“Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern.” (2 Kings 18:31, ESV)

That sounds like God, doesn’t it? Only it’s not. It’s the voice of the Assyrian field commander enticing the people of Jerusalem to surrender to him. You see, all that glitters is not gold. Not every good offer that comes our way is from the LORD. Satan is the master deceiver. He has more ways than we can imagine of pulling us off the narrow path. And he has a willing partner in our own heart, for it is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). He offers peace in the way of sin. He offers satisfaction from eating his delicious fruit. He caters to our pride of ownership (you can have your own vine, your own fig tree, your own cistern). He studies us and knows what we want. And as much as we may not want him to speak to us in our own native language, he persuades us with words we understand.

But he doesn’t stop there. He also slanders the truly good influencers in our life.

“Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’” (2 Kings 18:30, ESV)

He seeks to cut off every avenue of godly help and isolate us to himself. He uses scare tactics to manipulate and separate us from our support team. He confuses us so that he can devour us.

How can we protect ourselves from his bewitching and destructive influence?

“But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, ‘Do not answer him.’” (2 Kings 18:36, NLT)

We don’t have to engage in conversation with the devil. I’ve heard it said that when the devil starts knocking, say, “Lord, it’s for you!” When dealing with the devil, Michael the archangel said, “The LORD rebuke you!” (Jude 9)

We can also quote Scripture. That’s what Jesus did when tempted by Satan. Three times He said, “It is written.” And then he simply quoted Scripture. Of course we need to know the Bible to do that!

The only sure way to keep ourselves from being deceived by smooth sounding words is to compare them to the Word of God. We must capture each thought and bring it to Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5).

“Heavenly Father, we confess that we are easily deceived. Help us be more aware when we are being tempted. Help us call on you to rebuke Satan. Help us bring each thought to your Word and to our Lord Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.”