You’re in a Battle—Whether You Know It or Not

You are in a battle, whether you realize it or not.
In this episode of Behind The Mike Podcast, host Mike Stone uncovers the often invisible—but very real—realm of spiritual warfare. Drawing from Scripture, real-life examples, and the powerful imagery in Ephesians 6, Mike equips you with the tools you need to stand firm against the enemy's attacks.

📖 You’ll learn:
🗡️ What spiritual warfare looks like in everyday life
🗡️ How the enemy uses doubt, shame, and distraction to attack believers
🗡️ What Satan can and cannot do
🗡️ How to fight back using the full Armor of God
🗡️ Practical tips to stay grounded in truth, prayer, and godly community

🔔 If you've ever felt discouraged, distracted, or defeated… this episode will encourage and equip you to fight from victory, not for it.

✅ Don’t forget to Subscribe, Leave a Review, and Share this episode with someone who needs encouragement.

📧 Contact Mike or share feedback: Mike@BehindTheMike.net

Visit https://www.behindthemike.net

#SpiritualWarfare #ChristianPodcast #ArmorOfGod #BehindTheMike #FaithOverFear #BibleTruth #OvercomingEvil #JesusWins #VictoryInChrist #ChristianEncouragement

⏱️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Introduction: The Overlooked Reality of Spiritual Warfare
01:07 – Two Big Questions: What is Spiritual Warfare and How Do We Win?
01:52 – How Frank Peretti Opened My Eyes
02:42 – Common Signs of Daily Spiritual Battles
03:13 – Ephesians 6: The Invisible War
03:43 – The Armor of God: A Breakdown
06:37 – How Satan Works in Today’s World
08:45 – What Satan Can Do: Temptation, Accusation, Deception, Distraction
10:15 – What Satan Can’t Do: He Cannot Win
11:32 – 5 Practical Ways to Fight Back
13:38 – Memorizing Scripture & Living a Life of Prayer
14:57 – Final Encouragement: You Are More Than a Conqueror
15:30 – Share, Review, and Stay in the Fight

Transcript

0:00

Hey friends, welcome back to Behind the Mike Podcast. If you have any any topics that you would like to discuss on Behind the Mike Podcast, please email me at Mike@BehindTheMike.net . I would love to hear from you. That goes along with any feedback. I would love to hear what your thoughts are and your feedback on the show. What you'd like to see. Well, today we're going to talk about a topic man I think gets overlooked a lot, and we can see a lot of things in our world today that are being affected by this topic, and that is spiritual warfare. You might not see it, you might not always feel it, but it's happening. It's happening in your mind. It's happening in your home and it's happening in your relationships. And the truth is, you're already in the fight, whether you realize it or not. The question is, are you aware? Are you fighting back or are you being picked off by the enemy that you don't even realize? So today we're going to answer two big questions. One, what does spiritual warfare look like today? And two, how can we fight and win? So let's jump in. I believe it was back in the 90s that I read a really amazing book that gave me a perspective on this topic of spiritual warfare, like I'd never thought of before. And that was by reading the book by Frank Peretti, This Present Darkness. And it it really helped me to see what is happening in our physical world, and also behind the scenes of what's happening in the spiritual world, because both are very real. We just don't see what's happening in the spiritual world. So picture this you wake up in the morning and before you even get out of bed, your mind is flooded with thoughts like, man, I didn't sleep well today. It's going to be a rough day or you failed yesterday. You're going to fail again today or something like why bother praying God isn't listening anyway? Friends, that is warfare. Or maybe you're scrolling Instagram or TikTok or Facebook and the highlight reels make you feel so insecure, bitter and envious. That's warfare. Or maybe you sit down and read your Bible and suddenly you remember I forgot to send that email. I need to take the trash out. There's laundry to finish, or I need to add this to the grocery list. That's warfare.

In Ephesians 6: 2:45

12, Paul writes, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We see some of this, very vivid in Scripture and, I want to make sure that you understand this is not about bad moods or tough circumstances. It is an invisible war that we are fighting. And it's personal.

1 Peter 5: 3:19

8 says, be alert and and have sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. That's real friends. So how do we fight? Well, Paul gives us an incredible picture in Ephesians 6, the armor of God. If you grew up in church, you know this picture. A Roman soldier with a shield, raised breastplate, gleaming sword at his side, helmet strapped on, ready for battle. Now Paul says, that's how you and I should be spiritually dressed every day. So let's go through those first. The belt of truth. A belt holds everything together, right? Without truth, nothing else stays in place. In a world that's drowning in misinformation and deception and half truths, you need the unchanging truth of God's Word to hold you. Study. For example, when you hear you'll never change, you counter it with I am a new creation in Christ,

2 Corinthians 5: 4:31

17. That's the belt breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate protects your heart, your affections, and your identity, not your own righteousness, but Christ's righteousness covers you. So, for example, you lose your temper with your kids and Satan whispers, you're a terrible parent, but you remember, Christ's righteousness covers your imperfection. His grace meets you right there. The shoes of the gospel of peace. Roman soldiers had strong shoes that allowed them to stand firm on any terrain. The gospel gives us peace, and it equips us to carry that peace into a chaotic world. For think about maybe at work, the gossip and the negativity swirl around you, but you can stand firm and even bring peace because of the gospel shield of faith. The enemy is constantly launching arrows, fiery arrows, doubts, fears, accusations. Faith lifts the shield that extinguishes them. Think about when anxiety hits about money, or your health, or about your future. Faith says God is my provider. He's got this. Then we have the helmet of salvation. The helmet guards your mind, your thoughts, your identity in Christ. So when Satan whispers, you are so unworthy, you remember I'm saved, I'm loved, and I'm his. And then the sword of the spirit. This is the only offensive weapon that's listed, and it's the Word of God itself. We see this when Jesus was tempted by Satan. He didn't argue. He didn't negotiate. He said, it is written and he quoted Scripture. That's what we need to do. Spiritual warfare today doesn't always look dramatic. It looks like the temptation to compromise your integrity just a small thing. No one will know. It looks like the discouragement that makes you pull back from prayer because you think God's tired of hearing from you. It looks like the distractions that push your quiet time to later and then later never comes. For example, you sit down with your Bible and suddenly you get flooded with reminders, texts, emails, random chores. You forgot an hour later, you realize you didn't even open up your Bible. For those of you that are believers, we we understand. In fact, this last episode we talked about what happens when we die and, you know, we we understand that we have this physical body that we all recognize one another through the physical body, but we also know there's the soul and we don't always recognize the soul. Right? That's the part of us that's being attacked. So we don't always see it. We don't always know it. So remember when those things creep up in your mind while you're praying, while you're reading God's Word, or just while you're doing something during the day and all of a sudden you're sidetracked, you're discouraged. That's not just busyness. That's a battle. Now, before we talk about fighting against the spiritual warfare, fighting against the enemy, let's let's be very clear about something here. I want to answer the question, what exactly are Satan's weapons and what can't he do? Some people underestimate him and others overestimate him. But here's the truth things that Satan can do, he can tempt us. We all know that started in the Garden of Eden and, in the wilderness with Jesus. Satan likes to twist the truth and he offers alternatives that look good on the outside, but they lead to destruction. For example, how about you deserve this? No one will know. Just this once won't hurt. How many times have we fallen for those? Another thing he can do is accuse us.

Revelation 12: 9:13

10 calls him the accuser of the brethren. He reminds you of your past and he tries to paralyze you with shame. Things like you're not good enough to serve after what you did. God could never use you again. How many times have we fallen for those lies? He deceives? Jesus said, Satan is the father of lies. And John 844, he plants false narratives about God, about you, and about others. Another thing that he can do is he can distract us. We're all guilty of this. I'm sure he fills our minds and our calendar with urgent things, so you can never get around to the most important things again. That's all. Tactics of the enemy. Now here's the important part to what Satan cannot do. Well, Satan can't force you to sin. We just talked about temptation and how he does that, and he does it very well. But the choice is always yours. No temptation has seized you except what is come to man. But God is faithful. You will not be tempted beyond what you can bear. And, Satan cannot know your thoughts. This is an important one. Satan can't read your mind. He can study your patterns. He can see your habits. He can see where your weak spots are. But he's not God. He doesn't know your inner life unless you act on it or speak it. So be careful what you say. You think about how you can observe people and figure things out. Well, Satan is a master at watching you and knowing where your weak spots are. Another thing, Satan cannot control you if you belong to Christ. Like if you're saved, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. He can attack you, but he can't possess you and he can't own you. Satan cannot win. We already know who wins.

Colossians 2: 11:21

15 says, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in the cross. The war is already decided. Satan is a defeated enemy and he's just scrapping and fighting for everything he can possibly get. And he wants to take you down. Remember that. So how do you fight? Well, well, here are five practical steps that you can take today. First of all, stay grounded in Scripture. A lot of times I'll write verses on post-it notes or note cards. Put them in your car, on your mirror. Arm yourself with truth that you can draw from when the lies come. Memorized Scripture number two guard your mind and your heart. Ask yourself, is this strengthening my soul or weakening my soul? When you watch, when you listen, when you scroll, be aware of his devices. Number three make prayer your lifestyle. Think about a soldier's communication with headquarters. Constant updates and instructions. Prayer keeps you aligned with your commander. Number four don't fight alone. Find godly friends or small a small group who can pray with you and for you. In ancient battle, soldiers locked shields side by side. They didn't fight alone. And number five, stand firm and resist. This is a comforting scripture from James four seven. It says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. When you stand in Christ, he runs. Scripture talks about praying without ceasing, and I think that I've maybe only experienced that really the way I think God intended it. Once in my lifetime, I had a job that I didn't have to think a whole lot. It was more manual writing numbers down and things, and I had a lot of time to think. And so I had a stack of of index cards with the ring binder on it, and I had written down scripture with the verse, the chapter, and I would sit and in between quick little changes and equipment, I would I would look at a verse and I would memorize it, and I would just sit and rehearse that over and over and over and over until I got it. And it really didn't take that long. I'm not great with memory, but it really didn't take that long for me to memorize that whole stack of scripture. It's amazing how God can recall those things and you bring them back when you need them. So spend time in prayer. Spend time memorizing scripture because God gives us that to hide it away in our heart. There may be a day when we have our Scripture, our Bibles taken away from us. We need to have that hidden in our hearts so that we can always fall back on God's Word. So here's what I want you to come away with today. We're in a battle, but you're not powerless. The enemy is real. But so is your armor. The fight is tough, but victory is secure in Jesus this week. When you feel tempted, recognize it. When you feel distracted, pause and pray. When you feel discouraged, remind yourself who's you are and remember this you are not alone. You're loved, you're equipped, and you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Thanks for spending time with me again today. If this episode encouraged you or equipped you, would you share it with a friend? Leave a review. It helps so much. We want to get the word out about God's Word and who you are in him. Until next time. Suit up. Stay alert and keep following Jesus.