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

0:00 Welcome back to the Diary of the Black Woman podcast. We're on our episode two of Breaking the Deceit, Walking in Spiritual Vigilance, the Desire for Truth in God's Will, according to 1 Timothy 2.4. So welcome to the Diary of the Black Woman podcast, where faith, culture, and life intersect. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and today we're continuing our exploration of God's word. Focusing on the deep connection between truth and God's will for our lives. This episode is titled The Desire for Truth in God's Will, and we'll look closely at 1 Timothy 2.4, a verse that will reveal God's heart for all humanity.

0:48 Deception often pulls us away from God's will, but the Bible tells us that God's desires all people to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth. Today, we'll reflect on how seeking truth aligns us with God's will and how we can actively pursue truth in our daily lives. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and for revealing your will to us through the scriptures. As we explore the desire you have for us to know the truth and be saved, we ask for your guidance. Open our hearts to receive your truth and help us to align our lives with your will. In Jesus name, amen.

1:35 We see here that God desires that all men come into the knowledge of the truth, right? And so we don't have to walk in deceit because there's a force that wants us to have the truth. And so let's go to 1 Timothy 2, 4. And so we're going to begin reading in 1 Timothy 2, 4, which says that God desires all people to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth. So deception is an option here, right? So God desires us to walk in truth. I mean, there's a lie in the shadows of the darkness.

2:16 So this verse reveals two important things about God's will. He wants everyone to be saved, and he wants us to live in truth. In a world where deception is everywhere, knowing and living by truth can be challenging. But God's will is clear. He desires us to embrace the truth that leads to salvation. So today we'll explore how this truth stands in contrast to the deception we explored in chapter three. During our last episode. The connection between truth and salvation.

2:57 The first part of 1 Timothy 2.4 shows us that God desires all people to be saved. Salvation and truth are deeply connected because to be saved, we must first acknowledge and accept the truth about who God is and what he has done for us through Jesus. In contrast to the deception in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were led away from God's truth, 1 Timothy 2.4 shows us that God's desire is to bring us back into the light of his truth. Deception leads us away from God, while truth leads us closer to him.

3:40 Think about how the enemy uses deception to separate us from God's will. What lies have you believed that kept you from fully embracing God's truth? Have there been moments where you felt distant from God because you believe something that wasn't aligned with his word? A lot of times I believe that happens when we don't know the word of God. We're listening to podcasts. There's nothing wrong with listening to a podcast, but when the podcaster tell you to pull out your Bible, you pull out your Bible and you compare it to what they're saying. If it's not matching up, then you might want to not listen.

4:22 You want to have a balance in your life. It's good to listen, but also good to have your own personal Bible time. Reading your Bible and praying and getting to know the word of God for yourself, both the word and also knowing the small voice. So think about how the enemy uses deception to separate us from God's word. You see how quick Eve, did Eve know the truth? That's a question, right? I believe she did, but did she know the whole truth? Did she know what that danger would cost her? So what lies have kept you from fully embracing God's truth?

5:05 Have there been moments where you felt distant from God because something that wasn't aligned with his word? So ask God to reveal any areas of deception in your life and to help you replace those lies with his truth. Remember, knowing God's truth is critical to understanding his will for your lie. So point one is connection between truth and salvation. Knowing God's will is knowing God's truth. Number two, actively seek the truth. You know, God doesn't want us to know about him. He wants us to come to a full knowledge of the truth. Now, you know how you say, I know him.

5:48 God wants us to really know him, not just like a first name. He wants us to know his last name, his middle name, his acts. He wants us to know him personally, intimately. So this means more than just intellectual understanding about deep personal knowledge that transforms the way we live. It's not enough to hear the truth. We must actively seek it, pursue it, and live by it. So not just be just a reader of the word, but actually seek him and want to know him more intimately, right? So this means more than just intellectual knowledge. You ever have met someone who knows the scripture, but his life is a hot mess or her life is a hot mess?

6:32 And then you know someone who only maybe know a couple words out of the Bible, but they living that word to the empty degree and walking in all the things that they need. They got a handful of scriptures memorized, but they know God in an intimate way. In a world filled with distractions, how do we pursue God's truth? It requires intentionality, setting aside time to read the Bible, pray, and seek spiritual guidance. I'm going to repeat that. It requires intentionality. Just like you set an appointment to go to your doctor, you set appointment to maybe you got date night with your husband, you got dinner's appointment, you got all these appointments we set time with.

7:19 You have to set that time away to read your Bible, to pray, and to seek spiritual guidance. Just as Eve was deceived because she allowed doubt to creep in, we too can be led astray if we are not intentionally intentional about pursuing God's truth. How do you be intentional about pursuing God's truth? Sometimes we think this is so basic, but if it's so basic, Why does it keep reoccurring in a lot of my devotionals, right? Must not be that basic. We get so busy about life that we forget that it requires intentionality.

8:01 Number one, study the Bible. Study the Word of God regularly. The more familiar you are with His Word, the easier it will be to recognize and reject deception. Prayer for discernment. Ask God daily for discernment to distinguish between truth and lies, especially in situations where you may feel confused or uncertain. God will lead you the right way. Lord, I don't know what to do. Which way do I go? Seek Godly counsel. Surround yourself with people who are rooted in God's word and God's truth and can offer guidance and support when faced spiritual challenges.

8:44 Those are the people that can go directly to the word of God and give you that spiritual support, that godly wisdom, right? And so study the Bible, pray for discernment, and seek godly counsel. So you want to always be actively seeking the truth. Number three, the role of truth is aligning with God's will. Knowing the truth not only leads us to salvation, but it also helps us align our lives with God's will. His will is that we live in a way that reflects his love, grace, and righteousness.

9:25 But we can't do this if we're caught up in lies or misconceptions about who God is and what he desires for us. Isn't that interesting? Like, how do we know who we are if we don't really know who God is? So think about how God's truth has the power to set us free from deception. Jesus said in John 8.32, verse 8.30, John chapter 8, verse 32, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. This freedom is part of God's will for our lives. Freedom from sin, guilt, shame, and anything that holds us back from living fully for him.

10:11 So you want to commit to aligning with God's will. Make a conscious decision to live in alignment with God's will, knowing that his will is always based on truth. Reflect on any areas of your life that might not fully align with God's truth and pray for his guidance to make necessary changes. There's some scriptures I think is in Proverbs. Even you can probably Google it. It says the things God hates. So you can go right to that and find out the things God hates and don't do that. That'd be a first step. So you want to commit to aligning your life with God's will and so avoiding the things that God hates.

10:57 I might have a devotional on that one, but I want to stay focused on deception, avoiding the deceit. Number four, you want to guarding against deception. In a world that often blurs the lines between truth and lies, guarding ourselves against deception is essential. God's will is for us to come into the knowledge of the truth. It says, it's God's will for us to come into the knowledge. That means it's not going to automatically just fall into your lap. You're going to have to come into the knowledge. What does that mean? You have to do some work. but the enemy will always try and lead us astray.

11:40 So God is that we all come into the knowledge of the truth. That sounds like we need to do some work. And a lot of times we, can I just be real? We want a shortcut to it. We have to come into the knowledge of the truth. So a lot of times, like my devotionals, I have now got about 152 devotionals. I started out just one at a time. And it's just, what is God talking to me about at that moment? And I'm like, whoa. And then I'm digging into the knowledge of the truth. I want to know more about this topic. It could be just one topic that he mentions to me.

12:21 And I'm just digging into the knowledge. Deception was at this time that I wrote this devotional about being deceived. Being deceived. How do you guard against deception? I'm going to read that again. Number four, it says, guarding against deception. In a world that often blurs the line between truth and lies, guarding ourselves against deception is essential. God's will for us is to come into the knowledge. The Bible says, come to the knowledge of the truth, but the enemy will always try to lead us astray. But how many know that truth is stronger than a lie?

13:03 When you come into the truth, you got like this warrior mentality, and it defeats the lie every time. But if you wimpy on your truth, the lie always wins out because you don't know what to believe, right? So God's desire is that you come into the knowledge of the truth. I mean, you got to work for it. You have to do your research. I just told you one thing you can do right away is what does God hate? And start listing those things and start doing a little research on what God's hate and then start putting things in categories. Are you doing some things that God hates? Right? Because when you're doing things that God hates, then that truth ain't in you, right? Come on now. And so you had to clear out those things that God hates so that he can put some truth into you. Like, okay, I can't do that anymore.

13:51 What's the opposite of what he hates? What does he love? And then now you open yourself up to some truth so that you won't be deceived. What are some modern day deceptions that you've encountered? Dang, that's a good one. That's going to help you understand what deceptions that you might have encountered so that you can open, begin to come into the knowledge of the truth so that you do not fall into deception. These could be cultural messages, media influences, or even personal relationships that have led you to doubt God's truth. How do you come into the knowledge? Two ways.

14:33 Number one, you want to test everything against scripture. When you encounter new ideas, beliefs, always test them against the Bible. God's word is the ultimate standard of truth. Be vigilant. Stay spiritually vigilant. Pray for discernment and wisdom. And be mindful of what you allow to influence your thoughts and beliefs. And so when you're vigilant, if you test everything against scripture, that's kind of like you're putting on your armor of God, right? God's saying, okay, that's not truth. That's not truth. So it's going to kind of boomerang off for you. But then you have to be vigilant. What happened if you don't know? It's like you're asking God for discernment and wisdom.

15:19 And you'll be surprised that the stuff that you may have thought was true was false. Let it go. Don't hold on to it. So be mindful what you allow, influence your thoughts and belief. Because you're going to find out the more you are exposed to truth, the further away you're going to start finding that your friends, and you're going to find out how close you and your friends are. And you're going to say, whoa, you will still believe that? And the Bible says this. And so that's old fashioned. You'll start to find out, where your foundation really lies. Is it with your friends or is it going to be with God? So when the rubber meets the road, you want to always test everything against scripture and you want to be vigilant.

16:06 And when you pray for discernment and wisdom, trust that the Holy Spirit is going to lead you in the right way. Even when you don't want to go, he's going to tell you the truth. And let's do this decree. I decree that I am, oh, don't say it if you don't believe it. Because once you speak it out your mouth, you're going to be like, I didn't know, I didn't know. Because once you allow a little truth in, because think about it, when you know one part of a story is a lie, don't you doubt the rest of the story? I don't know about you. I'm just a retired cop. If someone tells me a half truth, then I have a hard time believing in the rest of the truth, right?

16:50 I'd be like, now you got to make me believe the rest of your story because that part doesn't match. You got to make me believe the rest of the story. And so the credibility is shot. And so once you know the truth, all lies don't have any, they should not even phase you after that because you're going after truth. So let's do this decree on embracing truth. I'll say it twice. First time, I decree that I am committed to seeking, embracing, and spreading the truth of God. I will actively align my life with God's will and pursue his truth above all else.

17:30 I reject any lies or deceptions that seek to lead me away from God's plan for my life. Let's do it the second time. Let's say it with some meaning because once you speak truth out there, all you're going to get is truth, right? But be ready for the lies that come bombard you, but be ready to say, no, I commit. Let's do it. I decree that I am committed to seeking, embracing, and spreading the truth of God. I am actively aligning my life with God's will and pursue his truth above all else. I reject any lies or deception that seeks to lead me away from God's plan for my life.

18:14 By speaking this decree, you declare that you are choosing to live in the light of God's truth and aligning yourself with his will for your life. Say amen to that. Let's close this out in prayer. Father, we thank you for your desire for us to know the truth and for the freedom that it brings. Help us to seek your truth with all our hearts and guide us as we align our lives with your will. Protect us from deception and give us the discernment to recognize the lies of the enemy. We commit to walking in your truth every day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So thank you for joining me today on the Diary of the Black Woman podcast with our Faith on the Go series. I hope this episode has encouraged you to seek God's truth and align your life with his will.

19:05 Stay tuned for the next episode where we'll be talking about equipping yourself with the armor of God from Ephesians 6, 10 through 18. Until then, may God's truth continue to guide you and protect you.