I believe in angels and demons and oppression and possession and spiritual warfare. I believe the devil is the accuser, the roaring lion, the fallen star, the destroyer, thief, and killer. Alladat. BUT. Many are misled, crying and speaking in tongues and saying, “Satan, I rebuke you!” when they need to be rebuking THEMSELVES, lol. 95% of the trouble you experience ain’t that; it’s this: YOUR DECISION.

Listen. As a person who spent intentional time deceiving others and believing my own lies, I am telling you what I know: YOU CAN DEFINITELY DECEIVE YOURSELF. God be trying to tell y’all to not get tricked thinking you are further along than you are and are better than you are. And let’s be honest, ok? MOST OF US have not reached a spiritual understanding where the devil would feel the need to take TAHM out HIS SCHEDULE to SEE WHAT’S UP CUZ BRUH. We doing a good job of messing up on our own. And quite honestly, any tool he set in place? It’s only working because we have given power to it. We’ve come into agreement with what is illegal—in opposition to the word of God, and so giving legal rights to the enemy to operate freely. What’s happening in your life is most likely because you have made some bad decisions—and not taken the time to humble yourself, seek God’s face, and turn from your wicked ways: in a word? Repent! You need to repent and come out of agreement with the flesh and the accuser of the brethren.

Moreover, FOR THE MOST PART (cuz I’m not talking about outright possession, which is not in my wheelhouse), The devil didn’t “make” you do anything. The devil didn’t “trick” you or send a “spirit” to get you. You were presented with a choice (read temptation) and you took the one that your flesh wanted. And this is what the devil bets his money on if he got some to lay on the table—the fact that you ain’t deliberately and JOYFULLY crucifying your flesh. Read it here:

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”‬‬

‭‭James‬ ‭1:13-15‬ ‭KJV

The Flesh.

Your flesh, you say, Kisha?

Yes ma’am. Yes sir. Your own flesh. And no, not the meat suit of physical humanity that allows you to legally operate in the earth per God’s command (though that fat acting thang will get you in a world of trouble too eating up the earth and chasing sexual perversion cuz eat, drink, and be merry HANH, but I digress). Nope! I’m talking about the sheer force of the human will.

The flesh (that mash of emotion, mentality, belief systems, habits, thoughts, etc—the YOU that drives the meat machine) likes what it likes. It has a WILL of its OWN, and it will DRAG YOU RIGHT OWN OFF INTO DESTRUCTION. The word of God talks about it ad nauseam cuz we don’t believe fat meat greasy and always trying to go see for ourself if it’s really really or not. And your flesh? Tuh. Hunty, your flesh is not with the salvation program a-TALL. Don’t like it on no level. Is quite frankly cool with the status quo. Will be incredibly ornery when it is time to follow Christ. That’s why Jesus told you to pick up your cross daily and follow Him. He knew that every day you opened your eyes on the earth you’d have to kill the flesh, intentionally choose to walk after the manner and mind and Spirit of God. Y’all waiting for the zombie apocalypse? It’s here! It’s you. Every day, in some new way, you are choosing to follow you will or God’s will, your flesh or the Spirit of God. Sure death or Eternal Life. Rebellion or Obedience. Being humbled or Submitting yourself.

Lemme tell you something. The flesh is not to be played with. You’re worried about the devil and Jesus told you that it’s actually what’s in your heart that’s murking you. James told you—God ain’t tempting you! That’s your own flesh dragging you off like a kid in the store touching stuff. There should be no quarter given, no space saved for the human will—it must be brought to a deadly heel. The Psalmist in David understood just how bad it could get. He ran through the 10 commandments, broke allofum. Had somebody killed to cover up his egregious sin. And so David asked God for a new heart, cuz that’s how tough the flesh is: tough enough to necessitate a whole new heart:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.”

Psalm‬ ‭51:10-12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Now back to these decisions.

First off: understand that God is true and every man a liar. YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW. All decisions have consequences. Perhaps we should repent of our misaligned wills, our wayward decisions to choose the flesh over the Spirit and ask God to grant us mercy as we reap the harvests we have sown. God is FAITHFUL and JUST to forgive us, and His MERCY endures FOREVER.

Second off: The Holy Spirit is here for your assistance. You don’t have to do nothing by yaself. He called “the Helper” for a reason! If you choose to willingly walk after the spirit of God, Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you, no problems. You will still have to choose to listen for the VOICE. You will still have to decide to follow the instructions. You will still have to crucify the flesh and all the pride that will arise as the Lord tells you to do something contrary to the comfort of your flesh.

Third off: Your responsibility in all this is to renew your mind to the mind of Christ so that the flesh that you have crucified loses ground, loses power, has to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ in you. You must willingly submit your will, and the only way to do that successfully is change how you think about yourself, about life, about approaching problems, about God’s place in life, and about your rights and privileges as a kingdom citizen.

Listen. We all have the propensity to get dragged off if we aren’t careful. That’s the price paid for walking in corrupted bodies that have been exposed to sin nature and sin. But we thank God who causes us to triumph and gives to us the victory in Christ. Let’s use that ability to boldly approach the throne of grace and receive mercy so that we can continue to crucify flesh and bring glory to God the Father in Christ.