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The Estherpreneur is a weekly chat about doing business and life God’s way. Join your host, Edna Harding as she offers biblical strategies and practical applications to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as she talks with guests on how to thrive in all areas of life. Edna is a Wife, Mother, Growth Strategist, Author, Minister, Certified Maxwell Business Consultant and Executive Coach, an accredited Master Mindset Coach, and Speaker whose message of hope, truth, and wisdom reaches people all around the world. FavorandWealth.com Estherpreneur.com
Edna Harding [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Estrepreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week we discuss biblical and practical tips to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and wealth, where we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light.
Edna Harding [00:00:40]:
Well, hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the estherpreneur podcast. My name is Edna Harding, and I'm nothing but a messenger of hope, life and truth in the marketplace. And I'm so excited you guys are joining in with me today. Today is going to be a short, quick, but very profound episode because I think this is something that a lot of. This is what I believe a lot of the body of Christ do not know about the enemy. He only has two tactics, okay? It's the same tactics he has over and over and over again. So he's.
Edna Harding [00:01:16]:
He. He's not as big as we think he is. Okay? The enemy, Satan. Even though, yes, he barks heavy. He barks like a dog and sounds like a bulldog, is nothing but a chihuahua in the kingdom of God. So before we start, I'm going to go ahead and open up in prayer. Father God, I just thank you so much for this time. I thank you for my brothers and sisters who are on the other side of these airwaves.
Edna Harding [00:01:39]:
I thank you, Lord God, that they are called by you, Lord. They are chosen by you. They are loved by you, even if they do not even know it. Even if they don't know you yet. Lord God, I thank you for leading them to this very episode. Because we know God. It's the truth that will set them free in the mighty name of Jesus. All right, guys, guys.
Edna Harding [00:01:59]:
In all transparency, I am recording this before I have to go pick up my children. So I might be rushing through it, but it's okay. I believe the Lord is. Because it's not me, it's the Holy Spirit through me that's going to speak to your soul. So let's go ahead and get started here by saying that the enemies, again, the enemy's tactics aren't new. Okay? There's only two things that he does, and that is deception and rebellion. Deception and rebellion. If you think about it, in the Garden of Eden, back in Yoden days, right the very, very beginning, Eve was deceived by the serpent.
Edna Harding [00:02:40]:
And Adam knew what he was doing, but he rebelled and chose to do it otherwise. Okay, so. So again, Eve was deceived by the spirit, by the. By the. And then you have Adam who chose. Who was standing right there next to Eve according to the scriptures, when the serpent told her to eat the fruit. So how the enemy twisted or deceived Eve was through the word of God, right? He said, did God really say, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? That you should not eat from the fruit of the garden because he knows. So he'll twist the word of God.
Edna Harding [00:03:19]:
He'll make you question the instruction of God or the promises of God. Adam, who happened to be standing by Eve during that time, saw what he was doing and he still ate the fruit. And he knew better, but he allowed, I don't know, maybe his wife to convince him to go ahead and take your fruit. I mean, I do have to say in all the natural wives can be very convincing to husbands. So I'm not even going to. What do you call that? Make fun of him or like, judge him? They can say, what am I saying? Judge him. But it's very interesting to me how he just said, yeah, yes, dear. Which kind of like started the whole yes, dear thing, which is like a whole nother subject.
Edna Harding [00:04:03]:
I probably should talk about marriage one of these days. Anyway, those are the two strategies, okay? And here's one thing that I want to say, that if he can't deceive you about God, he'll try you. He'll try to get you to resist God, okay? So if he can't deceive, deceive you. He'll try you, Try to let you not obey God, right? So he'll say, well, for example, he'll say, well, you know, last time you did this, you know what happened. Or he'll. He'll basically make you question the love of God, makes you question the sovereignty of God, makes you question the purposes of God. And that's what he does. He'll make you question it.
Edna Harding [00:04:44]:
And so what he'll do is he'll either lie to you or he'll tell you something completely off to make God look bad. Does that make sense? Okay, so remember this, and I want you guys to hear me when I say this is that the enemy is not after your money. He's not after your relationships. He's not after your house. He's not after your platform. He's not even after your leadership title, okay? He is after your alignment with God. Boom. That's a bombshell, right? There he's after with you, aligning with God.
Edna Harding [00:05:18]:
Because remember, while you were being formed in your mother's womb, the Lord God has written every day of your life. God has a perfect plan for you. Plan to prosper you, give you hope and a bright future. And so the enemy knows is if he can deceive you or he. He can make you rebel against what God instructs you to do, then that means the purpose of purposes of God won't happen on the earth. Remember, the enemy isn't after you. He's God, okay? He doesn't care about you. Okay, let me just.
Edna Harding [00:05:51]:
Let me just rip the band aid off. The enemy does not care about you. He doesn't care about human beings. He cares about God. Meaning he's jealous of God. He wants to be God. So what does he do? He come against God's heart, which is you, my friend. Okay? So that's the reason why the enemy comes against you with deception or rebellion is because he doesn't want you to line up with the purposes of God.
Edna Harding [00:06:14]:
Does that make sense? So either way, his main goal is to separate you from God, okay? He wants to separate you from God's love. He wants to separate you from God's voice. This is what he does. So all the stuff that you think is happening, it's not really the important thing. The important thing is, are you close to God? Are you hearing God? Do you know that God loves you? If you don't any of these things, it could be the enemy got to you either to what? Deception or rebellion, okay? Which means you're going away from God on your own, okay? Not even God pushing you away, but you're going away from God on your own. Now, deception, hear me, my friends, rarely sounds evil, okay? It usually sounds very reasonable. Okay? So, for example, like the questions like, did God really say, or you're the exception, or this is just wisdom, or you've already waited long enough, it's time to take on your own hands. Okay? Here's.
Edna Harding [00:07:18]:
Here's what deception does. It does not deny God, but it reframes him. It makes you picture him in a different way, in a different light, especially what he says, okay? It twists its timing, it twists his motives, it twists his identity, and it twists his outcomes, okay? The enemy is really good at that. If you look throughout the Bible, this is what happens to characters all over, okay? All over the Bible and even to believers nowadays. And even in the past, deception often shows up here, my friends, as partial truth, delayed obedience and self justification. Self justification. Is like you're defending yourself. You're making excuses for yourself.
Edna Harding [00:08:01]:
Right? So if the enemy can confuse what God said, he can control what you do. Okay, so he. He's really after. This is the reason why the Lord wants us to spend so much time with him. Because he wants us to be able to discern his voice. Imagine if you only talk to your husband, I don't know, once a year. Okay. Do you think you discern his voice? Not really if you only talk to him once a year.
Edna Harding [00:08:28]:
But if you talk to him every day, every second, every minute, you know, you're reading his word, you're studying his character, you're sharing life with God. You're going to know him because you know the truth. You know the real Him. You don't know the fake him or the him through other people. You know him because you know him for yourself. You have experiential knowledge. Okay, let's go to rebellion real quick. Rebellion is not always loud or angry.
Edna Harding [00:08:54]:
Sometimes it's quiet and spiritualized. Okay, so it sounds like I'll just do it my way or. God understands we're human. Have you heard of that? I'm just human, you're God. This doesn't apply to me. I'm different. I'm. I have a special situation, you know, this is a little bit different from that situation or I know better now, right? Like we learned so much.
Edna Harding [00:09:17]:
We. We make so many reasons for us to make us feel better. We make so many excuses. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Excuses so that we could feel better. And so it's more. It's not always about disobedience. It's always.
Edna Harding [00:09:31]:
It's sometimes. Thank you, Holy Spirit. About self rule. Okay, do we rule our flesh? Do we rule our. Our emotions, our desires, our wants? Does it line up with God, Right? So we could. It's not even like God told us something. It's just for desiring things that is not of God. Right? So the desires, the wants, the thought patterns, right? The lust, the covetousness, is that right? It's jealousy, right? This is all about where it doesn't just target our mind, but it actually targets our will, right? Our decision making, our process.
Edna Harding [00:10:09]:
So we make decisions not based on what the Holy Spirit says, but we make decisions based on what our intellect says. Okay, so again, if you look at this from this way, deception targets your mind and then rebellion targets your will. So the two tactics of the enemy is mind and will. Now it's very interesting to me how in the scriptures in Genesis, it talks About Eve was deceived in the mind, deception and men. Adam was deceived through rebellion, which means I feel like. But. And again, this is not scripture. I don't know how I'm a base, but what I gathered to space in my limited thinking is that women tend to be deceived more and males tend to rebel more.
Edna Harding [00:10:51]:
That's just a thought. Okay, so this is where a lot of mature believers get stuck. It's not because they don't love God. Okay? I truly believe that those who sin and those who are deceit, like who. Who sin because they're deceived or because they choose otherwise, truly love God. But what happens is we take God for granted, or we take intimacy with God for granted, or we. We're not. We're not.
Edna Harding [00:11:17]:
This is scripture. This is be wise like a serpent, gentle as it does, beware of the. Of the enemy, because he's like a roaring lion that devours. Something like that. So what the enemy does is he catches believers off guard. And the reason why he can catch us off guard, honestly, comes down to intimacy. Are you intimate with the Lord? Are you spending time with God? When I say intimacy, I just got to make this clear. Especially if you're a new believer, intimacy doesn't necessarily mean you talk with him all day, all night, but it's.
Edna Harding [00:11:42]:
You make him your priority first thing. And then when you have decisions, especially important decisions, you need to consult him. Okay? You need to ask him what. What he thinks. And if. If you're not sure if. Especially if it's a big decision, you need to have multiple counselors who can advise you. In a multitude of counselors, there is wisdom that's scriptural as well.
Edna Harding [00:12:04]:
So there's a lot of instructions in the Bible. And sometimes we do need help. Like, it's like, I don't just depend on Edna. I learn from people, right? I have mentors, coaches, I listen to people, pastors, preachers, apostles, prophets. Like, this is something that I do myself. And mind you, I've been walking with the Lord for a long time, since I was 7 years old. And so I just want to say that this is. This is intentional.
Edna Harding [00:12:29]:
Like, you cannot just surface level, get to know God and have intimacy with the Lord. Surface level. You really need to have. Go in, go all in. Just think of it. I know it sounds so bad, like you have to marry God. It is. Because he's your groom, you're the bride.
Edna Harding [00:12:46]:
Marry God, be one with him, if you know what I'm saying. Okay, so. So how these Two work together. So let's talk about the cycle. First, deception whispers a lie. Then rebellion acts on it. Then distance grows between you and God. And then as you're away from God, confusion increases because you don't know the truth.
Edna Harding [00:13:09]:
Because you don't know him personally, right? You lie to other people, you're easily deceived and you easily rebel because you're so far away. Because you don't have a relationship with the Lord. Okay? Now I'm saying this not to shame you, but to encourage you, okay? That there is hope. And the hope is. Now you know what, Edna? Yeah. Now you know. Now you know what to do, right? Now you know it's time to get back. Get back in the cave and spend time with the father, okay? And take your time with him.
Edna Harding [00:13:39]:
The moment you recognize this tactic, then you gain, you regain authority and the Lord will vindicate you and restore the years of locusts and cankorums as stolen. How many times have you heard members, church pastors preach that? But they don't realize it doesn't. Doesn't just happen, okay? God has to. There are certain. I truly believe it's like if you would be a horrible parent if you just keep blessing your kid and she's totally rebelling against you, right? And she's not listening to you and she's listening to somebody else and she's not never around you, okay? And then imagine like she asked you for a million dollars. Would you give this person a million dollars even if you had it? No. Because this person is not responsible, mature enough to handle this million dollars. So you ask for all these blessings, but then you don't really.
Edna Harding [00:14:27]:
You don't really. You haven't shown how responsible you are yet. You know, how mature you are yet to handle what you're asking for the character to handle it right. The. The self control to handle it right. The mindset to handle it, okay? This applies to business and life. I don't care. And students, it doesn't matter what you are.
Edna Harding [00:14:47]:
This applies to everybody. And so I want you guys to reflect on this whenever you are, whenever a thought comes in your head, like you want to make sure you ask, you have this simple heart test. Number one, is this thought drawing me closer to God or making me more self directed? Okay. Number two, does this choice require humility or protect my pride? Come on. Number three, am I obeying fully or editing God's instructions? Man, the other day I was reading Leviticus about like what they were allowed to eat, what they couldn't eat, and it said, you couldn't have shrimp. You couldn't have pig. You can have. But they can have cattle and all this stuff.
Edna Harding [00:15:31]:
And I remember I was like, oh, I ate barbecue ribs, and I thought it was beef, but apparently it's pork. And so, like, that. That messed up my whole commitment to him for the next. I think it was for the next 90 days. And, yeah, it was the next 90 days. And I'm like, oh, man. I was like, oh, but. But it's okay.
Edna Harding [00:15:52]:
You know, God will forgive me. I'm like, no, I made a commitment. So I had to restart my fast and make sure that I don't eat those foods that the Lord told me not to eat. Okay, so that's what I'm talking about, is you're editing God's instructions. You don'. To do that. All right? So I just want to say this for those of you guys who are aware now that you are either deceived or you're either rebellious against the instruction of God. It's okay.
Edna Harding [00:16:18]:
You're here now, and God will make a way for you. Remember, you're not powerless. You're not easily overtaken, and you are equipped with truth and discernment by the grace of God. And he just happened to use this podcast to open your eyes and says, awake from your slumber, my brother and sister in Christ. Okay, Just know that deception loses its grip when truth is loved and rebellion loses its power when surrender is chosen. So embrace truth and surrender your will to God, and he will make all crooked paths straight. Well, I hope this blessed you. I hope this encouraged you to desire more of the Lord.
Edna Harding [00:17:00]:
And I pray that you will shine brighter for Jesus each and every day. God loves you, and I love you, too. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur.
Edna Harding [00:17:14]:
Make sure to visit our website, favorandwealth.com for more information on our services.
Edna Harding [00:17:20]:
While you're at it, if you found.
Edna Harding [00:17:21]:
Value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on itunes.
Edna Harding [00:17:24]:
Or if you see, simply tell a.
Edna Harding [00:17:25]:
Friend about the show. That would help me out, too.
Edna Harding [00:17:28]:
Also, check out my book, the Ugly.
Edna Harding [00:17:30]:
Side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share seven of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.