(Matthew 7:28, 29; Zechariah 3: 6, 7; 2 Timothy 2:15, James 1:21-25)
Being well grounded in the word of God is the greatest antidote against devil’s deceit. Being fervent in prayer is the greatest strength we can possess. Being faithful in obeying the Lord is the best way to make Him happy. Being diligent in His service is a good gift or sacrifice we can give to the Lord. Being grateful to the Lord for his faithfulness is a good way to make Him rejoice over our lives. Being totally/ fully submissive and yielding to the rebuke, correction and leading of the Holy Spirit is to live without regret. Be personal with Jesus, He is so concerned about you, particularly! Yes beloved, you.
If we notice most of the first encounter in devil’s attack, is deceit, even in the Bible. This deceit comes in packages which makes it look like truth (please note, they only look like the truth but they are not the truth). The packages of deceit consists of lies. These lies are made of what we human refer to as full lies and half-truths but before God all these are falsehood. Sometimes, for us to let down our guard against him, the devil brings “small lies wrapped up in many truths” to us. It takes total obedience to Jesus to detect and reject these falsehoods from the devil. He is just out there trying to deceive one into doing what is wrong or half true (and half truth is falsehood by God’s standard).
Let us consider how the devil played out his scripts of deceit against some people in the Bible. May the God Holy Spirit open our inner eyes to His truth, in Jesus name.
EVE
He deceived eve by the truth she was not well grounded in.
What God told Adam is found in Genesis 2:16,17 but how Eve seemed to understand it is found in Genesis 3:2,3.
She seemed to be more concerned about the fear of judgement than the obedience of not eating the fruit. The serpent must have realized this from eve’s response to the question it posed to her. So, the serpent assured her that no such judgment and instead of judgment she would become wiser. As if this was all Eve wanted to hear, she got deceived.
What do we learn from this? We must hate sins (not sinners) outrightly but love righteousness fully.
How does this works? We should learn from the Lord not to tolerate sin at all (not sinners). Our stand against sin should be like illustration of the two sides of a coin (either up or down, and each side of the same coin never meets face to face). Due to the sinfulness in our contemporary society it will be very rare not to be near to sins as near as a side of a coin is to its opposite side. However, if this is what our society has turned to, then we must be significantly and distinctly different from them (as truth to falsehood). Our stand against sin must not be like the face of a round ball. We all know we see all sides of a round ball same way from all directions. If we choose a side of a ball and roll it over, we will not be able to recognize the one we chose because they will look the same. Please brethren, do let it be that we keep away from sin because of judgement alone while we still nurture some secret and hidden interest in it. Please, keep away from sins because of God’s judgment, your faithfulness and love to our God. Most times, we need to keep praying for a new heart and a steadfast Spirit (Psalms 51:10) to be able to hate sins (not sinners) and remain steadfast in hating it. Ultimately, our total submission to our Lord Jesus for crucifixion of the flesh on the cross helps us miraculously! The devil detects all these and those are where he tempts one from. Please, beware!
DAVID
He deceived David to take census in Israel against God’s purpose (1 Chronicles 21, Numbers 1:19).
In the book of Numbers, God commanded his prophet Moses to take census of the Israelites. This shows us that taking census is not a sin. However, the sin in David’s census was that it was done from pride and not from the will of God. The word of God showed us that David was taking census of his strength and might (hence, this is pride, devil’s tool). He was not just taking census of his nation but the devil must have packaged and presented it to David as a normal census for his nation.

JOSHUA
He stood against Joshua the high priest because he has been able to deceive him into some iniquities and unrighteousness (Zechariah 3).

JESUS
However, the devil-the deceiver met his waterloo when he came for our Lord Jesus Christ. He threw lie and half truth but the Lord used the word of God effectively against the devil, countering all his wiles. The devil quoted the truth from the scripture but our Lord Jesus Christ told him how he (devil) was wrong for applying the precious word of God wrongly.

Now, it is for us not to fear the devil-our archenemy but to fear God. Not to dwell in the valley of fear or despair but progress to the mountain of transfiguration. On the mountain of transfiguration the scripture came unbelievably true and real. But before the word can be real to us we must continue to be well grounded in it. How do we do that? Submit first to the Holy Spirit for guide on what to read and how to read. Only then will He be responsible for giving you the right and full revelation, interpretation and application of the word of God. Read the word of God to get closer to God, study it to decipher all falsehood disguised as truth, meditate on it to hear his voice spiritually audibly throughout our day-to-day activities.
There are differences among reading the word of God, studying the word of God and meditating on the word of God.
READING THE WORD OF GOD
If we only read the Bible, we will only gain more knowledge possibly without deep understanding. If our relationship with God is at this stage we would only be informed with an average scriptural knowledge. Most people are at this stage. This is like reading a newspaper. Hardly will you find someone who study the newspaper, virtually all of us read it. This is not a good stage for Christians to dwell in.
STUDYING THE WORD OF GOD
At this stage of walk with Jesus, you get understanding and knowledge , like you study in our schools. But we should not remain in this level as it only leaves us with physical gains than spiritual gains.

MEDITATING ON THE WORD OF GOD
When meditating on the word of God, the Holy Spirit takes you deeper into the word of God than reading or studying. Here, you will progress from the physical realm to the spiritual realm. Here, brethren we receive REVELATIONS and our spiritual understanding, knowledge and wisdom becomes open and active in Jesus our Lord. Here the Holy Spirit becomes the sole teachers and not seminary lecturers.

LIVING OUT THE WORD OF GOD
Here you will begin to live out the word of God. Living out the word confirms on you the authority in the word of God. There is a different level of power, authority and unction that come with living out what the word of God tells you. This is where our Lord Jesus live through us to exercise authority not like the scribes but like the only begotten Son of God. The more we can live by the word of God, the more of Jesus Christ our Lord we possess, the less of satan we have. The more we live by the word of God, the more our authority over satan and the kingdom of darkness. This is the reason the devil will not want Christian to be deeply rooted in the word of God or fervent in prayers. This type of Christian (deeply rooted in the word of God and fervent in prayer) is a threat to the devil and his kingdom.
Brethren, let us get down on our knee and cry to our Lord Jesus to make this true in our life.

Prayer Points
1) Lord Jesus, release into me the grace to operate in the realm of the authority of the word of God which the devil cannot challenge.
2) Lord, help me to live out the pure and undiluted word of God, in Jesus name.
3) Lord Jesus, where I sinks, help me as you helped Peter.
4) Lord, open my inner eyes to see the great revelations in the word of God, in Jesus name.
5) Jesus, You are the word of God, take the whole of me and use it only for Your purpose and glory.