WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:04.629 Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener 00:00:04.629 --> 00:00:08.710 podcast. I am actually rerecording this episode 00:00:08.710 --> 00:00:12.949 Interesting thing this morning. I recorded this 00:00:12.949 --> 00:00:16.690 episode It was an hour and 14 minutes long and 00:00:16.690 --> 00:00:20.129 I go to play it back and listen y 'all it only 00:00:20.129 --> 00:00:23.550 Recorded the first like five minutes the microphone 00:00:23.550 --> 00:00:28.039 must have died Something happened, but it did 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:31.019 not catch the audio So we are rerecording this 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:34.439 episode today and this episode today has been 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:37.020 it's coming with a lot of spiritual opposition 00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:41.179 in all honesty y 'all Not only did the video 00:00:41.179 --> 00:00:44.299 like not record did the audio not take but ever 00:00:44.299 --> 00:00:47.899 since then our topic today is overcoming fear 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:50.640 and understanding that God did not give us a 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.670 spirit of fear and how to overcome fear followers 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:58.969 of Christ and when I tell you that I have gotten 00:00:58.969 --> 00:01:03.109 hit with just fear and anxiety today out the 00:01:03.109 --> 00:01:07.569 wazoo like my brain feels overwhelmed overloaded 00:01:07.569 --> 00:01:10.810 and I know when I was going to bed last night 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:12.890 I felt the Lord put this message on my spirit 00:01:12.890 --> 00:01:16.250 and to talk about this today And I just feel 00:01:16.250 --> 00:01:18.310 like it's coming along with so much opposition, 00:01:18.590 --> 00:01:21.489 y 'all. To just kind of, because honestly I'm 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:25.030 not like in the mood to re -record an episode. 00:01:25.689 --> 00:01:28.670 I went ahead and I didn't even plan on re -recording. 00:01:28.810 --> 00:01:33.329 I planned on going about my day. I went ahead 00:01:33.329 --> 00:01:36.829 and there was a video that I posted on TikTok 00:01:36.829 --> 00:01:39.829 and I felt led to post on there. I spent like 00:01:39.829 --> 00:01:42.799 an hour and a half cooking. And I was just trying 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:45.420 to vibe out. And once I was relaxing, sitting 00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:48.000 down, I was like, you know what? I need to I 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.379 need to record this podcast episode. And that 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:54.040 is our topic today is overcoming fear as a Christian. 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:58.200 And I will tell you all that I personally believe 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:03.159 that. The devil, we know that the devil. doesn't 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:05.959 have new tricks he recycles things okay he's 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:09.259 not creative he's not a creator and you'll find 00:02:09.259 --> 00:02:13.120 that the devil will recycle old tricks and tactics 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:15.580 to use against you and one of the big ones that 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:17.460 he has tried to use against me throughout my 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:25.300 life is fear fear anxiety worry he loves to play 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:31.370 in the what -ifs and recently You know, I had 00:02:31.370 --> 00:02:33.409 felt like I really got over the spirit of fear. 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:35.789 And recently the Lord had been revealing to me 00:02:35.789 --> 00:02:37.750 in areas of my life where I had been giving into 00:02:37.750 --> 00:02:41.310 the spirit of fear. And he had helped me to overcome 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:43.610 that. And honestly, y 'all, I know that this 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:47.610 isn't the last time that fear is going to try 00:02:47.610 --> 00:02:50.909 to come at me. I believe for the rest of my life, 00:02:51.009 --> 00:02:52.729 there are going to be moments where the enemy 00:02:52.729 --> 00:02:56.349 tries to use fear to stop me from doing what 00:02:56.349 --> 00:02:59.870 God has called me to do. to stop me from carrying 00:02:59.870 --> 00:03:03.750 out an assignment, to stop me from bringing other 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:06.969 people closer to the kingdom of heaven. That 00:03:06.969 --> 00:03:09.409 is what the devil loves to do, is he loves, he's 00:03:09.409 --> 00:03:12.349 opposition. He is the father of lies and his 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.669 purpose is to lie, to steal, to kill and destroy. 00:03:17.250 --> 00:03:19.430 And I'm gonna tell y 'all right now, I was having 00:03:19.430 --> 00:03:21.210 this discussion with a person yesterday when 00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:22.889 they said they're like, it seems like every time 00:03:22.889 --> 00:03:25.789 I do something right, everything just gets worse. 00:03:27.079 --> 00:03:29.759 And y 'all I'm speaking from experience of honestly 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:34.479 When you are obeying God and you are saying yes 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.219 And you are moving and what God has called you 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:38.439 to that is the time when the enemy is gonna attack 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:40.759 you the most The enemy is not gonna attack you 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:42.800 when you're not a threat to the kingdom of darkness 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.099 But when you are a threat to the kingdom of darkness, 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:46.879 yeah, he's gonna turn it up He's gonna amp it 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.979 up and in all honesty all I have seen the spiritual 00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:53.039 warfare increase recently like crazy the second 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:56.439 I started sharing tests more testimonies The 00:03:56.439 --> 00:03:59.560 past week or so is really been upped in sharing 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.400 testimonies and it was when I started sharing 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:05.139 my sobriety testimony That the warfare has gone 00:04:05.139 --> 00:04:09.120 crazy like I have gotten a lot of confirmations 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:10.819 from the Lord that that was what I was supposed 00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:16.459 to share and His approval on that one, but soon 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:20.639 after I faced a lot of opposition a lot of doubt 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:22.379 trying to come at me a lot of fear trying to 00:04:22.379 --> 00:04:24.959 come at me and I know it's because the Lord is 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:28.410 moving The Lord is moving in amazing ways. And 00:04:28.410 --> 00:04:31.649 the devil hates that. Y 'all, just to give you 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:34.790 a little bit of examples of the confirmations 00:04:34.790 --> 00:04:37.189 that the Lord has given me, the past couple days, 00:04:37.230 --> 00:04:39.490 it's like I have been hearing it almost everywhere 00:04:39.490 --> 00:04:41.730 when I'm just trying to watch TV or I'm turning 00:04:41.730 --> 00:04:45.250 on, I'm scrolling through things. This has been 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:48.310 following me everywhere. It seemed like everywhere 00:04:48.310 --> 00:04:51.629 I opened something up, someone was talking about 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:56.029 freedom and bondage being broken. And I was trying 00:04:56.029 --> 00:05:00.389 to overlook it, but it was crazy how frequently 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:02.170 that kept coming up. And I kept getting pulled 00:05:02.170 --> 00:05:04.769 back to the scripture where who the sun sets 00:05:04.769 --> 00:05:08.670 free is free indeed. And honestly, I was a little 00:05:08.670 --> 00:05:11.189 bit just overwhelmed the other day and decided 00:05:11.189 --> 00:05:15.319 to go out and take a walk. And there's this place 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:17.560 that I decided to drive to to park at because 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:19.480 they have a really nice like nature area But 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.939 they're also like a museum area and they often 00:05:21.939 --> 00:05:23.680 have different people coming in for different 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.240 kinds of events And when I pulled in the parking 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:30.560 lot, there was a giant bus there that said freedom 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.120 bus and on the side of it were pictures of Rosa 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:39.480 Parks and Martin Luther King and JFK and different 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:44.860 prominent figures and When I was on my walk and 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:48.060 coming back to my car and driving home, you know, 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:50.720 and praying to the Lord, I felt it overwhelmingly 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.100 put on my spirit that something had been broken 00:05:53.100 --> 00:05:55.959 off of me and sharing my testimony, that there 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:59.639 was a freedom that I was stepping into. And when 00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:01.939 I think about it, y 'all, for so long, I did 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:04.279 not share my sobriety testimony out of fear. 00:06:05.139 --> 00:06:08.259 I was fearful of, number one, how it would affect 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:10.360 what I have going on in my life now. I was like, 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:14.279 how is it going to affect, like, um that there 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:16.420 are a lot of areas in my life right now that 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:18.639 can be affected by what I say on social media 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:23.779 right um and friendships and connections and 00:06:23.779 --> 00:06:27.060 different things I was first thinking how is 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:30.600 like this going to impact that but honestly y 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:32.860 'all there was a spirit of fear that had been 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:35.620 following me in regards to my sobriety testimony 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:38.980 for a very long time um because when I was really 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:43.240 working through things There were a lot of false 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:47.579 accusations, lies, and rumors going around about 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:52.100 me. You know, I was very clear that my problem 00:06:52.100 --> 00:06:59.160 was mainly with THC, marijuana. alcohol but I 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:02.779 know that while I was dealing with that and going 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:04.480 through that there were rumors that I was doing 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.220 different things I'll just say that plainly but 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:10.459 there was just like a lot of lies and a lot of 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:15.300 misconception and especially when I wasn't loudly 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:17.939 speaking the truth lies were allowed to really 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:22.339 fester I was nervous to even publicly acknowledge 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:25.019 that I ever had a sobriety problem Because I 00:07:25.019 --> 00:07:27.379 didn't want to add any type of validation to 00:07:27.379 --> 00:07:30.279 the lies to the rumors to the misunderstandings 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:33.180 I felt I had a fear that me even acknowledging 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:36.939 that I ever had a problem could be accidentally 00:07:36.939 --> 00:07:42.699 Verifying lies So I just decided to not speak 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:45.519 about it in general and the Lord had really revealed 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:47.519 to me that in my choosing not to speak about 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:52.000 it that was a bondage that I was bound by fear 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.220 and that there was a testimony for me to share 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:57.199 glory be to God that there are so many there 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.740 are so many people out in the world right now 00:07:59.740 --> 00:08:04.939 dealing with things that I dealt with in regards 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:06.540 to sobriety there are some people out there who 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:08.800 are going to listen to my testimony who didn't 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:10.620 think that they had a problem before and recognize 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:12.879 that there is a problem there there are going 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.740 to be people who didn't before think that Jesus 00:08:14.740 --> 00:08:17.730 could deliver them hear of my deliverance. People 00:08:17.730 --> 00:08:21.170 who didn't before make the connections, but when 00:08:21.170 --> 00:08:23.529 they listen to that testimony, I don't know exactly 00:08:23.529 --> 00:08:26.490 how God is working or moving, but I know that 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:28.410 that testimony is going to be working and moving 00:08:28.410 --> 00:08:31.410 in people's lives. Glory be to God. And He's 00:08:31.410 --> 00:08:34.429 revealed to me that like in my fear, I was keeping 00:08:34.429 --> 00:08:36.950 in a gift from Him, a blessing from Him. What 00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:39.190 He did for me, I should have been wanting to 00:08:39.190 --> 00:08:41.470 scream that from the rooftops and tell everybody 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:43.919 and their mama. but because of fear of how it 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:46.379 would affect me and how it would impact me, I 00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:49.460 didn't. And when I look back, the Lord was using 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:53.399 the spirit of fear. The enemy was using the spirit 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.000 of fear, and the Lord was trying to break that 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.000 off of me like my entire life. Because we know 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:00.940 that fear doesn't come from the Lord. Fear and 00:09:00.940 --> 00:09:03.000 anxiety, God doesn't give us spirit of fear. 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:06.659 Okay? The fear, the anxiety, the paranoia, the 00:09:06.659 --> 00:09:09.200 worry, that's not from the Lord. That's not from 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:11.580 the Lord. And I am someone who dealt with my 00:09:11.580 --> 00:09:15.559 entire life anxiety. I would get so caught up 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:17.360 in the what -ifs when I tell y 'all that when 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.519 I would be faced with a scenario or a situation, 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:22.779 I would think through every single possible outcome 00:09:22.779 --> 00:09:28.500 and what I would do in every single situation. 00:09:29.930 --> 00:09:32.269 Like I used to be that person that I would literally 00:09:32.269 --> 00:09:35.730 for hours think through every possible scenario 00:09:35.730 --> 00:09:39.409 and plan for every possible scenario Before I 00:09:39.409 --> 00:09:41.409 would make a step before I would say a word I 00:09:41.409 --> 00:09:43.909 would think about how the trickle the triple 00:09:43.909 --> 00:09:46.789 trickle effect Like I would think about the ripple 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:49.210 effect that it could have I would be thinking 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:51.990 okay How is this gonna affect what's going on 00:09:51.990 --> 00:09:53.809 right around me? And how does that affect a week 00:09:53.809 --> 00:09:56.289 from now a month from now a year from now and 00:09:56.289 --> 00:09:59.000 the fear would honestly paralyze me When I would 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:00.559 start thinking about all the possibilities, it 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.299 would make me too scared to say anything or do 00:10:02.299 --> 00:10:05.059 anything. It would keep me in a comfortable space. 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.159 And I look back now and I realize that the devil, 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.279 the enemy, was using fear to keep me from stepping 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:16.580 out in faith. He was keeping me from making any 00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:18.399 changes that the Lord was trying to call me to 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:23.740 make in my life. Fear had me bound so much that 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:27.159 people didn't have to bind me. The fear itself 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.220 was enough to prevent me from saying things or 00:10:29.220 --> 00:10:33.320 doing things. The fear of looking stupid was 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:35.220 always a really big one I had up. Well, what 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:37.000 if I say this and they think I'm stupid? What 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:38.679 if I say this and it doesn't make sense? What 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:42.159 if I say this and it doesn't land? That was the 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:45.340 biggest one. I was so fearful of looking stupid 00:10:45.340 --> 00:10:50.419 or being a clown and things like that. That sometimes 00:10:50.419 --> 00:10:52.879 I would cut things off prematurely or end things 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.580 prematurely before they should have been ended. 00:10:55.089 --> 00:10:57.529 There were times I remember I used to all the 00:10:57.529 --> 00:11:00.129 time when I was dating I had a real problem with 00:11:00.129 --> 00:11:02.250 I would cut people off before they cut me off 00:11:02.250 --> 00:11:04.330 When I felt like someone was losing interest, 00:11:04.350 --> 00:11:06.169 I felt like someone was doing something behind 00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:08.409 my back I would end it with them before they'd 00:11:08.409 --> 00:11:10.549 end it with me out of fear of looking stupid 00:11:10.549 --> 00:11:12.730 and I never actually would go through and verify 00:11:12.730 --> 00:11:16.110 things And there are times when I look back and 00:11:16.110 --> 00:11:18.269 I'm like, dang, I wonder how many times I know 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:21.190 glory be God, if he wanted me to stay in those 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:22.769 connections or in those relationships, I would 00:11:22.769 --> 00:11:24.909 have stayed in those, you know, but I do think 00:11:24.909 --> 00:11:27.269 back of like, I wonder how many times I exited 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:29.909 situations prematurely, maybe before the Lord 00:11:29.909 --> 00:11:33.169 reveal something to me, or before a lesson was 00:11:33.169 --> 00:11:37.009 to be learned due to my fear of my anxiety. How 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:39.649 many situations was he trying to bless? Or could 00:11:39.649 --> 00:11:41.629 there have been a breakthrough? But because of 00:11:41.629 --> 00:11:44.840 my fear of my anxiety, I left early. How many 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:46.919 rooms did I leave early before I was meant to 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:52.259 leave? How many times did I walk right into the 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:54.759 enemy's trap, right into his plot, plan, and 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:57.940 scheme because of the fear? I'm telling y 'all 00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:01.899 right now that God isn't whispering those fearful 00:12:01.899 --> 00:12:07.820 things into your ear. Will he warn you? Yeah. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:10.639 Yeah, but he's not sitting there just whispering 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:12.440 in your ear all these things to make you scared 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:15.000 and anxious all day. That's not from God. And 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:16.720 I'm gonna give y 'all the biggest tip right now 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.059 that really helped me is learn how to step into 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:20.879 your authority that Jesus Christ gave you when 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.340 you're covered in the blood of Jesus. You can 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:25.860 step into your authority and take these intrusive 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:28.139 thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.240 Silence every single voice that is not the Father, 00:12:31.299 --> 00:12:34.059 not the Son, not the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. 00:12:34.899 --> 00:12:37.370 Silence those voices. Take the intrusive thoughts 00:12:37.370 --> 00:12:40.389 and voices captive and make them obedient to 00:12:40.389 --> 00:12:45.409 Christ. You cast them out in Jesus' name. In 00:12:45.409 --> 00:12:47.250 Jesus' name. And say that as many times as you 00:12:47.250 --> 00:12:49.309 need to say that. And it's so important to remind 00:12:49.309 --> 00:12:51.850 yourself of God's character and God's word. That's 00:12:51.850 --> 00:12:54.250 why it's so important that you are biblically 00:12:54.250 --> 00:12:58.850 literate. By that I mean that you are frequently 00:12:58.850 --> 00:13:02.669 reading scripture and praying for an understanding. 00:13:02.990 --> 00:13:04.970 okay because the enemy will come in and he'll 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:07.629 whisper lies that sometimes sound like scripture 00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:10.990 that sometimes sound holy so that's why it's 00:13:10.990 --> 00:13:13.210 important for you to know the word of god so 00:13:13.210 --> 00:13:15.649 that way you can hold the word of god up to whatever 00:13:15.649 --> 00:13:17.590 thought is being planted in your mind and say 00:13:17.590 --> 00:13:23.149 that is not from the lord you know for for example 00:13:23.149 --> 00:13:25.850 i know that scripture says that no weapon formed 00:13:25.850 --> 00:13:28.730 against me shall prosper You know there's sometimes 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:30.509 when the devil likes to whisper in my ear and 00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:32.889 say this is gonna swallow you up This is gonna 00:13:32.889 --> 00:13:35.029 take you down. There's no coming out against 00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:38.730 it. This weapon looks really big And that's when 00:13:38.730 --> 00:13:40.330 I have to remind myself. God never said they 00:13:40.330 --> 00:13:42.370 wouldn't form He did warn me that weapons were 00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:44.029 formed, but he did say that they won't prosper 00:13:44.029 --> 00:13:48.429 meaning they won't last When the devil tries 00:13:48.429 --> 00:13:50.529 to remind me of who I was in the past and tell 00:13:50.529 --> 00:13:53.470 me that you know You can't come back from this. 00:13:53.470 --> 00:13:55.049 You can't come back from that. I remind myself 00:13:55.049 --> 00:13:57.710 that through the sunset Who the sun sets free 00:13:57.710 --> 00:14:00.370 is free indeed. I'm a new creation in Christ 00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:05.690 Jesus. The devil's whispering at me, in my ear, 00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:08.190 trying to convince me to do something greedy 00:14:08.190 --> 00:14:11.470 or gluttonous. Never mind myself that scripture 00:14:11.470 --> 00:14:15.730 says that I must deny myself, take up my cross 00:14:15.730 --> 00:14:18.750 and carry it. It is so important to know scripture. 00:14:19.149 --> 00:14:23.970 It is so important to know the word of God. We 00:14:23.970 --> 00:14:27.889 see that the devil Quoted and twisted manipulated 00:14:27.889 --> 00:14:30.929 scripture to Jesus when he was being tempted 00:14:30.929 --> 00:14:35.710 But Jesus knew the context and he knew the character 00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:38.909 of the Heavenly Father And he knew that throwing 00:14:38.909 --> 00:14:42.450 himself down And putting God to the test would 00:14:42.450 --> 00:14:46.889 have been sinful It's so important to know the 00:14:46.889 --> 00:14:49.269 character of God and you know that through spending 00:14:49.269 --> 00:14:54.259 time with him and spending time in his word I'm 00:14:54.259 --> 00:14:58.000 telling y 'all today that even today, fear has 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.519 tried to come at me and I have had to make the 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.559 active choice today, honestly, to continue to 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:08.159 get in Scripture, to say prayers, to remind myself 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:12.860 of what the Lord says, what His Word says, to 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:14.700 remind myself that God did not give me a spirit 00:15:14.700 --> 00:15:17.700 of fear, and to remind myself that the opposition 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:20.259 and that the warfare is a sign to keep going. 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:22.860 and is a sign that I am doing exactly what God 00:15:22.860 --> 00:15:29.500 is calling me to do and to not stop. Y 'all, 00:15:29.559 --> 00:15:31.080 I want to talk to you about what happens when 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:33.759 one of your fears is realized, because I've recently 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:35.720 experienced that. One of the reasons why I was 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.320 nervous about sharing my sobriety testimony is 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:40.320 in all honesty and sharing it, I have to talk 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:43.980 about my early childhood. Because in all honesty, 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:45.940 there were a lot of adults in my life that weren't 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:47.500 doing what they were supposed to be doing for 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:51.299 me as a dependent and as a child. And for the 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:53.419 longest time, I was so fearful or worried about 00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:55.120 sharing those testimonies because I didn't want 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:57.259 to start drama. I didn't want to start any ripple 00:15:57.259 --> 00:15:58.879 effects. I've shared in previous testimonies 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:00.799 that when I was younger and when I would try 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:02.600 to express to adults around me that they're not 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:06.620 giving me what I need emotionally, that like, 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:09.000 you know, my pain and my emotions are being caused 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.460 by some of their actions, they would get very 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:13.980 defensive and they would turn into, I didn't 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:16.059 mean to, what do you expect me to do about it? 00:16:16.059 --> 00:16:20.279 I'm not the problem. Or I would feel guilty or... 00:16:20.929 --> 00:16:24.389 They would purposely misunderstand me or it would 00:16:24.389 --> 00:16:26.409 just get to a point where it was like it was 00:16:26.409 --> 00:16:28.850 more harm than good bringing up their actions 00:16:28.850 --> 00:16:31.490 It would always get flipped on me. I've been 00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:33.129 made to feel guilty I'd be made to feel some 00:16:33.129 --> 00:16:36.070 type of way right and I was worried for the longest 00:16:36.070 --> 00:16:39.570 time Honestly of like sharing the testimony and 00:16:39.570 --> 00:16:44.350 thinking you know, how are they gonna feel? Because 00:16:44.350 --> 00:16:46.850 I'm not I'm not blaming it on them by I'm saying 00:16:46.850 --> 00:16:49.100 that things could have gone differently if they 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:50.740 would have done what they were supposed to be 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:55.179 doing in all honesty and I for the longest time 00:16:55.179 --> 00:16:58.299 would not say that and I was taking full like 00:16:58.299 --> 00:17:00.360 when people would look at me types away and out 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:02.519 types away and I would allow the people who were 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:04.319 adults in my life at that time to portray it 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.259 like they were perfect or however they want to 00:17:06.259 --> 00:17:08.799 portray I just let things happen and took the 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.539 brunt of it and I felt the Lord tell me so many 00:17:11.539 --> 00:17:13.700 times over and really reveal to me that the only 00:17:13.700 --> 00:17:15.980 people that my silence is protecting is them. 00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:19.859 That it's my silence and my lack of telling the 00:17:19.859 --> 00:17:24.720 truth is keeping me in bondage, is keeping me 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:27.079 in a place of shame, is keeping me in the place 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:33.019 of fear, and to allow God to guide my steps when 00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:35.740 it comes to sharing my truth, sharing what I've 00:17:35.740 --> 00:17:38.369 experienced, what has happened to me. why I am 00:17:38.369 --> 00:17:41.650 the way I am. I am allowing God to guide me in 00:17:41.650 --> 00:17:44.829 what I share, when I share it, how I share it. 00:17:45.269 --> 00:17:47.509 Glory be to God, he's helping me through it. 00:17:49.809 --> 00:17:52.349 But yeah, I had worries of like, well are they 00:17:52.349 --> 00:17:54.150 gonna listen to it and get angry and get upset? 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.190 Are they gonna try to make me feel guilty? Like, 00:17:56.470 --> 00:17:58.690 what's the reaction gonna be? I knew either way, 00:17:58.809 --> 00:18:01.470 if God has told me to do something or say something, 00:18:01.490 --> 00:18:04.150 I'm not taking it down for nobody. So I'd already... 00:18:04.779 --> 00:18:07.259 Recognize when I record that and posted it and 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:08.940 had these confirmations from the Lord. It doesn't 00:18:08.940 --> 00:18:13.480 matter who says what I'm keeping it up And unless 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.980 God tells me to take it down to remove it to 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:21.079 something it's staying up I Obey him over man 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:25.740 And that honestly that fear was realized because 00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:28.470 there was one person that I love dearly, and 00:18:28.470 --> 00:18:30.630 I know that they're trying in their relationship 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:32.549 with the Lord. But when they heard that, they 00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:35.230 got really fearful and anxious. And they said 00:18:35.230 --> 00:18:39.329 to me very quickly, can I get in trouble for 00:18:39.329 --> 00:18:41.470 not taking care of you? What if someone turns 00:18:41.470 --> 00:18:43.869 me in for this? And I kind of looked at them 00:18:43.869 --> 00:18:47.170 and thought, well, it was well over a decade 00:18:47.170 --> 00:18:52.160 ago. I think you're fine. um but that was all 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.200 that they fixated on was them and how it's gonna 00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:56.220 affect them and how it's gonna impact them and 00:18:56.220 --> 00:18:58.619 honestly y 'all i felt some type of way and i 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:03.539 looked at them and i said like it isn't it weird 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:06.880 how right now you're listening to my testimony 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.160 for the first time you're hearing this but all 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:11.180 you're thinking about is how this may negatively 00:19:11.180 --> 00:19:14.180 impact you like how do you think that makes me 00:19:14.180 --> 00:19:18.259 feel This is such a big step for me. How do you 00:19:18.259 --> 00:19:19.920 think that makes me feel and I kind of left it 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:24.460 that way and The Lord is helping in the situation. 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:29.420 It's good. We're fine. No, it's good but that 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:32.200 was a moment of my fear and my worry being realized 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:36.400 and I always look back and think okay Maybe I 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:37.819 could have handled that better handled that better 00:19:37.819 --> 00:19:39.759 and I do feel like my reaction I could have handled 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.960 that a little bit better in that situation. But 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:44.519 what I did is instead of going back and forth 00:19:44.670 --> 00:19:47.450 or getting angry or upset I kind of went my separate 00:19:47.450 --> 00:19:49.650 ways for a little while with that person and 00:19:49.650 --> 00:19:52.930 gave gave each other some space and um was kind 00:19:52.930 --> 00:19:55.269 after that and you know when I look I'm like 00:19:55.269 --> 00:19:56.950 okay that was handled a lot better than ways 00:19:56.950 --> 00:19:59.190 I would have handled it in the past and I was 00:19:59.190 --> 00:20:01.430 able to look at some of the good and some of 00:20:01.430 --> 00:20:04.549 the things that maybe I could improve upon more 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:08.269 I think the big thing with that is I didn't backslide 00:20:08.269 --> 00:20:11.279 I didn't start thinking maybe I should take it 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:13.099 down. And that's the way I would have in the 00:20:13.099 --> 00:20:14.339 past, I would have been like, well, if it's that 00:20:14.339 --> 00:20:17.740 much drama, like, I'll just take it down. If 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:19.759 it makes you that scared, I'll take it down for 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:22.880 you. I would have gone against what I know God 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:25.359 led me to do to please other people out of the 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:27.400 space of fear. And this was a time where it was 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:29.119 like, no, I need to stand on what God told me 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:34.380 to do. Amen like hey, I need you. I know that 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:36.240 he has called me to do this I know he's confirmed 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.720 it no matter who's feeling some type of way I 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:41.779 have to trust in him over what I fear with other 00:20:41.779 --> 00:20:44.019 people and it brings me mentally back to that 00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:46.059 scripture of don't fear the one who can kill 00:20:46.059 --> 00:20:48.920 the body Like fear the one who can kill the body 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:51.380 and the soul meaning don't fear people who can 00:20:51.380 --> 00:20:54.460 only hurt you like that physical like that right 00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:57.779 fear the Lord more Who's in charge of your physical 00:20:57.779 --> 00:21:02.039 and your soul? right the people around me, whether 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:03.799 or not I please them, don't decide if I have 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:07.279 eternity with the Heavenly Father. And this was 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.599 a real moment of me just having to, honestly 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:19.920 y 'all, overcome the fear. I just realized my 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.039 camera has been sliding sideways. I hope that 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:24.180 we caught the audio on that. I'm actually gonna 00:21:24.180 --> 00:21:27.119 check. Right, we're good. See what happened this 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:31.559 morning. I feel the fear even operating with 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:33.180 that. I was a little traumatized from that this 00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:34.960 morning. I was looking to make sure I wasn't 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:37.799 losing all of our content again as I'm recording 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:41.240 it. But yeah, so that was the spirit of fear. 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.619 Even when I was doing what God called me to do, 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:48.819 the devil was still trying to get me the backside. 00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:51.519 Because that's the thing is like the devil, he 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:53.440 tries to get you every step of the way before 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:55.240 you get to that door, but even when you step 00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:57.299 through the door, He'll try to grab you by the 00:21:57.299 --> 00:21:59.200 ankle and pull you back. And this was him trying 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:01.460 to grab me by the ankle and pull me back. This 00:22:01.460 --> 00:22:04.279 was him trying to get me, you know, the second 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:06.640 I was rejoicing and being like, yes, I did what 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:08.579 God called me to do. The spirit of fear starts 00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:11.420 creeping up and tries to drag me back. I felt 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:13.319 like I kind of like kicked the devil in the face 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:16.460 when he was grabbing for my ankle. And that's 00:22:16.460 --> 00:22:18.299 what today has honestly felt like is like kind 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:20.099 of him in the face. I'm trying to break away 00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:21.740 for the devil's like grabbing from my ankle, 00:22:21.859 --> 00:22:26.829 trying to drag me back down, y 'all. But I remind 00:22:26.829 --> 00:22:34.049 myself of Psalm 23 where the Lord leads me by 00:22:34.049 --> 00:22:36.450 still waters. He makes me lie down in green pastures 00:22:36.450 --> 00:22:39.029 as a reminder to me that whatever warfare I'm 00:22:39.029 --> 00:22:40.670 facing right now, whatever stress I'm facing 00:22:40.670 --> 00:22:42.329 right now, whatever anxiety I'm facing right 00:22:42.329 --> 00:22:44.509 now, it won't last forever. There is going to 00:22:44.509 --> 00:22:46.309 be a peaceful point that the Lord leads me to 00:22:46.309 --> 00:22:49.009 where he can restore my soul, where I can be 00:22:49.009 --> 00:22:52.190 replenished and poured back into. Just be restored. 00:22:54.639 --> 00:22:59.799 So I know that there is something some good that 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:05.619 I will see on the other side of it But fear I 00:23:05.619 --> 00:23:09.359 want to share with y 'all a testimony of how 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:13.940 fear Tried to pull me down a year ago when I 00:23:13.940 --> 00:23:16.880 was trying to give my life to Christ Now y 'all 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.019 I've shared this testimony before when I was 00:23:19.019 --> 00:23:20.619 hitting a point where I was really in my head 00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:23.259 where I believe God had told me to leave behind 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:25.759 my life of sin and that he was going to provide 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:29.220 provision for me to, at the time, I felt like 00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:30.779 he told me I was going to leave California and 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:32.940 go back to Indiana, go back to my hometown. And 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:34.759 I had no money to do that. And I was like, okay, 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:38.259 God, let's do it. But like, where's the money 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:40.759 coming from? Where's the provision coming from? 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:44.119 How am I going to do it? And I felt like he told 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:46.279 me to seek first the kingdom of heaven and trust 00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:48.099 that he was going to give me a financial blessing. 00:23:49.310 --> 00:23:51.150 I multiple times was trying to check out the 00:23:51.150 --> 00:23:52.710 Lord of do you want me to get a job? Do you want 00:23:52.710 --> 00:23:54.390 me to like start side hustling like you want 00:23:54.390 --> 00:23:55.809 me to do something like that? And I really felt 00:23:55.809 --> 00:23:58.910 the Lord strongly tell me no Because if I do 00:23:58.910 --> 00:24:01.269 that, I'm gonna end up stuck here. I was gonna 00:24:01.269 --> 00:24:03.549 end up stuck in California You know if I end 00:24:03.549 --> 00:24:05.549 up getting a nine -to -five or anything like 00:24:05.549 --> 00:24:07.029 that I was gonna end up sticking with it and 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:10.549 not leaving when it was time to leave So to trust 00:24:10.549 --> 00:24:12.529 that God was gonna give me the provision. He 00:24:12.529 --> 00:24:14.410 had me in the position I need to be in I just 00:24:14.410 --> 00:24:19.109 had to wait on him and I was doing that and I 00:24:19.109 --> 00:24:20.730 was just reading scripture and I was trying to 00:24:20.730 --> 00:24:23.029 seek first the kingdom of heaven kingdom of God 00:24:23.029 --> 00:24:25.869 and his righteousness and lo and behold there's 00:24:25.869 --> 00:24:28.289 some dude that pulls up and this dude when I 00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:31.230 tell y 'all that he like literally looks like 00:24:31.230 --> 00:24:33.509 out of like a cartoon where he shows up and he 00:24:33.509 --> 00:24:36.529 has like the spiky blonde hair and he has like 00:24:36.529 --> 00:24:39.609 the earring and he has like a little bit like 00:24:39.609 --> 00:24:41.670 the beer belly with like you know the tank top 00:24:41.670 --> 00:24:46.099 on Sandals and he's eating this a greasy slice 00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:48.700 of pizza and he was like this big dog barking 00:24:48.700 --> 00:24:50.480 in the back Like when I tell you when I look 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.980 back it was like almost like I have a cartoon 00:24:52.980 --> 00:24:56.720 And he starts making comments of like hey I see 00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:58.640 I see you over here a lot like are you stuck 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:01.359 here? What's going on? And I just knew to be 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:03.559 vague with this person and to not give them a 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:06.160 lot of information and the most answer I really 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:08.859 gave them is kind of like oh like I'm here for 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:11.569 right now, but You know, I plan on leaving the 00:25:11.569 --> 00:25:16.589 city soon. I'm just like waiting on getting the 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:18.730 funds together and getting a plan together to 00:25:18.730 --> 00:25:21.690 go. That was the most I left it out. Like I wanted 00:25:21.690 --> 00:25:24.509 to be very plain with it. And he started talking 00:25:24.509 --> 00:25:27.670 to me about different job opportunities, different 00:25:27.670 --> 00:25:30.950 financial opportunities that started sounding 00:25:30.950 --> 00:25:32.630 good to me. And I started thinking at first, 00:25:33.309 --> 00:25:36.250 ooh, is this from God? Is this person, did God 00:25:36.250 --> 00:25:38.890 send them? Is this person from God? But the more 00:25:38.890 --> 00:25:40.609 that they started talking about these opportunities, 00:25:40.769 --> 00:25:42.269 the more I started realizing that each of these 00:25:42.269 --> 00:25:45.049 opportunities required a compromise or some kind 00:25:45.049 --> 00:25:49.029 of sin, some kind of backsliding. So I was like, 00:25:49.029 --> 00:25:51.470 nope, nope, nope, doing mental checks of, nope, 00:25:51.470 --> 00:25:53.170 I'm not doing that, that requires sin, nope, 00:25:53.170 --> 00:25:54.809 I'm not doing that, that requires backsliding, 00:25:54.970 --> 00:25:57.230 nope, I'm not doing that. As I checked each box, 00:25:57.230 --> 00:25:59.289 I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And 00:25:59.289 --> 00:26:01.190 when this guy saw that I really wasn't biting 00:26:01.190 --> 00:26:03.390 and I wasn't really taking what he was laying 00:26:03.390 --> 00:26:07.529 down, He had noticed my Bible out in my car, 00:26:07.589 --> 00:26:10.849 and I had my grandma's rosary hanging in my car. 00:26:10.950 --> 00:26:15.009 And he started making comments to me about how 00:26:15.009 --> 00:26:18.549 his mom used to try to tell him about God, but 00:26:18.549 --> 00:26:21.069 that God isn't going to come through. And that 00:26:21.069 --> 00:26:23.150 if I'm waiting on God to come and rescue me, 00:26:23.150 --> 00:26:25.089 it's not going to happen. If I'm waiting on a 00:26:25.089 --> 00:26:27.190 random blessing or a random miracle, that's not 00:26:27.190 --> 00:26:31.869 going to happen. And how you have to work and 00:26:31.869 --> 00:26:35.329 to get your way with anything. and basically 00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:39.329 telling me that it's okay to do a bad thing now 00:26:39.329 --> 00:26:42.009 to get out of whatever situation you're in and 00:26:42.009 --> 00:26:43.829 be good later on that you can always do good 00:26:43.829 --> 00:26:46.769 later and that he used to say he wanted to do 00:26:46.769 --> 00:26:48.569 good but when he would get in a situation where 00:26:48.569 --> 00:26:51.170 it was you know if you do something bad you can 00:26:51.170 --> 00:26:53.589 get out of that fix real quick just do it and 00:26:53.589 --> 00:26:56.549 do good later and i still rejected everything 00:26:56.549 --> 00:26:58.730 and was like nope and at the end of the day sent 00:26:58.730 --> 00:27:03.410 him along his way and i waited on god And I actually 00:27:03.410 --> 00:27:05.710 very soon surrendered my life to Christ after 00:27:05.710 --> 00:27:08.210 that, and God delivered on the blessings exceedingly 00:27:08.210 --> 00:27:13.029 and abundantly. But when I look back now, I can 00:27:13.029 --> 00:27:16.009 see how the devil moves and operates, right? 00:27:16.069 --> 00:27:18.450 Because at first he was offering me these things, 00:27:18.690 --> 00:27:20.710 and he could see that I was rooted in what the 00:27:20.710 --> 00:27:22.670 Lord had told me. The Lord had given me promises 00:27:22.670 --> 00:27:25.630 saying that he would provide, that he would provide 00:27:25.630 --> 00:27:28.220 a way out to just wait and trust on him. And 00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:30.220 see this guy, I believe that this was the enemy 00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:32.000 operating through him, their spirits behind. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:36.500 He was trying to offer me all of these different 00:27:36.500 --> 00:27:39.900 pathways that sounded like provision, that sounded 00:27:39.900 --> 00:27:43.259 like the blessing. But when I looked at it, it 00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:45.599 went against the word of God and it went against 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:47.720 what he was calling me to do. It was quick fixes 00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:51.099 and easy way out that would require more compromise 00:27:51.099 --> 00:27:54.460 and things that go against God's law. And when 00:27:54.460 --> 00:27:56.940 he saw that I was staying rooted in the Lord 00:27:56.940 --> 00:28:00.380 and saying no. He switched up his tactic and 00:28:00.380 --> 00:28:03.000 he started to speak fear and he started to speak 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:05.799 death over my situation. He started to speak 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:09.900 and it was as if I again why say the spirit behind 00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:12.799 um it was as if he didn't know I was waiting 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:15.420 on a miracle from God or a blessing from God 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:18.400 I never said that but the spirits that monitor 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:22.259 no the demonic monitoring spirits no and it was 00:28:22.259 --> 00:28:26.619 as if you know he had been listening in the whole 00:28:26.619 --> 00:28:29.619 time because he with things he started saying 00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:33.740 of God's not real and God's not gonna come through 00:28:33.740 --> 00:28:37.140 I had just before then like the past couple days 00:28:37.140 --> 00:28:38.960 had been dealing really bad with mental health 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:41.519 things of like am I really hearing from God or 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:45.000 am I going crazy am I in a spiritual psychosis 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:48.779 or am I really hearing from God and it was like 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:51.359 that right there was speaking to one of my fears 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:55.680 And then he started saying the thing of miracles 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.359 aren't gonna happen. You're not just gonna get 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:59.240 a blessing and get to get out of here, which 00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:02.400 was exactly what I was waiting on God for. And 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:04.420 it was like death was being spoken over that 00:29:04.420 --> 00:29:07.059 and fear trying to get me to doubt what God had 00:29:07.059 --> 00:29:10.900 said. And then going on to say, you can always, 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:14.099 he was like uplifting the compromise again of, 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.980 well, you can always compromise now and do the 00:29:17.980 --> 00:29:20.720 bad thing now and do good later. As long as you're 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:25.849 doing good, that's what matters, right? I saw 00:29:25.849 --> 00:29:29.109 how what the devil does is he gets in y 'all 00:29:29.109 --> 00:29:31.670 and he tries to plant see if he sees that you're 00:29:31.670 --> 00:29:33.470 not budging or you're not folding and you're 00:29:33.470 --> 00:29:36.109 not backward moving what he'll do is then he'll 00:29:36.109 --> 00:29:39.309 try to hit you with fear and anxiety and worry 00:29:39.309 --> 00:29:43.049 and get you to feel like oh gosh there's a problem 00:29:43.049 --> 00:29:45.730 and I need a solution and then he tries to present 00:29:45.730 --> 00:29:47.210 you with a solution because what I see there 00:29:47.210 --> 00:29:49.049 is he was trying to get me to doubt that God 00:29:49.049 --> 00:29:51.309 was gonna come through and get me to feel like 00:29:51.309 --> 00:29:55.069 I needed to create the provision for myself And 00:29:55.069 --> 00:29:56.910 if I would have believed that and bought into 00:29:56.910 --> 00:29:59.890 that, he could have convinced me to take his 00:29:59.890 --> 00:30:02.049 easy ways out, which were the compromise, which 00:30:02.049 --> 00:30:04.630 were the send glory be to God. I shut it all 00:30:04.630 --> 00:30:07.190 out. When I realized that the things he was saying 00:30:07.190 --> 00:30:10.349 were not Christ -like, I was not listening. Like 00:30:10.349 --> 00:30:12.730 I was not allowing him to take root. I was like, 00:30:12.869 --> 00:30:15.349 whatever you're saying, I'm counting it all off 00:30:15.349 --> 00:30:17.210 as deception because I can tell that it's not 00:30:17.210 --> 00:30:18.789 spirit -filled. I can tell you haven't come from 00:30:18.789 --> 00:30:22.960 the Lord. So that's enough for me to not validate 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:27.539 a single thing you're saying Glory be to God 00:30:27.539 --> 00:30:29.339 he had strengthened my discernment enough at 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:33.720 that time And I wonder if you listen to this 00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:36.559 podcast are you able to look back now and seeing 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:40.400 how The devil has been using fear in your life 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:44.359 It's kind of funny how he will literally create 00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.920 the problem. He will whisper lies He will plant 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:52.539 seeds of doubt. He will create the need that 00:30:52.539 --> 00:30:54.380 you don't actually need because I want to be 00:30:54.380 --> 00:30:56.799 very clear God had already told me that I didn't 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:59.259 need to do anything that I was just waiting on 00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:01.420 him And that was an act of obedience. So what 00:31:01.420 --> 00:31:03.140 the devil did was he was trying to whisper in 00:31:03.140 --> 00:31:06.920 my ear No, you do need to create you do need 00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:09.339 to do this. He's not coming through you do need 00:31:09.339 --> 00:31:11.180 he was trying to convince me that I need something 00:31:11.180 --> 00:31:15.220 that I did not need and once he can get you to 00:31:15.220 --> 00:31:17.539 believe that, is then when he can get you to 00:31:17.539 --> 00:31:19.759 be open to solutions that aren't Christ -like 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:22.279 solutions. Because then you're in that panic, 00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:25.059 right? Then you're in that fix -it mode. Then 00:31:25.059 --> 00:31:28.079 you're in that survival mode. I was someone who 00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:29.819 spent so long in survival mode and I felt like 00:31:29.819 --> 00:31:32.039 that was the devil trying to trigger survival 00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:35.720 mode in me. So yeah, if y 'all even need to pause 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:39.660 this podcast and think back, can you identify 00:31:39.660 --> 00:31:42.279 some areas in your life in which you were listening 00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:46.640 to God? You were believing in his promises, but 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:49.240 then the devil comes through with some lies with 00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:53.819 some deception With some kind of just load of 00:31:53.819 --> 00:31:58.000 crap And you find yourself starting to worry 00:31:58.000 --> 00:31:59.880 and panic because you're starting to believe 00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:04.119 those lies I've been there before I've been there 00:32:04.119 --> 00:32:10.279 before I'm telling y 'all that when the devil 00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:13.119 is doing that is usually when there's something 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:17.079 really good on the cusp Because the devil was 00:32:17.079 --> 00:32:20.160 trying so badly to get me to turn away from what 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:23.119 God said And to not trust in what God said and 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:25.960 to try to create for myself And guess what would 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:27.859 have happened if I would have listened to that 00:32:27.859 --> 00:32:31.519 because my testimony instead is what ended up 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:35.740 happening is Within a couple days of that happening 00:32:36.899 --> 00:32:39.500 That situation, God used that for my good. I 00:32:39.500 --> 00:32:41.519 started thinking, oh my gosh, that was the devil 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:44.400 trying to trap me and trying to mess with my 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:46.619 mind. And if the devil is coming at me this hard, 00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:48.660 that means that God has something really good 00:32:48.660 --> 00:32:50.720 to offer. The devil wouldn't be trying me this 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:53.740 bad and trying to get me to doubt if it wasn't 00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:57.940 real. So that actually just threw me further 00:32:57.940 --> 00:33:01.819 into my faith. And that combined with prayer 00:33:01.819 --> 00:33:04.339 and a testimony I'd heard, I ended up giving 00:33:04.339 --> 00:33:08.309 my life to Christ. And days after that, there 00:33:08.309 --> 00:33:10.769 started being financial miracle after miracle, 00:33:10.970 --> 00:33:13.069 like people randomly walking up and just handing 00:33:13.069 --> 00:33:18.170 me money. Like me, I was just walking through 00:33:18.170 --> 00:33:19.809 the parking lot and someone stops and calls me 00:33:19.809 --> 00:33:23.509 over and hands me money. And then within a couple 00:33:23.509 --> 00:33:25.750 of weeks of that, I feel the Lord call me to 00:33:25.750 --> 00:33:28.970 serve and to get the last $10 I have to be generous, 00:33:29.009 --> 00:33:31.309 to be giving, and that ends up getting blessed. 00:33:31.349 --> 00:33:35.150 And I end up not even expecting it. Getting all 00:33:35.150 --> 00:33:37.869 the provision I need to go back to Indiana hundreds 00:33:37.869 --> 00:33:42.410 of dollars The devil it was like he that was 00:33:42.410 --> 00:33:45.829 like his last real big -ditch attempt to get 00:33:45.829 --> 00:33:49.170 me to doubt God He could sense that I was right 00:33:49.170 --> 00:33:50.789 on the cusp of the breakthrough He was trying 00:33:50.789 --> 00:33:53.390 to get all this fear all this doubt and all this 00:33:53.390 --> 00:33:57.609 worry if I would have caved and folded and Backslid 00:33:57.609 --> 00:33:59.490 and listen to that. I wouldn't have the testimony 00:33:59.490 --> 00:34:03.240 I do now And that testimony has impacted multiple 00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:05.039 people since. I've shared that with multiple 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:07.160 people who like have literally cried when they 00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:10.599 heard in depth the testimony. I know that that 00:34:10.599 --> 00:34:12.519 is already, that testimony has already done multiple 00:34:12.519 --> 00:34:14.619 things to serve the kingdom of heaven and will 00:34:14.619 --> 00:34:19.800 continue to do so. My surrender to Christ ended 00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:22.519 up coming out of that. My leaving tarot card 00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:26.320 reading fully. My leaving my addiction because 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.639 that was also when I threw away any like my grinder 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:30.989 and everything I still use. kept in case I ever 00:34:30.989 --> 00:34:36.309 wanted to go back to smoking. The devil was trying 00:34:36.309 --> 00:34:38.409 so hard to get me to move back in fear because 00:34:38.409 --> 00:34:41.969 he knew that something good was going to come 00:34:41.969 --> 00:34:44.610 out of me waiting on God. It wasn't just God's 00:34:44.610 --> 00:34:47.710 blessing and his word fulfilled, which is amazing. 00:34:48.130 --> 00:34:50.250 It was the impact that was going to have on so 00:34:50.250 --> 00:34:52.130 many other people with the testimony he was about 00:34:52.130 --> 00:34:55.619 to give me. So I'm telling y 'all today that 00:34:55.619 --> 00:34:57.599 if you feel the enemy come that you're really 00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:00.679 heavy It's because he knows that when you continue 00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:03.119 to move forward in obedience, there is about 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:05.360 to be an open door from God There's about to 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:07.239 be a blessing. There is about to be a work from 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:10.780 God If it's something you see in your own life 00:35:10.780 --> 00:35:12.320 or something that's manifesting in the lives 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:15.460 of people around you God like I said God used 00:35:15.460 --> 00:35:18.179 that not only to help me but to help so many 00:35:18.179 --> 00:35:20.119 other people and I know he will continue to do 00:35:20.119 --> 00:35:23.210 that When the devil is trying you so hard it's 00:35:23.210 --> 00:35:26.969 because he knows that there is something good 00:35:26.969 --> 00:35:29.570 coming. Now I want to be very clear that the 00:35:29.570 --> 00:35:31.289 devil doesn't know all of your future but he 00:35:31.289 --> 00:35:33.130 can tell when something's cooking because he 00:35:33.130 --> 00:35:35.750 has monitoring spirits out going around everywhere. 00:35:35.789 --> 00:35:37.670 He can hear conversations that you're not hearing. 00:35:38.989 --> 00:35:42.610 He can see things that you don't see. He has 00:35:42.610 --> 00:35:45.449 these little monitoring spirits going around 00:35:45.449 --> 00:35:51.619 doing his work for him. So when you are put in 00:35:51.619 --> 00:35:54.539 that position to cave into fear or to trust in 00:35:54.539 --> 00:35:56.380 God, I'm telling you right now, trust in God. 00:35:56.860 --> 00:35:59.039 Don't cave into the fear. This is inspirational 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:02.639 for me, honestly y 'all. Like having this conversation 00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:04.400 just out loud speaking this, I feel like it's 00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:07.000 breathing life into my situation. It's giving 00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:13.019 me more hope. It's giving me more strength. I 00:36:13.019 --> 00:36:17.420 pray that's doing that for you today. I know. 00:36:18.539 --> 00:36:20.860 That it can get really annoying when the devil 00:36:20.860 --> 00:36:23.880 is just speaking lie and fear into you But what 00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:26.000 he wants to do is he wants to make you weary. 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:28.400 He wants you to grow weary He wants you to grow 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:30.800 tired and to just give in I'm telling you right 00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:32.519 now Do not give in and someone needs to hear 00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:34.139 today that just because you're presented with 00:36:34.139 --> 00:36:35.679 the opportunity doesn't mean you're supposed 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:41.219 to take it I Was one of those people that used 00:36:41.219 --> 00:36:44.260 to say well if If God didn't want me to take 00:36:44.260 --> 00:36:45.719 the opportunity, He wouldn't have allowed it 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:47.460 to present itself to me. That is such a lie. 00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:51.539 That's not biblical. That's not scriptural. We 00:36:51.539 --> 00:36:53.659 see that the devil tries to trick and tempt all 00:36:53.659 --> 00:36:55.559 the time, too. The devil will try to present 00:36:55.559 --> 00:36:57.960 you with opportunities. That doesn't mean that 00:36:57.960 --> 00:36:59.199 they're good, and it doesn't mean that they're 00:36:59.199 --> 00:37:02.420 from God. We see when the devil was trying to 00:37:02.420 --> 00:37:05.239 tempt Jesus when he was in the wilderness, saying, 00:37:05.340 --> 00:37:06.840 Well, if you bow down and worship me, I'll give 00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:10.400 you all this. But Jesus, knowing Scripture, knowing 00:37:10.400 --> 00:37:13.460 the Word of God, Said I'm not gonna bow down 00:37:13.460 --> 00:37:19.739 to you I'm not gonna worship you Like he very 00:37:19.739 --> 00:37:22.460 quickly turned away Satan was like well I can 00:37:22.460 --> 00:37:24.139 give you all these things if you just take this 00:37:24.139 --> 00:37:27.619 action. I'm telling you all right now Do not 00:37:27.619 --> 00:37:29.619 be willingly making agreements with Satan don't 00:37:29.619 --> 00:37:31.739 be with only making agreements with the devil 00:37:31.739 --> 00:37:33.840 He's always gonna charge you more than you're 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:37.280 willing to pay I'll be so for real with you right 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:38.920 now. He's always gonna charge you more than you're 00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:42.829 willing to pay. He is deceptive And anything 00:37:42.829 --> 00:37:45.190 that you have to send to get is not from God 00:37:45.190 --> 00:37:48.710 and the thing is too is when the devil does things 00:37:48.710 --> 00:37:53.170 and when he gives you things I'm using You know 00:37:53.170 --> 00:37:58.389 little quotations right now of gives Because 00:37:58.389 --> 00:38:00.090 there's always something with it it's not just 00:38:00.090 --> 00:38:02.250 a blessing there's always a contingency with 00:38:02.250 --> 00:38:05.309 it The thing is is usually you'll lose it pretty 00:38:05.309 --> 00:38:07.550 quickly too, or it's not gonna last You're gonna 00:38:07.550 --> 00:38:10.019 have to continue to send to keep it He's gonna 00:38:10.019 --> 00:38:12.000 keep upping the ante. You're gonna have to go 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:15.619 further and further and further. See, things 00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:18.139 from God, yes, they take longer. God takes you 00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:20.800 the longer route. God makes you heal things first. 00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:24.039 God makes you build a firm foundation first. 00:38:24.300 --> 00:38:27.039 So that way when the storm comes, when chaos 00:38:27.039 --> 00:38:29.260 comes, when problems inevitably come, when different 00:38:29.260 --> 00:38:32.079 things come meant to knock it down, it will not 00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:34.219 fall down because it was built on the firm foundation. 00:38:34.619 --> 00:38:38.039 If it's from God, no one can take it away. Now 00:38:38.039 --> 00:38:39.760 when you get something from the devil when you 00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:41.400 get something from Satan when you decide later 00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:44.099 on to turn your life around Best believe the 00:38:44.099 --> 00:38:45.679 devil is gonna cut that out from you real quick 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:49.239 to try to punish you You best believe that once 00:38:49.239 --> 00:38:50.960 he gives you a thing. He's gonna ask you to send 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:52.920 more and more He's gonna ask you to continue 00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:54.940 He's gonna ask you to do this thing or do that 00:38:54.940 --> 00:38:57.119 thing to be able to keep it You're gonna find 00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:59.280 yourself pressured into going in deeper and deeper 00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:02.760 and deeper When storms come when problems come? 00:39:03.179 --> 00:39:06.280 You notice that the foundation shakes pretty 00:39:06.280 --> 00:39:08.380 quick. Things start falling off. Siding starts 00:39:08.380 --> 00:39:12.619 falling off. It collapses. It's because it was 00:39:12.619 --> 00:39:15.599 built quickly and sloppily and it wasn't built 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:18.000 on a firm foundation. The only firm foundation 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:21.960 is the Lord. So whatever you have, it's not worth 00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:25.539 sinning to get it. It's not worth sinning to 00:39:25.539 --> 00:39:30.179 keep it. I'm telling y 'all right now, take the 00:39:30.179 --> 00:39:36.099 Jesus way. Submit your life to the Lord Sometimes 00:39:36.099 --> 00:39:39.400 it takes longer But trust that's gonna be done 00:39:39.400 --> 00:39:41.420 the right way when you're doing it the Jesus 00:39:41.420 --> 00:39:43.940 way Honestly when you're laying God build it 00:39:43.940 --> 00:39:46.500 you're getting like the good construction crew 00:39:46.500 --> 00:39:49.719 You're getting the firm foundation. It might 00:39:49.719 --> 00:39:51.840 take a little bit longer because they're going 00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:53.519 through and they're checking That's the thing. 00:39:53.519 --> 00:39:55.920 You know when the Lord does something in us right 00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:59.849 when he breaks something off of us when there's 00:39:59.849 --> 00:40:01.289 something new that we learn, when there's something 00:40:01.289 --> 00:40:05.070 new that we develop, God will allow our faith 00:40:05.070 --> 00:40:07.730 to be tested. He will allow things to happen 00:40:07.730 --> 00:40:09.909 in our life that test our faith. Faith isn't 00:40:09.909 --> 00:40:11.789 proven like gold till it's been through the fire. 00:40:11.969 --> 00:40:13.909 I'm quoting the Brandon Lake song right there. 00:40:14.949 --> 00:40:18.449 But he will allow our foundation to be shook 00:40:18.449 --> 00:40:21.949 a little bit. Think about the man who built his 00:40:21.949 --> 00:40:23.750 house on the rock versus the one who built his 00:40:23.750 --> 00:40:25.670 house on the sand. The one who was built on the 00:40:25.670 --> 00:40:27.369 rock when the rains came, when the winds blew, 00:40:27.369 --> 00:40:29.869 when the storm happened. the foundation was still 00:40:29.869 --> 00:40:31.809 standing, but the one who was built in shaky 00:40:31.809 --> 00:40:35.750 ground in sand, it was all washed away. It was 00:40:35.750 --> 00:40:38.530 all broken down. And oftentimes when the Lord 00:40:38.530 --> 00:40:41.269 is building with you, he'll allow storms to come, 00:40:41.730 --> 00:40:43.409 rains to come, and things that will kind of test 00:40:43.409 --> 00:40:46.309 your foundation to make sure that you are really 00:40:46.309 --> 00:40:48.429 rooted in that, to make sure that that is a strong 00:40:48.429 --> 00:40:50.610 foundation before he adds another layer on top 00:40:50.610 --> 00:40:53.670 of it. I know it can be annoying. It was really 00:40:53.670 --> 00:40:55.130 annoying for me at first when I felt like I was 00:40:55.130 --> 00:40:57.630 getting hit back to back to back, but God's way 00:40:57.630 --> 00:41:01.070 is higher. And I see when I look back in retrospect 00:41:01.070 --> 00:41:03.050 if it's a good thing that thing was tested because 00:41:03.050 --> 00:41:05.630 what if that was shaky? What if I wasn't firm 00:41:05.630 --> 00:41:07.289 in it? What if I wasn't solid on it? And we tried 00:41:07.289 --> 00:41:08.949 to add weight on top of that. We tried to add 00:41:08.949 --> 00:41:11.090 the next lesson or the next blessing. It would 00:41:11.090 --> 00:41:14.949 have collapsed under the pressure. Glory be to 00:41:14.949 --> 00:41:17.789 God. He took it. I'll give y 'all a real life 00:41:17.789 --> 00:41:20.489 example when it comes to just sharing my testimony 00:41:20.489 --> 00:41:23.710 and how I told y 'all I spent so many years of 00:41:23.710 --> 00:41:26.550 a lot of things happening and I kept very quiet. 00:41:27.799 --> 00:41:30.800 I kept my side of the story to myself when I 00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:32.639 knew that lies were going on, when I knew that 00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:34.559 rumors, when I knew that all of these attacks 00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:37.440 were going on. I wouldn't say anything. I would 00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:40.099 keep my mouth quiet most of the time. And I felt 00:41:40.099 --> 00:41:43.280 the Lord, when I was especially like new at really 00:41:43.280 --> 00:41:45.880 getting my lifetime, I felt him say, keep your 00:41:45.880 --> 00:41:48.079 mouth shut right now. And don't try to defend 00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:50.239 yourself. Don't try to speak up on things. Allow 00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:54.820 me to defend you. And now in the season I am 00:41:54.820 --> 00:41:58.389 in with the Lord, and over time, When I'm just 00:41:58.389 --> 00:42:00.610 pursuing the kingdom of God there will be certain 00:42:00.610 --> 00:42:03.610 testimonies I feel him call me to share and There 00:42:03.610 --> 00:42:05.670 will be certain prophetic words that he calls 00:42:05.670 --> 00:42:09.929 me to deliver and to release There have been 00:42:09.929 --> 00:42:11.590 times when he's brought to mind a testimony, 00:42:11.750 --> 00:42:14.250 but told me don't share yet. It's not the time 00:42:14.250 --> 00:42:19.449 I'm allowing him to do it in his timing not my 00:42:19.449 --> 00:42:23.590 timing Not my timing. So even even now now that 00:42:23.590 --> 00:42:25.230 I'm in the season where I feel like he's really 00:42:25.230 --> 00:42:27.769 telling me it's time to You know, start sharing 00:42:27.769 --> 00:42:29.710 these things more. It's time to step out of the 00:42:29.710 --> 00:42:32.389 darkness. I am allowing Him to guide my steps. 00:42:34.150 --> 00:42:36.710 I'm waiting on Him to guide me first. And sure, 00:42:36.789 --> 00:42:38.309 that might take a little longer. I could, if 00:42:38.309 --> 00:42:40.289 I wanted to, post like a five -hour long YouTube 00:42:40.289 --> 00:42:42.690 video of my whole life story, but that's not 00:42:42.690 --> 00:42:47.289 what God's calling me to do. That I know of. 00:42:49.210 --> 00:42:51.369 He's not calling me to address it all in 0 .2 00:42:51.369 --> 00:42:55.849 seconds. I'm trusting in Him and His timing. 00:42:57.230 --> 00:43:02.289 And I have seen how each time it has fit perfectly 00:43:02.289 --> 00:43:05.389 into the season. It has brought about something. 00:43:05.750 --> 00:43:08.550 It has done a different work in each way. So 00:43:08.550 --> 00:43:10.730 I'm telling y 'all today, just to get back to 00:43:10.730 --> 00:43:12.550 the root of the message is don't give in to the 00:43:12.550 --> 00:43:15.329 spirit of fear. The spirit of fear will try to 00:43:15.329 --> 00:43:17.800 chase you down. And you know what's interesting 00:43:17.800 --> 00:43:20.559 with that person that I told you all about earlier, 00:43:20.619 --> 00:43:22.880 that they, you know, started giving into fear 00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:24.380 and saying those things to me after listening. 00:43:24.699 --> 00:43:27.059 They actually acknowledged that later on, on 00:43:27.059 --> 00:43:30.460 their own volition. When they apologized to me 00:43:30.460 --> 00:43:32.880 later, they were like, hey, look, I realize now 00:43:32.880 --> 00:43:36.519 I was giving into the spirit of fear. They said 00:43:36.519 --> 00:43:39.079 I was falling back into the old pattern of a 00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:41.179 spirit of fear, and I recognize that and I'm 00:43:41.179 --> 00:43:48.579 sorry. Glory be to God. God is good. So I see 00:43:48.579 --> 00:43:50.300 that it's not the spirit of fear isn't just coming 00:43:50.300 --> 00:43:54.420 after me. It's coming after other people So I 00:43:54.420 --> 00:43:56.280 know that this message is gonna be helpful for 00:43:56.280 --> 00:43:59.739 other people to hear I'm telling you all today 00:43:59.739 --> 00:44:05.239 There's there's a there's a fear and there's 00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:08.019 I do want to touch on this because one thought 00:44:08.019 --> 00:44:10.199 that I found myself going back to when I get 00:44:10.199 --> 00:44:13.159 hit with a lot of Fears and worries and is actually 00:44:13.159 --> 00:44:16.349 what I found myself gravitating to today, my 00:44:16.349 --> 00:44:17.849 brain starts thinking, what am I supposed to 00:44:17.849 --> 00:44:20.210 be doing right now? Because one of the biggest 00:44:20.210 --> 00:44:22.829 lies of the devil I find is constantly whispering 00:44:22.829 --> 00:44:24.590 in my ear. That's the thing is when the enemy 00:44:24.590 --> 00:44:26.329 is whispering and planning thoughts, he makes 00:44:26.329 --> 00:44:28.429 it sound like your own voice. The more I started 00:44:28.429 --> 00:44:30.710 thinking, I was like, this isn't my voice. This 00:44:30.710 --> 00:44:32.630 isn't these aren't my thoughts. God already told 00:44:32.630 --> 00:44:37.030 me what to do. You know, there were voices saying 00:44:37.030 --> 00:44:39.610 you're in my head. The best way I can explain 00:44:39.610 --> 00:44:41.630 is, I felt like it was being placed on my spirit 00:44:41.630 --> 00:44:43.429 a little bit of like, you're supposed to be doing 00:44:43.429 --> 00:44:45.230 more. You're supposed to be doing something different. 00:44:45.269 --> 00:44:47.610 You're supposed to be doing something else. But 00:44:47.610 --> 00:44:49.489 then I would, I'd feel kind of contradictive. 00:44:49.630 --> 00:44:51.750 No, you're fine doing what you're doing. And 00:44:51.750 --> 00:44:54.989 that in itself was creating a bit of fear and 00:44:54.989 --> 00:44:56.809 creating a bit of worry. And I know that so many 00:44:56.809 --> 00:44:58.389 people have that on their walk with Christ when 00:44:58.389 --> 00:45:00.610 they're waiting on the Lord to do something and 00:45:00.610 --> 00:45:03.210 he's telling them to just wait. And they start 00:45:03.210 --> 00:45:05.289 thinking, am I supposed to be doing something? 00:45:05.550 --> 00:45:07.389 Is God expecting me to be doing something right 00:45:07.389 --> 00:45:08.489 now? Is there more I'm supposed to be doing? 00:45:08.550 --> 00:45:10.969 It doesn't help y 'all that like when I was opening 00:45:10.969 --> 00:45:12.730 up social media and just trying to passively 00:45:12.730 --> 00:45:15.010 scroll, I kept getting hit with video after video 00:45:15.010 --> 00:45:17.690 saying, God is waiting on you to move. God is 00:45:17.690 --> 00:45:21.369 waiting on you to do something. And I shut out 00:45:21.369 --> 00:45:22.949 social media pretty quick after that because 00:45:22.949 --> 00:45:24.949 I was like, I'm not feeding into all of that. 00:45:25.929 --> 00:45:28.329 I'm going to walk in with the Lord and what he 00:45:28.329 --> 00:45:31.460 has taught me to do. When you do not know what 00:45:31.460 --> 00:45:34.219 to do and seek first the kingdom of God and his 00:45:34.219 --> 00:45:35.739 righteousness and trust these things will be 00:45:35.739 --> 00:45:38.300 added on to you so when I'm in a space of I don't 00:45:38.300 --> 00:45:41.840 know what I'm supposed to do I I go to seeking 00:45:41.840 --> 00:45:45.860 God which is through reading scripture and through 00:45:45.860 --> 00:45:48.820 praying and they're just trying to listen to 00:45:48.820 --> 00:45:52.519 what the Lord is guiding me to do and Oftentimes 00:45:52.519 --> 00:45:54.400 he'll lead you back to the last thing he told 00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:56.099 you to do I cannot tell you how many times in 00:45:56.099 --> 00:45:57.460 the past year when I don't know what to do and 00:45:57.460 --> 00:45:59.429 I'm like I'm praying to the Lord and I feel him 00:45:59.429 --> 00:46:01.110 say, go, what was the last thing I told you to 00:46:01.110 --> 00:46:03.170 do? Go back to that. There's no new instructions 00:46:03.170 --> 00:46:05.349 here. Go back to what I just told you to do. 00:46:06.489 --> 00:46:08.050 And oftentimes when I feel I've heard from the 00:46:08.050 --> 00:46:10.150 Lord, I'll write it down in my journal, write 00:46:10.150 --> 00:46:12.010 it down in my notes, and I'll go back and look 00:46:12.010 --> 00:46:14.269 at it and see that, you know, God said just focus 00:46:14.269 --> 00:46:19.980 on seeking me, focus on serving. focus on on 00:46:19.980 --> 00:46:22.599 praying, praying more like it'll be something 00:46:22.599 --> 00:46:24.239 like that or trust that the Lord is going to 00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:25.960 bring it through and just do what I can to flee 00:46:25.960 --> 00:46:28.159 temptation. I went through a season where those 00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:29.860 were my instructions for about three months was 00:46:29.860 --> 00:46:33.219 flee temptation. and flee sin and seek first 00:46:33.219 --> 00:46:35.139 the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness and 00:46:35.139 --> 00:46:37.079 what that looked like was every day for me like 00:46:37.079 --> 00:46:39.159 just trying to get in scripture and prayer and 00:46:39.159 --> 00:46:41.139 when i would feel nudges from the lord listening 00:46:41.139 --> 00:46:43.880 to those nudges and when temptations and opportunities 00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:45.659 would come in for me to backslide i would flee 00:46:45.659 --> 00:46:48.380 those and that was my instruction for like three 00:46:48.380 --> 00:46:52.260 months and what i felt today when i started feeling 00:46:52.260 --> 00:46:55.639 not overwhelmed i went to scripture reading and 00:46:55.639 --> 00:46:58.159 i went to prayer and it was while i was praying 00:46:58.159 --> 00:47:00.659 that i felt the lord bring to my mind Remember, 00:47:00.659 --> 00:47:03.119 I called you to record this podcast episode. 00:47:03.559 --> 00:47:05.679 And when I thought about it, I did do that this 00:47:05.679 --> 00:47:09.159 morning, but it got deleted. Like it wasn't recording. 00:47:09.980 --> 00:47:12.380 And I just kind of cast it to the wayside. And 00:47:12.380 --> 00:47:14.360 I was like, Oh Lord, you did give me instructions. 00:47:14.360 --> 00:47:16.239 I've yet to fulfill those. I need to go ahead 00:47:16.239 --> 00:47:19.920 and fill those now. And here I am filling it. 00:47:20.779 --> 00:47:23.159 And honestly y 'all, I was a little bit anxious 00:47:23.159 --> 00:47:25.500 starting up this podcast episode. Fear was coming 00:47:25.500 --> 00:47:27.679 at me. And the more we're going throughout this 00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:29.519 episode, the more it's fallen off and broken 00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:32.300 off of me. I feel like I'm overcoming the spirit 00:47:32.300 --> 00:47:35.400 of fear discussing it here with you guys. And 00:47:35.400 --> 00:47:37.079 what's interesting is I feel like the spirit 00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:39.500 of fear kind of chasing me down today was a reminder 00:47:39.500 --> 00:47:42.739 that I needed to get in the word and I needed 00:47:42.739 --> 00:47:46.840 to record this episode addressing the fear. Now 00:47:46.840 --> 00:47:48.559 to make it very clear again, I said this in the 00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:50.760 beginning of episode that the spirit of fear 00:47:50.760 --> 00:47:54.000 isn't from the Lord. Yes, the Lord is going to 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:57.739 warn you. The Holy Spirit is going to guide you. 00:47:57.820 --> 00:47:59.159 You're going to have discernment when things 00:47:59.159 --> 00:48:03.679 aren't right. But He's not whispering fearful 00:48:03.679 --> 00:48:07.400 things in your ear and paranoid things all the 00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:08.960 time. He's not trying to keep you in a state 00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:15.539 of fear. That is not the Lord. Now I honestly 00:48:15.539 --> 00:48:17.820 I wish we had more to talk about but y 'all I 00:48:17.820 --> 00:48:20.019 feel like that is the gist of what I was being 00:48:20.019 --> 00:48:24.260 led to discuss in this episode Hopefully we'll 00:48:24.260 --> 00:48:27.139 be recording more episodes soon. So I do ask 00:48:27.139 --> 00:48:29.519 that you subscribe so that way you don't miss 00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:33.719 the next Podcast upload and I do ask that y 'all 00:48:33.719 --> 00:48:36.219 share this share this podcast episode with a 00:48:36.219 --> 00:48:38.000 friend share with the family member share it 00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.920 with somebody But God is placing on your heart 00:48:40.920 --> 00:48:43.519 to share it with them share with someone Share 00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:46.840 it on social media The sharing does a lot more 00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:49.780 than y 'all realize the sharing really helps 00:48:49.780 --> 00:48:52.179 get this podcast out there I'm not doing a lot 00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:54.960 of independent advertising right now. So every 00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:57.719 time y 'all have been sharing it it really is 00:48:57.719 --> 00:49:02.340 so helpful and I thank you for sharing it and 00:49:02.340 --> 00:49:05.400 For just helping get this this podcast out there 00:49:05.400 --> 00:49:08.880 to those who have ears to hear So I pray that 00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:13.239 y 'all have a blessed day and I will talk to 00:49:13.239 --> 00:49:15.219 you soon. God bless.