Real Vs. Counterfeit

Hi standers! It's Monday once again. Here's another devotional written by David from North Carolina. Read on and stay encouraged!

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One of the great tricks of the enemy is his ability to offer a counterfeit version of many things that God offers us. Satan offers adulterous and sexually immoral relationships as counterfeits of God’s design of a one-flesh marriage for life. Satan gets others focused on their self-righteous moral lives as a counterfeit way to be right with God. Satan offers counterfeit solutions to addiction and bondage that don’t require us to confess sin or repent. Let the message we hear today be loud and clear: Satan’s counterfeits do not please God, and God will stand up for the holiness of His Name. We never know when (for some it is sooner rather than later), but make no mistake that God will expose counterfeits and sin.

Jonah disobeyed God and ran away from God’s calling, and yet he apparently could find rest sleeping in the ship he was on (sailing away from Ninevah, where God told him to go).

"Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep." Jonah 1:4-5

It is amazing that Jonah was able to find rest in his rebellion. To many of us, it may appear that our prodigals are comfortable and "at rest" in their rebellion, but read the remainder of Jonah if you do not know how God dealt with his sin (Jonah is 4 short chapters). The counterfeit rest our prodigal may be experiencing right now will end. Continue to pray for your prodigal and all prodigals that God would move in their lives to wake them from their sinful slumber. For Jonah, it took a mighty storm and even that was not enough, for Jonah simply asked to be tossed into the sea rather than repent. God had to get his attention the hard way. On the other hand, Jesus offers rest that is free for the taking.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!'" Matthew 8:23-25

Notice, Jesus sleeping on the boat during the storm was nothing like Jonah sleeping on the boat during the storm. The storm for Jonah was caused by the LORD to bring Jonah to repentance. The storm while Jesus was sleeping was allowed to increase the faith of the disciples. Jesus rebuked the wind and waves, it was calm, and the disciples learned an important lesson: even with storms raging in our lives, we are safe if we are in Jesus’ boat. If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, please do not wait in giving your life to Him and getting in "His boat."

"...Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:1b-2

It is so comforting to me to know that though Satan may try to counterfeit what God does, but God decides where the limit is. If we go back in Exodus, we see that many of the miraculous signs that God performed through Moses and Aaron in the presence of Pharaoh were able to be counterfeited by Pharaoh’s magicians (i.e., counterfeited by Satan). But after a few plagues, God decided to end the counterfeits (starting with the plague of gnats in Exodus 8).

"...All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not..." Exodus 8:17-18

Even when brokenness finally hits home as it does at some point for all believers (and it will for our prodigals, so don’t stop praying!), Satan offers a counterfeit version of brokenness, called "worldly sorrow" in the Bible, which does not produce the repentance that God demands.

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."  2 Corinthians 7:10

Please pray for your prodigal, and pray for prodigals around the world, that he/she would have a life-changing touch by the Holy Spirit this very day. Repentance will surely follow when the Lord touches the heart.