Combatting Spiritual Warfare and The Weight of The World

2/3/2020

Have you ever felt the crushing weight of the world?

Something happened externally or even to you that seemed impossible to bear?

A couple of weeks ago I went through some pretty intense spiritual warfare... something I had nothing to do with, but I couldn’t control. It really shook me, broke my spirit, and brought me to my knees.

I had a moment with God, (so glad he can handle me). I was angry and questioning why he allows things like this to happen. I went on for a week unable to focus, sleep, or think of much else.

It was like I was wearing a 40 pound backpack full of wrong and bad and hard.., and it was becoming heavier and harder to move forward every day, the weight became more crushing, and the heavier it got, the more I focused on it.

I kept praying for peace. For God to help me deal with this... and in church my prayer was answered:

PSALMS 91:1-16 (my 911 verse!) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge--
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

Hear the full story on today’s podcast episode! I think every woman needs this. Enjoy. Love ya.

XO,
Stef

Listen & Subscribe on iTunes!

Full transcription available at the bottom of this blog post.

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

Hey little Lola, welcome to today's episode, where I'm going to talk to you about the weight of the world, where we sit in today. There is so many facets of evil that just come at us and spiritual warfare is eminent. Am I right? We are constantly not just battling for ourselves, but battling to stay sane, to have faith in this world, to have faith that God will at the end of the day, give us salvation our kids' salvation and protect those that we so fiercely love. And it's freaking hard, man. So today's episode is not about business. It is not about happy stuff, I guess. I mean, it is about happy stuff, but this is a necessary message that I've had so heavy on my heart the past week. And I'll tell you why. And I just feel like maybe there's someone else out there that needs to hear this message.

And you need to know that God has promised, promised us peace. He has given us the answer to overcoming spiritual warfare and together we can overcome. I want to gift you the piece that I've really struggled to find over the past week. And I pray that this resonates in your heart and maybe you need to tuck it away because maybe today, this isn't what you're searching for. But I think there will come a day when you need to pull out these scriptures and this pep talk and know that girlfriend, everything is going to be okay, and this world's got nothing on God's promises for you.

Oh wow. Welcome back to the mompreneur mastermind show, where we choose to run insanely successful passive income businesses that light us up while consuming iced coffee Rawless and flawless, and maybe breaking it down to some gangster rap while our kids aren't looking. Did we just become best friends? Yes. Yes we did. Hey, I'm Stefanie Gass, six figure corporate exec turned top 1% network marketer turn podcasters. I believe when we let God light our path, we experienced true miracles. Welcome sister. Let's get back for today's show.

All right. So a little backstory. I am an empath, which means I literally feel everything it's so bad that I don't want to watch Disney movies. You guys. Cause I cried. I cry. Like I can't handle fear and pain and it's just, it hurts me so deeply that I would rather not put myself in that situation. So I don't watch the news. I like to watch any type of documentary that has anything harmful to kids or animals or anything like that because I can't function. I truly can't function for days. Anyway, that is me living in my little bubble and judge me or not. That's what I have to do. So I have my kiddo in public school and that in itself was really scary for me because I was struggling with all of the worldly criticisms of public school. Oh, you know, it's bad or blah, blah, blah.

Well, I went and I visited every school in our city, a private public paid expensive free, and God called me to the public school where we live, which is a small mountain community. I mean, it's a very, I feel, you know, different field in like a big city school, loved it for, pre-K loving it for kinder. When my son befriended a boy in his class and I'm gonna totally leave names out of the story because it is publicized and I'm just going to respect everyone's privacy, but he's got a buddy in his class and I came to care for this boy. And I definitely knew something was a little bit off with him, but you know, didn't know what and his family I met, I saw them every day, dropping him off. His dad and mom were together and she had two older siblings and and she has a new baby sister as well.

And anyways, long story short, he's my buddy, my son's buddy. And we'd invited him over to our birth, his birthday party last weekend. And guys like this. These are people that I talk to every day, every day. And there were, there was never a moment in my mind where I thought something could be wrong. Anyway, there comes out a news article. It's very graphic. It has to do with his family. And a lot of just really horrible things going on to the two older siblings in the family. And I, my friend sent it to me and I read the article and it, their mugshots or their, the parents have been taken up. They are accused of doing all of these horrible things to the two older children that older children have been taken to foster care and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. And here's the situation.

It really broke me. It broke me so bad. I stood there in my kitchen, bawling my eyeballs out. I broke down in prayer, Landon's eating his breakfast. He's like, what? Why are you crying? And praying? I'm like son. I just knew there were some people that need prayer and they need it right now. And I just, you know, broke down and I covered those little perfect angels and in God's protection. And I asked him to wrap them up in a hedge of his love and his protection and keep them from harm and deliver them and let them know that they are loved and they are worthy and they are great. And no matter what this world has shown them so far that his love will deliver them. And then I sat there and I thought about the parents, these people that I talk to every day and I didn't know how to handle it.

I should. I pray for them. Like I felt rage and anger. And I felt like, how can this world be so evil? And how can the devil penetrate people that I talk to every day? And how is this happening near my son and in his school? And it just came, crashed, the walls crashed. And around me, and for the past week, I've been dealing with this immense spiritual warfare and I just didn't know how to handle it. And so that's been going on and then I met my son's basketball practice and I see a mom being verbally and kind of physically abusive to her two year old, right in front of everyone. And it's like, really, really? And I had a moment with God. I'm like, Hey, yo, what's your deal? You like, you have all the power in the entire universe deliver these kids, man.

Like I can't hang with this. Why are little innocent children being harmed? And they don't have a say and they can't raise their hand and they don't have a voice in this goes on for years and years and years until they're beyond, beyond healing in some cases. And so I just sat there for like a couple of days and I was angry just to be really honest with you guys and hang with me. Cause we were like, Oh, this is sad. I want to turn this off. Hold on, hold on. So anyway, spiritual warfare, okay. It comes in many different forms for me. This is what's happened for me in the past week. I don't know what this is. What spiritual warfare you may be going through. Maybe it's trouble in your marriage. Maybe it's a verbally abusive spouse. Maybe you were harmed as a child.

Maybe it's a kid that's rebelling against you fiercely and you don't know how to handle that. Maybe it's your business. And it's just kind of fallen apart. And you're like, really? I don't know. But here's what I do know for sure. We live in a world where there is both good and evil. However, however, we are called to be the light. Right. And here's what we know. Here's what we know for sure. In scripture, God promises over and over again that if we just keep our eyes on him, actually I'll just read from you Proverbs four 24. Okay. And it says avoid all perverse talk, stay away from crept speech. Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you Mark out a straight path for your feet, stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked. Keep your feet from following eval. And I, I mean, for me, what that verse really did and it's so funny, you guys, cause every time I find myself in these weird head spaces, cause like I was going off the deep end, I'll tell you why I was crying all day, broke down in Bible study, calling my husband, crying, calling my friends, crying.

I'm like what's happening in this world? Like we should move away and live in a cave. You guys like I was losing my mind because it's almost like the weight of the evil was so heavy. And I felt like for some reason I needed to bear it. So I put it on my shoulders and I carried it around for three days, four days, five days, I don't know it was a while and I couldn't eat and I couldn't sleep. And then I went to church and I was hearing these verses and we were in Bible study and I was into this scripture and God said, here, stop rest. Don't get sidetracked. Keep your feet from following evil. Right? Keep your feet from following evil. And here's another one. This one is, Oh, take this in. Okay. It's a bit long, but it is so worth it.

Psalms 91, one and also PS nine that's nine one one, right? Psalms 91, verse one. And it goes on through verse 16, but I'll read you a few. Those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the almighty. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge. My place of safety. He is my God. And I trust him for, he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection do not be afraid of the terrors of the night nor the arrow that flies in the day do not dread the darkness that stocks and do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness nor the disaster that strikes at midday though, a thousand fall at your side, though, 10,000 are dying around you.

These evils will not touch you, just open your eyes and see how the wicked are punished. And it goes on and on and on. And you know what that tells me, he's got this. It's not my burden to bear now, what can I do? I can pray fiercely. I can pray fiercely for that family. I can pray furiously for the parent's deliverance, for the evil to leave them and for them to be saved and for God to soak in. And there is nobody that is too far gone, that God can not touch. Right? I can pray for those children that somebody will wrap them up with love and courage and strength and that they will be healed and that they will be ultimately brought to the Lord and know their own worth. I can pray for the two little that are still there, that they will have a hedge of protection around them.

And you know what, that's what I did. That's what I did. And then this verse also promises us that we cannot be afraid of the terrors of the night. God's like Stephanie, you can not live in a cave and hide from the world. Okay? There's evil here. There's evil here. But listen, go to nine one, one, Psalms 91, verse one. He actually, this is verse four. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Dang. If I didn't need to read this verse, when God handed me my Bible the other day, cause I kept praying like, God, give me peace. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Help me, help me get through that darkness that is happening right next to me. Like I have these people's phone numbers.

I see them every day. Like, how is this happening? It's so surreal. And God said, come here. Let me shelter you with my wings. Let me give you armor and protection. And let me highlight a word in verse four. Faith, faith trust from verse to trust. Verse to refuge. He alone is my refuge. My place of safety. I trust him. Okay. And again, you guys have heard me talk about this in verse one. Those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest peace rest. Okay. So my point is that I had to let it go. I had to give it back to God and I want to remind you guys right now, what do you need to give up? What is, what is the weight and the burden that you are carrying around with you? That's not yours. That's not yours because we can't get rid of all the evil in this world.

We can't undo the things that have been done to us, but we can change ourselves. We can change ourselves. We can change our mindsets. We can soften our own hearts. We can forgive as hard as it is. We can forgive. We can pray for those that have evil that are struggling. Maybe God wants to work through them. And instead of pushing hate on them, we push love on them. And we ask God to work through us, to touch them and change them. There are so many people that have been redeemed and maybe we have to do that work and it starts with us. And so if you want peace in your heart, again, let it go. And you know, I kept asking myself, what can I do? What do I do? And here's what I do. I pray. And I bring it to God's attention.

Okay. Cause maybe I'm the vessel. And I asked God to come and step in and then I need to with faith and with trust, give it to him, give it over to him. God is stronger than any evil that we face. Okay, he's got this and I'll, I'll share with you a crazy thing. So this morning that dad that's in the news story and he's been released he's back in custody with the two younger kids who were deemed quote unquote safe for the time being. He walked in to drop off his son and my heart started racing. I started sweating. I didn't know what to do. Should I say something to him? I didn't know how I felt. Am I angry? Am I not? I mean, and it was so fast and he, he avoided me and he left really quickly that I didn't get the chance.

And I felt so uneasy. And I messaged my friend. I messaged my friend and I said, should I have said something? Are you going to say something? And she replied to me and just said, here's the thing. There's never anybody that's so far gone that they can't come back to God, even though maybe what he's done is evil. It's not too late to receive God's grace and forgiveness. And when she said that to me, and this is the importance of having sisters in Christ, okay. If you don't have any sisters in Christ, like get your booty to a Bible study, find some friends that instead of egging you on to judge, instead of pushing you into evil judgment is evil. Instead of trying to get catty with you and say, Oh, you should yell at him or you should do this or that a friend that thinks about what would God do? What would Jesus do in this situation? And because she said that to me, I texted him and I said, I just want to let you know that we are praying for you and your wife and your children and your family, because I am fiercely praying for them. And you know what? He replied to me. And he said, you made me cry. Thank you so much. That means a lot.

I don't know what that means, guys. I don't know his relationship with Christ. I don't know what happened behind closed doors. I don't know. All I know is that he's accused and it's, I am not the judge. God's the judge. And the fact that me praying for him brought good and love into his situation. In some form. I just pray that his heart has changed and you know what? It brought me peace and it brought my joy back and I felt like there's some type of good in every situation, no matter how dark and scary and hopeless, there's something in there that God can turn to. Good. Right. So I just wanted to share this crazy story with you. One, because I got to get it off my chest and this podcast is my diary sometimes. And so yay for you guys. Get to have an insight look into my crazy world.

But secondly, because this was something really hard for me to deal with. And I know that if I am dealing with really hard stuff, so are you and I wanted to share those scriptures with you that really brought it back to the right perspective for me. I also wanted to highlight that you need to have mentors and sisters in Christ and godly people that will give you godly advice. And also to remember that you looking at a situation through hate and fear and judgment makes you just as guilty as the situation you're looking at and to challenge yourself, to bring it back to scripture and God. And remember that the weight of the world, it's not your burden to bear. I pray over you that you can release whatever ugliness you're facing, whatever negativity, criticism, comparison, abuse, trauma, past traumas, hate self hatred, hatred of others, judgment gossip, all of that is worldly.

And it's just nothing in comparison to what God has called for you. And so I pray that you're able to just relinquish, let it go, bless it, pray over it. And then give it back to God so that you can walk in his freedom and his lightness that you can take steps every day to just live your best life, to live heaven here on earth. And remember that if you are under God's wings, his feathers will protect you, right? And then if you trust in God, he will be your refuge and do not be afraid of the terrors of the night or of the day. Right? Do not let the arrow that flies in the day affect you. Okay? Because God says these evils will not touch us. We just have to open our eyes and see how the wicked are punished. God's got this, okay, God's got this.

And for any of you facing a situation like the one that I face, where we're just struggling with how bad hard things happen to good people, remember God will deliver. God will deliver and make good in every situation. And maybe we just need to be the vessel. Maybe we just need to bring light to a situation, pray over it, give strength to someone that needs it. I love you. And I hope I didn't make you have a crazy, like hard moment right now, but I hope that this inspired you and gave you peace because it really gave me peace. When I looked at these scripture scriptures that I really needed to internalize. And also that I sent text because it lifted the burden off of me and it reminded me there's something good here. There will be something good to come from this because that's who God is.

He wouldn't let this stuff happen. If he didn't have a plan, he didn't have a great glorious plan to deliver, to create testimony, to impact change. So there you go. I'm sending you so much love and light and strength today, sister, because together we will rise together. We will find our strength in God together. We will be redeemed and healed and together God will give us whatever we need to continue forward in pursuit of the kingdom work that he has planted inside of our hearts to be the best parents we can possibly be fueled with patience and love and kindness for our little humans that are just the greatest blessings in the world for the provision that we need and the favor and the money to have the life that we really ultimately need and want so that we can give back and do more of his work here.

I just pray over you. There's so much good here. Don't get lost in the bad. Don't get lost in the bad. We have our moments, but let's find the scripture that will pull us through and band together and know that there is nothing that can break us. I love you. And I will see you soon as always, love and light. Stef