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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We are so glad to

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Speaker 2: have you listening with us here today. Today's topic is

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Speaker 2: about protecting your mind. We will return after a brief

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Speaker 2: message from our sponsor, Keeping your Mind on Guard written

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Speaker 2: by Areth Anthony Brown, read by Rochelle Alberti Bible reading,

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Speaker 2: be so reminded, Be alert your adversary. The devil is

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Speaker 2: prawling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he

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Speaker 2: can devour one Peter five to eight CSB. People often

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Speaker 2: imagine the devil as a goat like beast that strikes

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Speaker 2: into the hearts of men. However, such renditions of Satan

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Speaker 2: are the result of human creativity how we think of him.

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Speaker 2: On the contrary, scripture doesn't actually give us any physical description.

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Speaker 2: We only know certain characteristics, such as his evil nature, pride,

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Speaker 2: and deceitfulness. If Satan looked anything like how he is

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Speaker 2: often depicted in popular literature and movies, wouldn't people run

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Speaker 2: the opposite direction? Christian or not. That's just plain scary. Yet,

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Speaker 2: I think we can agree that the devil is active

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Speaker 2: in our world today, very active. That means, if he

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Speaker 2: is to be successful, he has to be subtle. Such

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Speaker 2: is the nature of sin. Sin is enticing because the

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Speaker 2: consequences don't speak as loudly as the supposed benefits. Thus,

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Speaker 2: the devil lures the sin and we fall for the trap. Now,

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Speaker 2: perhaps we blame him for the things that we ourselves

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Speaker 2: commit willingly due to our own flawed nature. However, I

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Speaker 2: don't think the devil is off somewhere chilling and relaxing.

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Speaker 2: He's acting against us as we ourselves do the same. Therefore,

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Speaker 2: as Christians, we need to remember an important lesson as

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Speaker 2: we go about our lives, keeping our minds on guard.

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Speaker 2: Whether we're in a good season of life or a

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Speaker 2: difficult one, there's always the potential of being pulled away

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Speaker 2: from God. We don't always recognize the sin in our lives,

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Speaker 2: but it's there. So how exactly do we guard our

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Speaker 2: minds against the wiles of the devil and the tempting

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Speaker 2: nature of sin intersecting faith in life? Here are a

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Speaker 2: few steps you can take today to guard against the

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Speaker 2: sin that creeps so easily into our lives. Being the word,

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Speaker 2: someone recently told me that he's confident in his prayers

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Speaker 2: because he always gets what he prays for. What I

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Speaker 2: also know is this man is not reading the Bible

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Speaker 2: at all. As a result, he's left with who he

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Speaker 2: imagines God to be instead of who God is is.

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Speaker 2: That could be true of any of us who call

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Speaker 2: ourselves Christians but don't follow God's tenants. How can we

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Speaker 2: know what He expects of us if we don't know him. Moreover,

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Speaker 2: how can we know how to stand against sin if

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Speaker 2: we don't first turn to God. Yes we can learn

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Speaker 2: from the people around us, but they are sinners just

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Speaker 2: like us. Their knowledge and wisdom are finite, not God's.

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Speaker 2: And we know what is holy not because of them,

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Speaker 2: but because He is holy. Be in a community, there's

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Speaker 2: much to gag when we keep good company. Fallow believers

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Speaker 2: have the ability to help us get back on track

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Speaker 2: when we we are off course. They remind us of

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Speaker 2: our words to God and know how to walk in wisdom. However,

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Speaker 2: they can't offer any of these gains if we don't

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Speaker 2: keep them around. That's why the Bible encourages us to

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Speaker 2: be mindful of who we keep around us. Everyone in

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Speaker 2: our lives, especially those we engage with, regularly, influence us.

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Speaker 2: Let's make sure they are influencing us for good and

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Speaker 2: that we, in turn are doing the same. The better

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Speaker 2: our company, the less we will fall into sin. Be mindful.

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Speaker 2: Introspection is an underrated and underutilized practice. To identify sin,

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Speaker 2: we must first recognize it. However, so many of us

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Speaker 2: are constantly on the go, and we don't take time

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Speaker 2: to figure out how to improve ourselves. We don't know

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Speaker 2: when to rest or when to invest more into our relationship,

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Speaker 2: or when we have developed a bad habit. We can

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Speaker 2: see it in others, but not ourselves all because we're

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Speaker 2: not taking the time to think. Consider journaling, sitting in

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Speaker 2: silence without distructions, and even praying that God will help

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Speaker 2: you become more mindful. As mentioned in the introduction, we

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Speaker 2: don't always recognize the sin in our lives, but it's there,

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Speaker 2: and when we find it, we should respond to coord

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Speaker 2: by turning to God and his saving grace. Further reading

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Speaker 2: First Peter five, eight, Ephesian six ten through twelve, Genesis one, five, Tewod,

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Speaker 2: Corinthias eleven, fourteen, Romans twelve, two, Proverbs thirteen, twenty.

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Speaker 1: The Crosswalk Devotional is a production of Life Audio and

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