Latest / Arise Women of God / What Are Examples of Spiritual Warfare?
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, my friend, have you ever wondered what are examples of spiritual warfare in actual day to day mom life?
- 0:07Because you're trying your best to run a peaceful home, suddenly your kids are melting down, your schedule is a chaotic mess, and everyone seems to be walking on eggshells.
- 0:19Ugh.
- 0:19This is difficult because when life gets heavy, it's hard to tell if you're just dealing with a bad attitude or a literal struggle.
- 0:26Strategic ambush from the enemy.
- 0:28Well, stay tuned.
- 0:29You are in the right place.
- 0:30And by the end of today's episode, you'll know how to spot the hidden footprints of the adversary in your household, how to break the cycle of family division, and five simple real world strategies you can use to reclaim
- 0:45your peace today.
- 0:47Stay tuned.
- 0:48Ordinary women, Extraordinary faith.
- 0:52When God calls, we say yes.
- 0:58Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
- 1:02I'm your host, Tamara K.
- 1:04Anderson, and today I'm thrilled to be back with my wonderful guest, Lamyra Wheelwright.
- 1:09She's a librarian, a ministry leader, and a mother navigating the front lines with a preteen, a teen, and a college student.
- 1:19And today, we are mapping out three huge tactical truths as we tackle what are the examples of spiritual warfare?
- 1:27First is the blueprint of household division, looking at how the enemy uses everyday stress and comparison to drive a wedge between family members.
- 1:38Second, the five hidden battlefields, where we share real life examples of spiritual attacks in our schedules, in our homes, in our health, and in our schools, as well as their solutions.
- 1:51And finally, the safe space solution, how to sacrifice the noise, Put down the screens, and draw your family back into the heart of God.
- 2:01Before we dive into Lamyra's powerful examples, we have to understand that family division is one of the oldest plays in the adversary's playbook.
- 2:11If you look at Genesis chapter 37, we see a textbook example of spiritual warfare in a family.
- 2:19Remember Joseph of Egypt?
- 2:20Yeah.
- 2:21His family, which was completely fractured by favoritism that bred envy.
- 2:26Bitter communication among his brothers that got so toxic that Joseph's own flesh and blood literally turned on him, plotting his destruction and selling him into slavery.
- 2:37The enemy loves to target the home because if he can divide a family, he can weaken the structural shield over each of us.
- 2:45But what does this war look like on an ordinary Friday in 2026?
- 2:49Listen, as Lemyra shares her two first major example, school overwhelm and the addiction to being busy, along with her brilliant strategies to counter them.
- 3:00So some of the things that I've seen, especially recently with, like, all the stuff going on one Is overwhelmed in school, Whether it's the end of the year testing or just grades, trying to keep it, keep up but
- 3:13falling behind, avoiding the work and how that look is.
- 3:17A lot of times you'll see isolation.
- 3:18You'll see them getting on screens all the time.
- 3:21They're really combative, dragging their feet.
- 3:25And usually there can be other things going on there.
- 3:27Like recently we discovered, hey, we have a couple kids that need some medication help.
- 3:32And we're like, oh, that.
- 3:34Like, night and day difference.
- 3:36But it can turn into spiritual warfare if it's not taken care of or treated.
- 3:41But overwhelm.
- 3:42And we all feel that.
- 3:43Even in work, I was getting so overwhelmed, and then I'm avoiding doing the things that would take me five minutes, but instead it takes me three weeks.
- 3:51Right?
- 3:52So that's an example.
- 3:54Another one is being addicted to stress and busy.
- 3:59Sometimes we think that that's a badge.
- 4:01Like, oh, my kids got to be involved in music and sports and this activity and this.
- 4:07And.
- 4:08And we go, go, go, go, go, go.
- 4:09And we don't know how to stop.
- 4:11And then when we do stop, we either crash or something.
- 4:14But it's like we always have to fill our docket with things.
- 4:17We have to fill our schedule instead of connecting with each other and taking that time.
- 4:22And the adversary will do that because it keeps us from connecting as a family and connecting to God.
- 4:28We'll just be so busy, so tired, and then we can't sleep.
- 4:32Right.
- 4:33How do you invite God in to help you counter those situations when they arise?
- 4:39If it's with my kids, the first thing I.
- 4:42I'm doing is I'm on my knees.
- 4:45And sometimes this.
- 4:46This sounds crazy, but sometimes it's on social media that I'm praying to know what.
- 4:52And suddenly an account pops up about.
- 4:56It might be a counselor or a therapist for teens and for parents on how to handle situations.
- 5:03The other thing I do is when.
- 5:05When it comes to school, I realize, like, with my kids, they need some strategies.
- 5:10And instead of me saying, well, you gotta go get that done, I say, hey, let's work together and get this done.
- 5:16And I make time for them.
- 5:18And I might say no to something else.
- 5:21For me, that time, I might do a little sacrificing.
- 5:24When it comes to being addicted to stress, this was a personal thing.
- 5:27I literally had to say no to things.
- 5:30It's time to say no to book club.
- 5:31I'm a librarian.
- 5:32I love to read books.
- 5:33But I had to say no to book club because it was just piling it on my Plate, right.
- 5:40I needed to say no to my phone in my room.
- 5:43I'm going to put my phone in the kitchen so that at night I can connect with God before bed instead of falling asleep to playing that silly game or reading something.
- 5:57But instead I'm going to pray and I'm going to journal before I love.
- 6:01How practical Lamyra is.
- 6:03Sometimes spiritual warfare looks like putting your phone in the kitchen at night so you can actually talk to God before your head hits the pillow.
- 6:12But the enemy doesn't stop with our schedules.
- 6:14He aggressively targets our physical bodies and our social circles.
- 6:19He loves to use physical exhaustion, shaming, identity blurring thoughts in our minds or comparison at school to breed bullying and panic attacks in our own kids.
- 6:31It's exactly what the apostle Peter warned us about when he said we are living in a fallen world and shouldn't be blindsided by the friction.
- 6:40In First Peter, chapter 4, verse 12, he says, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you.
- 6:51It isn't strange, my friend.
- 6:53Now Lamyra is going to share how she handles the warfare of negative body image, school drama and community gossip.
- 7:01And that leads to my third one, which is health.
- 7:04Like an example of that spiritual warfare is we're not taking care of ourselves, we're not getting sleep, we're not exercising.
- 7:12And then that turns into, I'm going to eat my emotions because I'm so stressed.
- 7:16I'm raiding the pantry that might only have fruit snacks in it, but I'm raiding the pantry, I'm eating those emotions.
- 7:23And then I'm like telling myself, man, I've got fat legs or I'm ugly or I hear, and I'm hearing this from my kids too, oh, I'm just not skinny enough or I need to go to the gym, I
- 7:38need to do this and that spiritual warfare attack on ourselves.
- 7:42And then when it comes to the eating, huh, maybe we need to change what's in my pantry.
- 7:48Or maybe I need to take a walk and ask my kids or my husband, hey, let's go take a walk after school.
- 7:55Let's walk home.
- 7:56Let's walk and let's do a walk and talk.
- 7:58Those are some of our favorites.
- 8:01My husband and I as a walk and talk.
- 8:03Another one I see is the social interactions that we tend at home.
- 8:08Suddenly they are criticizing everybody around them and they're using, they're calling people names or saying something and I'm like, wait a minute.
- 8:16And then I turn around and find out that there's some bullying going on at school, right?
- 8:21Or there is some girlfriend drama going on with girls and friends and, and going, oh, wait a minute, so we need to talk that out.
- 8:32And so what does that look like for my, for my family, it's panic attacks and kids literally throwing up at school.
- 8:38They're not sick, but their body is sick.
- 8:41Trying to keep them away from it.
- 8:44And when it comes to social interactions with my kids, it's really helping them find strategies.
- 8:50Going to the school with them, talking to a counselor, talking to their teacher, going to bat with them and praying together with them to love their enemies.
- 8:59Praying for those people that are hurting them.
- 9:02And that's hard because no kid wants to pray for their enemy.
- 9:07And so that's another example.
- 9:09And then the last one I see happens a lot in my extended family or even not even just in my family, but in a community or in a congregation.
- 9:20You see people who are upset or hurt by the actions of somebody else.
- 9:25And so there's a lot of gossiping going on or there is a lot of victimization that's happening about, well, nobody ever cares about my opinion or they're saying all of this stuff about me, or it's really their grief
- 9:44is turning to gossiping and hurting others.
- 9:48And then when it comes to gossiping, this is big, I think, because sometimes we think that gossiping is listening or venting or helping.
- 9:58But when gossiping becomes gossiping is when somebody comes to us and they're venting and then we turn around to somebody else and tell them, can you believe that?
- 10:09They just told me all of this is happening.
- 10:11Did you know this was happening in their life?
- 10:13But instead I listen and I say, wow, that's a lot.
- 10:17I'm so sorry this is happening to you.
- 10:19And guess what?
- 10:20It stops with me.
- 10:21Or I ask them, hey, did you know if you talk to this person, they might be able to help you with that, you know, but I'm not taking it on and I'm not sharing that.
- 10:31Wow, what a powerful, authoritative stance for a mother.
- 10:35When you know what spiritual warfare looks like, you can finally stop fighting your family and start fighting for them.
- 10:43If you are ready to identify the enemy's footprints in your own household and want a step by step guide to help build an impenetrable shield over your children, we want to give you our Free a Mother Spiritual Defense
- 10:55Guide.
- 10:56Six empowering steps to fortify home and family.
- 11:00And it's free at the link below.
- 11:02When you open your guide, turn straight to step number three, Mastering discernment.
- 11:06Where we map out the exact questions you can ask the moment the atmosphere shifts in a room, along with a checklist of the subtle indicators of darkness like sudden heaviness, avoidant behavior, and division so you can confidently catch
- 11:23the enemy's tools before they ever take root in your home.
- 11:27You, my friend, are a warrior of light and you have heaven backed power to protect your camp.
- 11:33May you stand by Jesus as He stands by you, and until next time, may you arise.
- 11:39Do it God's way.
- 11:40God strong.
- 11:42If today's episode helped you feel a little closer to God, please like and subscribe.
- 11:47It helps us grow and ensures Heaven's whispers.
- 11:50Stay at the top of your feed whenever you need them most.