1. Know that God wants all people to get on the path of life “to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4)
2. Satan is your enemy trying to keep you off the path or get you off the path, so he can steal, kill and destroy God’s plan for your life (John 10:10)
3. God not only wants you to get on the path but has provided tools for you to be able to get on the path (Psalm 119:105)
God is Good, Good is Not Always God
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12
Who God is and everything He does is good. However, not everything that seems good is from God. Satan knows this, and even uses it to try to get us off the path. When Eve was in the garden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she was not tempted by the evil side. She was tempted from the good side! Genesis 3:6-7 says, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Eve saw that the tree was good, pleasant, and desirable. Satan tempted Jesus the same way in Matthew 4:8-9. “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Satan was tempting Jesus with “glorious” kingdoms of the world that were created by God. He uses things that appear good and will even transform himself into an angel of light and his minions into ministers of righteousness to get us off the path (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
To not be deceived, we must make sure our reference point for what is good is the Word of God and what He has revealed to us through the Holy Spirit. The problem arises when people relate their definition of good to their circumstances. For example, say you get offered a new job making twice the salary you are now. In reference to your current financial state, this “seems” good. However, if God has not told you to change jobs (John 16:13), it is actually an evil trap of the enemy masked to appear good. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” It works the opposite direction also. Say God has told you to move to the worst neighborhood in the state as shown by the crime rate. In the natural, this seems like a bad move. However, if it looks bad, smells bad, tastes bad, and feels bad, but God says it is good, then it is good.
John 3:16-17 – 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Romans 10:9-10 – 9 If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Bonus: Revelation 3:20 – Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.