Breaking Deceit: Ep 2: Recognizing the Serpent's Craft: Anchoring in God's Truth

0:00 Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I'm so grateful to have you joining me today. We're starting a powerful new series titled Breaking the Deceit, Walking in Spiritual Vigilance. This series is all about exposing deception, staying spiritually alert, and aligning our lives with God's truth. Today's episode is called or titled Recognizing Deception. We'll dive into how deception begins, how it impacts our lives, and how to stand firm against it by anchoring ourselves in God's word.

0:47 We can see the theme for February is deception. So to understand how deception works, we have to go back to where it all began in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3.1 says, Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? You notice that the evil one knew what God said, but began to question Eve's ability to understand what God says.

1:28 So it says, did God really say? And how often have we questioned what God says? We know what he said. We heard what he said. But when we have a little delay on being obedient, we ourselves begin to question what the word of God says. And so instead of Eve just taking a pause saying, hold up, wait a minute. This doesn't sound quite like what God says. I might have got it twisted. Let me go back with God and let me stop talking to strangers in the bushes. Hello. Let me go talk to my husband, Adam. Right. So that's what we can do as powerful Christians. We can go back to the word of God. We don't need an immediate response.

2:15 When you feel pressure, when you feel rushed, you know that's not God. So let's read this again. It says, now the serpent was more crafty. So he's been around a while. So he's very crafty. Than any of the wild animals the Lord had made. So we see that God made a note that these are kind of crafty. And so we know we have friends that are pretty crafty. And if we're not aware of their craftiness, we often get got, right? And so we pay attention to how do we get got? You ever got got before where you're not paying attention to details and you get ripped off, you know? So, but he said to the women, did God really say, what did God really say to you?

3:04 So just a little pause in the devotional here, just to note when God speaks to you, write it down right away. Don't say, I'm going to wait a minute. I'm going to write it when I get home. If you have an app on your phone, a little notepad, text it to yourself, write it down immediately. Notice how the serpent starts with a question to plant doubt in Eve's mind. He didn't outright lie. He distorted to truth. Another thing, know who you are in Christ. Right there, did God really say? She had to say, well, I heard what God said. We don't need to hear anything else from you.

3:46 But she allowed to entertain it. You ever entertain a lie and then you get caught up in the story? You know, you ever like listen to gossip and then you start to believe the gossip when you, if you really just stopped the noise right there, you wouldn't have to entertain that lie. Come on, y'all. When people start to say, you didn't hear about this. You'd be like, no, I don't want to hear about it. My friends be like, Connie, you don't even know, you know, you shouldn't, I don't need to know because how do I know you know the truth? I don't know if you know the truth. I don't want to hear any gossip about anybody because what? I always ask this, what does it have to do with me?

4:27 Well, we're going to pray about it. No, you pray. I don't want to know the details because how do we know if that's really true? So in order to get rid of all that little gossip stories, you just nip it at the bud right there. So if you learn how to nip that at the bud, But you can nip Satan at the bud when he starts questioning, did God really say? When you know in your heart what God really said. Come on, I'm holding on to that thought so much because that is powerful right there. Did God really say? You must not eat of any tree in the garden. She took a moment and she entertained a lie.

5:09 How many of us has entertained a lie or been part of a lie? And we have gotten got. Now the serpent starts with a question to plant doubt in Eve's mind. He didn't outright lie. He distorted the truth. This is how deception often begins. not with a blatant untruth, but with a subtle twisting of what we know to be right. Deception thrives when we don't have a firm grasp on God's word. And I call that God's truth. So deception thrives when we don't have a firm grasp on God's truth.

5:53 That's why knowing the truth is crucial. In John 8, 32, Jesus says, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. And Galatians have said, get free and stay free. So when you get the truth, you are free. Knowing God's word protects us from the enemy's lies and help us to recognize deception when it appears. Not only recognize it, but avoid it and not entertain it. What type of deception is happening in today's world? Deception isn't just a thing of the past.

6:33 It's alive and well today. It shows up in our cultural norms, our media narratives, and even in our own heart. We see that it was in Eve's heart to just be curious. You ever been curious about something. That curiosity, we know, we hear that. It said it killed the cat. And so we don't want to end up on the other side of life because of our curiosity to entertain a lie or get caught up in some things. You ever watch, I like the first 48 hours where I watched this girl, she was like 18 years old and you've probably seen it.

7:14 And she just believed this guy all the way. And she was ride or die, you know, where she was going to stand by her man and ended up in jail doing like about 10 years because she wouldn't tell on her man. Found out her man had another man, another girlfriend. Then she wanted to talk, but she got caught up in doing a robbery and the robbery ended up only robbing this man for $6. Don't matter on robbery is on robbery. No matter if it's a dollar or zero, you're going to jail for armed robbery. But if you're a part of it, a conspiracy to commit armed robbery is just as bad as armed robbery. But at 18 years old.

7:57 Just because of your curiosity or your commitment to a lie or have truth, because you think this guy loves you. What did Eve have invested in Satan or the devil at that time? She had no investment in him. She had more investment in God than she had in the devil. She had more investment in Adam than she had in the devil. But her curiosity caused an eviction from the Garden of Eden. You see what I'm saying? So that little bit of curiosity, that little bit of compromise got her in trouble.

8:38 So let's talk about self-deception for a moment. Galatians 6, 7 warns us that do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Sometimes we convince ourselves that our actions have no consequences, or we justify behaviors that don't align with God's will. This is a dangerous form of deception because it blinds us to the truth and keeps us from growing spiritually. So how do we recognize deception? We recognize deception by anger. Three steps. You know God's word. God's word.

9:19 Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalms 119, 105. God's word will light it up for you. It will say, wait a minute, that doesn't line up with my word. And so knowing God's word is a light. When we immerse ourselves in scripture, we can spot when something doesn't align with God's truth. It'll light it up. It will light it up. Seek the Holy Spirit guidance. But when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. John 16, 13. The Holy Spirit helps us to discern right from wrong and guides us against spiritual confusion, spiritual confusion.

10:06 So even if you take a pause and say, I'd rather wait. You ever got out of trouble, you know, back in the day when you were hanging with your friends and something told you, you know, it's time to go home and you go home, but yet you hear of your friends getting in trouble or even arrested, but you went home because you obeyed the Holy Spirit. You probably wasn't even in church, but you heard from the Lord to go the other way. And number three, stay in prayer. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Matthew 26, 41. Prayer keeps us spiritually alert and sensitive to God's leading.

10:49 So how do you recognize deception? You know God's word. You seek the Holy Spirit guidance. Just pause. Sometimes you don't have to pause. Holy Spirit will just sing. You'll have an alarm right in your spirit. Nope. And if you override that alarm, guess what? You're going to be in trouble. And then number three, stay in prayer. So take a moment to reflect. Are there areas in your life where you believed a lie or justified actions that don't align with God's word? You can just sit down and just be honest with yourself. we all have been there that we justified a lie we had justified a lie and we just we knew it didn't line up but we was like it's something god forgive me and we're gonna do it and get in a whole bunch of trouble so always always just knowing that god will get you out bible says he will make a way of escape but you got to follow that way right don't go all the way into the lie just when you feel that alert, just stop.

11:53 Don't follow it. Just stop and go the opposite way. So what lies have you believed and how have you replaced God, placed them with the truth? And sometimes it could be one or two things. And sometimes we're really deep into the lie. Remember, this is about deception. How deep are you into this deception? You know, how deep are you in this deception? So let's just do some declarations. And hopefully this will kind of wake you up and get you moving forward towards truth so that you can be free from the lie. And if you don't know you're in a lie, ask the Holy Spirit, like, where have I missed it?

12:37 And he will begin to show you. Let's decree. I decree that I'm rooted in God's word and lies or distortions will not sway me. I decree that the Holy Spirit leads me into all truth, and I have discernment to recognize deception. I decree that I walk in the light of God's truth, and his word is my guide. Let's close out in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for being the source of all truth. Help us to recognize and resist deception in every form. Teach us to know your word deeply and to walk in the light of your truth. Holy Spirit, guide us and guard our hearts and mind.

13:20 May we live with spiritual vigilance, permanently anchored in your promises. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for joining me on this powerful episode of the Diary of Black Women podcast. This message encourages you to share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to subscribe to more episodes in our Breaking the Deceit series. If you want a copy of this devotional, it's on the website of my website, www.diaryofablackwomenllc.com. Until next time, stay vigilant, stay anchored in God's truth, and be blessed.