Armor Up Podcast
Weekly Bible teachings focusing on Jesus’s principles and how to apply them in today’s world.
Armor Up Podcast
Outflanking the Enemy: How to Stand Firm in Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual warfare becomes real the moment you give your life to Christ. In this transparent conversation, Marcel and Erin Marie Burke share their contrasting spiritual journeys and the battles they've faced along the way.
Marcel reveals his transformation from gang member to devoted follower of Christ, describing how he once mocked concepts like anxiety and depression as weakness, only to later experience them as spiritual attacks. Before his conversion, substance abuse numbed him to consequences and relationships. Now sober and walking with Christ, he faces spiritual battles that prove more challenging than anything in his former life.
Erin Marie provides a different perspective, having grown up in a Christian household where she witnessed supernatural attacks from an early age. Her testimony contains a fascinating revelation: when she abandoned her faith as a teenager and pursued a worldly lifestyle, all spiritual warfare ceased. Only when she returned to Christ did the opposition resume—revealing how the enemy focuses attacks on those actively pursuing God's kingdom.
The couple breaks down Ephesians 6:10-18, examining each piece of spiritual armor and highlighting that our protection comes not from our own strength but from Christ himself. They emphasize that prayer isn't merely a suggestion but a command, essential for standing firm against the enemy's schemes. Their most powerful insight? The spiritual armor provides no protection for our backs—because believers are never called to retreat, only to advance.
Whether you were raised in church or came to faith later in life, this episode offers practical wisdom for recognizing and overcoming spiritual attack. Listen now to strengthen your spiritual defenses and move forward confidently in your faith journey.
OK, good afternoon everyone. This is Marcel Burke with the Armour podcast. Today I have with me my wife, Ann Marie Burke, and today's topic we'll be discussing spiritual warfare.
Speaker 2:Hello, my name, like my husband said, is Aaron Burke, and it's just a pleasure to be here and be talking the word with my husband.
Speaker 1:Let's get into it. So, first and foremost, I want to make a disclaimer by saying that once you become a child of God, once you submit your life to the authority of Jesus Christ, you are essentially declaring war. And the things that we declare war on are those spiritual things, the spiritual realm, the principalities, satan and his minions, and it's not going to be an easy battle.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I agree with that. Not only is it so when we give our lives to the Lord right, it's not just by word right, but it's also by heart. The conduct of our lives change right. We are a new creation, our minds are renewed, and that is what the enemy goes to war with. He goes to war with our mind, with our flesh, and he'll use any and everything he can to try to distract us or destroy us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so let me be a little transparent here. So before this is a little testimony before I gave my life to Christ, I was in this world, heavily in this world, and the repercussions for my actions, they didn't faze me, not one bit. So I may have a seared conscience or not a conscience at all, just did what I wanted to do, without any feelings towards the people I hurt or not even thought about the ramifications of what I was doing. So fast forward now, a few 20 plus years later, actually, now that I'm walking with Jesus Christ, the battle that I deal with today.
Speaker 1:See, I used to be the type of person like if you don't have a strong mind, you couldn't deal with certain things. I've always viewed that type of person as a weak person, especially if you were a dude. I didn't believe in anxiety, I didn't believe in depression, I didn't believe in any of those things. I thought those things were a cop-out for being a weak-minded individual. So now that I'm walking wholeheartedly with the Lord, I find myself dealing with these things that I deemed weak, and I've come to find out you know, through reading, through the scripture, that these things are in fact spiritual in nature, cause, uh, as of right now.
Speaker 1:I, you know, sometimes deal with anxiety attacks. I come out of nowhere, seemingly out of nowhere, but then I get to start praying and worshiping and praising, you know, the Lord, and I come to find out that, right before I'm about to take a step of faith or to do something that can be perceived as a move towards the kingdom of God, I always get hit with anxiety or fear, just out of nowhere. But we have to remember, people, that Christ has not given us a spirit of fear, but of a sound mind. You know, and that's why I named this podcast Armored, because this is a thing that we have to do every day, second upon second, really keep these spiritual defenses on us, and the main one that we need to use, which is an offensive weapon, is the sword, which is the word of God Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, quick testimony on my part as well is. Growing up, I dealt with a lot of spiritual warfare. Uh, being super young I was raised in a beautiful Christian house and, um, man, the stuff that I would see, the stuff that I would experience as a young child, um, I would run to my parents' room and my mom would tell me um should pray for me, and sometimes I would sleep at the foot of her bed just terrified of what I was experiencing, until my mom was like you know what you're going to have to battle this on your own, and gave me the tools, which is the word of God, to combat the tactics of the enemy. And then I went on in my teenage years to, you know, delve into the world. I became a nonbeliever for quite some time. I used drugs and lived just a horrible life and all the spiritual warfare that I had once dealt with disappeared. Me and my husband were just talking about that, I believe, yesterday. They all disappeared. And it wasn't until I had given my life back to the Lord that, all of a sudden, it was a wave of spiritual warfare that returned.
Speaker 2:And see, the enemy doesn't worry about us if, say, we even pray right, or if we attend church or if we quote some scriptures, right, none of that matters if our heart isn't aligned with the Lord. What the enemy is worried about is us dying to ourselves, unto the Lord. That is something that he's going to attack day in and day out, and even more so when you decide to take steps of faith for the Lord. Hey, I'm going to step into this ministry. Hey, I'm going to devote my life to whatever the Lord has called you to do. That's when the enemy is going to start to attack.
Speaker 1:Right and to piggyback off what you said, and this is so important to the people out here listening substance abuse, see, my thing was alcohol, right so the things that we did to mask our problems. That's like putting a Band-Aid on a dam, right, right? So in doing this alcohol, alcoholic routine daily, I mean, I mean, I used to wake up and go to bed off a straight liquor vodka. So my, my feelings towards people and things weren't humane, so to speak, because I really didn't care. And I can't honestly sit here and say that I really love my family the way I was supposed to, because I was destroying them while I was destroying myself at the same time. So, when the substance abuse left, I thought, okay, I'm good now, but I was still missing the key part, which is Christ at the center of my life. See, I've always had him in the background. Okay, I need you when I need you. Thank you for saving me. That's not how it works. If Christ is not in the center of your life, we are susceptible to any and every attack from Satan and his demons.
Speaker 1:Ok, so let me read a passage of scripture out of Ephesians 6, starting in verse 10, pertaining to the Christian warfare that we have to deal with. He says and I'm reading out the CSB version Finally be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full I see that word right there. Full, it's not some, not part of it, not maybe just a feat the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. And I like right here where he says stand. There's no retreat in this battle. We are always to move forward, we are always to advance in this warfare and for his kingdom. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in heaven. And where it says here we do not struggle against flesh and blood, we don't.
Speaker 1:It's spiritual, but I will say that it may manifest itself physically, because once we start getting our own heads and listen to those whispers of the deceiver and his minions, then we can start to panic, then we can start to fear, which we are not supposed to do as a child of Christ pertaining to this warfare that we are in Verse 13,. For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist the devil and have him prepared everything to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like the belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sanded with readiness for the gospel of peace In every situation. Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil. One Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And, most importantly, one of the most important thing he says to in verse 18 is pray at all times, in the spirit, with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all saints. Now we can put on this armor and think that we're doing okay in the battle, but we cannot forget what he said about praying.
Speaker 1:Praying is an essential part of the Christian. We have to pray. We have to submit ourself to the power and authority of Jesus Christ, whether it be on your knees, standing up, praying, driving. We have to be praying always, and Paul did state once in his epistles pray without ceasing. That's what we ought to be doing. And notice one thing that is missing. I'm pretty sure you guys heard this before. We don't have nothing to protect our backs because we are not to retreat in this battle. We are to move forward as soldiers in Christ.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this passage is one of the key passages that us believers can look to when it comes to spiritual warfare. And you're right, I would like to say that the first part and the last part are the most important. The praying man, that Motion detected at the front door. The praying is key, right, having that communication with the Lord. But I would like to say, in verse 10, where it says be strengthened by the Lord and his vast strength. Right, because as we're putting on this armor, we can go through and we see that it is everything that Christ gives us. Right. So it is the? Um, the chest plate of righteousness. Right, which is where do we receive our righteousness from? It's from Christ, um, the truth, right. Um, who is our truth? The, the belt, the belt of truth. I'm sorry. Who is our truth? It is Christ, the, the belt, the belt of truth. I'm sorry. Who is our truth? It is Christ, um the, the gospel of peace. Well, he is our our. He is the gospel of peace, it's all written about him, right? So everything that we see, as far as the armor of God is, is having Christ applied to our daily lives, right, and and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, while in John 1, it tells us that in the beginning was the word, and the word was God, and the word was with us and the word was God right. And then in John 1, 13 or 14, it says I believe it's 14, and 14, 13 or 14, it says I believe it's 14, says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory of the father, full of grace and truth. And so we see that every aspect of the armor of God is Christ, and that's what I would like to touch on as well as in my testimony.
Speaker 2:In my early years, my family was Pentecostal and so I was raised initially with you, command it, you tell it. It has no power. You, you, you. And as I began to get into the word for myself and just spend time with the Lord, I've realized I myself have no authority, but the authority that Christ has given in me.
Speaker 2:I have all power because of who lives within me, and so when the opposition comes, I have to stop it immediately and say okay, no, I'm going to take this thought captive into the obedience of Christ. Is this, does this belong? Is this coinciding with the Bible? And if it is not okay, well then this is this is false, and I'm going to replace it with with truth from the word. And also, too, I'm going to remind myself who Christ is, who's living within me. And, lord, if you allow this persecution, this attack from the enemy, so be it. Let it teach me what I need to learn from it, but if it's not from you, lord, you have all power. You have all authority. Every, every uh power, every dominion, everything is subjected unto you, christ. So, with you living in me, with that same spirit living in me, okay, that that has no power in my life, because Christ is the power in my life.
Speaker 1:Exactly Amen, but you know. Just to contrast what you said, you grew up hearing about the word of God.
Speaker 2:You grew up in the church.
Speaker 1:I, on the other hand, did not. I think the only times we went to funerals in my family was went to funerals, went to church, was, you know, funerals, easter, I don't know, maybe weddings, I believe. So, being that you grew up in a Christian household and me the total opposite, I was searching Right. I was searching for something higher to myself and, as you know, you know, my, my, my early, my, actually late 20s I was a full blown Muslim, islam, islam, right. So the things that we're practicing were obedience based. They were all works based. They were do this, get this, don't do this, don't do that, pray this way, watch this, talk like this, can't eat this, don't? You know? It was all rule based and, to be honest with you, the structure of it is what drove me in and, to be honest with you, the structure of it is what drove me in because the people who know me know my past. I was a member of a gang, obviously because my face, but the structure of it was so familiar to me that I fit in like a Lego piece, like a perfect Lego piece.
Speaker 1:I fit into that religion and it wasn't until I started searching scriptures for myself and I must say too, your mother was a catalyst in me becoming a Christian, a follower of Christ, because she was what the Bible described as a shining light and salt to this earth. So I can give credit to her as well. But I'm pretty sure that God put her in my life and you as well for me to get on the path, but anyway. So my walk growing up was different from yours, because my walk was not, was not existing. Like I said before, I did everything I wanted to do without thinking of spiritual and eternal repercussions.
Speaker 1:So now that I am walking in Christ, the war is on, and I was telling you this other night, this is the most painful, most hard thing I ever had to do in my life was spiritual battle, as, just as a new believer, you know, I consider myself a new believer because I'm still learning the Bible, I'm still reading scripture, I'm still, you know, following Christ, because this, you know, it's a race, guys. This race is never finished until we're dead or until we raptured up. I don't consider myself a babe in Christ, but I always consider myself a new believer because God is always revealing something new to me as I read his word. That's what I mean by that. But coming into my own now as a, as a man in Christ, the responsibility is much more than I can ever expect, because I'm not only responsible for my children and the people who see me, I'm responsible to being obedient to Christ, and that was a hard thing for me to do was submit onto another figure that wasn't myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see your point of view. As far as you weren't raised in the church. I don't know what that's like because from the moment I was born I was raised in the church from my early years before I learned my numbers. I I I learned my numbers by the 10 commandments. So I was raised biblically correct. But each person has to find their own relationship with God and I think the struggle that kids have right Because it's a struggle that I had is you know the do's and don'ts, you know what the Bible says, but there's a poor emphasis on the relationship with Christ. So, as a, as a um, a kid in the church, you learn how to become the best hypocrite you can, you can be, you learn how to mask everything. Oh, you know, I show up to church, I act this way.
Speaker 2:Um you know, I, I, uh, I'm with my friends. I act a totally different way, right? Because, christ, if you don't have that relationship, that loving relationship, then you are in a works based religion that has the. You still have no power.
Speaker 1:I hear you. Would you say that kids who do that, do you think they are ashamed of their faith or think they will be made fun of because of their faith?
Speaker 2:fun of because of their faith? I would think so, but what I think is I think, or at least what I thought is that my parents were crazy I thought that they believed in. As I became like maybe 12, 13, I began to think like man, these people have been fooled. This is a big fairy tale that they have come to believe is true. Like how do they know this? How do they know that? And you're learning so much in school as far as science and you know different religions, different beliefs, and you're like how would you know that this? How do they know that this is a true religion? And then you're being told, oh, you can't do this, I can't do that. And then your pride, your flesh, isn't willing to receive it. So yeah, I think the embarrassment is there, but no, I was never ashamed to be a Christian.
Speaker 1:I just didn't live out the Christian walk well, and in closing, let me just say this See me and you. We had different views.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes we debated about this, talked about this and I used to always say to you I can never understand that how can a kid or family pour into an individual all their lives and they still chose a different path? And I will always say to you like, maybe if I was, and you know what, it's not our parents fault because they weren't raised that way or taught that way, you know. But you know, thanks to the glory of God, that my mom, she, she became a believer. Thank God for that. But what I'm trying to say is I used to be like, okay, if these kids are getting poured into since youth, why are they? Why are they straying? I never understood that.
Speaker 1:And then, when you get to, you know, talking and having conversations and stuff, because we all have our own path. We all have our own path. We can choose, and that's the beauty of free will. We can choose the narrow path or the broad path, and we all know the broad path leads to destruction. All right, guys, this is the time that we're going to have for this podcast. I want to thank you guys for tuning in and listening. Next episode will be up this Friday. Thank you, guys and God bless.
Speaker 2:God bless you guys.