"The Snake" | Episode #95 | Builder of All Things | Author’s Cut: Chapter Seven | Full Episode w/ Richie Breaux

Welcome to the Builder of All Things Podcast—where we go beyond the pages of the book and explore into the Author’s Cut! 🔥 Join Richie Breaux and Ray Bisnar as they break down each chapter in micro-episodes, giving you the behind-the-scenes insights, deeper wisdom, and real-life applications—just like a Director’s Cut for a book. 

🎙️ Richie takes us through a masterclass of spiritual discernment, emotional control, and strategic elevation. This isn’t just storytelling — this is spiritual coaching for leaders, entrepreneurs, and warriors walking in purpose.

🔥 What You'll Experience in Chapter 7 (Full Episode):
* Snakes in Real Life: What they look like (clients, coworkers, betrayal), how they operate, and why it's never the person — it's the spirit behind them.
* The Michael Jordan Analogy: Elevation as a weapon. When attacked, don’t play defense on the ground — Air Jordan on ’em and take the battle to higher ground.
* Eagle vs. Snake: Why eagles never fight on the ground — and how your fight must remain above the bait.
* The Bait-Hook-Kill Pattern: The enemy uses the same tired strategy. Learn it. Cut the line before he reels you in.
* Stealing Your Perspective: The real danger isn’t just deception — it’s losing your focus, your mission, your vision.
* The Power of Praise: Drawing from Jehoshaphat’s story, learn how praise isn’t passive — it’s a sword that severs the serpent’s hold.
* Gratitude As Armor: How walking in thankfulness spiritually fortifies you, focuses your mind, and makes you untouchable.

💡 Whether you're facing betrayal, spiritual warfare, or emotional bait in business or life — this episode gives you clarity, strategy, and authority to recognize the enemy, resist the bait, and cut the head off the snake with spiritual elevation and unshakable truth.

📖 This is more than a podcast — it's armor. This is Chapter 7. And it’s a game-changer.

#BuilderOfAllThings #AuthorsCut #Chapter7 #Snakes #SpiritualWarfare #FaithInBusiness #GratitudeLens #CutTheHeadOffTheSnake #AirJordanOnEm #EagleVsSnake #ChristianLeadership #PerspectiveIsPower

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Snakes And Elevation
• 2:45 Air Jordan As A Metaphor
• 5:30 The Three S’s: Storms, Snakes, Smokes
• 8:10 Categorize Before You Respond
• 12:00 Eagle vs Snake: Don’t Fight On Ground
• 16:30 Real-World Snakes: Deception Through People
• 21:10 Protect Your Perspective From Bait
• 25:00 The Pattern: Bait, Hook, Kill
• 29:10 Cutting The Line: Strategy Over Reactivity
• 33:00 Praise As A Weapon, Not Just Defense
• 36:30 Gratitude That Disarms Attacks

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:30

Welcome back, guys, to Builder of All Things Podcast. Authors cut. Authors cut. Cut cut. We're gonna we're gonna cut it up. Cut it up. Recently, in chapter eight, Richie. Oh, I'm sorry, chapter seven. Chapter seven in the top. Chapter seven and previously to this was going into the three S's, which was a storm, snakes, and smokes. But right now we are on snakes. But how do they is that the noise they're made? You can't do it too much because my Filipino friends are gonna.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04

It's like so powerful how Jesus is referred to as a lamb and a lion, and then the enemy is referred to as a snake. The snakes are they can't even make no noise, man. But that's how crafty they are. Come on. Right? Let's go.

SPEAKER_00: 1:17

We want to cut some heads off today, Ray. We're gonna cut some heads off.

SPEAKER_02: 1:23

Come on. So Snake, the title of this uh chapter, Richie, is Air Jordan on him. And I think for our listeners, I think, I mean, Jordan is iconic enough to kind of have an idea of who he is and what he's done for the culture in terms of basketball and his effect on the I mean, he's world-known, right? Yeah, man. Let's talk about that, bro.

SPEAKER_01: 1:43

Yeah, so just like the snake is, you know, he's he likes to bait us. I I baited you guys hopefully into this chapter by starting off with Air Jordan on him. No, and I'm talking about basketball, and then I shift and like talking about snakes, and it's like, what the heck is going on? So this is like it you might think this is ADD at its finest, but the the reality is, man, is uh let's just start with you know, Air Jordan on him, Michael Jordan, you know, growing up in the era in the 90s, just you know, there is let's yeah, there is just something powerful about recognizing what what elevation can do and the power behind it. And so as a reference of the word elevation, I really wanted to talk about somebody who elevated, you know, and and really talk about you know, Michael Jordan. I remember this commercial, like one of I think it was one of the first ones, a Coca-Cola commercial where there is some kids in a clubhouse in a tree, it's like a tree clubhouse, and Michael's like, I don't know, he's supposed to be like the kid's buddy or something. But he's a grown man, I don't know, something weird. I never got that part, but the kids are like, oh man, we forgot the drinks. And then they're like, Michael, and then Michael Jordan grabs a six-pack of Cokes and he just like there's it what's crazy, it's not about how high he jumped. It was about when he got up to the tree house, he was he got the elevate and hang there long enough to smile and like strike a pose for the with the coke, you know, six pack to give the kids and drop it off and then come back down. But what in reality is is we know that was fabricated, right? But we all understood that is actually what he did, you know, as he attacked the rim and and and one of his specialties were he would you know jump in the air, you'd watch everyone else jump to defend him, but then they would start coming down, he would still be up there and have an easy layup or do something fun for us and entertaining. And so, you know, I I love Jordan growing up and you know, watching that, I think everyone did just that that elevation, you know, him winning the dunk contest and doing it with such finesse, and it was just a beauty to watch, man. And so there is a Christian hip-hop song that that released, you know, back in the early 2000s with cross movement. His name was K Drama. And he came out with this song called Air Jordan on Him. I air Jordan on him, I aired Jordan on him, and then what it did was it baited us, the Michael Jordan fans, and the song with a nice hook, and we're just like, yeah, this is tight. You know, but the context of the song was so powerful about elevating things to God when you're in a in a pressured or in a situation where you were under a challenge or a struggle. So you air Jordan on them. It doesn't mean like, hey, you fight them, you just you elevate, you know, your faith in a situation. So it became kind of a fun mantra or term that just kind of spread culturally through Christian hip-hop and and people, like, hey, if I'm going through something, I'm gonna air Jordan on them, you know, and so meaning I'm gonna take my problems to God and elevate it to him. And that was uh where I started the chapter just to, you know, just really to dig into elevation and taking things up. So that was the beginning point of why I even talked about basketball and aired Jordan on it.

SPEAKER_02: 5:12

And I think in that section or that area, I mean, I'm before we get into it, I I mean, we can talk about what the snake is in terms of the three big the big three, I should say. Yeah, so big three, what you're talking about is a storm, snakes, and smokes. And smokes. Smokes. And so right now we're talking about snakes, and so I think one thing is we have to identify what a snake is. And in your, you know, this is the author's cut, so we're gonna we're hearing from the author.

SPEAKER_01: 5:40

We're gonna cut it in. Yeah, so just to revisit the three pillars or you know, of battling adversity. And I recognize in my life and my business with talking with people that we easily can cat miscategorize. Yeah, like we'll be going through a storm and say, Man, the enemy did this, or we'll be going, or the enemy's actually attacking, and you're saying, Man, I'm going through a storm, you know, or or vice versa. And same with the smoke, you know, and we'll talk about in the next podcast, but that's self-inflicted decisions. There, there's there's three parts, man. It's either God's allowing it, the enemy's attacking, or you're self-destructing it, you know. And so we have to be honest and ready to categorize it first because we cannot respond the same to each one. So if you think it's the enemy, but it's a storm, you're actually attacking what God's allowing to strengthen you. You know, He wants you to go through a faith process and you're calling it, hey, it's the enemy, you know, and you're praying, you're just totally like miscategorizing and attacking, like responding incorrectly. So I wanted to be able to, you know, categorize these three main parts, and there's a way to respond to each one. So now that we're talking about the snake, we have to that's first part of if we're looking practically. I would say if you're having a challenge or a battle or something, you know, going through an adversity, let's just look sit back and say, okay, which one is it? Yes, right? Yeah, let's just categorize it first. Let's see first, like what is it? Category. All right, boom, snake. And that's what we're about to talk about today. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_02: 7:16

And so when you talk about elevation and how does that apply to now what we're talking about, right?

SPEAKER_01: 7:21

Yeah, just so the snake, man, starting with you know, Adam and Eve, that's where we first got introduced to the enemy, which was in the form of a snake and crafty, and and you know, and that's where I I picked up the term because the enemy is out there to bait us, deceive us, to to hook us and kill us, man. And so the snake from there, when I when I even share it with people that don't even read the the scriptures of the Bible, when I say a snake, they they all know, like, hey, he's snakeish, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, don't talk to that dude, he's a snake. So I think it was a good reference historically, but also with commodity, you know, pop culture, the snake just connects real real easily. And so elevation, talking about elevation, talking about Michael Jordan, air Jordan on what does that mean? So there is a way an American eagle and a snake have like their moments of battle, yeah. All right, and so what was unique because when I went researching about snakes, I learned a lot about snakes. I learned that when you cut their head off, man, they still live for a little bit longer, even but they can't see anymore, which was very interesting. So I was just studying like snakes for a while because there was a reason why God identified the enemy as a snake, and so I wanted to know a little bit more about them. So in that process of studying, man, I there's this there is a lot of stories about this eagle that preys from high levels of elevation on the snakes and kind of always always keeping on the lookout for the snake, it can always see it, always positions himself high enough to understand the snake's moves and watches, which I thought was really cool. So the positioning of elevation to begin with, to always be in a posture of up above to look down and know the enemy and see how it's lurking. But when it's getting in your territory, like it's trying to, you know, attack or do whatever it's gonna do, the eagle comes down, right? Comes down. There's two things that could happen. The eagle lands on the ground and then tries to fight it on the ground, but the snake wins that war every time. It catches the the eagle, it wraps it, the weight of it pulls it, it can't fly, grabs its wings, chokes it, kills it. Yeah, and the snake tries to bait it to come in on the ground. That's his goal. Like, get the get the eagle on the ground, you know, and try to bait him on the ground. But the other part of it is if the eagle is able to grab the snake from the top, yeah. What the eagle does immediately is he elevates, he air Jordans on him. Hey, come on, he takes it all the way as high as he can go. The eagle goes up to his playground up here. The snake's powerless, yeah. Come on, powerless. It's just like like flapping in the wind. Yeah, but then guess what it does? It just drops it.

SPEAKER_02: 10:05

Visually, I've seen stuff like this.

SPEAKER_01: 10:07

It's just powerless, and that really like like opened up this whole like spiritual but practical way of understanding. Like, when we understand categorize what and who and how the snake is working, how how do we respond to it? I want to be like the eagle, I don't want to fight it on the ground, right? I want to elevate it. And so that's where it all began. Okay, what does that mean? Like, how do we how can I be like the eagle, take the snake up in the air and elevate? How can I air Jordan on him? Yeah, right? Or how do I not try to fight it on the ground? What does that mean in real world terms, like for me? You know, and that's where it really buried this book or this chapter in this book.

SPEAKER_02: 10:49

And so when you're talking about like real world terms and practicality, what would a snake because we have visuals of this and it's great, but what's real world? What does it look like in the real world? Like what's the right thing? Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 11:00

So if you can recall, like storms are out of our control, the market shifts, prices go up, prices go up. There's just things that God allows. And it's and I again we referred to that as a storm. When it rains, it rains, you can't stop the rain. It's just it's gonna rain. You know, and the wind is is what it is. So when we're looking at the snake, now this is where most times it's from a and I'm still trying to prey on if there's some outside of this, but it usually comes through a person. Yes, it comes through a person, yeah, and it's somebody who's trying to deceive you, yeah. Somebody who's trying to sabotage you, could be a company, could be a client, could be an employee, could be your it could be your partner, it could be your best friend, it could be your brother. It's it's when somebody is coming against your truths, yeah, and trying to shift them and attacking your character, your integrity, these these moral like compasses you have, and they're they're poking at it. Yeah, there's ways to identify what this is. So I've seen it in employees that are you know trying to create a deceptive lie going around and raising troops up to kind of start its own little company without anybody knowing, yeah, versus just coming to the owner directly and saying, Hey, you know, I I have a desire to start my own company and you know, yeah, just being straight up truth. But the deception starts, then the kind of culture shifts. I seen this, you know, and the snake is just going to work. And so although it's coming through people, it's never the person that's very important to stamp. There was a time in the scriptures where Jesus rebuked Peter. I rebuke you, Satan. Yeah, Peter, Peter would probably have been more. I was like, yeah, what?

SPEAKER_02: 12:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 12:51

But it was the the whatever, however, the enemy and the snake whispered and and worked through Peter. Yes, it wasn't Peter. You see where I'm going?

SPEAKER_02: 13:02

So what's the importance of discerning or making sure we don't marry those two together?

SPEAKER_01: 13:06

Just always love the person, first of all, and always have the lens to look at the person that there is a deception, but it's there's a way to attack the enemy and not the person. And I that's what I want to share. You never attack the person because if you're attacking the person, you're fighting the snake on the ground. Oh, come on. Like the eagle. You're gonna get choked up, man. You don't go to your wife and say, get behind me, Satan. Yeah, sure. Sure. I mean, we're gonna fight if I do that. No matter how how how much the now, Jesus probably can do it to Peter. That's a totally different dynamic, you know what I'm saying? But as far as like because he's God, God in the flesh. But as far as a husband to a wife, I never would say, Hey man, you acting like Satan today. I'm gonna cut the head off. You know, you don't do that. So the person is and can be used as a vessel for the snake to work through, but that doesn't mean attack the person like the snake on the ground, the eagle trying to attack the snake. You will you will lose that war. It will choke you slowly, it will wrap you, it's baiting you in. Once you're able to categorize, okay, this is attacking my character, where are the truths in this? This is not true. You know, I think establishing truths first, like because that's what the the main bait is and the and the stirring of the pot is deception. And so when you look at things and say, hey, what's the truth in this? For example, I had a client that was trying to sabotage our company, and now clients have the right to be upset, to be dissatisfied, and to voice their concerns. I'm not talking, that's not the snake. Don't go out there calling your client snakes because they're not happy with bad work, you know, or bad product. You know, that's not snakes, man. Like, okay, that's just we need to step up in excellence. But with this client was was attacking my character. And when he was attacking my character, I had to check myself. Did I misrepresent myself? I have to be honest. Or wait a minute, those aren't true.

SPEAKER_00: 15:05

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01: 15:06

So there, and then you can even tell, not only was he attacking my character and lying in a lot of emails and and social blast. I put all this in the book. He started coming at my wife, call me a bad husband. You don't know how I'm a husband at home. That's that's stepping over a line of poking at my my character, my integrity, my and so I know the truths. So the truths really are I'm a good husband. These are this is what I, you know, these are the things that I do. I did not lie, you know, and so when we're able to establish, you know, the truths, and that's the first like stance of just positioning ourselves ready for this battle, yeah, is saying and categorizing it too.

SPEAKER_02: 15:48

Yeah, would you say that that's part of the bait?

SPEAKER_01: 15:51

Oh man, the bait comes in all kinds of forms, man. And and I share this in one of the masterclasses, but the bait is like it's deceptive. So when you think about a real fisherman trying to bait fish, it's creating false sense of food, yeah, and it's putting it on water like it's really swimming. Like the fish are like, oh, that's a live worm, you know? But that what is what is it really? It's a bait, it's a bait. It's the whole point of bait is it's already deceptive and it's trying to bait you. So when you're going fishing, depending on the fish, you choose your bait. Right, right. So the same thing with bait, there's so many, it depends on who you are. If I look at you, Ray, Ray, I'll say, What kind of fish are you? How will I get you to come to the top of the surface to grab my hook? Right. And so baits come in all different ways. If you're, you know, if you're in securities about you and your wife, you know, and certain things, he's gonna try to uh bring attacks in that area. If you're a business owner and you do certain things, he's he's just gonna try to use the bait in so many different ways.

SPEAKER_02: 16:53

I like one of the things you mentioned in the opening portion of the bait, and this this stood out to me a lot, Richie, which was um the enemy wants to steal your perspective. The first time I heard of stealing your perspective, that's insane. That if you're hearing this guys, that's I mean, we have to kind of talk about that, Richie. Like, what's what's stealing your perspective?

SPEAKER_01: 17:12

Yeah, so from a like a metaphorical view, imagine a fish is on a mission and he's swimming, and then the bait hits the water at the top, it distracts you, and you look up, and then you're like, Oh, food. And then basically you just lost your whole mission. You just started swimming all the way to the top. And so the enemy, like the snake, we'll keep referring him to like when I had that client trying to sabotage us through email, he was trying to bait me to respond. Yep, he was trying to poke in certain areas where I wanted to respond and and kind of snap, like bro, you know, you know, like you know who like it's like I felt a responsibility to defend my character and respond with passion to let him know he's wrong, but then I'm fighting on on the dirt, you know? That's not how you fight the snake, right?

SPEAKER_02: 18:05

And I think the reason why I this this just stood out to me so well, so big, was because I believe that in this battle, your your perspective is the your biggest weapon. And if you if they steal your sword, it's an automatic L, bro. And I think that's why it's so it stood out to me so much.

SPEAKER_01: 18:25

Yeah, it's he's always at work trying to lure you out of your purpose and get you out of the stream any way he can to get you out of the path that God has you on, and that's but he has still your perspective, he has to give you a different perspective that can over-attract the perspective you have now. He's gonna get so basically if you have a purpose and a vision, and like we talk with the lens, you like this picture and your focus. Yeah, he's gonna try to turn the vibrant setting a little bit more colorful, a little more light. He's gonna try to say, Hey, this is prettier. Yeah, you know, this come check this out. This is nicer than that one. And then try to make it look. And as soon as you look, boom, you know, you just stole it. You just stole your lens. You got a new lens on now.

SPEAKER_02: 19:09

Yeah, and it's terrifying to it's terrifying to know that you could, I don't say lose, but you can get your weight lost or or stolen just like that.

SPEAKER_01: 19:19

Just like that, bro. Yeah, just like that. And that's that's his job all day, all night. Oh no, that's true. He's constantly at work, man.

SPEAKER_02: 19:27

We talk about you mentioned that the snake shows up in Genesis and Adam and Eve, and there's another portion in there. We talk about the snake appearing to Jesus in the while he's uh fasting. And I think the thing that stood out to me in that portion was that you know, the snake being the snake and knowing just how conniving he is, and and he knows all these things, right? And for him to come at the right time at the right place, meaning in that story where Jesus is fasting and he comes at like the latest time where he's hungry and he's so to speak vulnerable, right? Can you talk about the snake appearing in that uh story?

SPEAKER_01: 20:07

Well, yeah, I think what I wanted to show, and a lot of business owners, we can move into successful paths. Number one, with God, of course, but we recognize patterns. So, what what happens in the scripture when the snake appears, I recognize oh, he has the same pattern. And so when we look at his approach with Adam and Eve, with Job, with Jesus in the garden, it's the same one, two, three, man. It's like so it's like even like as a as a MMA fighter, you kind of gotta learn who you're fighting, right? And then you kind of learn, you know, what's their combos, what's their match. But if you watch his fight, you're gonna be like, dude, you fight the same every single time. Like you're not different, like you don't like you're crafty with finding the bait, but you're still a one, two, three, like punch guy. Yeah, yeah. Like, oh, you're you're actually easy to defeat. Come on, very easy to defeat. And so, as a business owner, entrepreneur, man, I recognize the patterns just reading it. And so when he came with Jesus, and what I did in the book is try to illustrate, there's a pattern in Adam and Eve and with Jesus, and I I actually paralleled those for you so you can see the the actual pattern. It's the same attack, yeah, same exact attack. So we really have no excuse. God's showing us come on, look, man, he's a kindergarten fighter, you know. Like, that's good. No, he's like an ABC fighter. Like, that's why Jesus was like, dude, you're an ABC fighter, dude. Like, yeah, like come on, man. Like you're easy to defend, really. You really are. The hook is is the next part, right?

SPEAKER_02: 21:41

Yeah, so talk about what you're what you talk about there.

SPEAKER_01: 21:44

Yeah, the the ABC, I'm just gonna spell it out real quick. So yeah, is bait, hook, kill.

SPEAKER_02: 21:51

Bait, hook, kill.

SPEAKER_01: 21:52

And it's it's just you know, basically illustrating the same as like a fisherman. Uh-huh. You throw the bait, try to get a hook, you reel it in, and then what do you do? You kill it, you know. Yeah. I mean, some fishermen are really nice and put the fish back, but that's not what this is. This is this is we're not catching releasing anything. No, his his objective, the snake, is to kill you. Like, destroy you. He's the destroyer, you know, and so that's his goal. And whatever time it takes, he's a very you fishermen too are very patient. Yes. I can't fish. I'm not patient. I throw the thing out and I'm like, five minutes out. I'm gone I'm gone. I can't, unfortunately, I can't fish. Like, you know, but what I love about and I appreciate and I respect about fishermen is how patient they are, man. Like the patience it takes to just wait, change the bait, figure out where's the best spot, and just work it. But the whole goal to for when you're out there fishing and baiting and working, when you get a hook, it's game time, right?

SPEAKER_02: 22:46

Game time.

SPEAKER_01: 22:46

And so the same thing with the snake and the enemy. As soon as like it's it's crafty with the eagle and the eagle's trying to find on the ground, as soon as it attacks, yeah, and it baited you in, and it's game time. It's trying to choke you and pull you, pull you in for the kill. And so once it hooks you, that's where your life, your journey, it's hard once you get the hook. So imagine that client. I get hooked, and then I snap on him in an email. He screenshots it, puts it online, and then just you know, it just turns into this fish being dragged to the boat. You know, it and so sometimes our decisions are part of the choices we make are part of being hooked, you know, and so our what we want to do is be able to position ourselves to not get hooked. Obviously, we're gonna talk about that. But the hook is it can be long term. Sometimes the bait was thrown way out there, and he's gonna hook you and slowly keep pulling you in, pulling you in, pulling you in, and it could be a two-year poll, and you don't even know. Damn, you're just hooked, you know what I mean? You're just kind of like floating on the top, and then you know, a lot of things come with that. Sometimes divorce, sometimes the company could shut down, sometimes, you know, people leave your company, sometimes, you know, I mean, it can get real bad. You can go to, you know, it's just it's gonna keep your stress hit you at a whole new level because the the enemy baited you for whatever it was, you know. And so he's at work, man, to try to hook you and and pull you in for the kill.

SPEAKER_02: 24:08

And so you would say, I mean, would you say that just being aware of that is the is the best thing you can do?

SPEAKER_01: 24:15

Or what's in your well, what I wanted to do in this chapter was number one, categorize it, right? But once you categorize it, I wanted to equip you with the weapon to defeat it, not just defend it. So, what I want to teach you is not how to dodge the bait, I want to teach you how to cut the line.

SPEAKER_02: 24:35

Gotcha. Right?

SPEAKER_01: 24:37

Like, I'm gonna show you where the line is and you just cut it. Yeah, and then the fisherman is gonna be like, whoa, they cut the line. Like, I can't even like these guys are smart, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02: 24:47

Like, got it. So before we we dive into the cutting the line, let's go on to the the BHK bait, hook, and kill. So let's go over the kill. So what's your what do you mention in the book about oh yeah, that's what I was just capitalizing on, man.

SPEAKER_01: 25:00

Like you can get a divorce, you you you can lose your company, you can. I mean, that's the kill. He's trying to destroy you all the way to death, man. Could even into sickness because of stress or you know, um, so many different areas. So your response is getting caught and hooked. And the hook is basically gonna keep pulling you until you know how to cut the if you don't know how to cut it, uh, you're going in for the kill. Like they're you're gonna get killed. So, like the eagle, once it's getting choked, it's almost not to say it's too late, but it's a miracle if you can get out, because the enemy's out there to kill you, and he's gonna keep going and choking you and choking you until you die. Yeah, and that's the same thing with the hook. You gotta just wiggle your way out as much as possible. But if I can teach you to cut the, just cut it. And that's what my prayer was. I was like, God, how can I just like when I'm in a spiritual battle like this, uh huh? Like, how can I respond immediately? Or and or even when I'm hooked, that will cut the line and save me. Yeah, even though the line's cut, I can have to work on getting the hook out, yeah, right. And hopefully it can come out. I'm gonna have some scars, but at least I'm not going in for the kill, right?

SPEAKER_02: 26:04

Yeah, yeah. In the beginning of the kill portion, kill portion, he'll say it says uh he'll do the snake will do whatever it takes to make you think you're on your own. And that that's a that's a good line, bro, because I think that's for I mean, just in my life, I I think the enemy uh succeeds when when I try to do things on my own, when I know there's a a captain of the ship, and and I'm not looking to that. So I think I I put in my notes here, I I think to separate you from the captain of the boat is one of is the best trophy that the the snake can get. So I'm thinking like, oh man, it's putting into perspective what we should do, uh, which is to stay within proximity of the captain.

SPEAKER_01: 26:54

Yeah, and it's just like visually, I'm thinking like as the fish is probably with the school of other fish buddies, she maybe gets caught, but that's when isolation begins. Oh, and what's crazy is like fish aren't that smart. Not saying we're not smart as humans, but the fact that sometimes when they're caught, they don't even know they're caught. Yeah, you know what I mean? And so that's my my my goal is to be part of the the fish school and teach other fish to let you know, like when you get caught with the bait, yeah, you know, and and I know there's probably a lot of like business owners that are probably watching this and like, man, what does this have to do with business, man? It has everything to do with business. Like, see, this whole book, this whole like thing is about your spiritual faith and your heart posture and how to respond spiritually. Because if you're chasing everything in the physical world, you're really on your own to begin with. And we'll talk about this, you know. And so if you're partnering with the builder of all things and anything you're doing, any kind of leadership, these three categories are very important because they will come, especially when you start God is pushing you into the the realm of successfulness of what he wants to do with you. Yeah, the enemy is gonna come and you have to be prepared for him. This isn't like how do you you know make a sale or market your company? This is this is the meat. Like this is like when adversity comes and when it comes, it will come when you're down, it will come when you're up, you know, and it's gonna come and attack you. So I want to prepare you spiritually on how to recognize these things.

SPEAKER_02: 28:21

We're switching from the set defensive to offensive, and so to killing, you know, killing the snake, how is that or attack attacking the snake? You talk about that.

SPEAKER_01: 28:31

No, it's a kill.

SPEAKER_02: 28:32

Oh, it's a game, it's a kill, man.

SPEAKER_01: 28:34

Well, because you know, there's a chapter in Ephesians chapter six that really breaks down the the spiritual armor of God, and that's the first place I went to study, like, all right, how do I, you know, prepare myself to attack the snake? And and when I was reading, man, I was like, I mean, just playing sports and stuff. I'm like man, this is defensive. This is like I'm standing and I'm gonna defend myself when it attacks, but that's not killing the snake. It's great, don't get me wrong, there's offense and defense, and you got to be able to defend yourself. Even the sword of God, the sword, which is the word of God, was a defense mechanism because the sword, the word is the promises that that can defend off any attacks, which is which is true. And so, but even that wasn't like cutting the head off. So I was like, but then the the very last part where it says pray without ceasing, yeah. You know, that part was it is the final weapon it gave after the sword. I was like, pray, pray without ceasing. And I was like, so I went and studied again prayer, just the basics of it. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And I was like, Wow, that just like, oh my gosh. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We praise him continuously. And the reason why it clicked was like I was thinking of the story of Jehoshaphat when three armies came to attack them. Yeah, Jehoshaphat was like, There's no way we can. Win this, just like you know, the snake. There's no way God says you don't need to fight this war, it's already won. I got the victory for you. And he had petitioned him. Joe Jehosaphat just gave him praise before he did a petition. And that's the thing. Petition is okay to ask, but let's praise him before we get to the ask. You know, so the praise was like, Man, and then it just connected. Who was the snake before Adam and Eve? Yeah, he was the worship leader in heaven who gave praise. And so now he's on the reciprocal side, and now we're gonna take our praise to him. It cuts his head off. He can't be around it. It's the total opposite of what his assignment was to steward. He was the worship praise leader who turned, uh-huh, turned narcissist and fell out of heaven, brought his worship team, and they're down here now just roaming the earth trying to kill, steal, destroy. But he cannot be in the presence of what he used to be assigned to do, and it cuts his head off. And so Jehosaphat grabbed his little army, went down, he said, This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna put all the singers and worshipers on the front lines. Not my greatest warriors, we're not gonna fight the eagle on the ground, we're going to elevate. Yeah, we are going to air Jordan on him, we are going to lift his name up and sing praise. They did, and the three armies were probably the greatest example of the bait, kill, and bait, hook, and kill enemy. And they all got confused and started killing each other. And they just couldn't be around that noise of worship and praising the Father. And I was just like, okay, okay. Yeah, like this is this is powerful. Praise is the sword that cuts the enemy's head off. He cannot be around it. And so practically now, when I'm able to categorize this snake, Ray, and I notice that this snake is is is is the adversity I'm going through, I start. I like the eagle. I just take it to the sky now, man.

SPEAKER_02: 31:55

Come on.

SPEAKER_01: 31:56

I just take the snake to the sky. I'm not gonna fight him on the ground. I know the truths, yeah, you know, and those are lies. I'm not gonna get bait. I'm just gonna cut cut it. And so I'm just gonna start praising. And what I recognized as a business owner, there was some situations where I came in where there's a neighbor, man, that was just attacking my character on a project I was on, just doing everything it could, like those three armies coming to destroy me. And I was like, man, it was attacking my character. And the homeowner came in, and it was just one of those very challenging, my character was just feeling like insecure, like you know, like I was just getting getting baited, and I just said, God, I cannot handle this stress, you know, of of being attacked like this, you know, and you know, at every different level. And so, you know, I was like, man, I just want to, I'm just gonna practice what I preach. Let's see if this cuts, I'm gonna cut the the head snake off. And I just started praising God, man. And what I realized though, just in a practical sense, in a human body form, right, I I kind of my gratitude to God relaxed me and focused me. Just naturally, like, because instead of all the thoughts running through my head of the attack and what am I doing wrong, what do blah blah blah blah, all this like confusion, yeah, I just like praising God just in gratitude, just focused me. And then the emotions of what was trying to get baited was gone. So even if you don't even like know God, just the just being thankful, huge, just period, just the heart and perspective and mind frame of just being thankful. That's how God built us. He built our mind to have gratitude and moments where confusion or different thoughts come in, and it erases the board to start fresh. Yep. And so then I got I got to actually practically think about how to make my next steps without being confused with bait and perspective. So it was it was a powerful like tool God gave, not only to praise him, but just have gratitude, period. Just say, man, I'm thankful for this job. I'm thankful for my workers showing up today. I'm thankful for you know, even the challenges that come ahead to help me learn and be better. And while I was doing that, any attack that came, I just was thankful. I returned it with a thankfulness. Come on, and then she was powerless, yeah, powerless. The snake, I had elevated the snake, yeah. And the snake was just up there floating, didn't know what to do because any attack that came on me, I was just thankful. Yeah, wait a minute, it's not working. You know, it's like it's like powerless. And so basically, the head was cut off. There's nothing you could do because the attack was on was words, yeah. That's all it was. It was words. So good, bro. If the words don't phase you, yeah, you know, and you respond in gratefulness, respond in praise. You're just elevating the situation, you're allowing God to come in now. So now you're allowing the builder of all things to step in on the front lines. That's what happens. You're giving up the front lines. That's what Joe Hosephat did. The king, he said, I'm giving up the front lines for you to step in. You're my new marchers in the front, and then allow God to operate. And he's back there watching them conf he's back there watching them confuse and fighting. And he's probably have a clear mind on how we're gonna actually penetrate, you know, to infiltrate in and take over now and do what we need to do.

SPEAKER_02: 35:22

So that's good. That's awesome. No, as we head into the close of this podcast, I'll I mean the while you're speaking and and as I'm reading this, Richie, there's a portion in there where you know the snake is meant to bring your emotions out of you. Yes, because he wants you to react, not to respond. And that's one of my personal like life things is I always tell I always tell my wife or myself to remind myself, let's not react to things, let's respond to it. And the one of the ways we have to set that up to respond is you have to have a clear mind, like you mentioned. And like you said, one of the biggest, what do you call it, biggest tools you can have is your perspective. And and I believe in the grand scheme of things, this book will 100% help you do that in all aspects of business and in life. And one of the things that I I wrote here was that you know, when in in any in any argument or in any situation, when you let your emotions run your actions, or you let your emotions, you know, take control of how you do how you proceed on things, you lose control, right? And control is one of the things you never want to lose, especially in an argument or in in an interaction where someone is attacking you personally and your character and all that, all that jazz. And and what you said here was that when you post yourself to be, you know, thankful and and to have that mindset of gratitude, you keep your control. Because now, any like you mentioned, any of the words that this person is saying to you or posting online, you know it's not true, and you're able to hold your ground because you have that control, and because you're thankful for everything else that's going around you. I mean, that perspective shift is huge.

SPEAKER_01: 37:08

Yeah, and that's what I would want anybody listening today to leave with if in the simplicity of it is use the lens of gratitude to to position yourself to respond versus react. And that's the gift that God gave us. That's the tool he gave us was praising him. He doesn't just need praise, he understands that's how we're built, and use him as a tool to defeat the enemy.

SPEAKER_02: 37:36

That's good. Yeah, that's so good.

SPEAKER_01: 37:39

I mean, and it and it and it's worked real time for me. I mean, that is really that whole like I wanted to really build up who the snake was on the spiritual side of things, but at the end of the day, like walk around with a lens of gratitude, watch what happens. The snake won't even be in your territory. Come on, it can't, it's like you're building this hedge around you that it can't even like he's gonna have to ask permission, like Job say, Am I allowed? Can I can I try to get I mean, I I can't even get in his boundaries, man. He's like just always grateful. Like, what am I gonna do? Come on, man. You know what I mean? So if you can just walk around with a lens of gratitude, watch your life change, man. Watch God become your frontliner, you know, instead of you know, you know, trying to fight the snake on the ground.