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TWO STORIES – ONE KIND OF LIE:

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
    [2] The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, [3] but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
    [4] "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. [5] "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
    [6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [7] Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
    [8] Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. [9] But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"
    [10] He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
    [11] And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
    [12] The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
    [13] Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
    The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
    [14] So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

    "Cursed are you above all the livestock
        and all the wild animals!
    You will crawl on your belly
        and you will eat dust
        all the days of your life.
    [15] And I will put enmity
        between you and the woman,
        and between your offspring and hers;
    he will crush your head,
        and you will strike his heel."
 
    [16] To the woman he said,

    "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
        with pain you will give birth to children.
    Your desire will be for your husband,
        and he will rule over you."
 
    [17] To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'

    "Cursed is the ground because of you;
        through painful toil you will eat of it
        all the days of your life.
    [18] It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
        and you will eat the plants of the field.
    [19] By the sweat of your brow
        you will eat your food
    until you return to the ground,
        since from it you were taken;
    for dust you are
        and to dust you will return."
 
    [20] Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
    [21] The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. [22] And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." [23] So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. [24] After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. _^[NIV]

    Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. [2] After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. [3] The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
    [4] Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
    [5] Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. [6] "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

    " 'He will command his angels concerning you,
        and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
 
    [7] Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
    [8] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. [9] "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
    [10] Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
    [11] Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. _^[NIV]

KNOW YOUR ENEMY:

   His nature is to lie – and he’s good at it!       

    You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. _^[NIV]

    Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. [4] His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. _^[NIV]

    The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. _^[NIV]

    "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. _^[NIV]

    And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. [15] It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. _^[NIV]

   His favorite weapon is the half truth.

    "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. [5] "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
    [6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. _^[NIV]

    Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. [2] After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. [3] The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
    [4] Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
    [5] Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. [6] "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

    " 'He will command his angels concerning you,
        and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
 
    [7] Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
    [8] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. _^[NIV]

    Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

    "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
        and the authority of his Christ.
    For the accuser of our brothers,
        who accuses them before our God day and night,
        has been hurled down. _^[NIV]

  His favorite lie is God can’t be trusted.

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
    [2] The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, [3] but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
    [4] "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. [5] "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
    [6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. _^[NIV]

    Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. [2] After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. [3] The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
    [4] Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
    [5] Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. [6] "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

    " 'He will command his angels concerning you,
        and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
 
    [7] Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
    [8] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. [9] "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
    [10] Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
    [11] Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. _^[NIV]

  His power is real – but limited.

    Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. [9] "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." _^[NIV]

    The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. _^[NIV]

    As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, [2] in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. [3] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. _^[NIV]

    When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
    [16] Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. _^[NIV]

TWO THINGS SATAN DOESN’T WANT YOU TO BELIEVE ABOUT GOD:

    And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. _^[NIV]

  That he exists.       

    The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, [19] since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. [20] For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
    [21] For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
    [24] Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. [25] They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
    [26] Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. [27] In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
    [28] Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. [29] They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; [31] they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32] Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. _^[NIV]

   That he rewards.

A psalm of Asaph.

    Surely God is good to Israel,
        to those who are pure in heart.
 
    [2] But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
        I had nearly lost my foothold.
    [3] For I envied the arrogant
        when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
 
    [4] They have no struggles;
        their bodies are healthy and strong.
    [5] They are free from the burdens common to man;
        they are not plagued by human ills.
    [6] Therefore pride is their necklace;
        they clothe themselves with violence.
    [7] From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
        the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
    [8] They scoff, and speak with malice;
        in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
    [9] Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
        and their tongues take possession of the earth.
    [10] Therefore their people turn to them
        and drink up waters in abundance.
    [11] They say, "How can God know?
        Does the Most High have knowledge?"
 
    [12] This is what the wicked are like--
        always carefree, they increase in wealth.
 
    [13] Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
        in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
    [14] All day long I have been plagued;
        I have been punished every morning.
 
    [15] If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
        I would have betrayed your children.
    [16] When I tried to understand all this,
        it was oppressive to me
    [17] till I entered the sanctuary of God;
        then I understood their final destiny.
 
    [18] Surely you place them on slippery ground;
        you cast them down to ruin.
    [19] How suddenly are they destroyed,
        completely swept away by terrors!
    [20] As a dream when one awakes,
        so when you arise, O Lord,
        you will despise them as fantasies.
 
    [21] When my heart was grieved
        and my spirit embittered,
    [22] I was senseless and ignorant;
        I was a brute beast before you.
 
    [23] Yet I am always with you;
        you hold me by my right hand.
    [24] You guide me with your counsel,
        and afterward you will take me into glory.
    [25] Whom have I in heaven but you?
        And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
    [26] My flesh and my heart may fail,
        but God is the strength of my heart
        and my portion forever.
 
    [27] Those who are far from you will perish;
        you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
    [28] But as for me, it is good to be near God.
        I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
        I will tell of all your deeds. _^[NIV]