Day 2: Springs without water
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping (2 Peter 2:1-3).
Our Father and our faithful God, we have the assurance that God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19).
You speak truth to us even when the message is difficult, or uncomfortable, or dire. Yet You do so in love, pointing us to the doors of grace that bring us into Your shelter. And so through the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter warned the early believers—and us—of false teachers who will infiltrate Your church with destructive heresies and fabricated stories.
Even from the early days of Your nation there were...false prophets among the people. You forewarned us that false teachers would continue to appear during the church age.
Today, we see an explosion in the numbers of these false teachers with all the characteristics the Scriptures describe: depraved conduct, greed, exploitation, manipulation, enticement, and appeal to the lustful desires of the flesh. They indeed bring the way of truth into disrepute (2 Peter 2:1-3, 18).
Father, we are all vulnerable, we are all subject to attack. You have warned us in Your word, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12). On our own we cannot stand, for we are no match for the rulers… the authorities… the powers of this dark world and … the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).
But You have instructed us to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. You have instructed us to put on the full armor of God, so that [we] can take [our] stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:10-17). His schemes reach deep into the church, not only in overt ways through these obvious false teachers, but also in heresies and subtle errors that creep into our prayers, our doctrines, our philosophies, our expressions.
You have instructed us to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people (Ephesians 6:18). And You have assured us that we are more than conquerors through [God] who loved us (Romans 8:37).
Help us to stand, O Lord, praying always, with our armor securely in place. Help us to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. Give us great wisdom and discernment. Give us diligence to study to and apply Your word (2 Timothy 2:15 -NKJV).
Deliver us from evil—from ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15) who are like springs without water and mists driven by a storm (2 Peter 2:17). Help us to stand firm (endure) to the end (Matthew 24:13).
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