Nicole’s e-Pistle “Spiritual Warfare”

July 15, 2026

Greetings, Dear Ones!

I had a friend call me “Dear One” in a text yesterday, and it made me smile… partially because she’s younger than I am, but mostly because of the warmth I felt behind it. I want to reiterate how much your love and support have meant to me this week. Nonetheless, this is one of the most trying times I have ever experienced. (As a sidebar, I will not share the details of my family’s situation on this platform, since it is posted publicly, but that will not hinder your ability to read my thoughts for today.)

As I entered my office this morning, I happened to notice the two boxes of books from storage that I brought in last week, intending to sort them and place them on my bookshelves. Directly on top of one of the boxes, I found one entitled, “SpiritLed Promises for Spiritual Warfare.” Now, I have numerous volumes with similar themes from the early 2000s, when “spiritual warfare” was a hot topic in contemporary Christian circles, although I never quite felt comfortable with the term or its implications.

The overall idea, as best as I can describe it, is that there are forces unseen to us which are at war with one another. There are angels on the side of God and truth and light, and there are demons on the side of Satan and deceit and darkness. (Enter the mental picture of the angel and devil on opposing shoulders.) These forces are at war, and the prize is human souls. When the devil wins, human beings are tricked into pursuing a flashy, false sense of happiness. When the good side wins, human beings experience true joy and peace. I personally think this way of seeing the spiritual world could make a light-hearted movie plot akin to the film “Bedazzled,” which was released in 2000 and starred Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley, but I do not think it is strong theology. In other words, I do not think God is sitting playing chess with Satan, knowing that sometimes he’ll win and sometimes he’ll lose.

However, I’ve been in the midst of a different kind of spiritual warfare this week. Rather than some cartoonish play for my soul between the Creator and a fallen angel, this is something that hits at the heart of what it is to be human – to wrestle with doubt and fear while at the same time clinging to hope and joy. While I still do not love the terminology “warfare,” the mind can at times feel like a battlefield. No matter what the size or scope of difficult times that come our way, staying positive is not a passive concept – we have to be intentional about it. It helps to remind ourselves that we are loved by God and others, that we are not alone, and that we have a support system.

I noticed as I was flipping through the little book from my pile that I had inscribed a note on the opening page. This was a book I purchased for my husband years ago when he was dealing with an obstinate coworker on a daily basis. I took some of the scriptural messages of encouragement and hope, wrote each one on a small piece of paper, and folded each one into an origami crane. I placed them in a jar on his desk, so he could pull one out and read it whenever he needed to be uplifted.

So, friends… dear ones… whether you are living in a state of joy, contentment and peace, or whether you are living through your own time of spiritual warfare, take heart. You are loved. You are seen. You are not alone.

I’ll leave you with an uplifting scene from that silly movie “Bedazzled” that I mentioned earlier. After Brendan Fraser’s character sold his soul to the devil, who took the form of a gorgeous woman with a British accent, he realizes that none of what he hoped to achieve worked out for him. The scene opens with that very woman throwing him into jail, where he meets an unexpected cell mate. Spoiler alert – the cell mate is God, the Creator himself, in the form of a common gangster. Take a few minutes to watch and remember that whatever you feel you are battling today, you’ve got a really good Friend that will always be there when you need him!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7qRS6l_Mo

Blessings and peace,