Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener
podcast. I am actually rerecording this episode
Interesting thing this morning. I recorded this
episode It was an hour and 14 minutes long and
I go to play it back and listen y 'all it only
Recorded the first like five minutes the microphone
must have died Something happened, but it did
not catch the audio So we are rerecording this
episode today and this episode today has been
it's coming with a lot of spiritual opposition
in all honesty y 'all Not only did the video
like not record did the audio not take but ever
since then our topic today is overcoming fear
and understanding that God did not give us a
spirit of fear and how to overcome fear followers
of Christ and when I tell you that I have gotten
hit with just fear and anxiety today out the
wazoo like my brain feels overwhelmed overloaded
and I know when I was going to bed last night
I felt the Lord put this message on my spirit
and to talk about this today And I just feel
like it's coming along with so much opposition,
y 'all. To just kind of, because honestly I'm
not like in the mood to re -record an episode.
I went ahead and I didn't even plan on re -recording.
I planned on going about my day. I went ahead
and there was a video that I posted on TikTok
and I felt led to post on there. I spent like
an hour and a half cooking. And I was just trying
to vibe out. And once I was relaxing, sitting
down, I was like, you know what? I need to I
need to record this podcast episode. And that
is our topic today is overcoming fear as a Christian.
And I will tell you all that I personally believe
that. The devil, we know that the devil. doesn't
have new tricks he recycles things okay he's
not creative he's not a creator and you'll find
that the devil will recycle old tricks and tactics
to use against you and one of the big ones that
he has tried to use against me throughout my
life is fear fear anxiety worry he loves to play
in the what -ifs and recently You know, I had
felt like I really got over the spirit of fear.
And recently the Lord had been revealing to me
in areas of my life where I had been giving into
the spirit of fear. And he had helped me to overcome
that. And honestly, y 'all, I know that this
isn't the last time that fear is going to try
to come at me. I believe for the rest of my life,
there are going to be moments where the enemy
tries to use fear to stop me from doing what
God has called me to do. to stop me from carrying
out an assignment, to stop me from bringing other
people closer to the kingdom of heaven. That
is what the devil loves to do, is he loves, he's
opposition. He is the father of lies and his
purpose is to lie, to steal, to kill and destroy.
And I'm gonna tell y 'all right now, I was having
this discussion with a person yesterday when
they said they're like, it seems like every time
I do something right, everything just gets worse.
And y 'all I'm speaking from experience of honestly
When you are obeying God and you are saying yes
And you are moving and what God has called you
to that is the time when the enemy is gonna attack
you the most The enemy is not gonna attack you
when you're not a threat to the kingdom of darkness
But when you are a threat to the kingdom of darkness,
yeah, he's gonna turn it up He's gonna amp it
up and in all honesty all I have seen the spiritual
warfare increase recently like crazy the second
I started sharing tests more testimonies The
past week or so is really been upped in sharing
testimonies and it was when I started sharing
my sobriety testimony That the warfare has gone
crazy like I have gotten a lot of confirmations
from the Lord that that was what I was supposed
to share and His approval on that one, but soon
after I faced a lot of opposition a lot of doubt
trying to come at me a lot of fear trying to
come at me and I know it's because the Lord is
moving The Lord is moving in amazing ways. And
the devil hates that. Y 'all, just to give you
a little bit of examples of the confirmations
that the Lord has given me, the past couple days,
it's like I have been hearing it almost everywhere
when I'm just trying to watch TV or I'm turning
on, I'm scrolling through things. This has been
following me everywhere. It seemed like everywhere
I opened something up, someone was talking about
freedom and bondage being broken. And I was trying
to overlook it, but it was crazy how frequently
that kept coming up. And I kept getting pulled
back to the scripture where who the sun sets
free is free indeed. And honestly, I was a little
bit just overwhelmed the other day and decided
to go out and take a walk. And there's this place
that I decided to drive to to park at because
they have a really nice like nature area But
they're also like a museum area and they often
have different people coming in for different
kinds of events And when I pulled in the parking
lot, there was a giant bus there that said freedom
bus and on the side of it were pictures of Rosa
Parks and Martin Luther King and JFK and different
prominent figures and When I was on my walk and
coming back to my car and driving home, you know,
and praying to the Lord, I felt it overwhelmingly
put on my spirit that something had been broken
off of me and sharing my testimony, that there
was a freedom that I was stepping into. And when
I think about it, y 'all, for so long, I did
not share my sobriety testimony out of fear.
I was fearful of, number one, how it would affect
what I have going on in my life now. I was like,
how is it going to affect, like, um that there
are a lot of areas in my life right now that
can be affected by what I say on social media
right um and friendships and connections and
different things I was first thinking how is
like this going to impact that but honestly y
'all there was a spirit of fear that had been
following me in regards to my sobriety testimony
for a very long time um because when I was really
working through things There were a lot of false
accusations, lies, and rumors going around about
me. You know, I was very clear that my problem
was mainly with THC, marijuana. alcohol but I
know that while I was dealing with that and going
through that there were rumors that I was doing
different things I'll just say that plainly but
there was just like a lot of lies and a lot of
misconception and especially when I wasn't loudly
speaking the truth lies were allowed to really
fester I was nervous to even publicly acknowledge
that I ever had a sobriety problem Because I
didn't want to add any type of validation to
the lies to the rumors to the misunderstandings
I felt I had a fear that me even acknowledging
that I ever had a problem could be accidentally
Verifying lies So I just decided to not speak
about it in general and the Lord had really revealed
to me that in my choosing not to speak about
it that was a bondage that I was bound by fear
and that there was a testimony for me to share
glory be to God that there are so many there
are so many people out in the world right now
dealing with things that I dealt with in regards
to sobriety there are some people out there who
are going to listen to my testimony who didn't
think that they had a problem before and recognize
that there is a problem there there are going
to be people who didn't before think that Jesus
could deliver them hear of my deliverance. People
who didn't before make the connections, but when
they listen to that testimony, I don't know exactly
how God is working or moving, but I know that
that testimony is going to be working and moving
in people's lives. Glory be to God. And He's
revealed to me that like in my fear, I was keeping
in a gift from Him, a blessing from Him. What
He did for me, I should have been wanting to
scream that from the rooftops and tell everybody
and their mama. but because of fear of how it
would affect me and how it would impact me, I
didn't. And when I look back, the Lord was using
the spirit of fear. The enemy was using the spirit
of fear, and the Lord was trying to break that
off of me like my entire life. Because we know
that fear doesn't come from the Lord. Fear and
anxiety, God doesn't give us spirit of fear.
Okay? The fear, the anxiety, the paranoia, the
worry, that's not from the Lord. That's not from
the Lord. And I am someone who dealt with my
entire life anxiety. I would get so caught up
in the what -ifs when I tell y 'all that when
I would be faced with a scenario or a situation,
I would think through every single possible outcome
and what I would do in every single situation.
Like I used to be that person that I would literally
for hours think through every possible scenario
and plan for every possible scenario Before I
would make a step before I would say a word I
would think about how the trickle the triple
trickle effect Like I would think about the ripple
effect that it could have I would be thinking
okay How is this gonna affect what's going on
right around me? And how does that affect a week
from now a month from now a year from now and
the fear would honestly paralyze me When I would
start thinking about all the possibilities, it
would make me too scared to say anything or do
anything. It would keep me in a comfortable space.
And I look back now and I realize that the devil,
the enemy, was using fear to keep me from stepping
out in faith. He was keeping me from making any
changes that the Lord was trying to call me to
make in my life. Fear had me bound so much that
people didn't have to bind me. The fear itself
was enough to prevent me from saying things or
doing things. The fear of looking stupid was
always a really big one I had up. Well, what
if I say this and they think I'm stupid? What
if I say this and it doesn't make sense? What
if I say this and it doesn't land? That was the
biggest one. I was so fearful of looking stupid
or being a clown and things like that. That sometimes
I would cut things off prematurely or end things
prematurely before they should have been ended.
There were times I remember I used to all the
time when I was dating I had a real problem with
I would cut people off before they cut me off
When I felt like someone was losing interest,
I felt like someone was doing something behind
my back I would end it with them before they'd
end it with me out of fear of looking stupid
and I never actually would go through and verify
things And there are times when I look back and
I'm like, dang, I wonder how many times I know
glory be God, if he wanted me to stay in those
connections or in those relationships, I would
have stayed in those, you know, but I do think
back of like, I wonder how many times I exited
situations prematurely, maybe before the Lord
reveal something to me, or before a lesson was
to be learned due to my fear of my anxiety. How
many situations was he trying to bless? Or could
there have been a breakthrough? But because of
my fear of my anxiety, I left early. How many
rooms did I leave early before I was meant to
leave? How many times did I walk right into the
enemy's trap, right into his plot, plan, and
scheme because of the fear? I'm telling y 'all
right now that God isn't whispering those fearful
things into your ear. Will he warn you? Yeah.
Yeah, but he's not sitting there just whispering
in your ear all these things to make you scared
and anxious all day. That's not from God. And
I'm gonna give y 'all the biggest tip right now
that really helped me is learn how to step into
your authority that Jesus Christ gave you when
you're covered in the blood of Jesus. You can
step into your authority and take these intrusive
thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.
Silence every single voice that is not the Father,
not the Son, not the Holy Spirit in Jesus name.
Silence those voices. Take the intrusive thoughts
and voices captive and make them obedient to
Christ. You cast them out in Jesus' name. In
Jesus' name. And say that as many times as you
need to say that. And it's so important to remind
yourself of God's character and God's word. That's
why it's so important that you are biblically
literate. By that I mean that you are frequently
reading scripture and praying for an understanding.
okay because the enemy will come in and he'll
whisper lies that sometimes sound like scripture
that sometimes sound holy so that's why it's
important for you to know the word of god so
that way you can hold the word of god up to whatever
thought is being planted in your mind and say
that is not from the lord you know for for example
i know that scripture says that no weapon formed
against me shall prosper You know there's sometimes
when the devil likes to whisper in my ear and
say this is gonna swallow you up This is gonna
take you down. There's no coming out against
it. This weapon looks really big And that's when
I have to remind myself. God never said they
wouldn't form He did warn me that weapons were
formed, but he did say that they won't prosper
meaning they won't last When the devil tries
to remind me of who I was in the past and tell
me that you know You can't come back from this.
You can't come back from that. I remind myself
that through the sunset Who the sun sets free
is free indeed. I'm a new creation in Christ
Jesus. The devil's whispering at me, in my ear,
trying to convince me to do something greedy
or gluttonous. Never mind myself that scripture
says that I must deny myself, take up my cross
and carry it. It is so important to know scripture.
It is so important to know the word of God. We
see that the devil Quoted and twisted manipulated
scripture to Jesus when he was being tempted
But Jesus knew the context and he knew the character
of the Heavenly Father And he knew that throwing
himself down And putting God to the test would
have been sinful It's so important to know the
character of God and you know that through spending
time with him and spending time in his word I'm
telling y 'all today that even today, fear has
tried to come at me and I have had to make the
active choice today, honestly, to continue to
get in Scripture, to say prayers, to remind myself
of what the Lord says, what His Word says, to
remind myself that God did not give me a spirit
of fear, and to remind myself that the opposition
and that the warfare is a sign to keep going.
and is a sign that I am doing exactly what God
is calling me to do and to not stop. Y 'all,
I want to talk to you about what happens when
one of your fears is realized, because I've recently
experienced that. One of the reasons why I was
nervous about sharing my sobriety testimony is
in all honesty and sharing it, I have to talk
about my early childhood. Because in all honesty,
there were a lot of adults in my life that weren't
doing what they were supposed to be doing for
me as a dependent and as a child. And for the
longest time, I was so fearful or worried about
sharing those testimonies because I didn't want
to start drama. I didn't want to start any ripple
effects. I've shared in previous testimonies
that when I was younger and when I would try
to express to adults around me that they're not
giving me what I need emotionally, that like,
you know, my pain and my emotions are being caused
by some of their actions, they would get very
defensive and they would turn into, I didn't
mean to, what do you expect me to do about it?
I'm not the problem. Or I would feel guilty or...
They would purposely misunderstand me or it would
just get to a point where it was like it was
more harm than good bringing up their actions
It would always get flipped on me. I've been
made to feel guilty I'd be made to feel some
type of way right and I was worried for the longest
time Honestly of like sharing the testimony and
thinking you know, how are they gonna feel? Because
I'm not I'm not blaming it on them by I'm saying
that things could have gone differently if they
would have done what they were supposed to be
doing in all honesty and I for the longest time
would not say that and I was taking full like
when people would look at me types away and out
types away and I would allow the people who were
adults in my life at that time to portray it
like they were perfect or however they want to
portray I just let things happen and took the
brunt of it and I felt the Lord tell me so many
times over and really reveal to me that the only
people that my silence is protecting is them.
That it's my silence and my lack of telling the
truth is keeping me in bondage, is keeping me
in a place of shame, is keeping me in the place
of fear, and to allow God to guide my steps when
it comes to sharing my truth, sharing what I've
experienced, what has happened to me. why I am
the way I am. I am allowing God to guide me in
what I share, when I share it, how I share it.
Glory be to God, he's helping me through it.
But yeah, I had worries of like, well are they
gonna listen to it and get angry and get upset?
Are they gonna try to make me feel guilty? Like,
what's the reaction gonna be? I knew either way,
if God has told me to do something or say something,
I'm not taking it down for nobody. So I'd already...
Recognize when I record that and posted it and
had these confirmations from the Lord. It doesn't
matter who says what I'm keeping it up And unless
God tells me to take it down to remove it to
something it's staying up I Obey him over man
And that honestly that fear was realized because
there was one person that I love dearly, and
I know that they're trying in their relationship
with the Lord. But when they heard that, they
got really fearful and anxious. And they said
to me very quickly, can I get in trouble for
not taking care of you? What if someone turns
me in for this? And I kind of looked at them
and thought, well, it was well over a decade
ago. I think you're fine. um but that was all
that they fixated on was them and how it's gonna
affect them and how it's gonna impact them and
honestly y 'all i felt some type of way and i
looked at them and i said like it isn't it weird
how right now you're listening to my testimony
for the first time you're hearing this but all
you're thinking about is how this may negatively
impact you like how do you think that makes me
feel This is such a big step for me. How do you
think that makes me feel and I kind of left it
that way and The Lord is helping in the situation.
It's good. We're fine. No, it's good but that
was a moment of my fear and my worry being realized
and I always look back and think okay Maybe I
could have handled that better handled that better
and I do feel like my reaction I could have handled
that a little bit better in that situation. But
what I did is instead of going back and forth
or getting angry or upset I kind of went my separate
ways for a little while with that person and
gave gave each other some space and um was kind
after that and you know when I look I'm like
okay that was handled a lot better than ways
I would have handled it in the past and I was
able to look at some of the good and some of
the things that maybe I could improve upon more
I think the big thing with that is I didn't backslide
I didn't start thinking maybe I should take it
down. And that's the way I would have in the
past, I would have been like, well, if it's that
much drama, like, I'll just take it down. If
it makes you that scared, I'll take it down for
you. I would have gone against what I know God
led me to do to please other people out of the
space of fear. And this was a time where it was
like, no, I need to stand on what God told me
to do. Amen like hey, I need you. I know that
he has called me to do this I know he's confirmed
it no matter who's feeling some type of way I
have to trust in him over what I fear with other
people and it brings me mentally back to that
scripture of don't fear the one who can kill
the body Like fear the one who can kill the body
and the soul meaning don't fear people who can
only hurt you like that physical like that right
fear the Lord more Who's in charge of your physical
and your soul? right the people around me, whether
or not I please them, don't decide if I have
eternity with the Heavenly Father. And this was
a real moment of me just having to, honestly
y 'all, overcome the fear. I just realized my
camera has been sliding sideways. I hope that
we caught the audio on that. I'm actually gonna
check. Right, we're good. See what happened this
morning. I feel the fear even operating with
that. I was a little traumatized from that this
morning. I was looking to make sure I wasn't
losing all of our content again as I'm recording
it. But yeah, so that was the spirit of fear.
Even when I was doing what God called me to do,
the devil was still trying to get me the backside.
Because that's the thing is like the devil, he
tries to get you every step of the way before
you get to that door, but even when you step
through the door, He'll try to grab you by the
ankle and pull you back. And this was him trying
to grab me by the ankle and pull me back. This
was him trying to get me, you know, the second
I was rejoicing and being like, yes, I did what
God called me to do. The spirit of fear starts
creeping up and tries to drag me back. I felt
like I kind of like kicked the devil in the face
when he was grabbing for my ankle. And that's
what today has honestly felt like is like kind
of him in the face. I'm trying to break away
for the devil's like grabbing from my ankle,
trying to drag me back down, y 'all. But I remind
myself of Psalm 23 where the Lord leads me by
still waters. He makes me lie down in green pastures
as a reminder to me that whatever warfare I'm
facing right now, whatever stress I'm facing
right now, whatever anxiety I'm facing right
now, it won't last forever. There is going to
be a peaceful point that the Lord leads me to
where he can restore my soul, where I can be
replenished and poured back into. Just be restored.
So I know that there is something some good that
I will see on the other side of it But fear I
want to share with y 'all a testimony of how
fear Tried to pull me down a year ago when I
was trying to give my life to Christ Now y 'all
I've shared this testimony before when I was
hitting a point where I was really in my head
where I believe God had told me to leave behind
my life of sin and that he was going to provide
provision for me to, at the time, I felt like
he told me I was going to leave California and
go back to Indiana, go back to my hometown. And
I had no money to do that. And I was like, okay,
God, let's do it. But like, where's the money
coming from? Where's the provision coming from?
How am I going to do it? And I felt like he told
me to seek first the kingdom of heaven and trust
that he was going to give me a financial blessing.
I multiple times was trying to check out the
Lord of do you want me to get a job? Do you want
me to like start side hustling like you want
me to do something like that? And I really felt
the Lord strongly tell me no Because if I do
that, I'm gonna end up stuck here. I was gonna
end up stuck in California You know if I end
up getting a nine -to -five or anything like
that I was gonna end up sticking with it and
not leaving when it was time to leave So to trust
that God was gonna give me the provision. He
had me in the position I need to be in I just
had to wait on him and I was doing that and I
was just reading scripture and I was trying to
seek first the kingdom of heaven kingdom of God
and his righteousness and lo and behold there's
some dude that pulls up and this dude when I
tell y 'all that he like literally looks like
out of like a cartoon where he shows up and he
has like the spiky blonde hair and he has like
the earring and he has like a little bit like
the beer belly with like you know the tank top
on Sandals and he's eating this a greasy slice
of pizza and he was like this big dog barking
in the back Like when I tell you when I look
back it was like almost like I have a cartoon
And he starts making comments of like hey I see
I see you over here a lot like are you stuck
here? What's going on? And I just knew to be
vague with this person and to not give them a
lot of information and the most answer I really
gave them is kind of like oh like I'm here for
right now, but You know, I plan on leaving the
city soon. I'm just like waiting on getting the
funds together and getting a plan together to
go. That was the most I left it out. Like I wanted
to be very plain with it. And he started talking
to me about different job opportunities, different
financial opportunities that started sounding
good to me. And I started thinking at first,
ooh, is this from God? Is this person, did God
send them? Is this person from God? But the more
that they started talking about these opportunities,
the more I started realizing that each of these
opportunities required a compromise or some kind
of sin, some kind of backsliding. So I was like,
nope, nope, nope, doing mental checks of, nope,
I'm not doing that, that requires sin, nope,
I'm not doing that, that requires backsliding,
nope, I'm not doing that. As I checked each box,
I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And
when this guy saw that I really wasn't biting
and I wasn't really taking what he was laying
down, He had noticed my Bible out in my car,
and I had my grandma's rosary hanging in my car.
And he started making comments to me about how
his mom used to try to tell him about God, but
that God isn't going to come through. And that
if I'm waiting on God to come and rescue me,
it's not going to happen. If I'm waiting on a
random blessing or a random miracle, that's not
going to happen. And how you have to work and
to get your way with anything. and basically
telling me that it's okay to do a bad thing now
to get out of whatever situation you're in and
be good later on that you can always do good
later and that he used to say he wanted to do
good but when he would get in a situation where
it was you know if you do something bad you can
get out of that fix real quick just do it and
do good later and i still rejected everything
and was like nope and at the end of the day sent
him along his way and i waited on god And I actually
very soon surrendered my life to Christ after
that, and God delivered on the blessings exceedingly
and abundantly. But when I look back now, I can
see how the devil moves and operates, right?
Because at first he was offering me these things,
and he could see that I was rooted in what the
Lord had told me. The Lord had given me promises
saying that he would provide, that he would provide
a way out to just wait and trust on him. And
see this guy, I believe that this was the enemy
operating through him, their spirits behind.
He was trying to offer me all of these different
pathways that sounded like provision, that sounded
like the blessing. But when I looked at it, it
went against the word of God and it went against
what he was calling me to do. It was quick fixes
and easy way out that would require more compromise
and things that go against God's law. And when
he saw that I was staying rooted in the Lord
and saying no. He switched up his tactic and
he started to speak fear and he started to speak
death over my situation. He started to speak
and it was as if I again why say the spirit behind
um it was as if he didn't know I was waiting
on a miracle from God or a blessing from God
I never said that but the spirits that monitor
no the demonic monitoring spirits no and it was
as if you know he had been listening in the whole
time because he with things he started saying
of God's not real and God's not gonna come through
I had just before then like the past couple days
had been dealing really bad with mental health
things of like am I really hearing from God or
am I going crazy am I in a spiritual psychosis
or am I really hearing from God and it was like
that right there was speaking to one of my fears
And then he started saying the thing of miracles
aren't gonna happen. You're not just gonna get
a blessing and get to get out of here, which
was exactly what I was waiting on God for. And
it was like death was being spoken over that
and fear trying to get me to doubt what God had
said. And then going on to say, you can always,
he was like uplifting the compromise again of,
well, you can always compromise now and do the
bad thing now and do good later. As long as you're
doing good, that's what matters, right? I saw
how what the devil does is he gets in y 'all
and he tries to plant see if he sees that you're
not budging or you're not folding and you're
not backward moving what he'll do is then he'll
try to hit you with fear and anxiety and worry
and get you to feel like oh gosh there's a problem
and I need a solution and then he tries to present
you with a solution because what I see there
is he was trying to get me to doubt that God
was gonna come through and get me to feel like
I needed to create the provision for myself And
if I would have believed that and bought into
that, he could have convinced me to take his
easy ways out, which were the compromise, which
were the send glory be to God. I shut it all
out. When I realized that the things he was saying
were not Christ -like, I was not listening. Like
I was not allowing him to take root. I was like,
whatever you're saying, I'm counting it all off
as deception because I can tell that it's not
spirit -filled. I can tell you haven't come from
the Lord. So that's enough for me to not validate
a single thing you're saying Glory be to God
he had strengthened my discernment enough at
that time And I wonder if you listen to this
podcast are you able to look back now and seeing
how The devil has been using fear in your life
It's kind of funny how he will literally create
the problem. He will whisper lies He will plant
seeds of doubt. He will create the need that
you don't actually need because I want to be
very clear God had already told me that I didn't
need to do anything that I was just waiting on
him And that was an act of obedience. So what
the devil did was he was trying to whisper in
my ear No, you do need to create you do need
to do this. He's not coming through you do need
he was trying to convince me that I need something
that I did not need and once he can get you to
believe that, is then when he can get you to
be open to solutions that aren't Christ -like
solutions. Because then you're in that panic,
right? Then you're in that fix -it mode. Then
you're in that survival mode. I was someone who
spent so long in survival mode and I felt like
that was the devil trying to trigger survival
mode in me. So yeah, if y 'all even need to pause
this podcast and think back, can you identify
some areas in your life in which you were listening
to God? You were believing in his promises, but
then the devil comes through with some lies with
some deception With some kind of just load of
crap And you find yourself starting to worry
and panic because you're starting to believe
those lies I've been there before I've been there
before I'm telling y 'all that when the devil
is doing that is usually when there's something
really good on the cusp Because the devil was
trying so badly to get me to turn away from what
God said And to not trust in what God said and
to try to create for myself And guess what would
have happened if I would have listened to that
because my testimony instead is what ended up
happening is Within a couple days of that happening
That situation, God used that for my good. I
started thinking, oh my gosh, that was the devil
trying to trap me and trying to mess with my
mind. And if the devil is coming at me this hard,
that means that God has something really good
to offer. The devil wouldn't be trying me this
bad and trying to get me to doubt if it wasn't
real. So that actually just threw me further
into my faith. And that combined with prayer
and a testimony I'd heard, I ended up giving
my life to Christ. And days after that, there
started being financial miracle after miracle,
like people randomly walking up and just handing
me money. Like me, I was just walking through
the parking lot and someone stops and calls me
over and hands me money. And then within a couple
of weeks of that, I feel the Lord call me to
serve and to get the last $10 I have to be generous,
to be giving, and that ends up getting blessed.
And I end up not even expecting it. Getting all
the provision I need to go back to Indiana hundreds
of dollars The devil it was like he that was
like his last real big -ditch attempt to get
me to doubt God He could sense that I was right
on the cusp of the breakthrough He was trying
to get all this fear all this doubt and all this
worry if I would have caved and folded and Backslid
and listen to that. I wouldn't have the testimony
I do now And that testimony has impacted multiple
people since. I've shared that with multiple
people who like have literally cried when they
heard in depth the testimony. I know that that
is already, that testimony has already done multiple
things to serve the kingdom of heaven and will
continue to do so. My surrender to Christ ended
up coming out of that. My leaving tarot card
reading fully. My leaving my addiction because
that was also when I threw away any like my grinder
and everything I still use. kept in case I ever
wanted to go back to smoking. The devil was trying
so hard to get me to move back in fear because
he knew that something good was going to come
out of me waiting on God. It wasn't just God's
blessing and his word fulfilled, which is amazing.
It was the impact that was going to have on so
many other people with the testimony he was about
to give me. So I'm telling y 'all today that
if you feel the enemy come that you're really
heavy It's because he knows that when you continue
to move forward in obedience, there is about
to be an open door from God There's about to
be a blessing. There is about to be a work from
God If it's something you see in your own life
or something that's manifesting in the lives
of people around you God like I said God used
that not only to help me but to help so many
other people and I know he will continue to do
that When the devil is trying you so hard it's
because he knows that there is something good
coming. Now I want to be very clear that the
devil doesn't know all of your future but he
can tell when something's cooking because he
has monitoring spirits out going around everywhere.
He can hear conversations that you're not hearing.
He can see things that you don't see. He has
these little monitoring spirits going around
doing his work for him. So when you are put in
that position to cave into fear or to trust in
God, I'm telling you right now, trust in God.
Don't cave into the fear. This is inspirational
for me, honestly y 'all. Like having this conversation
just out loud speaking this, I feel like it's
breathing life into my situation. It's giving
me more hope. It's giving me more strength. I
pray that's doing that for you today. I know.
That it can get really annoying when the devil
is just speaking lie and fear into you But what
he wants to do is he wants to make you weary.
He wants you to grow weary He wants you to grow
tired and to just give in I'm telling you right
now Do not give in and someone needs to hear
today that just because you're presented with
the opportunity doesn't mean you're supposed
to take it I Was one of those people that used
to say well if If God didn't want me to take
the opportunity, He wouldn't have allowed it
to present itself to me. That is such a lie.
That's not biblical. That's not scriptural. We
see that the devil tries to trick and tempt all
the time, too. The devil will try to present
you with opportunities. That doesn't mean that
they're good, and it doesn't mean that they're
from God. We see when the devil was trying to
tempt Jesus when he was in the wilderness, saying,
Well, if you bow down and worship me, I'll give
you all this. But Jesus, knowing Scripture, knowing
the Word of God, Said I'm not gonna bow down
to you I'm not gonna worship you Like he very
quickly turned away Satan was like well I can
give you all these things if you just take this
action. I'm telling you all right now Do not
be willingly making agreements with Satan don't
be with only making agreements with the devil
He's always gonna charge you more than you're
willing to pay I'll be so for real with you right
now. He's always gonna charge you more than you're
willing to pay. He is deceptive And anything
that you have to send to get is not from God
and the thing is too is when the devil does things
and when he gives you things I'm using You know
little quotations right now of gives Because
there's always something with it it's not just
a blessing there's always a contingency with
it The thing is is usually you'll lose it pretty
quickly too, or it's not gonna last You're gonna
have to continue to send to keep it He's gonna
keep upping the ante. You're gonna have to go
further and further and further. See, things
from God, yes, they take longer. God takes you
the longer route. God makes you heal things first.
God makes you build a firm foundation first.
So that way when the storm comes, when chaos
comes, when problems inevitably come, when different
things come meant to knock it down, it will not
fall down because it was built on the firm foundation.
If it's from God, no one can take it away. Now
when you get something from the devil when you
get something from Satan when you decide later
on to turn your life around Best believe the
devil is gonna cut that out from you real quick
to try to punish you You best believe that once
he gives you a thing. He's gonna ask you to send
more and more He's gonna ask you to continue
He's gonna ask you to do this thing or do that
thing to be able to keep it You're gonna find
yourself pressured into going in deeper and deeper
and deeper When storms come when problems come?
You notice that the foundation shakes pretty
quick. Things start falling off. Siding starts
falling off. It collapses. It's because it was
built quickly and sloppily and it wasn't built
on a firm foundation. The only firm foundation
is the Lord. So whatever you have, it's not worth
sinning to get it. It's not worth sinning to
keep it. I'm telling y 'all right now, take the
Jesus way. Submit your life to the Lord Sometimes
it takes longer But trust that's gonna be done
the right way when you're doing it the Jesus
way Honestly when you're laying God build it
you're getting like the good construction crew
You're getting the firm foundation. It might
take a little bit longer because they're going
through and they're checking That's the thing.
You know when the Lord does something in us right
when he breaks something off of us when there's
something new that we learn, when there's something
new that we develop, God will allow our faith
to be tested. He will allow things to happen
in our life that test our faith. Faith isn't
proven like gold till it's been through the fire.
I'm quoting the Brandon Lake song right there.
But he will allow our foundation to be shook
a little bit. Think about the man who built his
house on the rock versus the one who built his
house on the sand. The one who was built on the
rock when the rains came, when the winds blew,
when the storm happened. the foundation was still
standing, but the one who was built in shaky
ground in sand, it was all washed away. It was
all broken down. And oftentimes when the Lord
is building with you, he'll allow storms to come,
rains to come, and things that will kind of test
your foundation to make sure that you are really
rooted in that, to make sure that that is a strong
foundation before he adds another layer on top
of it. I know it can be annoying. It was really
annoying for me at first when I felt like I was
getting hit back to back to back, but God's way
is higher. And I see when I look back in retrospect
if it's a good thing that thing was tested because
what if that was shaky? What if I wasn't firm
in it? What if I wasn't solid on it? And we tried
to add weight on top of that. We tried to add
the next lesson or the next blessing. It would
have collapsed under the pressure. Glory be to
God. He took it. I'll give y 'all a real life
example when it comes to just sharing my testimony
and how I told y 'all I spent so many years of
a lot of things happening and I kept very quiet.
I kept my side of the story to myself when I
knew that lies were going on, when I knew that
rumors, when I knew that all of these attacks
were going on. I wouldn't say anything. I would
keep my mouth quiet most of the time. And I felt
the Lord, when I was especially like new at really
getting my lifetime, I felt him say, keep your
mouth shut right now. And don't try to defend
yourself. Don't try to speak up on things. Allow
me to defend you. And now in the season I am
in with the Lord, and over time, When I'm just
pursuing the kingdom of God there will be certain
testimonies I feel him call me to share and There
will be certain prophetic words that he calls
me to deliver and to release There have been
times when he's brought to mind a testimony,
but told me don't share yet. It's not the time
I'm allowing him to do it in his timing not my
timing Not my timing. So even even now now that
I'm in the season where I feel like he's really
telling me it's time to You know, start sharing
these things more. It's time to step out of the
darkness. I am allowing Him to guide my steps.
I'm waiting on Him to guide me first. And sure,
that might take a little longer. I could, if
I wanted to, post like a five -hour long YouTube
video of my whole life story, but that's not
what God's calling me to do. That I know of.
He's not calling me to address it all in 0 .2
seconds. I'm trusting in Him and His timing.
And I have seen how each time it has fit perfectly
into the season. It has brought about something.
It has done a different work in each way. So
I'm telling y 'all today, just to get back to
the root of the message is don't give in to the
spirit of fear. The spirit of fear will try to
chase you down. And you know what's interesting
with that person that I told you all about earlier,
that they, you know, started giving into fear
and saying those things to me after listening.
They actually acknowledged that later on, on
their own volition. When they apologized to me
later, they were like, hey, look, I realize now
I was giving into the spirit of fear. They said
I was falling back into the old pattern of a
spirit of fear, and I recognize that and I'm
sorry. Glory be to God. God is good. So I see
that it's not the spirit of fear isn't just coming
after me. It's coming after other people So I
know that this message is gonna be helpful for
other people to hear I'm telling you all today
There's there's a there's a fear and there's
I do want to touch on this because one thought
that I found myself going back to when I get
hit with a lot of Fears and worries and is actually
what I found myself gravitating to today, my
brain starts thinking, what am I supposed to
be doing right now? Because one of the biggest
lies of the devil I find is constantly whispering
in my ear. That's the thing is when the enemy
is whispering and planning thoughts, he makes
it sound like your own voice. The more I started
thinking, I was like, this isn't my voice. This
isn't these aren't my thoughts. God already told
me what to do. You know, there were voices saying
you're in my head. The best way I can explain
is, I felt like it was being placed on my spirit
a little bit of like, you're supposed to be doing
more. You're supposed to be doing something different.
You're supposed to be doing something else. But
then I would, I'd feel kind of contradictive.
No, you're fine doing what you're doing. And
that in itself was creating a bit of fear and
creating a bit of worry. And I know that so many
people have that on their walk with Christ when
they're waiting on the Lord to do something and
he's telling them to just wait. And they start
thinking, am I supposed to be doing something?
Is God expecting me to be doing something right
now? Is there more I'm supposed to be doing?
It doesn't help y 'all that like when I was opening
up social media and just trying to passively
scroll, I kept getting hit with video after video
saying, God is waiting on you to move. God is
waiting on you to do something. And I shut out
social media pretty quick after that because
I was like, I'm not feeding into all of that.
I'm going to walk in with the Lord and what he
has taught me to do. When you do not know what
to do and seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness and trust these things will be
added on to you so when I'm in a space of I don't
know what I'm supposed to do I I go to seeking
God which is through reading scripture and through
praying and they're just trying to listen to
what the Lord is guiding me to do and Oftentimes
he'll lead you back to the last thing he told
you to do I cannot tell you how many times in
the past year when I don't know what to do and
I'm like I'm praying to the Lord and I feel him
say, go, what was the last thing I told you to
do? Go back to that. There's no new instructions
here. Go back to what I just told you to do.
And oftentimes when I feel I've heard from the
Lord, I'll write it down in my journal, write
it down in my notes, and I'll go back and look
at it and see that, you know, God said just focus
on seeking me, focus on serving. focus on on
praying, praying more like it'll be something
like that or trust that the Lord is going to
bring it through and just do what I can to flee
temptation. I went through a season where those
were my instructions for about three months was
flee temptation. and flee sin and seek first
the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness and
what that looked like was every day for me like
just trying to get in scripture and prayer and
when i would feel nudges from the lord listening
to those nudges and when temptations and opportunities
would come in for me to backslide i would flee
those and that was my instruction for like three
months and what i felt today when i started feeling
not overwhelmed i went to scripture reading and
i went to prayer and it was while i was praying
that i felt the lord bring to my mind Remember,
I called you to record this podcast episode.
And when I thought about it, I did do that this
morning, but it got deleted. Like it wasn't recording.
And I just kind of cast it to the wayside. And
I was like, Oh Lord, you did give me instructions.
I've yet to fulfill those. I need to go ahead
and fill those now. And here I am filling it.
And honestly y 'all, I was a little bit anxious
starting up this podcast episode. Fear was coming
at me. And the more we're going throughout this
episode, the more it's fallen off and broken
off of me. I feel like I'm overcoming the spirit
of fear discussing it here with you guys. And
what's interesting is I feel like the spirit
of fear kind of chasing me down today was a reminder
that I needed to get in the word and I needed
to record this episode addressing the fear. Now
to make it very clear again, I said this in the
beginning of episode that the spirit of fear
isn't from the Lord. Yes, the Lord is going to
warn you. The Holy Spirit is going to guide you.
You're going to have discernment when things
aren't right. But He's not whispering fearful
things in your ear and paranoid things all the
time. He's not trying to keep you in a state
of fear. That is not the Lord. Now I honestly
I wish we had more to talk about but y 'all I
feel like that is the gist of what I was being
led to discuss in this episode Hopefully we'll
be recording more episodes soon. So I do ask
that you subscribe so that way you don't miss
the next Podcast upload and I do ask that y 'all
share this share this podcast episode with a
friend share with the family member share it
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to share it with them share with someone Share
it on social media The sharing does a lot more
than y 'all realize the sharing really helps
get this podcast out there I'm not doing a lot
of independent advertising right now. So every
time y 'all have been sharing it it really is
so helpful and I thank you for sharing it and
For just helping get this this podcast out there
to those who have ears to hear So I pray that
y 'all have a blessed day and I will talk to
you soon. God bless.