Ep.17-Ephesians 6:12 - Understanding the True Enemy in Today's World

Have you ever wondered why certain conflicts in your life feel so overwhelming? The answer might lie deeper than you think. Ephesians 6:12 reveals a profound truth that can transform how we navigate relationships and challenges: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

This episode dives into the reality of spiritual warfare and how recognizing our true enemy changes everything. When we're hurt or angry with someone we love, remembering this scripture lifts us above the immediate conflict to see the bigger spiritual battle at play. The enemy specifically targets our most precious relationships—marriages, friendships, family bonds—creating division where unity should exist. But here's the good news: God has already secured victory over these dark forces, making us "more than conquerors" through Christ.

We explore practical ways to stand firm against spiritual attacks: filling your mind with truth, holding fast to faith, guarding your heart, walking in peace toward everyone, and memorizing scripture as a spiritual weapon. The most powerful strategy? Love like Jesus and put on the full armor of God. Even when facing disagreements with others, choosing to pray for them, show kindness, and serve them in Jesus' name acknowledges that our battle isn't against people but against spiritual forces. In today's divisive world, this perspective offers healing and hope beyond what we can see. When we rely completely on God, nothing can overcome us—a promise worth holding onto in every circumstance you face.

Subscribe to Food for Thought Faithcast for weekly spiritual encouragement that cuts through confusion and points you toward the peace only Christ can provide. How might approaching your current struggles as spiritual battles change your response today?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, it's B-Rob and it is the Food for Thought
Faithcast, and it is Tuesday,july 22nd, and it is hot outside
, hot outside.
It's hot in the news lately too.
This is crazy.
It's crazy.
A lot of things happening, alot of things happening, a lot

(00:22):
of things happening, a lot ofthings happening.
You've got a lot of thingshappening.
President Trump says BarackObama is guilty of treason, and
we knew.
We knew he spied on the 2016presidency presidency.

(00:44):
He spied on an upcomingpresidential candidate election
who won, which that's never beendone in the history of the
United States.
That's treason.
Do you know what the penaltyfor treason is?
Death?

(01:06):
Anyways, guys, that's the newsfor today.
We're going to get into alittle dedication time.
The verse of the day in theBible app is Ephesians 6, 12.
For our struggle is not againstflesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against theauthorities, against the powers
of this dark world and againstthe spiritual forces of evil in

(01:30):
the heavenly realms.
That's good stuff.
What do you guys think that theBible's actually talking about
here?
Well, here's a short clip andI'm going to let you hear that
We'll come back and talk aboutit, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Have you ever been so angry or hurt by somebody that
you just wanted to hurt them?
You were so angry and it wassomeone you even love, possibly.
And there's this verse that Ialways think of when I feel that
way, and it's Ephesians 6, 12.
For we do not wrestle againstflesh and blood, but against the

(02:16):
rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over
this present darkness, againstthe spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly places.
There is a storyline that ishappening that is so much bigger
than the conflict that you'rein right now.
There's an enemy, and he hatesyou.
In fact, he especially hatespeople that love each other and

(02:37):
people that love God, and so hecomes for them.
And he comes for our dearestrelationships.
He comes for our marriages.
He comes for our dearestrelationships, he comes for our
marriages, he comes for our bestfriends, he comes for our kids.
And these divides get built andwe forget that we're not warring
against flesh and blood.
They are not the enemy, but theconfusion, the distraction, the
lies, the hurting that theenemy thrusts in the middle of

(03:00):
perfectly fine relationships,perfectly great relationships.
But remembering this verse,what it does is it lifts me out
of that conflict and it helps mepray against the darkness that
is coming for us.
It helps me not hate thatperson and remember that they're
angry at me too, they'reconfused by me too, they're hurt
by me too, and that I don'twant the enemy to win.

(03:22):
I don't want the dark cosmicpowers to win in my family, in
my marriage, in my friendships.
I want to fight back, and thebest way we fight back, god says
, is to love, that we love evenour enemies, that we love them
even when they hurt us, that welove them even when it makes no

(03:43):
sense.
It's the way of Jesus and itchanges everything.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Hey guys, it's B-Rob.
We're back.
Love like Jesus, love likeJesus.
What does that mean?
That means you lay down yourlife for your neighbor, your
brother, your enemy, becauseyour battle is won.
Have you ever felt overwhelmedby your circumstances or

(04:08):
wondered why you keep fightingthe same struggle?
You know the definition ofinsanity is doing the same thing
over and over again andexpecting a different result.
Even Jesus taught us that lifeas a Christ follower will be
hard, will be difficult.
We'll have trials.
Our world is filled with brokenpeople, ourselves included, and

(04:32):
we all do broken things becausethere are trials and challenges
in life and tribulations.
Even Adam and Eve decided topursue something good apart from
God.
Their decision allowed evil toenter the world.
This means that there is aspiritual battle that we cannot

(04:53):
see and it impacts our livesevery day.
Guys, when we give our lives toJesus, we join his team, but
this also means that we become atarget of the devil, our enemy,
the evil one.

(05:13):
Every bad thing that happens tous is not necessarily a direct
attack from Satan.
Sometimes it just it's a resultof living in a fallen, broken
world.
It's a result of living in afallen, broken world, but there
is even a spiritual element toevery situation, because the
devil is always trying to drawthe world away from God and he

(05:38):
is looking to destroy people.
So, when struggles happen, thedevil will try to get you to
believe the lies about God, yoursituation yourself, or lies
about other people.
He will try to get you to doubtyour own identity and your
God-given authority.
But God has victory over Satan,who is also fighting you, and

(06:08):
God is always fighting for you.
So, with God, nothing isimpossible.
With God, you can do all things, overcoming evil, because
nothing can overcome God.
And so when we rely on God,nothing can overcome us Nothing.
Let me say that again when werely on God, nothing can

(06:31):
overcome us In every situation.
We are more than conquerors,because God deeply loves us.
This is why we are not to beafraid of the spiritual fight,
because God has already won it.
We need to remind ourselves ofthis truth every day.

(06:56):
The best is yet to come.
I wrote a song back in 2020called the Best is Yet to Come.
In every situation, we have toremind ourselves that the best

(07:16):
is yet to come, because God hasalready won.
We have to remind ourselves ofthis truth daily so that we can
withstand the attacks from theevil one when they come, we have
to put on that armor of God.
Attacks will end, god will win.

(07:41):
Attacks will end, god will win.
So today, fill your mind withthe truth, hold fast to your
faith and guard your heart.
Walk in peace toward everyoneand memorize scriptures so that
you can wield it as a weaponagainst any spiritual attack
that is formed against you.
Let me say that again Walk inpeace and memorize scripture so

(08:10):
that you can wield it as aweapon against any spiritual
attack that formed against youor comes your way.
And no matter what you face,god is already fighting for you
because he is in control and hewill never forsaken you.
He will never leave you.
When you belong to God, you havethe power to subdue, crush and

(08:35):
overthrow your enemy, anythingthe devil throws at you.
God's power makes you more thanjust a conqueror.
So good, so true.
We do have our enemy.
We have a real enemy, but ourenemy is not flesh and blood,

(08:56):
it's not each other.
And when you start to realizethat you start to look at things
differently, always beencouraged, always share your
faith.
The best way to fight backagainst the forces of darkness
is to love like Jesus and put onthat armor of God.

(09:18):
Love like Jesus and put on thatarmor of God.
So today, even if you thinkdifferently than someone else,
make it a point to pray for them, be kind to them, serve them.
Do it all in the name of ourSavior, the highest of high, the

(09:42):
King of kings, jesus.
Do it in his name.
Do everything you do in Jesus'name, for our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, butagainst the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powersof this dark world and against

(10:05):
the spiritual forces of evil inthe heavenly realms.
That's Ephesians 6, 12.
That's the verse of today, sogood.
So, guys, just pause, take a fewdeep breaths.
Even now, listen to thispodcast.
God is with you.

(10:25):
Even now, god is wanting todraw near you.
Colossians 3, verse 15, saysLet the peace of Christ rule in
your hearts.
Three, verse 15, says let thepeace of Christ rule in your
hearts, since, as members of onebody, you are called to peace

(10:55):
and be thankful.
Psalms Nine, verse one I willgive thanks to you, lord, with
all my heart.
I will tell you and I will tellall Of your wonderful deeds.
I will give thanks to you, lord, with all my heart and I will
tell of all your wonderful deeds.
Sorry, got my words mixed up,but that was Psalms nine one.

(11:16):
Guys, I hope this podcast is asmall bit of encouragement to
you.
I know what's going on in theworld.
I know a lot of people arewondering.
They don't know what's true,what's real.
Use discernment and let theHoly ghost tell you.

(11:38):
That's all I'm going to tellyou.
Use discernment and let theHoly Ghost tell you.
Logic is a good thing as well,but, as the verse states,
ephesians 6.12, for our struggleis not against flesh and blood,

(11:58):
but is against the rulers,against the authorities, against
the powers of the dark world,against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powersof the dark world.
Now we have seen the past eightyears, a deep state come to
light that we never even knew.
We never even knew there was adeep state.
We never even knew there was ashadow government.
We never even knew any of thisstuff was going on.

(12:21):
We knew we were slaves to asystem of fake money.
Well, some of you did.
I've been questioning it forsince I was a kid.
But I don't get the whole nineto five work your whole life for

(12:41):
nothing.
I do believe you should workFor what you have and work you
know, that sort of thing.
I mean.
I don't think you should belazy, but I don't think you
should spend most of your timeat work and away from your
family.
I don't think.
I don't think God called men todo that.
God called men to be disciples.

(13:03):
God called men to be disciples.
God called men to be fishermen.
God called men to share thepower of the gospel and the true
word of the gospel.
He did not call you to be aslave for somebody else so they
could be a million millionaireand spend all their time on
vacation and with their families.

(13:23):
Guys, I love you.
This is the Food for Thought,faithcast, and just think about
what I said today.
It's a beautiful day, it's alittle hot outside, but get into
nature.
Get into nature as much as youcan stand it.
It will help your soul and yourspirit.
Guys, I love you.

(13:47):
I'm still looking for a job, soif you guys have any leads or
know anybody with any leads, Ihave a nice big fat resume, all
good, mostly in sales andfinance, but I am very talented
in a lot of different things.

(14:08):
Thank you, jesus, and check outthe new um, the new record I
just dropped.
It's a man camp worship at camplittle light.
It's a re.
It was recorded at man campreunion and, um, it's amazing to
hear all those guys singingalong with me and praising Jesus
.
It is I don't even know how toexplain the feeling of that, but

(14:33):
it's.
There's no better feeling thanletting God use you through
worship.
That is I can honestly say thator whatever message.
Um, I'm sure some pastors canattest to that as well, some
worship leaders.
But, guys, I love you, godbless you.
And don't forget, we've got alink below if you want us to

(14:56):
pray for you, and we would lovefor you to donate or give a gift
of love, a love offering.
That would be amazing.
We are struggling.
It is rough times.
So, with that said, happyTuesday, guys.
I love you.