It was six o’clock in the morning, I made a prayer with pure in heart to entrust my spiritual devotions’ time to God and yearned for His enlightenment. I opened the Bible on the table and read Job 1:6-11, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, and Satan came also among them. And Jehovah said to Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have not You made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.”

These scriptures record one of the few conversations between Satan and God. Here it is recorded clearly what God said and what Satan said. What we can see from these scriptures is that, God’s word is concise, not roundabout. He just asked Satan directly: “From where come you?” This word was simple, not vague, not illusory but real and practical and without obscured meaning; but how about Satan’s words? How did Satan, dominated by its cunning nature, answer to God? It said: “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” From this answer, we can see Satan didn’t answer the question from God? After Satan’s answer, no one knows that where it comes from. This shows that Satan is evil and cunning in nature. Satan thought that nobody would get its tracks, without knowing that God examines the depths of people’s hearts, God knows its evil and cunning nature thoroughly. From Satan’s answer, we can see that Satan never says anything directly but has its aims and schemes. This is the symptom of Satan, and is absolutely the natural expression of Satan’s disposition.

Pondering over here, I couldn’t help thinking about: in real life, we often hear similar words like Satan’s and we can also speak such word out. Those who say these kinds of words have their deceitful and evil aims and intentions and what they want is to satisfy their personal profits. We’ll be confused and be fooled if we don’t discern these words. For example, now we are in the final era of the last days. The prophecies of the Lord Jesus’ return have already been fulfilled. All kinds of signs have shown God might have come back already and all smart virgins have started to find God’s footsteps. But some people spread everywhere that: “There will be false Christs who deceive people in the last days, so all those who say that the Lord has arrived are false.” “All of God’s word is in the Bible, departing from the Bible is heresy.” and so on. Many brothers and sisters are deceived by these words full of conspiracy without any discernment so that they dare not to investigate God’s work nor seek the footsteps of God’s work. Brothers and sisters, let’s have a think: If all those who say that the Lord has arrived are heresy, doesn’t that mean we can’t wait for His return forever? Aren’t they Satan’s lackeys by saying this? Their intention is obvious. They want to stop us from following God and being saved by God, and cast us into the hell. How vicious their hearts are! Besides, is departing from the Bible heresy? Was there the Old Testament when Jehovah created the world? Was there the New Testament when Jesus did the work of redemption? None. So what’s the root for this word “departing from the Bible is heresy”? The Holy Spirit has never testified it. So isn’t this word Satan’s lie and fallacy?

Even though Satan is vicious, as long as we differentiate better, we can see through its tricks and we won’t get deceived. So being able to discern Satan’s words is extremely helpful for us to recognize God’s voice and find out God’s footsteps. Because wherever God works, there will be Satan’s disturbance. If we can discern Satan’s voice, we’ll find out the footsteps of God’s work.

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