Israel & Rachel Campbell " SOUP" Podcast Episode 33 "Push Back"

Israel & Rachel Campbell " SOUP" Podcast Episode 33 "Push Back"

In this podcast episode, Israel & Rachel discuss the topic of standing up against the enemy's attacks. They share a personal story of their 13-year-old son facing bullying at school and the advice they gave him to push back. They draw parallels between this situation and the spiritual battle believers face. They emphasize the importance of recognizing the existence of an enemy and discerning spiritual warfare. They highlight the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and tap into God's power rather than relying on their own efforts. They talk about the significance of worship, prayer, and quietness in receiving the Holy Spirit. Rachel also mentions the scripture verse Matthew 11:12, where Jesus speaks about the violent taking the kingdom of heaven by force, urging believers to actively engage in spiritual warfare rather than being passive.

Transcript

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(upbeat music)- Hello there everybody. We are back for another week of Campbell Soup Podcast.- Campbell Soup Podcast, where it is so much soup, soupy, soupy, soupy. What kind of soup is it today?- Hot and spicy.- Hot and spicy soup.- I don't even think it's hot and spicy, but I like how you let the listeners--- I know, it's not like it's a hot topic.- Oh, okay, so what's the topic? Just bust it out.- It's robust and hearty soup today.- Okay. - How about that?- I love it. Well, we actually had something that came up and then I thought that the way you gave it an analysis or just kind of said, hey, that goes with life is really something that all of us are probably feeling in some way. And so then how do we do it? So I guess, do I tell the story or do you want to tell the story?- I'll tell the story.- What happened was we just ran into a situation because we have a 13 year old boy, which having a 13 year old boy is a lot different than having a 13 year old girl's, which we've already raised to. And Silas was facing some bullying at school. And with boys, I guess the only difference really is that with girls it's more psychological. And with guys, it's like, he was pushed down to the ground a couple of times and this guy was calling him names and just being real like pushy and jerky to him. And so I overheard Israel and he was talking about how he was telling him, you know, you're shorter than this guy. And so you can't really like, when he pushes you, you have to push back. Like, it is not an option for you to just try to walk away because if you do, you'll give the messaging that he can continue to do it. And so, as a mom, I of course hate to hear that he has to push back, but I know that it's true and it was such good advice that his father was giving him like Silas. This is a moment where he needs to know, this other boy needs to know that you're gonna stand your ground and not only are you gonna stand your ground, but you're gonna push back. And I wanna look at your eyes. There you are.(laughs) So that's kind of what we had talked about. And I overheard you and I was like, okay, that is kind of felt like what God was speaking to me is that the enemy right now is really taking ground and or trying to take ground and kind of overtake some of the, like there's a spiritual, kind of like a turf war right now in life and that the enemy will not stop or retreat unless I rise up and push back. Wow, yeah, and I, of course I was just thinking of it for Silas as a bully, but when you kind of said that it really did put on a light bulb and all of us of like, okay, you know that's true is the enemy loves to kill still in destroy. He goes around like a roaring lion, so he really is like a bully and he's already been defeated yet he still can bully us around. And it is easy as a Christian because there is a, there's just this fine line that we're always navigating of that we do walk in peace. And that there's a fine line of that we do, we are persecuted. There is a fine line, but really kind of knowing that tension of no, this is a time to stand and then knowing and how to stand. And so I think that's what we really wanted to talk about today.- Yeah, I guess you're right. And that fine line of vengeance is the Lord. So when do we rise up and when do we allow God to fight our battles, but when it's God asking us to push back, and I just, I guess I just heard you telling Silas, like, okay, you're shorter than him, you're gonna need to have one foot behind you and you're gonna have to push upwards and that gives you like the leverage.- Leverage.- Leverage and all of these things. And I was like, you know what? I think as Christians we all need to hear. What gives us leverage to push back on the enemy schemes? And that's what we want to talk about today, right?- Yeah. And so let's just talk about some of those things because I think the old school, what was the old school phrase is, GI Joe said, and knowing is half the battle. I think one of the first things that we have to realize is that there isn't an enemy. And it's so easy. I think that you know, CS Lewis, when he did those, the screw tape letters, one of the first things in this book that was, you know, just wasn't true, but it was just this to get our mind thinking is that the enemy wants us to think that there is no devil first. And if he can get that, then he wins. And so just knowing that there is an enemy and sometimes we can get so frustrated, I know maybe maybe you and I can get frustrated with each other or we can get frustrated with the kids or frustrated in a ministry church or work and then never put the two together. Oh, this is actually an attack from the enemy that is wanting us to retreat, that is wanting us to lose ground and then when we realize that, then we can start taking the next action. It's subtle, right? It's always so subtle when the enemy takes ground. Yeah, not only is it subtle, but I also think that it's also, you know, we have to discern that because it's not Saturday night live, the church lady, also everything's the devil. Yeah. And so sometimes I think there's Christians out there that are just giving the devil's rejoicing'cause they didn't even do anything and he's getting credit for it. But then at the same time, there is, has to be an observation of, no, this is a spiritual war. Maybe we should talk about that. How do you know the two? For me at least, I believe I'm able to discern more when I'm more in tune with the Holy Spirit. And when I'm not in tune with the Holy Spirit, then it's, everything is flesh. And everything's a fight. Everything's exhausting when you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. Yeah, and everything is, it's hard to discern what's spirit and what's God. If you're not having any feeling of the Holy Spirit or Holy Spirit, you know, fill me today, Holy Spirit, communicating with the Holy Spirit. Come on, I lead me today.'Cause then it's just you're operating out of the flesh all the time. How would you even know that this is a spirit thing unless you're tapping into more of God's spirit? And you know, there is a scary thing that can happen to Christians as we can do spiritual things in our flesh and forget to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And we've gotta be people. You can not live in 2023 and think that just Sunday is gonna be enough to fill you with the Holy Spirit. That's like the thing to only wet your appetite for what you do on your own during the week. And the thing is, it's not work, it's receiving. It's less talking, more listening. It's less running after something, more sitting down and waiting on God. Like it's not like being filled with the Holy Spirit is not something we have to do. It's something that we receive. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I think sometimes we think that being filled with the Holy Spirit, the enemy really wants us to think that being empowered by the Holy Spirit takes a lot of work out in our end when really it's just surrender, right?- Absolutely. And learning that and receiving that and walking in it, I think there's things like, you know, singing in the Spirit, there's things like building up our faith by speaking in tongues. I think that there's things like what you said is just actually being quiet, is just as powerful and just soaking and receiving the Holy Spirit. But all of those things, I think are the initial things that we have to do so that we know that there's even a tug of war. If I don't do those things, I'll just think it's life. I'll just think it's whatever. David says in the Old Testament, there was this famine in his life and he, because he was consistently worshipping, consistently seeking God, he actually goes, well, this famine doesn't have to be in the Omanac and go, well, every 10 years we have a famine. Why is it a famine? And the Holy Spirit begins to show David, it wasn't even anything that David did. It was something sold dead. And so he had to take care of it. But none of that happens until we begin to look, we begin to seek, we begin to say Holy Spirit, and then I think the Holy Spirit starts saying, this ain't just a famine. This is actually an attack or this is the reason for the attack. And so then we can kind of do like you said, push back.- Yeah, that's a good, while you were talking, I just thought of the scripture verse. So sorry, I was on my phone, but only because of what you were saying.- No, I'm online all the time and I'm doing the exact same thing.- Okay, good.- I'm not like texting people or anything like that.- Yeah, good, good, good. Well, I just was thinking about the scripture verse, so I looked it up real quick, about Matthew 1112, and Jesus says, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom suffered violence and the violent take it by force." And I think that we've got to be aware that there is a kingdom of this world, but there's also a heavenly kingdom. And there's the spirit of darkness, spirit of life, and they are fighting against each other. And we already know that we have the victory. We already know that our names are sealed in the Lamb's book of life, but while we're living on earth, the kingdom of heaven is suffering violence and the violent take it by force, which means we can't always just be passive.- Yeah, totally.- We can't always just be,"Well, this is how it is, God's in control." No, we've got to be able to walk in spiritual authority and say, "Okay, the kingdom of God is suffering violence and the violence take it by force." And that doesn't mean that we're jerks to the cashier target and Starbucks. It doesn't mean that we have to go protesting. It means that we are walking in spiritual authority. And there's so many scriptures on this, but what you bind on earth, it will be bound in heaven, what you lose on earth. It will be loose. And we have a job as Christians where we don't just take everything for what it is, but we push back in the spirit.- Well, and that is so good, because some people can hear and misquote that verse, and then just be jerks.- Yeah, be violent, be jerks and do kinds of stuff. And it's like, "Well, you miss the whole point of that, is 'cause it's the kingdom." And so we do spiritual warfare. And how do you do, you know, people that try to do flesh, the wind in the spirit and the flesh are just gross.- And what you mean by that,- I'm wondering, do people that aren't Christians?- Yes.- Or they look at a person that might believe differently as the enemy when it's not. That's a person that doesn't know better.- Yeah, it's very immature. It's actually the opposite of spirituality, because you're not being spiritual, you're walking in carnality to do it. And so you have to know that. And so let's talk about some spiritual, like backbone things. What do you do when the enemy is coming against you? What do you do when you're starting to feel like, okay, David says, this is a famine. You know, I'm listening to God, what do I do? And so I think that those are some really good things. My first thing that I would go to, a little bit of how I'm raised, a little bit of how my mind works, is really declaring God's word over the situation. And not only over the situation, over myself,'cause my own emotions, my own flesh, my own stinking thinking, can rationalize, can fearfully analyze, can do so many things. And I've gotta go, okay, nope, this is a spiritual battle. How do I win in the spiritual? Well, I better start seeing some spiritual words that are, you know, cut the word of God, it's sharper than a two-edged sword. I better use the word and not my words. I better get God's thoughts on this and not my thoughts, his ways are higher than my ways. And so start tapping into what are those things? So, you know, like when there's a sickness or a fermity coming against, yeah, you can go to Walgreens and you can go to CVS or we can go, no, this isn't a attack. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna declare God's word of healing over my kid. Or if it's a marriage situation, yeah, by chocolates, yeah, by roses, but also is it something we need to grab each other's hands and just go, okay, the enemy is trying to cause division. Let's have unity and let's declare our love for each other and then let's declare what God's word says about each other. Man, you will start winning in some of these things versus losing.- What if you have a spouse that is in agreement with you wanting to come in together in agreement in marriage, you know? Like what if you're someone who's like, there's some definite, there's like a wedge between me and my husband or me and my wife in this relationship. What can we do? And you know, can I just encourage you? You can begin to fight alone first and pray for that God to melt the heart or change the heart of that child or that spouse or that boss or that person that you aren't getting along with. And you know, I had a situation where one of my family members really was saying some bad things about me and I wanted to call them and they were pretty close and so I just wanted to call them and I'm just gonna be honest. I just wanted to rip them a new one and be like, wait a second, we are family and how dare you like, I wanna fight, I wanna fight for unity by telling you off.(laughing) And this actually just happened, I haven't even gotten to tell you because we've been busy but this morning I was like, I'm gonna call them and I'm just gonna confront them about this situation that they did that was really wrong toward me. And I heard the Holy Spirit so clearly say, I really want you to walk through, I have this little, it's a journal on how to forgive and it walks you through the steps of forgiving. Instead of just going, I forgive, now let's move on. It gets really deep into your heart of like, okay the scripture says to confess your sin. I wanna confess that person's sin but the same amount of sin is my unforgiveness toward them for doing wrong. And so I have to confess my sin of withholding forgiveness and healing and it walks through this holding and I felt like God was like, go back to that little booklet and walk through the steps of forgiveness because even before you confront what they did, your heart needs to be right or you're just gonna be more damaging. And it's not really what I wanted to hear.- No, I hate, I don't like that when the Holy Spirit does that.- Right and usually when it God asks us to push back, unfortunately usually it's not in a way that feels good to us. Usually it's in a way where it's like, actually I've gotta get my heart right and I've gotta do this out of the strength of God with a pure heart because if we push back to get even or we push back to feel better with the injustice that's maybe gone with on with us, then we just worsen the problem and the enemy loves it because we're getting it wrong. But we really do get God's authority when we truly surrender our way to His way and allow Him to teach us how to push back through the word and through surrender and not having the other party maybe even in the situation doing what's right. And we live in a world Israel and this is what's really on my heart. We live in such a perverted world and there are a lot of really bad people pushing really horrible and crazy agendas right now. And if you look at newslines and stuff, it's kind of scary to even have kids. Like why do we have all of this going on? Why would we want our children exposed to this? Even non-Christians wouldn't want this kind of stuff but it's happening at a really fast rate. And I think one of the ways to tell that you're in a spiritual battle is when it's really fast and really dark. And it's like this isn't even naturally making sense. I think then is when you go, okay, then I need to shift into spiritual and stop pushing my way through on what I want the end goal to be and go, God, I really need to win this war and the spirit and I need to push back in the spirit.- Yeah, I agree completely. And I think you brought up something that's so important is pushing back, there should be an element of when we're pushing back that it's uncomfortable for us, not easy.'Cause if it's really easy, really what you're doing is just you're feeding the flesh'cause that's what your flesh wants to do. Your Peter and you're pulling out the knife and you're cutting the right ear of malchus off. It's like that was, that wasn't even, that was just one move. But that whole battle that was happening right there wasn't a Peter missed it. And I think of how many Christians today, we're missing it. We're pulling out the sword, we're cutting ears. That wasn't the battle that was taking place. The battle that was taking place right there was demonic. It wasn't a you and me, it was a spiritual thing. The end, like Jesus was about to be crucified.- Crucified, it's that eternity in motion.- For all of eternity, so it was a massive spiritual turf war and Peter completely missed it like we do. We respond. And so I really liked what you said there is one of the ways that we know that we're acting in the spirit is that there should be somehow a surrender, a forgiveness, a, oh, but I don't like that. A cutting of the flesh, maybe it's a, well then turn off your Instagram account or don't watch this or don't listen to that or don't hang out with that. But I like that. There's a part of that element of the spiritual really is a sacrifice. And I think we don't like that. And I think that that's really good.- So what you're basically saying is Peter should have not cut off someone else's ear but cut off what he was hearing so that he could really hear what the Holy Spirit was doing in that moment.- Oh, yeah, there you go. Okay, so let's talk about what gives us leverage for the enemy. Here it is, we are not naive. The Bible says we're not naive of his devices. We're not naive of his schemes. One translation says. And so we know that there's an enemy. He loves to kill still in the story. And like I told Silas, Silas had a bully who was taller, who was bigger. And so for him to just try to push on his own, it really wouldn't have done anything. It would have just made the guy just whatever. So I taught him, put one foot back, and then push up higher on him where he's not, there's no leverage for him. So you could actually almost push him back or definitely push him farther away from him. He'll know that you mean business. And so what are some things that give us leverage? I think the word of God is absolutely declaring God's word. And then I don't know about you, but I also think really, yes, taking the word of God, but really like what you're saying to get leverage is in the spirit frame for those things. And really going to God and releasing the leverages, I can't do this. The leverage is Silas at this height can't do it, but at a higher height with the right leverage, he can do it. And I think it's like, okay, I'm gonna more than just at prayer, rub a dub dub, thank God for the grub. But I'm gonna wake up in the morning and it's a workplace pressure. I'm gonna pray this thing through it. And that's what the old saints used to say, right? They would pray it through. And we're so instant, I don't know if we necessarily always know how to pray things through.- Yeah, which takes patience and trust, right? And I just had these written down because, I think praying the word of God is really important. And I love what you said is push up. I think it's the same for spiritual battle, push up. When you're in a spiritual battle, you cannot have the same intensity spiritually, as you usually do. I have this time when I have one sister and she is in heaven now, but she was addicted to drugs and her house was kind of heavy when I would go visit it. And I remember that I went over there to help her with something she was sick or something. And I went to her house and I was staying the night. And I could feel the atmosphere of heaviness. There wasn't like that element of peace. Like our house has the presence of God and we've dedicated our home and our family and all of that to him. So there is a difference in the atmosphere. It's not the decorations, it's the Holy Spirit's welcome in our home. And I remember being staying at my sister's house and it was a nice house, but it had a really bad atmosphere. And I woke up in the middle of the night and my spirit was warring and I didn't even realize it. It was like while I was sleeping, I was fighting that. And when you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're a child of God, he protects you even when you don't know your need protecting. And so the Bible talks about letting the spirit of God rise up within us. And I know that you and I have been in moments where we'll be like there was a guy once that was demon possessed at that hamburger shop in Seattle. And he was screaming on the street that I'll pay anyone $1,000 to just hit this guy and kill him with your car and he was pointing at you and he hated you. And he really, it was the demon in him hated the spirit of God within you. And that is, that definitely happens. Like people will hate your spirit. And so I think what you said about like pushing higher is so important. Like when you know that you're dealing with somebody that's coming against you and it's spiritual, you've got to go higher. You've got to be, you've got to be in tune with the Holy Spirit. You've got to be prayed up. You've got to declare the word and not be so thinking like a fendable because it's like, it's not about a person. It's not about that guy that was on the street. It's about demonic activity that's trying to take ground and we have authority through Christ to push back. And so go higher in the spirit. And I have all these scripture verses that are good prayers for those moments. And you, I think it's important too for people to get their own God scriptures, right? You can't just Google, what's a good verse for when I'm afraid? I mean, you can. That's a good place to start. But then you have to have the God revelation and your own go to. Think fighting back in the spirit, it's really important to have some stuff memorized so that you can just speak it out when you need it. And it's already in your arsenal. But this is some of the things that would be good prayers. Like, "Toot around me, 439." We acknowledge this in people firmly in our minds that you, Lord our God, both in heaven and on earth and there is no one like you. Or may your kingdom come and let your will be done on earth like it's in heaven, Matthew 610. Here's another one. Ephesians 5-8, "We were once filled with darkness, but now you have made us light in you, Lord. Help us walk as children of light." And you just begin to declare like, yes, we live in a world of darkness, but the darkness has not overcome this world. The light has and the light lives in us. And so just recognizing our own authority, our position. And then one thing that I think is really helps high-list stay confident, is having a really strong dad. Who, from you drive him to school, you pray for him, you tell him that you believe in him, that you're gonna be here when the school bell rings to pick him back up and he's gonna come home. I think that's another spiritual thing.- What do you mean? So how does somebody--- He's got a father who is strong for us. And he's waiting and watching to make sure we're gonna make it.- Absolutely. I think another one that is kind of a little bit underrated and because of time all shoot it out there and then maybe you can close with it, is the power of praise. And I think a lot of times we really understand worship, but the Bible would declare that there were battles one with the prazers going out. And so we underestimate praise. And so I'm not like talking about like, you know, in the morning, I'll get up and play my Spotify of worship music. And it's got Hillsong and Bethel and all of those ones, which is really good. It creates a nice atmosphere of just like, oh, you can feel God in here, you know, and stuff like that. But really learning to war with our praise because our flesh wants to wither. Like you said, our flesh wants to just let the enemy keep pushing. So how do we push up, but we push up with our praise. And we declare it in God's word, but we also declare it in song and in passion and in praise. And I have had so many breakthroughs. I'm a terrible singer. I have no rhythm. I have no sense of key changes or key.- Or let's just say or keys, in general. But the power of God, your mighty, the power of usong or the power of my song, the power of just, and why I think singing is so powerful is because it's, you're getting past the coolness of yourself. Like, you know what I mean? And you're just like, no, I'm declaring who God is. And the Bible actually says it's sent the enemy confused. It's like the enemy thinks you're gonna cave in. The enemy thinks you're going to lose. And you take the thing that he was actually, you took his job. You start praising God and you are dismantling the devil who was heaven's praise and worship leader. You and I are taking his position over and praising our way through. And we're just so cute with our nice lights and we're cute with our LED walls and sometimes our candles and stuff like that. And I love it. But there's nothing as strong as a powerful praise that you believe, that he is, you know, Jehovah Jaira, that he is the healer, that he makes a way. And some of those songs come to life when we declare him, that song, we just did it at the men's retreat and it was talking about like, don't, my soul don't get shy on me.- Yeah, come on, my soul.- Yeah, I love that. You're like declaring, come on. I'm pushing up, soul, don't you dare back down. And that's released in praise versus, again, we love God, we do all these other things, but that's one of the other ways to push up.- I love that so much. And you know, in the Old Testament, when they talked about praise and how praise would send confusion into the camps, one of the reasons why is because the tradition in Jewish praise back in the Old Testament was always like, there would be a worship leader and they would call forth a song and then there would always be a response. And so it would be this like, let's like praise the Lord. And then the other people would say, for his mercy and duress forever, oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for his mercy, there would be a repeat. And there's something to bringing someone else into your fight and someone else who's a believer who can resonate with you, Paul and Silas, the Paul and Silas effect. But praise not only silences and confuses the enemy, but praise always involves and brings in other believers. And it's like a call to the believers, a call to the ones who are bloodbought by the Jesus Christ who are literally on this earth to push forward the kingdom of God on earth.- And that's why another one will do another topic, but just why church is so important.'Cause it's hard to get that just at home by yourself and the enemy, you know, with some of those things, I mean, there's no doubt that the enemy used COVID in some areas. And so we, how do we respond? How do we do that? Our prayer for you today is that that helped push back. Can we encourage you? Get some leverage through God, don't fight it on your own. Definitely don't fight it in the natural, and we're just praying for you.'Cause if there is some enemy pushing, it's because you're close to taking ground. He does not push back on people that he's not worried about. He is only pushing back on people that are cutting to the line about to take ground. And so it's sometimes it's a good thing. I've just reminded myself, oh, it's the enemy. It must be doing something right versus being defeated, but we love you, pray for you. What are the things they can do? You can follow us. You can share this with your friends. But most of all, we just really pray that you do take a moment and maybe talk to God about areas that he wants you to kind of push forward his kingdom in your life. It's gonna be great. Amen. We'll see you next week.(upbeat music)(upbeat music)(upbeat music)