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What If Your Loudest Thought Is A Scheme · WholeHeart Conversations

• 0:00
  Constance Lavonice: As Christians, we have an unseen spiritual adversary, often referred to as Satan or the devil.
• 0:11
  Constance Lavonice: Jesus says that he comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
• 0:17
  Constance Lavonice: John 10 10.
• 0:19
  Constance Lavonice: The Bible exhorts us to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, strategies to hinder, defeat, or destroy us.
• 0:34
  Constance Lavonice: Today we're going to talk about the schemes of lies and deceit.
• 0:42
  Constance Lavonice: And if you're new here, I want to welcome you.
• 0:47
  Constance Lavonice: You're listening to WholeHeart Conversations, a podcast for women that provides biblical encouragement that fosters whole heart, spirit, soul, and body resilience.
• 1:02
  Constance Lavonice: I'm your host, Constance Lavonice.
• 1:06
  Constance Lavonice: As I've discussed previously, a scheme is a strategy to hinder, defeat, or destroy.
• 1:17
  Constance Lavonice: And one strategy is the lie.
• 1:21
  Constance Lavonice: Jesus says in John 8 44 that the devil does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.
• 1:34
  Constance Lavonice: When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• 1:46
  Constance Lavonice: The same lies that he told Eve in the Garden of Eden.
• 1:52
  Constance Lavonice: Did God really say that?
• 1:56
  Constance Lavonice: A question designed to have Eve question God, to doubt what God had already instructed.
• 2:07
  Constance Lavonice: He does the same thing to us today.
• 2:11
  Constance Lavonice: His goal is to deceive you, accuse you, and bring you into condemnation, which creates distance from God.
• 2:24
  Constance Lavonice: How does that happen in our minds?
• 2:29
  Constance Lavonice: Anything that brings shame, guilt, and distance us from God.
• 2:37
  Constance Lavonice: We start to internalize thoughts and feelings that are inconsistent with who God says we are.
• 2:48
  Constance Lavonice: God says that we are the righteousness of Christ, and we are a new creation in Christ Jesus.
• 3:00
  Constance Lavonice: The devil comes along and gets into your mind and trigger beliefs that you formed about yourself that you don't even realize that they're there.
• 3:14
  Constance Lavonice: Sometimes these beliefs are deep down in your core, what we call core beliefs in counseling.
• 3:25
  Constance Lavonice: These beliefs are often distorted and not based on facts.
• 3:33
  Constance Lavonice: They definitely don't align with who God says you are.
• 3:40
  Constance Lavonice: Shame, guilt, hopelessness, unworthiness, the thought that you don't measure up or you're falling short, anything that makes you want to hide from God or that draws you away from God.
• 3:58
  Constance Lavonice: This is condemnation.
• 4:01
  Constance Lavonice: And God doesn't condemn us.
• 4:05
  Constance Lavonice: The Bible tells us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
• 4:12
  Constance Lavonice: Romans 8, 1.
• 4:15
  Constance Lavonice: Condemnation draws us away from God, which is the plan, the scheme, to get us isolated and alone and believing the lies.
• 4:32
  Constance Lavonice: God, however, convicts us gently through His Holy Spirit.
• 4:42
  Constance Lavonice: He convicts us of sin, he reminds us of who we are in Christ, and is always for the purpose of drawing us closer to God.
• 4:59
  Constance Lavonice: So when you begin to have these thoughts in your mind, negative thoughts, unhelpful thoughts, thoughts that carry guilt and shame, ask yourself, is this God or is this of the devil?
• 5:23
  Constance Lavonice: Is this condemnation, which the goal is to draw me farther from God, or is this a conviction of the Holy Spirit that wants to draw me closer to God?
• 5:46
  Constance Lavonice: Counter the lies and align your thoughts with who God says you are.
• 5:55
  Constance Lavonice: And we talked about that a few weeks ago.
• 5:58
  Constance Lavonice: Because spiritual resilience is knowing the difference between condemnation and conviction.
• 6:10
  Constance Lavonice: And if this message was helpful, please subscribe and share with someone who may need clarity in this area of condemnation and conviction.
• 6:25
  Constance Lavonice: And I would love to hear from you.
• 6:28
  Constance Lavonice: So text the show and let me know what's on your heart.