Faith on the Go: Ep 5: Blessed but Backslidden: The Curse of Complacency

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Welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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This is your host, Connie Morris, and we're continuing our series,

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Faith on the Go series, with the Curse of Familiarity.

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Today's topic, we're going to cover, Bless but backslidden when wisdom loses its worship.

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The danger of getting too comfortable with God's blessing.

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Before we start, we want to declare the prayer of the best over every listener.

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God's hand is upon us. Our territory is expanding.

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We are kept from harm. Our prayers are heard and they will be answered.

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Here we rise from pain, walk in truth, and return to deep intimacy with God,

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healed in power and walking boldly in divine purpose.

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I love that. God heard your best prayer, and I know that he hears our prayer and our devotion.

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And so we are here with our Faith on the Go series, When Wisdom Loses is Worship,

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The Danger of Getting Too Comfortable with God's Blessings.

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So welcome back to Faith on the Go with your host, Connie Morris.

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We're here to keep it real, raw, and rooted in the Word.

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Today, we're continuing our bold series, The Curse of Familiarity,

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and this one is close to home for anybody who has ever started strong,

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but somewhere along the way, got distracted.

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Our message today is titled, Blessed but Backslidden.

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Say that fast. Say that three times.

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Blessed but backslidden. When wisdom loses is worship.

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We're talking about King Solomon today, a man who had it all.

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He had wisdom, wealth, favor, and influence.

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He was literally chosen by God, visited by God, and blessed beyond measure, and yet he still fell.

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Because even wisdom can drift, even blessings can blind, and even a wise man

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can lose his worship when familiarity takes over.

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So grab yourself a cup of coffee, get your notepad out, and most importantly,

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your honesty, because we're about to go a little deep today.

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We always go deep, though, so that's extra.

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This is Faith on the Go. Real talk, real growth, wherever you go.

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The message comes from 1 Kings 11, verses 1 through 11.

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Just a little side note, I love King Solomon.

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He was rich, and he wasn't really about the money, but God blessed him with the money anyway.

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But let's see what happens when we don't pay attention to the voice of the Lord,

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when familiarity becomes an issue.

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Here we go. King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter.

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They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites,

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you must not intermarry with them because they will surely turn your hearts

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away, turn your hearts after other gods.

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Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.

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As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods,

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and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.

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So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away.

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Let that settle for a moment.

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Solomon's heart turned, not all at once, but over time. He became familiar with

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favor and comfortable with compromise.

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This was a man who built the temple, the man who asked for wisdom and received it.

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This is a man who saw God show up twice, but slowly comfort became idolatry.

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Familiarity led to spiritual blindness. and before he knew it,

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he was building altars to false gods.

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Wow, the curse of familiarity.

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Here's the truth. Familiarity with God's blessings can become a curse when it breathes complacency.

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Solomon knew better. He had the word. He had the legacy of his father,

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David. He had the presence of God in his history.

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He watched his father become, he watched his dad.

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But his many wives, whom God warned him not to marry, slowly pulled his heart

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into a place God never intended.

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And instead of protecting his worship, he compromised it.

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So let's just take a pause and think about that. He had everything he wanted,

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except what God told him not to have.

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He said, don't mess with them other women.

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Them other women, they look good. We understand that.

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But they will cause you, he said, you must not intermarry with them because

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they will surely turn your heart after other gods.

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Those women brought them other gods with them.

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And if you ever seen, if you ever go to Israel or even if you pull it up now,

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you can pull it up on Google or even go to YouTube.

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He had a beautiful place. But you find out that he built most of that home to

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worship, inside that home, to worship his wise gods.

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It just took over. And we know he had a lot of wives and a lot of concubines,

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so he had a lot of distractions, right?

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So let's see what that looks like in today's world.

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We have a man who was the richest man in the world, and that wasn't enough for him.

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That wasn't enough for him.

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He wanted the thing that God told him not to touch.

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And you can see in David's life, David was well off too.

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And he went after Bathsheba, the thing that he wasn't supposed to touch.

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So some of this generational stuff is real.

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So let's talk about what happens if this was Solomon in the 20,

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20, in this century, in the 21st century. What happened?

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So let's be honest. Have you ever gotten too familiar with grace,

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too casual with the presence of God?

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Have your blessings distracted you from the one who gave them to you?

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You pray for God to give you a wife or a husband.

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This is a direct black woman, so you shouldn't have a husband.

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You should have a husband, not no wife. Hello.

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And so you pray for some things and God gave you some things and now God can't find you.

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Hello. You know, you were serving in the church, but now you got this job that

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got you traveling around the world. You're saying, well, the Lord gave me this good job.

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Is it taking you away from the Lord?

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Is that what's happening? Come on, check yourself.

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You may not be bowing to a golden calf, but you may be bowing to work,

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bowing to relationships. Come on now, bowing to success, bowing to lightness,

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calmness, and platforms.

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Just like Solomon, you can still speak wisdom, but you live in rebellion.

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And that's the scariest part because to be spiritually gifted.

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And spiritually drifting at the same time. So how do we avoid Solomon's fall?

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How do we avoid not falling like Solomon? Because he went from way up there.

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And remember, he's flowing because he's young. He's just thinking nothing's

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going to happen to him. Come on, ladies.

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And then as soon as you get to a certain age, you're like, oh, shoot.

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You spent your whole time, what, worshiping in the world.

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And then you come to a certain age, you're like, dang, what did I do with all

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my money? Who's going to take care of me now? Oh, am I speaking to someone out there?

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You can be spiritually gifted and spiritually drifting.

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Wow. So let's not be that.

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Let's not do the, that should be, remember, it was something shuffle, but the Solomon Fall.

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Let's not do that. Let's not be doing the Solomon Fall.

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Here are four different steps that you can guard your worship.

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You ready for this? Number one, stay dependent.

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Never outgrow your need for God.

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Before I even go into more detail about this one, when God tells you not to

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touch something, he means not to touch it.

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Solomon was blessed by God.

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I mean, blessed beyond what he can even ask or think, Ephesians 3.20 blessing.

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And yet that one thing he was supposed to touch, he touched, not just once.

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He had a whole bunch of wives and a whole bunch of concubines.

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He touched him he touched it and he didn't die immediately just like Adam Ebert

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they didn't die immediately but guess what he lost in the end.

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He lost in the end. So number one, stay dependent on God.

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When God tells you not to touch something, trust and believe that he sees your

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future. He knows that's not good for you.

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Never outgrow your need for God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean

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not to your own understanding.

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Proverbs 3, 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own

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understanding. I got to say that again.

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart

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and lean not to your own understanding.

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If you're going to lean on your own understanding, you don't need to have the Lord.

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Am I right? Because you're going to do it your way.

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You don't need to have the Lord. But trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding.

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Proverbs 3.5, make that a poster, make it a t-shirt, but just know that you

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can't have it your way and still win.

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Number two, cut the compromises. Cut the compromises.

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Don't play with what God told you to separate from.

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Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Why does he say that?

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Do not be unequally yoked with believers.

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2 Corinthians 2 Corinthians verses 6-14.

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Because the unbelievers, they believe in their stuff.

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And you're thinking that, I'm just gonna win this person to Christ.

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Yeah, okay. Good luck with that. Because they believe in their stuff.

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If you don't have a strong belief in your God and you're playing with darkness,

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trust and believe. You're gonna be in the dark.

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That's why he says, don't play with it. Just cut it. Cut the compromise.

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Don't play in it. Just cut it.

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Like, you know, when you find out that the dude you think is super handsome,

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don't believe in your God, don't compromise.

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Because you're going to lose. You're going to lose something so valuable.

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That's going to be your relationship with God.

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Number three, protect the presence.

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Proverbs 4.23 says, Because above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.

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Guard your quiet time, your secret place, your worship.

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Many times, like you see Solomon kind of sold out.

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So if he would have stayed in the presence of the Lord and said,

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Lord, help me understand.

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I'm attracted to these ladies.

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I know you told me not to go with these women, but help me.

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And so if he would have stayed in the presence of God, God was showing up for

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him in big, mighty ways, right?

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And so we can actually protect ourselves from being pulled into compromise by one.

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We talked about stay dependent with God, cut the compromise.

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And number three, protect the presence.

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Guard your quiet time. Spend more time with God in your secret place,

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in worship. and he will protect you from the darkness out there.

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And really your heart be so full with the Lord that you will know right away

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that that's going to be compromised.

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They might not even tell you. They might even be worshiping next to you in church,

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but there's something about that person that doesn't add up.

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And so that's your time in the presence of the Lord.

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The Holy Spirit's already gave you the 411 or even a 911.

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To get to moving away from this person. So you don't compromise yourself.

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And number four, let God confront you.

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Invite conviction and don't despise it. Let God check you when you're off.

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It says, Revelation 3.19, it says, Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline.

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So be earnest and repent. So God is the one that's going to keep you on that

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straight line so that you don't go off of that line.

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When you can no longer hear the voice of the Lord because you are doing stuff

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that you ain't got no business, guess what?

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You're going to have a heavy fall. You're going to hurt yourself or you're going to get hurt.

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Right. So I want you to, as you understand, don't do the Solomon fall or the

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Solomon shuffle. Come on now.

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It says stay dependent. Never outgrow the need for God. Cut the compromise.

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Don't play with what God told you to separate from.

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Get away from it as fast as you can. You don't have to have any long excuse.

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You know, I am not. No, no is no. Three, protect the presence.

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Keep your time with God. He will protect you. I can tell you many stories.

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And he will show you, he will expose it in a dream. He'll expose, it'll just be exposed.

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Why? Because you're seeking him first.

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And let God confront you. Invite conviction.

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Like if you're off, kind of you know you're supposed to be there.

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You might have a good intention. I'm just going to go over here and see what's happening.

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And halfway to the person's house or to that event, God says, no, turn around.

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And you turn around and you are saved.

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But if you ignore that voice, guess what?

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You will fall too, right? Solomon was still called.

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He was still chosen, still brilliant. But his downfall didn't start with the fall.

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It started with familiarity. He got too used to being blessed and forgot how to be broken before God.

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Don't let that be your story. Do not let that be your story.

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When God blesses you this year or whenever he blesses you,

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Do not let that blessing turn you away from God.

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Don't let what God gave you become what leads you away from him.

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Amen. Don't do that. Still, still, still protect the presence.

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Still protect the presence. Because just as he gave it to you,

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it can just go away just that quick, right?

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But just as you pray for it and you receive it, just like Solomon didn't ask to be blessed is bad.

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He was blessed beyond what he can ask or think.

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But yet, as he got blessed, he did not protect the presence. And he got distracted.

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He took all that time that he probably used to pray and got,

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start chasing after these strange women.

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Who God told him not to chase after. Right?

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So let's pray. Lord, I never want to be wise but disobedient.

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I never want to be blessed but backslidden.

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Keep me humble, keep me hungry, and keep me holy.

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Search my heart, God, and pull me back from any compromise I've made.

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Let me always value your presence before any platform, person, or possession.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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That's it for today with our Faith on the Go series with your host, Connie Morris.

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Remember, Solomon didn't fall because he stopped being wise.

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He fell because he stopped being devoted.

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Don't just seek God's blessing. Seek the one who gives them.

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Don't allow the blessing to become your God. I think that was one of those series

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in the games we play with God.

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We start worshiping the blessings instead of keeping our focus on the God,

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on the God who gave them to us. So remember, practice his presence.

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Protect the presence. Amen.

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So that's it for that. For that series, that was a good one.

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I like all of them, of course.

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So this year, don't just seek blessings. Seek the one who gives them.

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So be sure to follow subscribe,

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leave a review share this podcast with someone

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who needs to hear and you can find more devotionals teachings

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and tools at the Diary of Black Women LLC.com you can follow me the Diary of

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Black Women podcast on Instagram at X until next time stay alert stay anchored

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and keep walking with faith on the go let's activate the promises of Jeremiah

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in our lives before you go.

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Remember, God knows the plans he has for you, plans to prosper you,

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not to harm you, plans to give you hope in the future.

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And when you seek him with all your heart, you will find him.

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He will bring you back from captivity and restore everything that was lost.

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Hold on. Your healing, your clarity, and your breakthrough are closer than you think.

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This is more than a podcast. this is a return to God's plans for your life let's

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keep walking it all together and let's stay connected and like I said check

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out my website until next time,

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see you later bye.