Episode 11: Kick the Devil to the Back -Overcoming Negativity

Kick the Devil to the Back: Overcoming Negativity | FOUND & REFINED Podcast

Welcome to another episode of FOUND & REFINED with Amy LeSage! In this deeply honest and encouraging episode, Amy shares a special story from her childhood soccer days—and how it became a powerful metaphor for kicking negative thoughts and the enemy’s lies out of our lives.

Amy unpacks her journey of dealing with doubt, fear, and anxiety, and how God has shown her that the real battle is spiritual—and that His strength is always enough. She talks about rediscovering that God-given fire inside, standing her ground in faith, and refusing to let anything or anyone cut in front of her purpose.

If you’re feeling defeated by negative self-talk or wondering how to boldly live out your faith (especially as a parent!), this episode is for you. Amy encourages all listeners—whether shy or bold—to rely on God’s promises, put Him at the center, and actively fight back against the lies that try to block our path.

Key Topics Covered:

- Dealing with fear, doubt, and the enemy’s lies

- Childhood story: the only girl on the soccer field

- Standing your ground in faith and identity

- The challenges (and importance) of spiritually leading your kids

- Practical encouragement to put God first and live out your calling

- Scriptures that remind us of God’s strength (Psalm 18:29, Isaiah 41:10, Philippians 4:13)

Scriptures Referenced:

- Psalm 18:29

- Isaiah 41:10,13

- Philippians 4:13

00:00 Welcome to FOUND & REFINED

00:34 Battling Negativity and Spiritual Warfare

01:54 Childhood Story: Soccer and Strength

06:54 Lessons from the Past: Standing Up to the Devil

11:33 Empowerment Through Faith

21:55 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

🎵  Check out these songs

       ➺ “To Hell With The Devil (RISE)” - for KING & COUNTRY, Lecrae & Stryper

       ➺ “Find Yourself” - Dan Bremnes

       ➺ “Again And Again” - Land of Color & Sarah Kroger

       ➺ “Oh Child” - Blessing Offor

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 TRANSCRIPT - EP. 11

 Hello friends. Welcome to FOUND & REFINED. I am your host, Amy LeSage, and thank you. Thank you so much for being here, spending your valuable time here. I know there's a lot of other places you could be going and so I just really appreciate you popping in or getting on YouTube and watching. And God bless you if you're actually watching it because man, I am still very green at uh, editing. So, thank you for your patience with that. And, yeah, I just appreciate you. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.

As we've been talking about, where we left off in episode 10 was, I've just been spending a lot of time reflecting on how to treat the devil and the negativity in my head, I'm talking about the times when negative thoughts creep in, like doubts about myself feeling like I'm not enough, feeling like I don't have anything to offer, fear, anxiety, all that stuff. That just can be on replay in our heads. That I'm done with. That I really wanna be done with and I wanna get control over it. And I know that I can't do it by myself. I have realized that in my walk with God as I feel like I've just been learning a lot, I realize that that's not something I can do on my own because those are spiritual battles. That's the enemy attacking. And so, we can't fight that battle on our own. Thank God we have, God, to give us the strength to fight. He strengthens us and fights with us against the enemy. And since he's already won that battle, we are, many steps ahead.

But it's still a battle, right? It's still something that we have to consider and take. Charge of. And so, I've been really pushing myself, so that this isn't something that continues to creep up and grab hold of me for long extended periods of time.

Recently a story about my childhood popped into my head. I think God is just so good. The Holy Spirit is so good, how he can help us connect the dots. And I feel like he did that here. They're small, but they're mighty "aha" moments. And so, I just wanna share this story with you. It's a story that my mom told me a while back of me as a kindergartner and um, I was just starting to play soccer. That's when I started my soccer career. Like I told you guys, I loved fashion.

This isn't a joke, like I loved it from kindergarten. I loved it from the moment I could start getting dressed. I wanted to dress myself. Those battles that I have sometimes with my girls. Those battles definitely happen with my mom and I, in the morning about what would I wear and all that stuff. I wanted to take charge of that. I loved putting outfits together. I loved fashion. I loved colors and textiles and all that stuff. It just was in me, from an early age. When it came to any sport, my uniform, especially as a child, my uniform was an outfit. And so, it all had to work together and that made it cool. That was my vibe. God bless my mom for going along with this. My dad probably didn't have much of a choice. But my mom, you know, pigtails with the matching bows and then the outfit, or if it was a, you know, a ponytail and a matching boat, like things had to match.

I had joined one of our parks and recs teams. And, at that time, there weren't a lot of girls playing soccer, at least where I was. The Parks and Recs City team, it was intermural, whoever wanted to join conjoin, intermural, whatever. And so, I was the only girl on my team, in kindergarten. That was fine with me because I didn't care. I grew up with an older brother and it just wasn't intimidating to me.

I wanted to play the sport. I was fast and I enjoyed the idea of what soccer was. And so. On this particular,r uh, day that my mom was telling me about, I had the whole nine, I had my pigtails. This was our first game.

And she's over on the sidelines, setting up her chairs.

We're all warming up and it's me and the boys and actually I was the only girl on the entire field. There were no other girls on the other team either. So it was just me. So as she's setting up her chair and getting herself situated, she overhears some of the dads who are mumbling about something. She overhears them

say, oh, the girl on the team, oh geez, look at this.  They assumed. Do, even just based on what I look like, I'm sure, um, that I was gonna be a pushover and a weakness for our team.

Obviously, they didn't know my mom. She stayed silent during this time and, uh, I laugh about that now. At the time I was like, you stick up for me. She was like, no, no. But I laugh about that now, having kids like you know your kids, right? You know when you need to step in and fight a battle, and you know when they can handle their own.

And so she just kind of took it in and was listening and almost at the same time that they started all of this, we were on the field warming up. We were doing a drill where we would be in single file line and each take a turn and, uh. Kick the ball at the goalie and see if we could get a goal. And so it was coming up to be my turn. It was my turn, and one of the boys on my team ran up and just came right in front of me and started setting up his ball to take his turn. She goes on to say, you marched up to him, grabbed him by his shirt, flung him off to the side. And told him, “Get in line, it's my turn! Don't cut in front of me!” And then nicely sat down your ball, took some steps back, ran and went and kicked a goal.  At that same moment, she kind of is looking over at the men who were grumbling, and they saw it. They're watching this all happen, the dads obviously were taken back and changed their tune Immediately. They saw that I wasn't backing down.  Maybe I was stronger than I looked.

My mom, of course, she's my best friend. You guys like, she's awesome. She's got my back all the time. She's my number one support, from then, till today. My mom is solid!  So she just finishes getting herself situated in her chair with a big grin on her face. Like, yeah, that's my girl attitude to match. And I went on to play soccer for 13 more years. And I was rough. I was competitive. I wasn't afraid to side tackle. I wasn't afraid to head the ball. I wasn't afraid to go do what I had to do, to get to the, to the goal.

I believe what God is telling me in this moment. I was born with this fire, this small fire inside of me. Like, don't, don't mess with me. Don't do that.

As I've been reflecting on that memory it came with the thought of, you need to treat the devil the same way. You need to stand up for yourself and be that girl again. You need to aggressively treat the devil the same way when he tries to come in the middle of what you are doing with me, with God. You need to kick him to the back where he belongs. And it was   like, yeah, you're totally right. That's the way you made me to be. That's the way that you created me. It just is, it's so hard, because the devil really does throughout life and life situations, he weakens us at times in certain areas and we begin to back down. But just like I wouldn't let any kid cut in front of me, take my place, shoot my goal, take my shot.

I see the enemy trying the same thing, cutting in with lies. Making me doubt my purpose, making me doubt myself, letting fear get in between me and God's direction. It just is so clear to me how the enemy's been moving and working. I can't go back to the past, but I can definitely change today and my future. I can absolutely do that. And that's my goal. That's my goal with all of this; is to change the way I'm living.  Change the way I've been going through life personally and outwardly.

Like that little girl. I need to stand my ground and put the devil in his place. He doesn't get to black me from my calling; he doesn't get to block me from what God tells me about myself. He doesn't get to block me from hearing God anymore with all the, all the other things that he's trying to cut in between us.

He doesn't get to do that anymore.

The world throughout our lives, and I don't care if you're young, middle aged, old, like I don't care. Like the world has a way of knocking us down. Shaking our confidence, shaking our pride, shaking something within us, over time the world and the enemy. Can chip away at our confidence. Sometimes other people their shame or they're gaslighting us for standing up for something or for knowing something's right, and then gaslighting us to think we are wrong. You are wrong for standing up for what's right. You are wrong for thinking the way you think.

I refuse to let doubt linger. Or let anyone else define me. Only God can do that. Only God. It is so, man, it's so important, you guys, I can't stress this enough. It wasn't until God was first in my life, that life began to shift. Nothing. The enemy tries to place in front of that. On top of that, however you wanna look at it, nothing that he tries to place should be able to go in front of God. We have to protect this so that we don't allow anything else to speak into our minds or to play in our heads. We have to protect that God is the front and center of everything. That's not easy because the world can be against that a lot of times.

You know, there's big battles going on right now in the world. Between good and evil, it's apparent it's happening right now and we really have to make sure we're on the right side. And it's not just by saying like I'm a Christian, it's by actively making sure you're putting God, Jesus Christ at the front and center, and you're living your life with him there. You're bouncing your thoughts off of him. You're going to him for guidance. You're looking to him for your worth. You're looking to him for everything, first. Don't let the devil block your path. Move the lies aside. Yank 'em and move them aside. Give God his rightful place in your mind and in your life. It's super, super important. If you're a parent, I'm talking to you.

I have four kids. I'm a single parent; it's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of questioning myself. Am I doing enough? Am I teaching them enough to handle this challenging world? Am I instilling the right values? Am I modeling what it means to chase God's purpose boldly? Am I laying the foundation properly, so they know what to do when things get hard? Or when the world starts trying to alter their, their view of themselves, of God, of anything, like, am I setting that path straight? Am I, am I doing the right thing? It's never too late to start.

And listen, if you're not a parent yet, that's even better.

Get it right in your own life first before you have sweet little eyeballs looking up at you to lead them the right way. It's your job as a parent to lead and guide your children all the time. It's your job. It's hard. It's not an easy job. It really isn't. But it's so important that we take it seriously, that we're instilling that God is the most important thing, his view of you, how he tells us to behave, and how he tells us to forgive, how he tells us to treat others. All of those things, there is nothing like it to be loved unconditionally. There is nothing like it in the world. There is nothing like having the creator of the universe fighting with you beside you and through you. There is nothing like it.

There is nothing like having a peace and a trust in a higher God who knows better who knows what he's doing, who's got us. whether we understand it fully of why things happen the way they do or not, we can lean into the knowledge, and trust that God's got us. That his, his intentions are good and pure and right. And it doesn't have to make sense to us, and that's almost like small burden lifted off of your shoulders. You don't have to make sense of everything. You just have to trust that God knows all, and that he's got it. It's not for you to figure out. It's for you to continue moving forward in your walk with Jesus in the way you love yourself and the way you love others and how you show Jesus’ love to everybody .

As God leads you, he transforms your heart and your life. I keep saying it because it's so true, but it's not just by calling yourself a Christian and going on with your life, living your life however you want to. I've, I did that. That never worked out great. And I'm not here saying everything in my life is lined up in perfectly rainbows and butterflies. Times are hard. Things are difficult right now. But again, I can find peace knowing that I'm doing everything I can to walk a life hand in hand with Jesus.  I'm trying to do my job here. I'm trying to do what he is leading me to do, and I'm hoping I'm hearing him right and I'm walking. I'm stepping into it as best I can because it matters. It's all that matters actually. It's the tippy top, the most important thing. Nothing else should creep or cut in front of it. God only! God at the top! Don't ever allow somebody else or something else, some worldly thing, sin the devil, any of that negativity, the lies, all that stuff that cannot be on replay over and over and over to where you believe it.

That's not how God feels about you. So that doesn't mean God's on the top. You're not listening to what God is telling you about yourself. You're not making that the priority. You're not making that define who you are by who he says you are, who he sees you, his love for you. You're not doing that if you have it on repeat. And I've been there; I've been there so many times. I'm not judging you. I'm saying you gotta, you gotta do something different. You gotta be like the person that wasn't hit by the brokenness of this world that maybe weakened you to a point that you're at right now where that is on replay and you're believing it.

You gotta dig deep and seriously go get those thoughts out. You gotta call on God's name and get those thoughts out. You have to grab the devil literally the same way I did as a kid. Grab the devil by the collar and yank his butt back to where he belongs. He doesn't belong in the forefront of your mind.

His lies don't belong there. Nothing about him belongs there. Nothing! Actively start taking control back.

Even if you weren't, you can't relate to my childhood story at all right? Like, maybe you're like, I was timid and shy and whatever.  I think that's wonderful. I, I love you for that. I do. But you can't use that as an excuse. That's not an excuse because with God, you have the strength to do anything. Whether you were shy, whether you still are shy, whether you're a quiet person, whether you're a bold person, it doesn't matter because with God's strength, we can do anything. So, when we call on him to help us, we can get through this. We can do anything. He like my little girl's strength. She's ready to pop out of me.

She is like, I'm rearing to go! Bring it, bring it! I'm combining that with where I'm at spiritually and in my faith, and I've got a fire that's so freaking hot inside of me. I'm ready to just like take it all on. The devil doesn't.  No, you don't stand a chance anymore. You don't stand a chance in my ears anymore. You don’t get to break me down and keep me from being the person God made me to be. God didn't make us to be upset and hurt, and fearful, and nervous and angry, with worry swirling around anxiety. Doubting ourselves. He didn't make us to stay that way. He offers a solution. you, you have to grab hold of that solution, which is Jesus Christ, and literally surrender to it.

Trust in it. Trust in him.

God empowers you and equips you to do that. He promises it. He promises it. I'm gonna, Actually, I'm gonna, I'm gonna read you. Hold on. There's been a couple verses that I've been reading just for like strength and what God says that we're capable of with him.

One of 'em is Psalm 18:29. With your help, I can advance against a troop. With my God, I can scale a wall. Another one, Isaiah 41: 10, "so do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand." Go down to verse 13, "For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear. I will help you." He promises it.

You are not going at this life alone.

Philippians 4:13. Most of us have heard that one. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me through God, who gives me strength. God strengthens you to battle the enemy. This was a huge eye-opening thing for me, just thinking like that's the person that God made me to be before the enemy's lies and before the world and sin kind of started chipping away at me.

That's the girl I was.

Actively kick those voices to the back. Stand in God's strength and go for your God-given goals. God's my guy, my guide, he gives me my goals. Go to him for everything.

Start getting into the habit. It becomes habitual. , This is for every believer. And for anyone seeking, okay? There is no time better than the present to accept Jesus into your life and to start living the life that God designed you to live, that God had an in store for you from the moment , that you were conceived.

He has a plan for you.

Don't let negative thoughts and the enemy's voice steal your shot at a good life or following God's will. Don't allow anything, especially the devil to cut in between you and God. God's strength is more than enough. He calls you to take your place and be bold. Start now. . Don't mistake my kindness for weakness, devil. You gotta have that kind of attitude. You can be a wonderful, kind person, but there are times where you better fire up and tell the devil where he's gotta go.

Channel the brave spirit God has placed in you.

With God, you can do anything. You can be bold and he will hold your hand towards your goal the entire time. . He will guide you on the things that he needs that that need to be worked on or that need to be addressed. He will guide you and he will work on them with you, and he will give you encouragement, and peace, and calmness. And just, it's just, It's a feeling.

I feel we're all searching for a feeling. To feel better about our situations, to feel better about ourselves, to feel better about our worth, to feel better about this world, whatever it is we're all searching for that. We all want that. I don't know how he does it, by his good grace, he gives that to us through the Holy Spirit. It just happens. There is no scientific reason for it. It is just faith at its rawest form.

That's all. That's all for today. Thank you, guys, again for joining me. Kick that devil, boom. Kick him to the back. Grab him by the shirt, yank him back. Do what you gotta do. Get in front of it. Put God in front. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. I'm ready to go play soccer. Have a great week. Talk to you next week.

Bye.