S2 EP6. Is It Satan Or Just Me?
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Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Allie Yost. Thank you guys for being here. I am so grateful. First off, happy Friday, guys. I have to tell you just funny stuff that's happening to me right now. So first and foremost, it is like eight in the morning as I'm recording this, which most of you guys are like, yeah, Allie, I'm in the car right now on my way to work. This is a normal life.

But I had to get up a little bit earlier this morning because my movers are coming. So this is a version of Allie that's like way in the past. By the time this episode actually goes live, I'm already living in Nashville. I'm settled in, hopefully, probably. But this version of Allie, the movers are coming today. Eh.

And I really wanted to record one more episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice before I moved. And I wanted to do it yesterday, but I didn't have any time. The packing has been insane. Do y'all ever feel like you have more than enough time and then suddenly you don't anymore? Oh my gosh, that is exactly what happened to me. I was like smooth sailing, packing at the... Honestly...

the pace of a turtle and I loved it because I was being really intentional about all my stuff. I have to be honest, when I moved here to LA, it was like, I just threw everything in boxes. That was a whole situation. Honestly, a lot of it was probably my fault. Also, we don't have coffee on ice today. We have coffee on hotness. We have coffee on, because it is cold outside. It's like 50 something degrees. And granted it is because it's like earlier in the morning and it feels so good. It

It's incredible. Anyway, I was in a bit of a time crunch when it came to my move out here to LA. I only had a couple days to pack, which was absurd. So I threw everything in boxes, which made it a nightmare to unpack. So this time around, I'm being so intentional. I'm like, I got Jesus by my side. He's teaching me patience. He's teaching me self-discipline. He's teaching me time management.

And so I was honestly slaying up until, yeah, like yesterday, day before. And all of a sudden I turn around and it's like I had so much more left to pack than I thought. And do you ever just like pack up all your stuff and then all of a sudden there's just more stuff that just comes out of like the walls? And you're like, where did this stuff come from?

I thought I already packed everything in this room. Where did you just come from? Like, that's how it's been. So I feel like the last like five to six boxes that I've packed are giving chaos. But like the rest of like the 20 boxes that I packed are actually really cute and organized. And so thought there's some serious TLC with those. So we'll take it. You know, I'm trying my best. I'm trying my best.

And you know what else I just realized? So the movers are going to be here in like an hour. Okay, so we have an hour to record right now and then they'll probably be here. Another thing that I didn't realize is y'all, I live in Los Angeles. I forget these things. I forget these things because I spend a lot of my time in my apartment. Okay, I really do. I thought maybe move into a city like Los Angeles. I'd get out of my home a lot more. I don't.

I stay right in my home. So anyway, I forget I live in Los Angeles sometimes. I don't know where I think I live. Planet Mars. And I'm like, Allie, you have to reserve parking spots for this mover truck. Yeah, I didn't do that. Y'all are in the future now. I already did it. Somehow we managed. But oh my gosh, I've been praying to Jesus this morning. I said, Lord, please.

I tried my best. I forgot about this one thing. I just pray that there are parking spots available. That's because there's really only one option, which is the side street. And if we don't have that, we are screwed. There's no parking spot on the roof. Nope.

We don't have any other options. So I just pray into Jesus right now for real, real. But anyway, that's my situation right now. Hopefully it didn't stress y'all out, but yeah, so that's what's happening. And anyway, I'm grateful. And I knew I wanted to, I needed to record this episode. I needed to do it. I was like, I can't wait a couple more weeks until I'm settled in, in Nashville. I mean, it's granted. There's a good chance. I won't be able to start recording again for a few more weeks, but

Or at least a couple more weeks until I'm all settled in and furniture's all in and all that good stuff. So anyway, had to do it. So I got up early this morning and I was up so late last night, y'all. I couldn't go to sleep. So we got our coffee on hot right now. But anyway, I am so filled with gratitude right now. I'm so grateful for y'all. Thank you for being here. Also, I just want to pray over everybody right now because I just feel like it.

You know what? No rhyme or reason. I just feel like it. And I also, I think one thing that kind of came to my mind the other day is I said, I kind of checked myself. And this is so cool because I want to kind of cover this topic of checking ourselves, right? And having more self-awareness. And I feel like that's the biggest thing that God has taught me through my journey. Oh my gosh, has he taught me self-awareness.

Like I thought I was self-aware before no, he teaches me how to be self-aware in literally all the small things throughout my day It's crazy. I hear his like little whispers throughout the day of what I know he would expect from me Y'all stuff as small as like picking up my dog poop, you know, like sometimes i'm gonna be honest Sometimes we're lazy or sometimes the poop's a little

And you don't really want to pick it up. Okay, my dog moms, my dog parents get me. But like even in small moments like that, I literally hear God being like, now what would Jesus do if he had a dog? You know what I mean? Not as a thing to like hold over my head and make me always feel guilty, but like holding me to a standard of being a good person. Okay, and not being selfish because who knows?

"If I was being lazy and I didn't feel like picking it up "that day, who's to say somebody doesn't step in it "and then it's the worst day of their life now "because they just stepped in that." I mean, that's probably a bad example and I can't even say that, listen y'all, I'm not saying I'm one of those people. I will pick up Gracie's dog poop 98% of the time, but there is a 2% where it's like two in the morning, I can't even see, I don't even know where it is, it's in a bush somewhere. I don't know, and sometimes I'm like, we're just gonna take the L on this one.

Or I don't have any more doggy bags. That's happened a few times too. So then you got to go somewhere across the street or down the street to find some doggy bags. Then you come back and you know, sometimes, yeah, it's literally two in the morning and I'm like, I can't, okay, I'm not going to justify myself, but I got to justify myself. I want y'all to know I'm a good person, but there are some times when I don't feel

doing it and Jesus is like I mean it's in little things like that every day I literally all even down to like my skincare routine at night sometimes I want to be lazy sometimes I don't want to floss my teeth sometimes I'm so I've never flossed my teeth so much in my life since I met Jesus that's so silly that's so silly but it's true I literally feel him in every little tiny moment where he's like listen the last time you didn't prioritize flossing your teeth you had cavities let's take care of ourselves like he

dad, like a literal parent that's like, and it's so silly because like I'm a literal full grown adult, but he just makes me an overall well-rounded, better human being, even in the small things. Obviously the big things too, but I think the beauty in our God is we don't limit him to just the big things. Nothing is too small and nothing is too big for him. He is making me a

the small things, you know, like even when it comes to doing chores around my home. I mean, when you want to know where to get the motivation from to do the small things, I literally turn to God for everything. And honestly, I don't say that like I'm not perfect. I don't always do it because sometimes it's not always tempting, but you got to do it because he can help you even in the small things, y'all. He really can.

I don't even remember how I got on that tangent. I don't know where my mind was going with that. Oh, I'm so bummed. Y'all ever hate that? Where you like actually have a legitimate thought and then it just leaves your brain? Got it. Okay. Well, we're going to improv now. We're going to keep going. I don't know where the heck I was going with that. That was connecting to something. I was going on a little tangent. I wanted it to connect to something. But anyway, he has really genuinely taught me self-awareness even in the small things. And so the one thing that I want to talk about today is something that I kind of touched on

on a recent post that I had. I feel like I take a lot of the topics because I'll feel so inspired to talk about a certain topic regarding God or just your faith. Oh, no, no, no. Y'all, this is where I was going with that. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I don't exactly remember where that tangent was connecting to this, but this was my initial thought is I said, I wanted to pray for y'all. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I'm gonna pray for y'all. Y'all were like, Allie, Eve,

a prayer. Okay, I wanted to pray for y'all and something that I was really thinking about, right? Okay, self-awareness. I was having a thought with myself the other day and I said, Lord, I just pray that I never turn this podcast into something where I am only speaking to Christians, like active Christians who are in their faith because I know we have a lot of you here, but I do still want to always keep this podcast at the core where it is for everybody, even people who are just

curious or they just found God or you know, they literally just made the decision this morning that they want to like, you know, start learning about Jesus or they want to see what this whole Christ with coffee on ice thing is about. And so I feel so blessed by him like every day where he just brings me to this place of self-awareness and I don't

I think I've done it with a podcast. I think I've been doing a good job so far, like keeping it at a level where I'm not just strictly speaking to Christians because I feel like that's limiting. I think it's important to encourage each other in this community 100%. But I feel like that's where Christians can get that quote cult environment, like that cult behavior, cult atmosphere, right?

where we start speaking a language that only Christians understand. And obviously there is a beauty in that, but also I think it's isolating. And I think that it can also make other people who are new to the community or curious or want to know more feel even more like an outsider or an outcast than they did before. And so I really want

always speak from a place where it is digestible for everybody. We're not watering down the Bible. We're not dumbing it down, but I want to always make sure that my language, and I don't know, I feel like that's the way God's made me. I feel like that's even just the way that my testimony has been, you know, unrolling and just my story with how I found God. I feel like my faith

has stayed at a place where most people can understand it. I don't know if I ever want to become the Christian that only speaks in this particular lingo and uses all these biblical words which are important and I still want to be educated on all of that but I don't know. I guess what I'm saying is that I want to pray over anybody right now. Anybody who could be tuning in whether you are an active Christian right now, whether you are just starting to navigate your faith, whether

whether this podcast just came up on your suggested and you're curious about it, I pray for all of y'all and I want everybody, every single person, no matter where you're at in your walk of faith, no matter where you are in life, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter what your daily routine looks like, I am so grateful that you are here. God loves you so much.

I love you so much. I'm so grateful that you are here. Truly. You are so loved. If you don't feel loved in any other part of your life, please know that Jesus loves you and we love you. I love you. Okay. So this is your community then period. It's done.

I love you and I'm so grateful you're here. I don't mean to make things like super emo all of a sudden, but I just felt this wave of gratitude and I just wanted every person to know that I'm just so grateful for you. So I want to pray over every person. I want to pray Lord Jesus. Thank you for this community. Thank you for giving me this platform in this space to just bring people together of all walks of faith all walks of life Jesus and

I pray that you are present in every single person's life today. And especially during this podcast episode, if there's anybody who needs a message, God, I just pray that you use me as a vessel, Lord, and just speak to them. I pray that it just hits them. It just hits them right in the chest, you know, in a good way, Lord. But I just pray for every person who's listening. And I pray that you just bless them and you give them clarity on whatever it is that they feel like they have.

you know whatever uncertainty that they have in their life right now whatever they're struggling with whether it's financially with with their job their purpose their love life you know friendships family um mourning loss god i just pray that you give them comfort in that and and and reassure them and let them know and remind them that you don't promise us a perfect life you don't promise us that we will never feel pain and we will never mourn and we will never feel confusion we

We will never feel betrayal. You've never promised us that we won't feel lost, Lord, but you've always promised us that you will be next to us through all of it. And that the true purpose of having faith is to also have a firm foundation in you, God, in knowing that we don't have to face any of those hardships alone. So I just pray for the hearts of

of everybody listening. I just pray for your comfort, God, and just letting them know that you are right next to them. I want you to give them the sense of your presence like no other. And I know the feeling, Lord, because you've done it for me. You have brought me literally to my knees in my kitchen, in my apartment. I just pray that you overwhelm them with that presence and you just give them this overwhelming peace that literally makes no sense.

And there is no other place that they could have gotten it from than from you. I pray that it is so clear to them that you are present. You are next to them. You are with them in this moment, God. You are with them today. I also just pray that if there's anybody who is on the fence about who you are, God, I pray you make it so clear to them today. I pray that you make it so clear to them. And I also pray that you make it so clear to them today.

pray for their hearts. God, I pray for every person who is listening. I pray that they open their heart to you fully, whatever it is, whatever wall, whatever block is holding them from fully letting you in their heart. God, I pray that we just tear that down today. I pray that you show them that there are so there's so much beauty and there's so much good in full

Fully surrendering our hearts to you, God. And I pray that you remind every single person who's listening. I pray that you remind them that. I pray that this is a good, productive podcast episode.

I pray that this is a good and productive podcast episode, Lord, and you just use me. I just want you to speak through me, God. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Okay. I never thought I'd be the type of person who would pray and say, Jesus, Lord Jesus, Jesus, and I pray God and Jesus this and Jesus, but I do. I don't know what it is when you get into a prayer, y'all. Before I really understood how to pray, and do I really even still understand how to pray? No, I just ask God for what I want,

what I desire, which is I want y'all to really absorb this episode. And I want y'all to feel the Holy Spirit because it's like a hit of like nothing else compares. But yeah, there is no particular way to pray. And I feel called to say that too. If there's anyone listening that doesn't feel confident in how to pray, y'all start in the four walls of your home, just you and Jesus and your cat or your dog. You know, no one's here judging you. But do it in the privacy of your own home. And God even says that in the Bible. When was that? When did we read that? Did we read that on the podcast?

podcast I don't know if we did I think it's in Matthew but the Bible literally encourages us to pray to God privately you know I think it's good to obviously pray in public too I've been learning how to do that y'all um I've been learning through that fear of uh praying like publicly but yeah I think the best way that you could approach just talking to God and you know what I feel like that all

that awkward feeling in the beginning is truly the enemy or you're just getting in your head too much like how would you talk to anyone else in your life and I know that it's it's probably awkward because it's a bit more intimidating because it's literally God and you've never tried to speak to him before but I think the cool thing about God is he will hold your hand and

through it and every time that you do it you will just feel this sense of safety and security from him every time you do it you just will get more comfortable doing it so it might feel a little weird because you don't even know like who you're praying to or who you're talking to which is why it's really important to build your faith and start reading the bible because it's hard to pray to something that you don't

even really know you know um it's hard to put your trust in something that you don't know personally you know what i mean or like someone i should say it's hard to put your trust in someone have your faith in someone trust someone with your deepest inner thoughts which he already knows because he's god but it's hard to be vulnerable with somebody that you don't really know personally so it's kind of like a first date in the beginning it's a little awkward but i think the cool thing about god is he will reveal himself and i know i've said this on the podcast so many times this is

scripture from Matthew. I don't know exactly which one it is, but even if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, that's all God needs to work with, right? We say that all the time, but it's so true. So even just that little mustard seed amount of faith that you have to get on your knees and pray to him, that's all he needs to work with you. And he will transform you and you will see how he continues to give you this sense of stability and security and just confidence with spending time with him. And then it's

so much fun. And then it's something that you actually look forward to doing like every single day. And so personally, the way that I've always approached it is I never came to it like, and honestly, this is kind of how I always have treated God because I've told you guys, even, you know, in my very first episode, I have acknowledged God from time to time.

And when I would pray to him, I never would pray to him in a way where I felt like I had to talk to him in a certain language. And y'all shouldn't feel that way either. He knows you. He knows your heart. He knows your personality. He knows what's natural for you versus what's not. He wants you to just show up 100% as you are. He does not want you to show up as a version because the other thing is like you can't trick God. He sees right through it. He sees right through it.

I'm sure he's smiling and he's like bless her heart you know bless her heart they're just trying that's so sweet but they don't need to do that you know you do not need to show up you know with all these fancy words and language and you also don't need to feel like you have to show up once you have all of that under your belt don't feel like you can't start praying to God until you know all the lingo or until you've studied the Bible or you know I mean you should be studying the Bible actively while also praying at the same time but don't feel like you have to have all this stuff under your belt first because

to then feel like you can pray to him and have a relationship with him. That is so backwards. He wants you just as you are. And he knows exactly where you are mentally, emotionally, physically, in your life. He's been there. He's watched you. He's been next to you the whole time, right? So...

Just don't try to fool God because you can't. And our cute little human silly brains think that we can fool him or we can put on this act. It's like he can see right through that more than anyone else because he literally created you and he knows what's natural for you versus what's not, you know? And I also don't say that to like,

make anyone feel guilty because even if you feel like you're still showing up as a version that's not totally you yet because you're not super comfortable yet, that's okay. But just don't feel like you have to be someone that you are not. God wants you, you. He made you exactly the way that you are and he wants that version of you. He wants you, right? He's going to transform your heart. He's going to, like I said in the beginning of this episode, he's going to continue to mold you into an entirely different person. Like,

I am not the same person that I was six months ago, praying to God then that I am now. Right. But I was authentically me those six months ago. And I am still very much authentically me now, but I'm just a more well-rounded, better version. Thank you to God. But in both versions of myself, we're very different people, but it's still Allie, right? Still very much that authentic version of me in that moment. And that's all that he asks of you. So just go to him in full.

full vulnerability just being yourself like you would any other person like you would go to your best friend like you would go to your parent like you would go to a relative that you trust you know like go to him the same way that you would go to anyone else in your life and just talk to him there just is no pressure to be anyone other than yourself is all I want to say this is

even anything I want to talk about. I don't know if this is the Holy Spirit just guiding me. I don't even know. Sometimes I think I know what this podcast episode is going to be about. And then we go off on a completely different route. I'm grateful for this, actually, because there must be somebody who's listening right now that needs to hear this. I don't know why. I don't know how else it's been called on my heart to talk about this. This was not anything that I had planned for the episode so far. We haven't even really gotten into it yet, y'all. We haven't even gotten into it yet. OK, let's talk about it. So I want to talk about the enemy again today. And I feel like

the enemy is one of those topics that are like a little intimidating for Christians because I feel like we have this pull where it's like you don't want to acknowledge him too much because it's almost like you don't want to jinx anything even though we shouldn't believe that jinxing isn't a thing because it's not a thing because that's putting power in something other than God or the enemy I guess but it's like there's no jinxing but I feel like sometimes we're afraid to acknowledge him because if we acknowledge him too much then we feel like he's out for us a little bit more does that make sense do y'all

Do y'all ever feel that way? Where sometimes when it even comes to like rebuking him and speaking out loud, I don't even want to do it because I'm like, I don't even want to acknowledge him. Sometimes you've got to acknowledge the enemy, right? You have to acknowledge him. You have to rebuke him. Sometimes I don't even want to speak out loud about him because I don't know. I just feel like there's some bad juju on that, you know, but God literally tells us to do that. And the cool thing, and I'm sure I've said this on the podcast already, I'm going to be rebuking

feeding myself, right? This is going to be even great. Some things are going to be just like engraved in our minds and we need a few, a few reminders, but God has literally given us the authority to speak over the debt. We rank higher than the devil. We do, even though he technically has power, we have more power than the enemy does because not because we're human, not because you are you and I, and I am myself. We are helpless on our own because the Holy spirit lives inside of us.

because the blood of Jesus covers us. That is why we have authority over the enemy, okay? So we are absolutely allowed to rebuke him, speak out loud to him, tell him to buzz off, take a hike, get a job. Like, we are allowed to do that because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. We naturally rank higher. We have more authority over the enemy than we even realize because Jesus lives in our heart, okay? And Jesus...

if we're going to break it down even more, is king of kings, lord of lords, king of the universe, right? Nobody ranks higher than him. He's God. So I think that we get afraid to speak about the devil out loud because we're afraid for a second that he has more power than us, but he doesn't.

We have more power than him. And it's about acknowledging that, recognizing that, and then using it. So I want to talk about him a little bit today. And I know that this is like the second episode maybe where we've kind of covered the enemy. But I think sometimes it's hard to talk about too because it feels negative. But it's not. It's good. I think that it's good to talk about him because...

like I just said, it's good to acknowledge that we have all the power in this situation right through God. We have all the power through Jesus. So when we feel the enemy's attack and we just want to kind of lay down or we just kind of want to ignore it or not acknowledge it and just kind of like let him do his thing until he runs away. Like,

Like, I don't know if y'all relate to this, but sometimes I feel like I'm like, I recognize that I'm being under spiritual warfare and I'm being under attack by the enemy, but I don't want to acknowledge it. I don't want to speak it out loud. I don't want to rebuke it because I just don't want to acknowledge him. And I kind of feel like I'm like, well, once he's like, it's just like, it's one of those things where it'll come and go, but that's not how the enemy works. He doesn't come and go. He comes.

and he takes as much as he allows you to, he will work on you for as long as you allow him to. He will work on you for as long as you allow him to. There is no come and go. You have to rebuke in the name of Jesus. If you feel like you are under spiritual warfare, if you feel like, and we're going to get into that, we're going to say, how do I know? But if you feel like there is something that's just tearing you down, right? Something is weighing heavy on you. I don't know.

It's a cloud. It's a feeling something, right? If you feel that that is spiritual warfare, it is most likely that the enemy is coming after you in one way, shape or form. It could come through security. It could come through, you know, your confidence. It could come through finances. It could come through relationships, whatever it is. Okay. But when you feel that you have to rebuke it.

You have to pray to Jesus and say, God, please give me the strength. Lord, protect me from the enemy. Give me the strength and the power right now to rebuke him if that's what I need to do in the name of Jesus to get him out. Rebuke means get out. Rebuke means I do not claim these thoughts. I don't claim this energy, the spirit of negativity, the spirit of anxiety, the spirit of

depression, the spirit of self doubt in myself and in, but also in doubt in God. I rebuke all of that. That is not welcome in my home, in my mind. I want nothing to do with that. That's what rebuking is. Okay. So we rebuke that in the name of Jesus, because that is the name that holds all power. So that's why we rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus, because the one thing that

the devil has to reply to and he has to obey is anything in the name of Jesus, because Jesus has more power than him. Right. We have more power than the enemy when we use the name of Jesus and we are covered in Jesus's blood and we have the spirit. I know this is like kind of crazy Christian talk, but it's true. I didn't even know how to say any of this like five months ago. You also, you know, we're all new here, but that's the truth. That is the truth. You have to do that. You have to tell him to take a hike. Otherwise he won't.

He won't. He will continue to sit next to you. I mean, y'all know like the devil and the angel on your shoulder. He really will be sitting on your shoulder, whispering all these horrible things in your ear. And the other thing that the enemy will do, this is what y'all need to know about him. Okay. In 1 John 5, 18, it is stated that the enemy cannot touch us physically, right? 1 John 5, 18 says, we know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin. The one who was born of God keeps them safe and the evil one cannot harm them.

We know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God in eternal life. Okay, so this is what this is what this verse says is that anyone who knows God, right? Anyone who has a relationship with Jesus, anyone who is a child of God. This is the other thing that I've learned.

This doesn't apply to everybody because not everybody is a believer. But if you are a believer of Jesus and you believe that he lives inside of you, okay, and you have a relationship with him, the enemy cannot hurt you. He can't physically touch us. I remember there was a verse also from the book of Job right when the enemy goes to Job.

It's an entire book about this one person who was extremely loyal to God his whole life, extremely blessed by God his whole life. And the enemy came to him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is just off of my own memory. All right. So don't actually quote me. And I haven't even finished the whole book yet. I'm about halfway through. But

At the beginning of the book, the enemy goes to God, right? God allows him first off because God allows he's the man. He has a conversation with Satan and Satan basically was like, you know, yeah, of course he's going to be loyal to you though. I mean, you haven't put him through any real hardship. Like he hasn't experienced any like hardships or, uh, you know, just destruction in his life. I mean, this guy is so blessed. He's wealthy as all this land. He's, you know, he's got a great family.

Job he's so blessed and he's very loyal to the Lord but Satan tries to challenge that by being like well yeah because you've never put him through anything hard so of course he's gonna be loyal to you why don't I give it a chance and let's see how loyal Job is to you right he's kind of challenging God in a way of like I bet he's gonna turn his back on you the minute that I start messing with his life so let me do it and God felt so confident in Job that he said okay fine you can take

things from him. Like, you know, I mean, he ended up, I mean, everything was taken from him. All his wealth was taken from him. Everything was taken from him. His relationship with his family was horrible. I mean, it was like every, his health declined. Right. And people in his life, I mean, his friends, everybody was turning their back on him. He was losing everything in his life. Right. And the lesson in that

was to see just how faithful Job was in God, knowing that God would restore his life, even though he was facing all of these hardships, right? And it's a huge lesson for a lot of us, right? Because we, a lot of us do get this misconception that if we have a relationship with the Lord and we know him, that means all good is going to happen. And that's not true. God makes all things that were meant for evil and he, and he turns it to good.

But that means that there are things that will happen to us that were meant for evil at first, right? Satan goes into Job's life, creates all this turmoil, takes things from him. He meant for it to be evil, but then God turns it around, right? And that is truly the biggest lesson in life is we are supposed to keep our faith in the Lord through the hard times, knowing he's going to turn it around, knowing that his faithfulness will come through. He's never abandoned us, right? But the enemy said that he said, well, let me go mess with him a little bit.

And God said, fine, I will allow it because I have faith that Job will see. I believe he's still going to be faithful to me. Let me prove you wrong, Satan. He is a loyal man. He's a loyal follower. So he's also like, all right, Satan, I'm going to show you just how loyal my children are then, you know, especially this one. But do not touch a hair on his head.

Right. So I don't remember what verse that is, but it's similar to this one where it is said that the devil cannot actually hurt us. OK, so we need to remember that also as Christians is there's no need to fear him because he can't touch us. Right.

He can't physically hurt us. He could tempt us. Things can happen in our life that he meant to be horrible and to destroy us and lose our faith in the Lord, right? He can do all those things. He's a manipulator, but he can't physically hurt you, okay? He can't actually harm you.

But the thing that the devil can do is he can manipulate your mind. And so this is another thing. You know, when I posted this topic on my social media, somebody had commented and said, well, this is where I think Christians kind of butt heads because the enemy can't live inside you if you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, right? Like demons can't possess you. You can't

have them in your heart and inside of you. If you are filled with the Holy spirit, there's no room. And I agree. There is no room for the enemy to live inside of you. If you are filled with the Holy spirit, if you are filled with the love of God, if you are filled with gratitude and you are just filled with Jesus, there's no room, there's no room for anything else. And I think that that is also where this like unbelievable joy comes from when you know the Lord and you know Jesus, because there is no room for anything else. There isn't.

is no room, right? And if there is room for other things, then you're not filling your heart enough with Jesus. You're not spending enough time with him, right? Because he can fulfill every little nook and crevice and cranny inside of you, right? What is a cranny? Cranny?

Nook and cranny? Is that a word? Okay. I think my mom always said nook and cranny, but I don't know if it's right. All right. Anyway, crevice. Y'all know what I mean? So Jesus can fulfill all of those. So there is no space for the enemy to live inside of you if you have Jesus in your heart, but he can definitely manipulate your mind. And that is something that I believe in. And that is something that I think can also be clearly stated in the Bible that we have to resist the enemy. We have to resist sin. We have to resist temptation.

And the other thing that I think we need to keep in mind too when it comes to the enemy is he is not there to be used as a crutch.

Okay, I'm jumping a little forward, but I need to say this before I forget. The enemy is not there to be used as an excuse. And I've heard a few sermons kind of touch on this a little bit from other pastors that I look up to where they've said you can't just sin and make bad mistakes and make bad decisions and then go, ah, the enemy. Oh, man, the devil. He really made me do that one. You know, I think we also have to take ownership in knowing that we are human beings.

And we will make mistakes. And the other thing that we've always said too, that I don't know if I believe in as much anymore now that I've found my faith in the Lord is we know those sayings where it's like, listen to your heart, follow your heart, right? Everyone's telling you to follow your heart, do what you feel, follow your heart, follow your instincts. I'm going to follow my instinct of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to follow the Lord because if we listen to our heart, our heart doesn't always know what we want. Or

Or no, our heart knows what we want, but our heart doesn't always know what we actually need. Right. Our wants want to sin. Like, don't listen to your heart. Don't listen to the things that you want. I think that it's important to recognize the things you want, but bring it to God. Right. And say, Lord, these are the things I want. Do you agree? Is this good for me? And if you feel him being like, no, no, or have trust in me then, and I'll let you know. Right. Sometimes he doesn't give us an immediate answer. Sometimes it's like, how?

Like, how about I'll let you know you hang on to that, though. Trust me and I will give you your answer soon enough. Right. But that is something as humans that make us flawful is that sometimes our desires and our wants, we make our own decisions. Sometimes we really do. Sometimes we make our own decisions without the enemy and we have to take ownership of that.

I think the biggest indicator that the enemy is messing with your mind though, and you want to know why he goes for your mind and not anything else. He goes for your mind because your mind, that's where everything starts. That's where everything starts is at our mind. That's where every decision is made is at our mind. Our relationship with the Lord starts with our mind, our confidence, our work ethic, the way that we want to show up in this life. And for other people, it all starts with our mind. That is why that is the,

that the enemy wants the most is our mind because then it affects our heart and then it affects everything around us, right? And I also saw, sorry y'all, I'm so scatter-minded today. I also saw another really cool quote the other day that said, how incredible is it to think that your soul, you, okay, are so valuable that both God and the enemy are after it? Like, can you...

stop it that is how valuable you are that is why spiritual warfare exists because the enemy wants your soul but god does too god wants your heart but the enemy wants your heart too which means you must hold something real valuable you know what i mean anyway i just love that quote i think it's so beautiful but he will tempt your mind i believe that and the one trick that he does is he will make it sound

as if it is in the first person, he will make it sound like it's you because it is your voice in your own head. But I think the best way to know if it's the enemy is if he is coming for your self-worth, period.

I mean, I feel like the biggest indicator in my own life because sometimes the other thing that you do need to do, y'all, I'm going to tell you this is sometimes you need to pray to God and say, God, give me clarity in this moment. Is this me or is this the enemy? Is this me? Like, am I having these thoughts because it's me?

Or is this the enemy? And I truly believe that if you have questions in anything, y'all pray for the clarity. If you have a question right now, you're sitting here and you're like, yeah, but I don't know. Pray to God for the clarity. Then pray to God for the clarity. His wisdom is like no other. He will reveal it to you. Get your face in the word. Gosh, I say that so many times, but like I have my Bible sitting here in my life. I haven't touched it, but get your

your face in the word. He will also reveal the knowledge to you through this, but pray for the clarity because there are times where I've been like, what's going on? Like, I just feel this heaviness and I'm like, is this the enemy? Is this not? And I think the more times it happens, the more of a pro you do become differentiating what is truly sent from the enemy and what is just untrue, the lies that he's telling you. So the one thing that I said, I'm going to say it again. The one

thing that I really believe just from experience and from the knowledge of God and just learning and we're always going to continue to learn but from my personal experience it's always been confidence I mean at the root of everything it's always my self-worth if I feel like I can't show up for God or I don't want to pray for him what is it Allie well I haven't prioritized my Bible enough and I honestly he deserves so much more from me and then the other thing the enemy does is he's

been using my faith against me. He's been using my loyalty in a way, my recognition for how good the Lord is. He uses that against me because now that I know how good the Lord is, I go, well, he deserves so much better than me. I mean, he's incredible. And then the enemy will use that to guilt me, to make me feel like I can't show face to God, right? It all comes down to self-worth.

uh, okay, here's another one. There are plenty of times where I look in the mirror and I don't like what I look like physically. The other thing about the enemy is it's all so surface level, y'all. That's all so surface level. That's not who we are. This, this shell that we are on the outside is not who we are. Who we are is who we are on the inside, right? And I know we've, we've said that it's so cliche, but anytime that I feel the enemy coming for me, like even from a standpoint of physical appearance, when it comes to my body or I don't know, like

Stupid stuff, y'all. Stupid stuff. I'm like, that's the enemy. Anything that comes from poor self-esteem, no confidence, self-worth, I don't deserve this. I'm not worthy of this. There is a difference between being humble. There is a difference. And we've talked about this, right? We've definitely talked about this in season one about humility. It's okay to be humble. But the minute that you feel like you're coming down real hard on yourself, y'all, pay attention to that behavior because that is not you. And the thing that the end,

that the enemy wants is not only does he want to put a wedge between you and God, but he also wants to put a wedge between you and yourself. So when he's in your head or he's on your shoulder and he's whispering in your ear, all these negative thoughts, I'm not worthy. I'm ugly. I'm fat. I'll never deserve a healthy relationship.

I always put myself in these situations. I'm I'm just the type of person who just I just gravitate to unhealthy relationships I guess this is just my type. I guess these are just my type of people. I don't know. I always mess up I always make the same mistake. I always sin the same way. This is just who I am. I'm a loser I don't deserve any better. I'm just gonna be stuck in this lame job. I'm not worthy of anything better y'all

Y'all better stop right there and know that in that moment, that is the enemy. That is so enemy coded. It's not even funny. And he wants to put a wedge between the relationship with you and yourself so that you no longer trust yourself because in your head, those are, that is your voice, right? In your head, that is your voice, but it's him. He's the mastermind behind all of it, but he's going to convince you that you hate yourself that much.

He's going to convince you that you hate yourself that much where now you don't even have a good relationship with yourself anymore. Are you kidding? I have full body chills right now. The enemy wants everything. He wants your relationship with the Lord. He wants your relationship with other people. He wants your relationship with yourself. He wants you to feel so bad about yourself that you don't even trust yourself anymore and you feel worthless. That is the enemy. Anything along those lines, if you've had any thoughts like that, I have, I

I've had thoughts like that. I've literally blamed myself and I've said, I just have horrible taste in men and I just accept horrible relationships. Half of that is true. But sister, that's not your type. That isn't your type. Your type isn't horrible people. You've just allowed the enemy to work through you so that that is all that you feel that you deserve.

a very long season in my life where I only accepted horrible relationships. I'm not calling them horrible people, but they were not good for me. And I accepted it because I believe that that's all I deserved. Even though I was in denial about it, even though I would hype myself up and say, I deserve better than this. Well, why didn't you leave, Allie? Do you actually believe that in your core that you didn't deserve those relationships? Why didn't you leave? Why did you let them go on for years?

That is so enemy coded and you better freaking give him the boot. Tell him to get out. He's evicted. You are no longer living in my mind. Get out. Those are the words of the enemy. The clearest indication of knowing how the enemy is speaking to you is if it is words like that. Self-worth, your confidence, all of that. That is the enemy.

So I say that because I think it's important to know the difference between us making our own just stupid, dumb decisions. The thing is, it's like, I think when you, when you love the Lord and you know, you're making a dumb decision, you feel it in your core, you know? And in that moment, I know I am fully making that decision on my own. Cause it's like, I'm very self-aware, but sometimes I'm

when it's the enemy, you're so manipulated and you're so blinded that you don't even realize that it's happening, which is why a relationship and strengthening your relationship with the Lord is so good because he gives you the tools and the abilities like self-awareness, y'all. I'm

so glad that this podcast episode is wrapping around right to the beginning because self-awareness is the biggest gift that God has given me. And not only in my day to day, right? Not only in my actions like the dog poop and the floss of my teeth, those stupid examples I gave, but not even little things like that, but also when it comes to the enemy, he will give you self-awareness when it also comes to the enemy too. And being able to say, wait a minute,

can smell him from a mile away I say okay enemy I hear you and I know it's you and this used to work on me for months actually this used to work on me for years but I'm stopping you right in your tracks a few hours later and I'm gonna say I rebuke that in the name of Jesus because I know my worth I

I know how loved I am. I know how on purpose my life is. Even if I don't really know what the heck I'm here, I don't even know my real purpose yet other than to love God and love people, right? I don't even know where God's taking me, but that doesn't mean that I don't have any worth here on earth. And I know that. I know I am a child of God. Even if you have to say it with the faith of a mustard seed, you don't even have to say it with like your full, full, full, full, full chest. You don't even have to really fully, fully, fully believe it, but just speak.

speak it and rebuke him and do it over and over and over again until you finally believe it yourself too. Half of that is like, you just got to speak it. You could be at the lowest low. You've got to speak it and tell him to buzz off. All right. I guess we can end the episode on that. I think that's good though. Right? All right. We've given the enemy enough attention today, but don't be afraid of him. He can't harm you. He can't lay a hand on you.

as long as you have Jesus in your heart he will protect you at all costs okay this is all about learning from God learning how to understand what is from the enemy and what is not and like I said if you don't know if there's a moment where you're like is this just me is this the enemy y'all pray to God for clarity he has the answers to every single thing I just love y'all I'm praying for every single one of you guys I hope this amped you up to want to kick the freaking devil's butt cheeks today tell him

freaking buzz off. You're gonna have a beautiful day today. I will see you guys next time. And also, wait a minute before I say anything else. How about we show somebody how cool Jesus is today? Yeah. Let's show somebody how cool Jesus is today. Let's walk a little bit more like Jesus who is untouchable. Let's be a little untouchable today. Okay. Nothing's going to take our joy. Nothing's going to take our light. Nothing's going to take our peace today. Let's walk more like Jesus today and show the world how cool Jesus is.

He is. I love y'all. I'll see you next week. Bye.

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