Have you been lured into loving someone who had anything but your best interests at heart? Did they say all the right things, making you think that they desired you and needed you in their life, but never consistently back it up with their actions? Did they only ever show you affection when they knew it was necessary to keep you "on the hook?" Some of you have been deceived in love and cannot reconcile your own feelings of love for the one who tricked you. Love trickery is one of the worst kinds of deception, because your most intimate and dearly held feelings are being manipulated. It feels like it's coming from yourself...in fact, you are completely convinced that it is coming from you, but it isn't.
You felt all the "love feelings" you've always been taught you were supposed to feel, but the only time your feelings were returned is when there was something in it for them, and you've been so injured by this confusion, you are struggling to learn that there is a very simple principle that must be applied here: love cannot come from deception.
...Just like a cherry tree can't grow from a maple seed, or like an orchid can't grow on the stalk of a dandelion. It's simply not possible. Period.
Were you deceived into loving someone? Do you still pine for that person at times, considering that the feelings you held for them were true? Are you currently being deceived in love? If you are or have been deceived in this way, you may want to revisit where your feelings are really coming from and consider altering what you think it feels like to be in love. God does not create confusion.
Remember this well: the swooning feelings you had toward this confusion-creating person can't have been real love, because they grew directly out of a deception that was craftily fashioned to pull those feelings out of you against your will.
Love is a choice, and love deception takes away the opportunity to choose. It takes control of the situation, puts you on marionette strings, and you lose yourself to it.
Think of Eve when she took that first bite of the forbidden fruit. She did not immediately feel ashamed, did she? No, she excitedly shared it with Adam. She was deceived into thinking it was harmless to eat it, and when she took that bite, it was temporary bliss. She felt powerful, as if she had taken control of her own destiny. It smelled good, it tasted good, it was beautiful to look at, and for a moment, she was pleased that the serpent had convinced her to go ahead and try it -so much so that she felt compelled to share it with her husband. She may even have, just for a moment, thought to herself, "That serpent really does care for me! I am so thankful that he got me to try that delicious fruit, and I love him for doing it!"
Think of Eve when she took that first bite of the forbidden fruit. She did not immediately feel ashamed, did she? No, she excitedly shared it with Adam. She was deceived into thinking it was harmless to eat it, and when she took that bite, it was temporary bliss. She felt powerful, as if she had taken control of her own destiny. It smelled good, it tasted good, it was beautiful to look at, and for a moment, she was pleased that the serpent had convinced her to go ahead and try it -so much so that she felt compelled to share it with her husband. She may even have, just for a moment, thought to herself, "That serpent really does care for me! I am so thankful that he got me to try that delicious fruit, and I love him for doing it!"
Do you think a feeling like that could possibly have been real love? No way, because true love is not temporary! It cannot come from deception, and it is not temporary! Eve soon discovered that she had been deceived, and any thought she may have had that the devil had her good in mind was quickly squashed.
How is it possible for such seemingly strong and lasting heartfelt emotions come from a deception? Well, that's the nature of deception. When a person is deceived, they don't know they're being deceived. Lies become the truth in the mind of a deceived person, and the love feelings that grow out of emotional trickery are just that -lies. That's what makes this kind of deception so difficult to overcome. You are not only being lied to by another person, but the lies they are feeding you cause your own emotions to become untrustworthy.
All I can say is: pray, pray, pray. Pray that you will not only be delivered from the deception of a false lover, but also from the feelings you have developed for them that are nothing more than lies themselves. What a horrible betrayal of trust, to be tricked in a way that causes your own feelings to lie to you! Pray for your emotional healing to be complete in every way. Pray that you will find the truth in every aspect of your situation. Pray that God will show you where to go for help if you need it. Sometimes we need to lean on others for the support we need, and He will bring the right person into your life who can help you to heal if you need it -a mentor, pastor, even a therapist. There will be those times when He quietly whispers truth to your heart. Don't be closed off to those moments. Pray that you will not be afraid to trust yourself and therefore become unable to notice when The Lord is speaking directly to you, because sometimes He does. Most of all, pray that He will show you what it truly is to love and be loved by another, and that He will make you truly ready for it by releasing you from old feelings that cannot be trusted.
Ephesians 5:6 "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." 1 John 3:7 "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;"
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