Faith on the Go: Ep 2: Embracing Truth: Walking in Spiritual Vigilance

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Welcome back to the Diary of the Black Woman podcast.

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We're on our episode two of Breaking the Deceit, Walking in Spiritual Vigilance,

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the Desire for Truth in God's Will, according to 1 Timothy 2.4.

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So welcome to the Diary of the Black Woman podcast, where faith,

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culture, and life intersect.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and today we're continuing our exploration of God's word.

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Focusing on the deep connection between truth and God's will for our lives.

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This episode is titled The Desire for Truth in God's Will, and we'll look closely

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at 1 Timothy 2.4, a verse that will reveal God's heart for all humanity.

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Deception often pulls us away from God's will, but the Bible tells us that God's

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desires all people to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth.

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Today, we'll reflect on how seeking truth aligns us with God's will and how

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we can actively pursue truth in our daily lives.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and for revealing your will to us

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through the scriptures.

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As we explore the desire you have for us to know the truth and be saved,

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we ask for your guidance.

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Open our hearts to receive your truth and help us to align our lives with your

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will. In Jesus name, amen.

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We see here that God desires that all men come into the knowledge of the truth, right?

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And so we don't have to walk in deceit because there's a force that wants us to have the truth.

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And so let's go to 1 Timothy 2, 4.

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And so we're going to begin reading in 1 Timothy 2, 4, which says that God desires

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all people to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth.

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So deception is an option here, right? So God desires us to walk in truth.

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I mean, there's a lie in the shadows of the darkness.

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So this verse reveals two important things about God's will.

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He wants everyone to be saved, and he wants us to live in truth.

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In a world where deception is everywhere, knowing and living by truth can be challenging.

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But God's will is clear. He desires us to embrace the truth that leads to salvation.

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So today we'll explore how this truth stands in contrast to the deception we

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explored in chapter three.

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During our last episode. The connection between truth and salvation.

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The first part of 1 Timothy 2.4 shows us that God desires all people to be saved.

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Salvation and truth are deeply connected because to be saved,

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we must first acknowledge and accept the truth about who God is and what he

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has done for us through Jesus.

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In contrast to the deception in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were

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led away from God's truth,

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1 Timothy 2.4 shows us that God's desire is to bring us back into the light of his truth.

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Deception leads us away from God, while truth leads us closer to him.

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Think about how the enemy uses deception to separate us from God's will.

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What lies have you believed that kept you from fully embracing God's truth?

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Have there been moments where you felt distant from God because you believe

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something that wasn't aligned with his word?

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A lot of times I believe that happens when we don't know the word of God.

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We're listening to podcasts. There's nothing wrong with listening to a podcast,

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but when the podcaster tell you to pull out your Bible, you pull out your Bible

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and you compare it to what they're saying.

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If it's not matching up, then you might want to not listen.

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You want to have a balance in your life. It's good to listen,

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but also good to have your own personal Bible time.

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Reading your Bible and praying and getting to know the word of God for yourself,

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both the word and also knowing the small voice.

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So think about how the enemy uses deception to separate us from God's word.

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You see how quick Eve, did Eve know the truth? That's a question,

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right? I believe she did, but did she know the whole truth?

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Did she know what that danger would cost her? So what lies have kept you from

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fully embracing God's truth?

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Have there been moments where you felt distant from God because something that

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wasn't aligned with his word?

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So ask God to reveal any areas of deception in your life and to help you replace

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those lies with his truth.

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Remember, knowing God's truth is critical to understanding his will for your lie.

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So point one is connection between truth and salvation. Knowing God's will is knowing God's truth.

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Number two, actively seek the truth. You know, God doesn't want us to know about him.

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He wants us to come to a full knowledge of the truth. Now, you know how you say, I know him.

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God wants us to really know him, not just like a first name.

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He wants us to know his last name, his middle name, his acts.

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He wants us to know him personally, intimately.

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So this means more than just intellectual understanding about deep personal

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knowledge that transforms the way we live.

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It's not enough to hear the truth. We must actively seek it,

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pursue it, and live by it.

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So not just be just a reader of the word, but actually seek him and want to

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know him more intimately, right?

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So this means more than just intellectual knowledge. You ever have met someone

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who knows the scripture, but his life is a hot mess or her life is a hot mess?

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And then you know someone who only maybe know a couple words out of the Bible,

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but they living that word to the empty degree and walking in all the things that they need.

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They got a handful of scriptures memorized, but they know God in an intimate way.

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In a world filled with distractions, how do we pursue God's truth?

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It requires intentionality, setting aside time to read the Bible,

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pray, and seek spiritual guidance. I'm going to repeat that.

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It requires intentionality. Just like you set an appointment to go to your doctor,

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you set appointment to maybe you got date night with your husband,

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you got dinner's appointment, you got all these appointments we set time with.

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You have to set that time away to read your Bible, to pray, and to seek spiritual guidance.

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Just as Eve was deceived because she allowed doubt to creep in,

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we too can be led astray if we are not intentionally intentional about pursuing God's truth.

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How do you be intentional about pursuing God's truth?

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Sometimes we think this is so basic, but if it's so basic, Why does it keep

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reoccurring in a lot of my devotionals, right? Must not be that basic.

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We get so busy about life that we forget that it requires intentionality.

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Number one, study the Bible. Study the Word of God regularly.

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The more familiar you are with His Word, the easier it will be to recognize and reject deception.

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Prayer for discernment. Ask God daily for discernment to distinguish between

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truth and lies, especially in situations where you may feel confused or uncertain.

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God will lead you the right way. Lord, I don't know what to do. Which way do I go?

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Seek Godly counsel. Surround yourself with people who are rooted in God's word

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and God's truth and can offer guidance and support when faced spiritual challenges.

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Those are the people that can go directly to the word of God and give you that

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spiritual support, that godly wisdom, right?

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And so study the Bible, pray for discernment, and seek godly counsel.

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So you want to always be actively seeking the truth.

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Number three, the role of truth is aligning with God's will.

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Knowing the truth not only leads us to salvation, but it also helps us align

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our lives with God's will.

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His will is that we live in a way that reflects his love, grace, and righteousness.

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But we can't do this if we're caught up in lies or misconceptions about who

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God is and what he desires for us. Isn't that interesting?

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Like, how do we know who we are if we don't really know who God is?

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So think about how God's truth has the power to set us free from deception.

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Jesus said in John 8.32, verse 8.30, John chapter 8, verse 32,

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then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

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This freedom is part of God's will for our lives.

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Freedom from sin, guilt, shame, and anything that holds us back from living fully for him.

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So you want to commit to aligning with God's will.

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Make a conscious decision to live in alignment with God's will,

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knowing that his will is always based on truth.

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Reflect on any areas of your life that might not fully align with God's truth

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and pray for his guidance to make necessary changes.

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There's some scriptures I think is in Proverbs.

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Even you can probably Google it. It says the things God hates.

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So you can go right to that and find out the things God hates and don't do that.

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That'd be a first step. So you want to commit to aligning your life with God's

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will and so avoiding the things that God hates.

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I might have a devotional on that one, but I want to stay focused on deception, avoiding the deceit.

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Number four, you want to guarding against deception. In a world that often blurs

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the lines between truth and lies, guarding ourselves against deception is essential.

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God's will is for us to come into the knowledge of the truth.

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It says, it's God's will for us to come into the knowledge.

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That means it's not going to automatically just fall into your lap.

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You're going to have to come into the knowledge. What does that mean?

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You have to do some work. but the enemy will always try and lead us astray.

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So God is that we all come into the knowledge of the truth. That sounds like we need to do some work.

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And a lot of times we, can I just be real? We want a shortcut to it.

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We have to come into the knowledge of the truth. So a lot of times,

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like my devotionals, I have now got about 152 devotionals.

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I started out just one at a time. And it's just, what is God talking to me about at that moment?

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And I'm like, whoa. And then I'm digging into the knowledge of the truth.

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I want to know more about this topic. It could be just one topic that he mentions to me.

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And I'm just digging into the knowledge.

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Deception was at this time that I wrote this devotional about being deceived.

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Being deceived. How do you guard against deception? I'm going to read that again.

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Number four, it says, guarding against deception. In a world that often blurs

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the line between truth and lies, guarding ourselves against deception is essential.

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God's will for us is to come into the knowledge.

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The Bible says, come to the knowledge of the truth, but the enemy will always try to lead us astray.

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But how many know that truth is stronger than a lie?

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When you come into the truth, you got like this warrior mentality,

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and it defeats the lie every time.

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But if you wimpy on your truth, the lie always wins out because you don't know

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what to believe, right? So God's desire is that you come into the knowledge of the truth.

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I mean, you got to work for it. You have to do your research.

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I just told you one thing you can do right away is what does God hate?

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And start listing those things and start doing a little research on what God's

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hate and then start putting things in categories. Are you doing some things that God hates?

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Right? Because when you're doing things that God hates, then that truth ain't in you, right?

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Come on now. And so you had to clear out those things that God hates so that

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he can put some truth into you. Like, okay, I can't do that anymore.

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What's the opposite of what he hates? What does he love?

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And then now you open yourself up to some truth so that you won't be deceived.

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What are some modern day deceptions that you've encountered?

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Dang, that's a good one. That's going to help you understand what deceptions

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that you might have encountered so that you can open, begin to come into the

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knowledge of the truth so that you do not fall into deception.

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These could be cultural messages, media influences, or even personal relationships

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that have led you to doubt God's truth. How do you come into the knowledge? Two ways.

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Number one, you want to test everything against scripture.

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When you encounter new ideas, beliefs, always test them against the Bible.

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God's word is the ultimate standard of truth.

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Be vigilant. Stay spiritually vigilant. Pray for discernment and wisdom.

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And be mindful of what you allow to influence your thoughts and beliefs.

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And so when you're vigilant, if you test everything against scripture,

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that's kind of like you're putting on your armor of God, right?

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God's saying, okay, that's not truth. That's not truth. So it's going to kind

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of boomerang off for you. But then you have to be vigilant.

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What happened if you don't know? It's like you're asking God for discernment and wisdom.

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And you'll be surprised that the stuff that you may have thought was true was false.

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Let it go. Don't hold on to it. So be mindful what you allow,

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influence your thoughts and belief.

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Because you're going to find out the more you are exposed to truth,

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the further away you're going to start finding that your friends,

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and you're going to find out how close you and your friends are.

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And you're going to say, whoa, you will still believe that?

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And the Bible says this. And so that's old fashioned. You'll start to find out,

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where your foundation really lies. Is it with your friends or is it going to be with God?

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So when the rubber meets the road, you want to always test everything against

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scripture and you want to be vigilant.

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And when you pray for discernment and wisdom, trust that the Holy Spirit is

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going to lead you in the right way.

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Even when you don't want to go, he's going to tell you the truth.

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And let's do this decree. I decree that I am, oh, don't say it if you don't believe it.

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Because once you speak it out your mouth, you're going to be like,

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I didn't know, I didn't know.

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Because once you allow a little truth in, because think about it,

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when you know one part of a story is a lie, don't you doubt the rest of the story?

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I don't know about you. I'm just a retired cop.

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If someone tells me a half truth, then I have a hard time believing in the rest of the truth, right?

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I'd be like, now you got to make me believe the rest of your story because that part doesn't match.

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You got to make me believe the rest of the story.

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And so the credibility is shot.

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And so once you know the truth, all lies don't have any, they should not even

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phase you after that because you're going after truth.

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So let's do this decree on embracing truth. I'll say it twice.

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First time, I decree that I am committed to seeking, embracing,

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and spreading the truth of God.

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I will actively align my life with God's will and pursue his truth above all else.

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I reject any lies or deceptions that seek to lead me away from God's plan for my life.

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Let's do it the second time. Let's say it with some meaning because once you

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speak truth out there, all you're going to get is truth, right?

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But be ready for the lies that come bombard you, but be ready to say, no, I commit.

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Let's do it. I decree that I am committed to seeking, embracing,

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and spreading the truth of God.

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I am actively aligning my life with God's will and pursue his truth above all else.

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I reject any lies or deception that seeks to lead me away from God's plan for my life.

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By speaking this decree, you declare that you are choosing to live in the light

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of God's truth and aligning yourself with his will for your life.

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Say amen to that. Let's close this out in prayer.

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Father, we thank you for your desire for us to know the truth and for the freedom

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that it brings. Help us to seek your truth with all our hearts and guide us

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as we align our lives with your will.

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Protect us from deception and give us the discernment to recognize the lies of the enemy.

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We commit to walking in your truth every day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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So thank you for joining me today on the Diary of the Black Woman podcast with

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our Faith on the Go series. I hope this episode has encouraged you to seek God's

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truth and align your life with his will.

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Stay tuned for the next episode where we'll be talking about equipping yourself

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with the armor of God from Ephesians 6, 10 through 18.

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Until then, may God's truth continue to guide you and protect you.