished before your time? Would that be good in a spiritual sense, do you think….to finish your course before the time? Just wondering as your story brought a bunch of questions to mind.
.”Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;[ not just to play act]….but I discipline my body [and mind] and bring them under strict control so that, after I have preached to [and taught] others, I myself will not be disqualified.
When I think on ‘out run the clock’, MG, I think of running ahead of God; not waiting on Him; feeling compulsed to do something and acting too quickly on that compulsion; taking matters into my own hands with consideration to God’s time clock. All of those disqualify and are not good in my opinion.