There is a demonic trap of manipulation and many of us suffer from it.

                          Manipulation as the result of “purposelessness” 

Know this… anytime you don’t know your purpose or understand your purpose… nor understand what God is doing in your own life and whom you are to be… then you become vulnerable for manipulation.

Anyone can assign an agenda to you, if you don’t know your purpose and you don’t know what God is calling you to, for that moment? 

Then situations will arise and you will begin to do things on the basis of need or your own reasoning rather then the counsel or clear Word from God. 

Not being in tune with your purpose, as well as, what God is doing in your own life… then, a “good thing”, will assign it’s agenda to you, deceiving you into believing that this “good thing” is a “God thing” therefore it must be the path God would have you take.

We must also, understand that the attraction to be involved in a “good thing”, may not be spirit led at all… but rather a compelling out of our own need to be needed, or a need to be appreciated and liked by others.  In yourself, you cannot expect to fill or heal the empty places in your own life, by filling the void places in the lives of others.  You are not the answer to any problem in this world… Jesus is the only answer.   The scripture tells us that,  “It is not by might nor power, but by the Spirit of God. 

When you have not confronted your own frailties and vulnerabilities, you are not prepared for attacks in certain areas.

Because you have not addressed your own emptiness… your own emotional lack, then a “good thing” can become a spiritual attack.  

This spiritual attack remains hidden from you through two areas:  

1)  “The appearance of good”, the very thing that you are doing is a good thing… it helps others and makes you feel better about yourself…

So, the reasoning in your intellect is, this must be God, because it is such a good thing, a right thing… could even be a scriptural thing.

But, we must not make decisions based on our own reasoning, emotion and feeling.   No matter how right it feels, we must act on spiritual discernment.

In II Cor. 10, it speaks of casting down imaginations, (which is the “reasoning of the mind”), and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Now, we are not talking about doing what is “right” or “wrong”… we are talking about having the discernment to know what it right or wrong.

If you want to go North… you first, have to know which way north is.   If you want to do what God called you to do, be what He created you to be, you must first understand you purpose, what God is doing in your life so that you can be discerning of the times or way you should walk.

Without spiritual discernment, everything that comes along that appears to be good has the potential of leading you away from God and into deception.  It can open a door in your life to rob you of time, resources, and direction.

Most often, if you have a “good thing” that cannot be preformed by someone else, and you or the person needing you, feels that you are the only one who can meet this need… no one else will do but you…  then you are under the spiritual attack of demonic manipulations.

2) “Spiritual pride” … the reasoning of your own mind…

a)                  You never thought you could be deceived…

b)                 You never thought you would make wrong choices…

c)                  You never thought that your good could be spoken evil of…

d)                 You never thought a good thing would not be what God would want you to do… 

Pride is exercised in the reasoning of ones own mind… and spiritual pride… becomes the door to your deception. 

There is a spiritual attack against the body of Christ to rob you of your time, your finances, your direction and we don’t even know it.   It is disguised by the appearance of what is good and by pride that hides our own needs and emotional lack.

There is NO kingdom reward in doing a “good thing” that is not a “God thing”…  that is not spirit led. 

Your only reward is if the people involved, pat you on the back and say thank you… “well done”.

NO personal healing in doing a “good thing” that is not a “God thing”…  that is not spirit led.  

Most often, it will personally cost you time and resources… but, return no real eternal value or harvest. 

You will not hear the voice of God saying “well done my faithful servant”… but rather  “Where are you…?   What are you doing?   Who told you to do that?

These are some of the same questions that God asked Adam in the garden.  

Adam, being tempted, reasoned in his mind that it would be a good thing to eat from the forbidden tree, for it would cause him to be a better person.  

Yet, this “good thing” which was reasoned in his mind, became his deception and downfall.

The scriptures tells us  “… there is a way which seems right in mans eyes, but the end there of is destruction”. 

When Adam did what was right in his own eyes… when he did what seem to be good to him, it was not until LATER that Adam realizes that this “good thing” in his eyes, was not a God thing.  Adam then tries to hide himself in fig leaves, hide himself with something that is dead, and has no eternal value.

Then we find God having to go look for Adam… calling out to him… “Where are you?  Who told you to cover yourself?   For Adam was not where he was suppose to be, nor was he doing what he was called to do.

When this demonic manipulation takes place in your life, you will allow circumstances to dictate your actions, instead of being led by the Spirit of God.

When this happens, you can be sure of this… you are not where you should be, doing what you are suppose to be doing, no matter how good it appears and no matter how good it feels.  You are being ROBBED.

At this point, God is looking for you… calling out…  Where are you?  What are you doing?  Who told you to do that? 

But, by now, it is very difficult to hear the voice of God, because you have already opened the door to manipulation and manipulations will always breed deception.  

At this point, many will justify their actions as being led of God, because they have no ideal that they are walking in deception.

If we do not consider the potential of sins that exist within us…

If we do not let God reveal and deal with our own emotional inadequacies…

If we do not walk in spiritual discernment and pray against certain things…

We leave ourselves vulnerable to attacks of the enemy. 

We can easily be swept up into doing good works that have no eternal reward.

We will find ourselves being robbed of time, finances, resources, and even the direction of God.