Faith on the Go: Ep1 Exploring the Deceit in Genesis 3: Walking in Spiritual Vigilance

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with our Faith on the Go series,

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where faith meets everyday challenges.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and today we're embarking on a journey to understand

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one of the most pivotal moments in the Bible, the moment when deceit enters human history.

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This episode from our new series, Breaking the Deceit, Walking in Spiritual

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Vigilance, It's titled, Exploring the Deceit in Genesis 3.

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And we'll be focusing on the first

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recorded instance of deception in human history, the fall of Adam and Eve.

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Deception has been a tool of the enemy from the very beginning.

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And it remains a significant threat in our spiritual walk today.

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So I want to teach you today and for the next three series on how to walk in

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spiritual vigilance so that you will not be deceived.

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So if you have your Bible, you can go with me to Genesis 3. So go ahead and get ready.

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And so by exploring Genesis 3, we'll uncover how deceit works,

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how it tempts us away from God's truth, and most importantly,

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how we can guard ourselves against it.

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You know, you hear different stories how people say, when I get to heaven,

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I want to have a talk with Eve.

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And I think when you get to heaven, I think Eve might want to have a talk with

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you. So let's open this up in prayer.

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Heavenly Father, we come before you today seeking wisdom and discernment as

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we explore the story of deception in the Garden of Eden.

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We ask that you open our hearts and minds to your truth, help us to recognize

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deception in our own lives, and equip us with the tools to stand firm in your word.

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In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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Genesis 3 is a familiar passage, but it holds profound truth about how easy

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it is to be deceived when we stray from God's word.

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Now, we can stray from God's written word.

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And when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, you know, so those different ways that we can stray.

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And then the chapter, this chapter introduces us to a serpent.

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The Bible says that he's the most cunning of all God's creatures who deceives

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Eve into doubting God's commands.

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This moment of deception sets the stage for humanity's fall and illustrates

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the far reaching consequences of disobedience.

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So as we dive into the scripture, I'll explain the subtle ways in which deceit,

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we call it deceit, creeps into our lives and how it disorders God's truth and

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the steps we can take to guard ourselves against it.

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So let's go to Genesis 3 verses 1 through 5.

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It's the serpent's deception. Now, the serpent was more cunning,

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more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord had made.

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He said to the woman, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

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How many times have that crossed your mind?

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Automatically God tells you to do something. And immediately that little crafty

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voice comes up and gets you to doubt what God has told you to do,

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or even what God has told you to say.

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And a lot of times what I would say to you is that when God says it,

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a lot of times we have phones with apps on it, or we have a piece of paper,

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go ahead and write down what God says and say, Lord, where is that in the scripture?

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If he gives you a scripture, write that verse down.

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I have what you call an app on my phone.

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And sometimes I'll stop and I'll write it down and he'll continue to talk to

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me about, if you give him your full attention, then he will begin to give you

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more explanation about what he wants you to do.

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And even if you stop and say, Lord, it right. Okay. I get this. I got it.

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Let me get this done. I'm at work, you know, and I'm going to finish it,

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write it down and then go say, Lord, I want to finish this in prayer.

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And God would tell you what he wants you to do, but I would say immediately write it down.

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And if it's something you can do right away, because usually if he's talking

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to you that urgently, it's probably something you need to do right away.

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Go ahead and do it. And then that little crafty voice doesn't have any space

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to get you to walk in deceit.

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So the first thing about breaking deceit is to do it immediately so you don't

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get in disobedience. Let's go.

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The serpent begins by sowing doubt in Eve's mind.

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He doesn't begin the next day. He begins immediately.

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Did God really say? Now, you know the voice of the Lord.

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You can find it in the scripture. You write it down when he speaks to you.

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And so right away, he starts sowing doubt in Eve's mind, twisting God's word.

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This is often how deceit enters our lives, through doubt and subtle manipulation of the truth.

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Did God really say? Deceit often starts with a question that challenges what we know to be true.

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The serpent doesn't outright lie at first. He plants seeds of doubt.

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This is the nature of deception. It can be subtle and seemly harmless,

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but it can lead us away from the certainty of God's truth.

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Ask yourself, where in your life might you be questioning what God has spoken over you?

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Are there areas where doubt has crept in and making you vulnerable to deception?

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We must stay grounded in God's word to guard against doubt.

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The other morning as I was, you know how you wake up in the morning and your

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alarm went off and you just kind of lay there just for a few minutes.

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And while I was laying there just for a few minutes, the Lord began to speak

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to me about just some things he wanted me to separate myself from.

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I need you to separate yourself.

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And it was a couple of people from these people.

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And in your own mind, you go, yeah, I can see why this person,

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but the other one, I didn't see why, why this person? I didn't ask questions.

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I just wrote it down in my journal and I said, okay, I got to separate from

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this person and definitely separate from this person.

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Well, this person was on my calendar to have an event.

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I was going to go, we were going to do something.

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It was on my schedule to meet with this person. So I didn't see why...

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Why that was a big deal, right? But at that moment, the Lord said,

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I need you to just, these are the two people I need you to separate from for a season.

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And so when you start to doubt what God says, see how quick that started to play in your head?

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You start to say, I don't see why that person I see. You start to analyze what God's word says to you.

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When you heard clearly, because he gave you boom, boom, you know,

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gave you what you're not supposed to do, but we're so quick.

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We're thinking that that's us, but that's the enemy getting you to not obey

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what God has told you to do.

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And so we need to stay grounded in God's word, his written word.

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And when he speaks to us through the Holy Spirit so that we can guard against

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doubt, because in an emergency, because we're wrapping up, God is wrapping up

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this, The world is getting kind of crazy and he will need us to move when he tells us to move.

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And so while you're sitting there playing this play in your head about why you

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shouldn't do something, you could end up being a statistic, right?

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And you could be vulnerable, open yourself up to be vulnerable to deception.

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The Bible says that many will be deceived. And now you can see how deception

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can sneak in because we think we know better when God says,

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just you're quiet in your bed and you're not even thinking about the day.

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But God is thinking about your day.

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He has your day already organized and he's giving you your plan.

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And then you have the nerve to say, well, I don't think that one.

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I can just do that and start to replay the plan that God has for you.

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And so let's not do that. When God has spoken some words to you, write it down.

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And if you can do it right away and then go ahead and obey.

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Don't be walking in disobedience. Let's go on to Genesis 3, 6, Eve's decision.

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When the woman saw that the fruit of, this is so good to me.

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When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing

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to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

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Now she got all that information from being disobedient.

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She thought the food was good. Of course it's going to be good. God made it.

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Of course it's going to look good. Why? Because God made it.

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Of course it's going to give you wisdom because God made it.

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But God said, don't touch that.

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So that means it's not for you at this time.

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How many times have we talked ourselves into something that wasn't for us at that time?

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And you know, when we start, oh, you know, I bought this because it was on sale,

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because you don't look good because I got an interview.

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And when God said, no, get in your closet, shop something out of your closet.

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I want you to save that money for something else.

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Oh, no, that guy ain't for you. That girl ain't for you.

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That job ain't for you. I know I'm using ain't, but that job is not for you.

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That's how we get deceived. Eve, we started talking ourself into some things.

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We know it looks good because God made it. Come on now.

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We know it's pleasing to the eye because it was created by a God who makes all things good, right?

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And a desirable for gaining wisdom, right? God doesn't make any junk,

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but she took it anyway and she ate it.

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So Eve's decision was influenced by what?

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Her desire, her physical desire for the fruit. his aesthetic appeal,

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and the temptation to gain wisdom.

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Deception often plays on our desires, making harmful things appear attractive.

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Come on now, how many have been in some bad relationships because that guy or

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that girl appeared attractive, but it was deceptive to the eyes?

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Or something simple, you apply for a job and you walked in and you knew that job.

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Something about it before you even walked in the office gave you a bad feeling,

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but the job looked good and you end up getting the job, but it was the worst

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job ever because you was not paying attention to what the Lord says.

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I had an interview. It was a job I saw. It was beautiful. It was something I

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said, oh, I can change the world with this.

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It's like everything about the job was something I really wanted to do.

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Walked right in line with my skillset.

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I went to the interview and I looked into the office, I was like,

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okay, the color, it was something off, right?

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So you go into a room, something was off, you know, your discernment kicks in.

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Sometimes we can't figure out what that discernment is. But the night before

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I couldn't even sleep because the Lord was telling me, Connie,

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this is a systemic problem.

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They do not want it to be fixed.

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This is systemic. I hear hearing that over and over the systemic problem.

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They don't want it to be fixed. I won't give you too much detail and you'll

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figure out the job, but just say, for instance, God started telling you insights

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about a position you apply for.

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And he says, this is systemic. It's not going to be fixed.

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And then you get there and everything that he told you, you see it right before your eyes.

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And so there was like many different steps. I could just say,

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no, I could have canceled before I got there.

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I could have canceled because they were late getting to the interview part because

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they had another meeting.

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That was two things I could have stepped out.

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Three, when they said, this is how much we're going to pay you.

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Three different times I could have walked out of that interview and not wasted their time.

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But I continued on pressing on because it was pleasing to the eye.

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It was desirable to gain wisdom.

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But then when I got home, the Lord didn't let me go. He was like,

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Connie, you know, this is not for you.

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This is not for you. And kept pressing in.

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And so that Saturday morning, I just end up writing a note to the person interviewed.

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Thank you how you write a thank you note for the interview. Well,

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I wrote a thank you note for the interview, but then I asked him to withdraw

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my name from the application process.

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Because God knew in the long run that job was not going to be for me.

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It wasn't gonna be all the things that they promised.

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So sometimes we just have to pay attention to what God is saying and not get

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so caught up by what something looks like and how much wisdom you're going to

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gain from it so that you don't get deceived into working.

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Can I say this like a Hebrew slave for something God wants to bless you with

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that doesn't require all that work?

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So they might appear attractive, but it's going to cost you like all that overtime

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and working hard to just maintain it.

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So deception is most often appeared when it appears to your desire. So watch your desires.

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The serpent made the forbidden fruit seem desirable and wise and life to see.

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Come on now, often masquerades as something good or beneficial.

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Beneficial or like you're going to do a beneficial thing.

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I just use a job. I never thought of that one. The Lord just dropped that.

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It keeps coming up. So I'm just going to use it as an example,

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but I never thought that that would be, we think it's always for girls.

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We always want to look cute with shoes and boots and always cute.

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But as you get older, the clothes don't really matter anymore.

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You need to use a lot of wisdom, being at the right place at the right time.

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But its true nature is harmful.

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So what looks good and beneficial can actually be harmful for you.

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So reflect on your desires. Are there things in your life that appears good on the surface?

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Come on now. Good on the surface, but can lead you away from God's will.

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Seek God's wisdom to discern between what is truly good and what is deceptively

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attractive. Things can be deceptively attractive.

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Why? Because Eve was full because it was pleasing to the eye.

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So don't get tricked up. Let's go to Genesis 3 verses 7 to 13.

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There's always consequences of deception. So let's read it.

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It said, then the eyes of both of them were open. What? Both of them?

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So Eve wasn't by herself in this and they realized they were naked. it.

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So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

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So Eve, remember Eve was deceived, Adam disobeyed.

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So I always thought that at any time, Adam could have just knocked the fruit out of Eve's hand.

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I know that's something kind of violent, but you living in paradise.

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It's worth maybe a little finger injury to get to paradise by.

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And then using his authority, demand the snake to leave eaten or man to man,

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snatch the snake out of the tree and put his foot on his neck just for even coming into the garden.

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You know, just being a man thing.

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So after falling for the serpent's deception, Adam and Eve immediately feel

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shame and guilt, and their innocence was lost, and they hid from God.

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So they had a lot to lose. A lot of times we don't realize what we have to lose

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when we are disobedient from God.

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Now, the Holy Spirit is very persistent in keeping you safe.

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But sometimes when we just totally ignore the Holy Spirit, you ever notice he,

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I don't know what that feels like, but I haven't had that happen,

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that he will not keep bothering you.

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And then he allow you to go through these consequences. I'm quite sure Eve felt

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some like, no, don't do that. But Eve was persistent, right?

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So the consequences of deception are far reaching.

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What may seem like a small lie or a minor deviation from the truth can lead

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to feelings of guilt, shame, and a broken relationship with God.

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The question is, is it worth it?

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Think about areas in your life where deception had led to guilt or shame.

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How has it affected your relationship with God or others?

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Consider how you can seek restoration through repentance and embracing God's truth.

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That's what he said, the small lie or minor deviation. The small lie or minor deviation.

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The story of Adam and Eve's fall is a cautionary tale about the dangers of deceit.

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But it also provides hope. Even after their disobedience, God didn't abandon them.

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Though they faced consequences, he provided them with coverings and continued

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to work out his plan for salvation.

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As believers, we are called to live in truth. but that requires vigilance.

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Deception can come in many forms and an enemy is always looking for ways to

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twist God's word and lead us astray.

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The best defense against deceit is to know God's word intimately, even to know his voice.

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So when doubt or manipulation arises, we can stand firm in the truth.

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I love that. I just want to say that again. The best deceit is to know God's

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word and his voice intimately.

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So when doubt or manipulation arise, we can stand firm in the truth.

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A lot of times you can know that it's doubt or manipulation because you feel

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like you have to do it now. You feel rushed.

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When God tells you to do something, you just, you do, okay, you go,

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I'm going to do it. If it's good, I'm doing it.

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If it's bad, you know not to do anything bad. You know God's voice.

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Let that guy go. Let that girl go. Stop doing that. Stop doing that.

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Just begin to do things instantly and watch how you are blessed.

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Let's do this decree against deception.

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I decree that I am protected against the lies and subtle deceits of the enemy.

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I hold fast to God's truth, and I'm equipped with wisdom to discern lies from the truth.

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I'm going to say that again. I decree that I'm protected against the lies and

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subtle deceits of the enemy.

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I hold fast to God's truth, and I'm equipped with wisdom to discern lies from the truth.

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The Bible says if we ask for wisdom, he gives it to us liberally.

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So we're never without wisdom.

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So we can say, is that you, Lord? Is that truth? Then you can know that that's

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truth and that's wisdom and you follow wisdom.

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So by declaring this over your life, you're committed.

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You are committing to walk in the light of God's word and resist the enemy's attempt to deceive you.

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Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and the lessons we've learned

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from the fall of Adam and Eve.

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We ask for the discernment and wisdom in recognizing deceit in our lives.

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Help us to stand firm in your truth and guard our hearts against the enemy's lies.

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We seek your guidance today and we trust in your protection.

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In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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I'd like to thank you for joining me today with Faith on the Go,

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the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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Hope this episode has opened your eyes to the subtle ways in which deceit can

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enter our lives and how we can guard ourselves against it.

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Stay tuned for the next episode where we'll explore God's desire for truth and

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his will for our lives based on 1 Timothy 2.4.

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So until next time, keep walking in truth and spiritual vigilance.