How to Think Biblically About Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual warfare is not a movie scene — it’s everyday life.

In this episode, we explore how to think biblically about spiritual warfare without falling into the ditches of exaggeration or dismissal. Drawing from Scripture, sound theology, and practical discipleship, we’ll show you how to recognize the enemy’s tactics, fight in the strength of Christ, and faithfully engage the daily battle with truth, prayer, and dependence on the Holy Spirit.

If you want a balanced, gospel-centered understanding of spiritual warfare, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Satan is a creature, demons are creatures, and creatures have to answer to God.

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Spiritual warfare is not a movie scene. It's Monday morning.

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The enemy doesn't need a dramatic moment. He just needs your quiet self-reliance.

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Blaming the devil for everything is just as dangerous as pretending he doesn't exist.

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Jesus cast out demons with a word. That's his authority, and it still holds. Welcome to Off the Sidelines, a podcast from Central Bible Institute, the deployment center at Central Church, where we equip believers to move from watching ministry to doing ministry. All of our service is rooted in the gospel. We love because Jesus first loved us, and we serve because Jesus first served us.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I'm Brandon Sucert.

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And I'm Greg Sucert, and today we're talking about something that every believer is already involved in, whether they know it or not. Spiritual warfare. And not the Hollywood version, not dramatic encounters with levitating furniture.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Right. We're talking about the real thing, the daily, grinding, invisible battle that plays out in your workplace, your marriage, your small group, and your own heart.

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This topic can go sideways really fast in two opposite directions. And today we want to help you find the biblical position.

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By the end of this episode, our goal is for you to be able to identify which ditch you tend to fall into and walk away with a clear, practical, gospel-grinded way to engage the battle.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

So let's get into it. Okay, so two ditches. I want to name them clearly because I think most of us have been in one of them, or we know somebody who is.

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Ditch number one, you over-spiritualize everything.

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Right. This is the person who says, the devil made me do it, genuinely believing that every sin, every struggle, every failure is the result of demonic attack.

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And on the surface, it sounds super spiritual, but what it really does is it removes personal responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Exactly. It becomes an escape hatch. And theologian John Gilhooley makes a really helpful point. If you overfocus on looking for demons to bind and cast out, you can miss what James says that our own sinful desires are the first enemy. James 1.14 says, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

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We're not off the hook just because there's the devil.

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Also, the error of over-spiritualizing could be saying that preparation doesn't matter. Just go with the flow and rely on the Holy Spirit. And that sounds spiritual, but that's actually rejecting the Holy Spirit's teachings on how we are to be prepared for the battles of everyday life. Here's one example of how I treated a test in high school. I didn't study and I was like, God, give me the supernatural ability to pass the exam. And it's like, no, that's not how this works.

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That's definitely the wrong direction.

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Now, ditch number two is the opposite problem. And I think this one is actually more common in our circles.

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And that ditch is de-spiritualizing.

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We forget that every single day is deeply spiritual. We go to work, we lead our small groups, we counsel our friends, and we treat it like a project to manage instead of a battle to fight.

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And the result is cold pragmatism. I've read the books, I've got the experience, I can handle this. And we never go to our needs.

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Yes, if we've done all of our prep and we walk in thinking we've got this covered, that's just as dangerous. We need God to live for the pursuit of excellence in everyday life, living for his glory and not our own. We need God not only to glorify him in everyday pursuits, but we desperately need him and his Holy Spirit to pursue our families, pursue the lost, and pursue the mission Jesus has for us. We cannot do this in our own strength. We must always live in this posture of dependence on God.

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Because only God can change a heart. Only God can open someone's eyes. Adulteries don't happen overnight. Marriages don't fall apart overnight. It all starts when we stop treating life as a spiritual reality that it is.

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So let's recap these two ditches. Greg Allison puts it plainly in the 50 Core Truths chapter on angels, Satan, and demons. There are two errors the church tends to fall in on this: exaggeration on one end, dismissal on the other. Both are wrong.

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So the question is, how do we live in the biblical balance?

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Let's build the biblical picture, and I want to start with something that I think gets undersold, the reality of what's actually going on around us.

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Ephesians 2 calls Satan the prince of the power of the air. And in 2 Corinthians 4.4, Paul calls him the God of this world who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. He is not a cartoon villain.

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He is actively shaping the air we breathe culturally, the ideologies, the values, the way our workplaces function, the way entertainment trains us to think. This is Ephesians 6.12. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness.

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And yet, and this is so important, Allison is clear that because Satan is a defeated foe, Christians never need to fear. Ephesians 1, verses 21 to 23 says Christ is far above all rule and authority and power. Colossians 2.15 says he disarmed the rulers and authorities at the cross.

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So we're not fighting to win victory, we're fighting from a position of victory. The battle is already won.

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That changes everything about how we engage.

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It does. And I want to take a minute here to get the theology of Satan and demons right, because I think the way we talk about this really matters.

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Yeah, this is where a lot of the confusion lives. People throw around terms like demon-possessed, and I think that language actually goes too far.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

It does. And here's why. Full stop.

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Right. And only the creator can truly possess what he has made. There is a God who possesses us, the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. Satan cannot replicate that. He is a creature trying to counterfeit something that belongs only to God.

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And even in the lives of unbelievers, yes, there is an invitation of demonic forces when someone is living in rebellion and sin, when the spirit is not there as a resident guard. That's real. But Satan and demons still have to respond to God. They are not outside his authority. Jesus proved that every time he cast out demons, they had no choice but to go.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah, Mark 1.34, Luke 4.41, he cast out many demons. They could not resist his authority.

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So what are the enemy's actual tactics? Because it's not usually some dramatic Hollywood moment. It's much more subtle and much more insidious. And let's name them clearly.

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And that last one, the spreading of ideas that convince people they're their own God, that's the oldest line in the book. Genesis 3, you will be like God. Satan has been running the same place since Eden.

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Yes, and he's still running it today. Every ideology that tells you your truth is ultimate truth, every system that says your desires define your identity, every cultural current that quietly enthrones the self, that is the enemy's fingerprints. He doesn't need to make every society a society of practicing Satanists. He just needs to get us to rebel against God while thinking we're being liberated. And even more sinister, he needs to get us thinking highly of ourselves through self-righteous, works-based religions, taking our eyes off of our need for a savior and putting them on ourselves.

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So for the believer, the question isn't, am I possessed? The question is, where am I being influenced? Where are you entertaining things the enemy relishes in most?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Exactly. In 1 John 4, 4, it says, He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. The Spirit is your guard. But just because we are immune to demons invading our hearts, that doesn't mean we're immune to demons influencing our hearts. We may be protected by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit from inward dwelling, but demonic forces still try to influence us through our ears. And that's why this matters in daily life. Though we cannot be demonically indwelled, we can be demonically influenced.

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Now I do want to name something clearly, because I think there's a real warning we can't skip. Demonic indwelling is a real thing in scripture, but the person at risk is not the believer. It's the person who was not born again.

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Right, and scripture gives us two clear portraits. Let's look at Judas and Peter, two men who walked with Jesus, two completely different outcomes, and the difference was the condition of the heart.

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Yeah, the portrait of Judas is terrifying. Luke 22, 3 says that Satan entered Judas. But that didn't happen overnight. Judas had been playing with sin for a long time. Greed, deception, putting on a show of devotion, he didn't mean. The other disciples didn't even suspect him. But small decision after small decision, he kept opening the door a little wider.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

That's the pattern. Teasing with things the enemy relishes. False religion, lying, living for money, performing for people instead of living for God. None of it looks dramatic from the outside, and it's a slow drift. And then one day the door is wide open.

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Now contrast that with Peter. Peter is someone genuinely following Jesus. Imperfectly, of course, but following him from the heart. And in Luke 22, 31, Jesus says to him, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Yeah, Satan demanded it. He tried. And Jesus' response is one of the most comforting things in all of Scripture. Verse 32, Jesus says, But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. The enemy wanted Peter. Jesus said, No, that's the protection of the believer. It's not our grip on Christ, it's his grip on us.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

So if you're born again, genuinely trusting Christ, you have that same protection. Satan cannot have you. He can pressure you, tempt you, try to discourage you, but he cannot own you. Christ owns you. Christ prays for you. Christ protects you.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

But if you're not born again, if you're playing with sin, entertaining the things the enemy loves, living like the things of God don't apply to you, then the Judas warning is real. The door opens gradually, and that should sober all of us, both for our own hearts and for the people we're trying to reach.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Which is exactly where the war with the flesh model becomes so helpful. Gilhouli makes the point that spiritual warfare is primarily the daily, ordinary struggle of the Christian life. Not dramatic encounters, but the quiet fight to believe the gospel and walk in obedience.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

It's the woman praying against worry, it's the man fighting lust, it's the small group leader resisting pride. That is real spiritual warfare.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

And that's why Paul's command in Ephesians 6 is so important and so practical. He doesn't say pull out the armor when things get intense. He says, put it on every day, because the battle is every day.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

So let's actually walk through what that looks like. Paul's command in Ephesians 6 is not reach for your armor when the big moments come. It's not just before a job interview or before you preach or before you go out to share the gospel with someone. The command is to put it on present tense, ongoing every single day.

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Because, like we said, the battle is every day. The commute is every day. The temptation to scroll instead of pray is every day. The slow drift toward self-sufficiency is every day.

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So let's actually walk through what putting on the armor looks like as a daily orientation of your heart.

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First, we have the belt of truth. You fasten truth around everything else. That means starting your day anchored in what is actually true, about who God is, who you are in Christ, what the gospel declares over you, not what your feelings say, not what the culture says, truth.

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Then there's the breastplate of righteousness. This is not your righteousness, it's Christ's. You're putting on the declared righteousness of Jesus as your covering. That's what guards your heart from accusation. When the enemy says you're not enough, the breastplate says Christ is enough, and I'm in him.

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Then there's the shoes of the gospel of peace. You move through your day ready, ready to give an answer, ready to bring the gospel into the next conversation, the next conflict, the next moment of need. You're not scrambling, you're prepared.

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Then there's the shield of faith. Paul says this one extinguishes the flaming darts of the evil one. Every lie, every accusation, every whisper of doubt, faith in Christ absorbs it. Not because you manufacture belief, but because the object of your faith is unshakable.

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Then there's the helmet of salvation. Guard your mind. If you're genuinely trusting in Jesus, then you are saved. You have everlasting life. That's settled. The enemy loves to make you question it, to get you living in uncertainty about where you stand with God. The helmet says, No, my salvation is secure in Christ, and his promises revealed to me in Scripture.

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Which brings us to the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This is your offensive weapon, the word. Know it, speak it, wield it the way Jesus did in the wilderness. It is written.

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And then Paul keeps going. And Ephesians 6.18 says, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. Notice he doesn't include prayer as a seventh piece of armor. It's the atmosphere you fight in. It's the posture of your heart.

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Prayer isn't a warm-up. It's not the thing you do when you've run out of options. Paul is saying prayer is the air your armor breathes. You stand firm by being on your knees.

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And he asks them to pray for all the saints. This is corporate. You're not armoring up alone. You're fighting shoulder to shoulder with your church family, your small group, your accountability partner. The body of Christ is the context for spiritual warfare.

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Now, take inventory of which ditch you're in. If you've been struggling with a sin pattern, and your first response is, the enemy's got a stronghold on me, that could be true, but make sure you first asked, Am I owning my own sin? Am I repenting? Am I fighting my flesh?

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Galatians 5.17 is clear. The flesh is fighting the Holy Spirit in every believer. That's the primary battlefield.

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On the other hand, if you've been leading, counseling, serving, and you've been doing it purely on the strength of your own preparation and experience, that's just as dangerous. Only God opens eyes. You've got to realize this. Only God changes hearts. We need that posture of dependence on God.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

And don't diagnose everything as demonic. If someone loses a job, that's hard. Grieving it is appropriate. If someone is depressed after a real loss, that's a real human experience, not a demon. Wisdom means being able to distinguish between three things. What are the natural consequences of living in a fallen world? What is sin that needs to be owned and repented of? And what are demonic lies that are influencing the situation? Those aren't always the same thing, and they don't always have the same answer.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

That matters enormously for anyone doing biblical counseling or discipleship. Jumping to spiritual explanations can actually harm people by skipping past real grief and real personal responsibility. Now, men, I want to talk to you directly for a second. The battlefield that matters most in your life right now is your marriage, your kids, your workplace, and your church. And here's where I see men fall. We either check out and let the culture set the pace, or we grind in our own strength and never rely on God's strength. See, the enemy doesn't need to make you a Satanist to sideline you. He just needs to slowly and quietly convince you that you're self-sufficient, that you've got this, that prayer is for people who are weak, who haven't figured it out yet. That is the illusion of you thinking of yourself as your own God without need for the one true God. Ephesians 5 calls us to love our wives as Christ loved the church, sacrificially, intentionally, spiritually. That is an act of daily spiritual warfare. If you're not leading your home in prayer, in scripture, and intentional conversations about the things of God, then the enemy is filling that vacuum. So get on your knees and lead like it all depends on God because it does.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Now, ladies, let me talk to you for a minute. One of the places I see women fall into the over-spiritualizing ditch is in relationships. We want something to change in our marriages, in our friendships, in our own hearts, and we pray and pray and pray, which is absolutely right, but then we don't take the steps of obedience that God is asking us to take. Prayer is not a substitute for repentance. Prayer is not a substitute for a hard conversation. And prayer is not a substitute for reaching out to a counselor or a trusted sister in Christ. And on the other side, some of us are just white knuckling it. We're discipling people, serving, leaning on fumes and willpower, and we've stopped asking God to move because we feel like we can just manage it ourselves. And here's what I want you to hear: the enemy's oldest tactic is getting us to trust ourselves more than we trust God. He doesn't need dramatic moments, he just needs your quiet self-reliance. Your influence in the lives of other women is a deeply spiritual endeavor. Don't do it alone and don't do it without God. So go to the Word, go to your knees, and then go faithfully, practically with your whole self.

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Okay. Here's the one step for everyone this week.

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One thing.

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Pick one context in your life, your small group, your marriage, your workplace, a discipleship relationship. And before you engage it this week, ask yourself two questions out loud. Number one, am I prepared? And number two, have I prayed? We need both sides. Scripture encourages both. It encourages preparation and it encourages prayer, dependence on God for the thing that we are walking into.

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And don't just ask these questions as a checklist, but do it to search out your genuine heart posture. Prepared means I've done the work. Prayed means I know I can't do this without the Holy Spirit.

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Write those two questions somewhere you'll see them. Put them on your phone, post them on your bathroom mirror. Let them reset your posture every morning.

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Because faithful ministry and faithful Christian living is always both, never just one.

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We hope this episode has been helpful in inspiring and equipping you to faithfully serve in whatever area God is calling you.

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None of our service is possible apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who makes all the difference. And the Spirit is given freely to all who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus Christ alone, resting not in our performance but in his finished work, his life, his death, his resurrection.

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If you're not sure that you've been born again, reach out to us at centralchurch.com.

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And check out Central Bible Institute.org to see ways you can get trained and deployed for faithful ministry service.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

And speaking of getting equipped, our premarital mentoring training begins August 23rd, 2026. This is an eight-week class that will train and deploy you to do two-on-two premarital mentoring with couples who are seriously dating or engaged.

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This is an amazing opportunity for you and your spouse to learn how to invest in other couples, making disciples who are equipped to glorify God in their marriages.

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If what we've talked about today has stirred something in you, this is your next step. Head over to central bibleinstitute.org to register.

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Thanks for listening to Off the Sidelines, a CBI podcast.

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And remember, you were not saved to sit, you were saved to serve.