The Battle We Couldn’t See

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  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. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” - Ephesians 6:10

I started this blog because, originally, I was writing a book. A book on the Armor of God. How we got from that to a blog is kind of a complicated but also kind of not. I think my brain works more in blog format then books. So back to the point.

I’ve been studying it for almost three years now, and throughout that time, I’ve had so many revelations, so many moments of understanding, and so many fresh takeaways from something I thought I already knew.

That’s one of the things I love about the Word of God. You can read the same thing over and over again, and somehow, at just the right moment, the Lord will open your eyes to something you’ve never seen before. I’ve learned in subtle ways, almost without even realizing it at the time. I’ve learned in the fire, while painfully being refined. Through seasons where I didn’t understand what God was doing or why I was walking through what I was walking through. And then there have been moments of absolute thrill and awe - moments where I’ve been completely overwhelmed by the wonder of our incredible Savior and what He did for us on the cross.

The more I’ve studied the Armor of God, the more I’ve realized that it isn’t just a passage of Scripture we read and move on from. It’s something we are called to live out. It’s something we desperately need.

And the story of how I got here isn’t a short one. It’s deeply personal. It’s messy in places. It’s full of things I’m still learning and things I’m still walking through. But it’s also something I have wanted to shout from the rooftops for a very long time. Because when you begin to understand what Jesus has done for you - really understand it - and the connections to why he provided the armor to us and how to use it - it becomes almost impossible to keep quiet about it.

Now, all of that said, life happens. Life gets busy. Things get in the way. And somewhere along the way, I lost some of that zeal. I lost some of the fire I had when I first started down this road. Sometimes it feels easier to shift our gaze away from the Lord’s calling and toward the things of this world. Friendships. Relationships. Sports. Homeschooling. Adventures out in the world. The everyday things that fill our calendars and our minds and our time.

And here’s the thing: so many of those things are good. They can be wonderful gifts that can bring joy and laughter and memories that we will cherish for a lifetime. But even good things can become idols when we allow them to take the place that belongs to God. And I think that’s one of the most dangerous parts of it. It isn’t always the obvious things that pull us away from the Lord.

Sometimes it’s the things we love. Sometimes it’s the things we’ve been given. Sometimes it’s simply becoming so distracted by the life happening around us that we slowly, almost imperceptibly, stop looking toward the One who gave us that life in the first place. And when we do that, it can feel like our armor is slowly being stripped away.

I think these last six or seven months have been some of the most trying for me. I’ve found myself trying to figure out how to get back to what the Lord wanted me doing in the first place. Back to the calling, to the purpose. Back to that place where I was willing to sit still long enough to listen.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay in His will for our lives. Not necessarily because we don’t know what He is asking of us, but because our flesh makes it so easy to choose something else. When we aren’t putting off our flesh, it can feel fine in the moment. That’s the deception of it. In the moment, it doesn’t always feel like we’re making some huge, life-altering decision to walk away from God. Sometimes it just feels like we’re tired. Or busy. Or distracted. Or that we’ll get back to it tomorrow.

And then tomorrow becomes the next day.

And the next day becomes the next week.

Until suddenly, we realize we’ve been looking everywhere except toward Him.

But then the quiet comes. And in that quiet, that pit settles in my stomach.

That feeling that something isn’t right.

That feeling that I’ve wandered further than I meant to.

And I know. I know I was made for so much more than that.

More than simply going through the motions. Then allowing the distractions of this world to consume me. More than living comfortably when the Lord has called me to something deeper. And maybe that’s why I keep coming back to the Armor of God. Because the armor isn’t about pretending that the battle doesn’t exist. It’s about being prepared for it. It’s about knowing who we are fighting for, knowing where our strength comes from, and understanding that we were never meant to walk into battle unprotected and alone.

So, all of this is really just a very long introduction to the next series of posts that will be coming to the blog. A series I’ve been carrying with me for years. One I started writing before I even fully understood why. It that has taken me through some of the hardest, most refining, most beautiful seasons of my life.

The Armor of the Lord. Ephesians 6:10-20

And before we get into the armor itself - before we talk about the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit - I want to start at the beginning.

I want to tell you how I got here in the first place. Because sometimes the journey to understanding the armor is just as important as the armor itself.

So, let’s go back to where this all started.

Backstory

It was a warm evening in San Diego. We’d been staying in our rental house for about a week, slowly settling into what would become an extended stay while my husband was in town for work.

Almost immediately, something felt off.

Everyone in the house was having bad dreams. No one was sleeping well. At first, it made sense - we were in a new place, far from everything and everyone we loved. But these didn’t feel like ordinary nightmares. They felt targeted. Intentional.

By that point in my walk with the Lord, my eyes were opening to the ways the enemy attacked my family. It usually showed up through sickness or nightmares. We were solid in our church back home and growing consistently in our faith for about two years; it had challenged us to dig deeper in the word and seek the Lord more and more. But this trip - this distance from our community was about to become one of the biggest spiritual tests our family had faced. So the nightmares started. Nothing like we had ever known or seen before. They were violent, terrifying dreams. The kind that when you wake up, you still feel you're in it.

We tried everything we knew to do. We prayed more. We blessed the house. We slept with Psalm 91 open in every room. We knew we had authority because the God we worship is bigger than anything. We knew none of it had permission to stay. And yet - they kept coming back.

One night around 3 a.m., after an intense episode, my 8-year-old came into my room sobbing. She described a dream that didn’t even sound like a dream - it sounded like a warning. Something about it sent chills through me. She explained it between gasped sobs as feeling so real and how every time she closed her eyes; it was all she saw. No one slept that night. That was the moment I realized something deeper was happening.

My kids didn’t know how to stop bad things from coming in the night. And if I was honest, I didn’t really know either. They were vulnerable in the hours when I wasn’t there, reminding them of truth and authority. And in that moment, I wasn’t even sure how firmly I was standing in it myself.

Night after night, that house was full of torment, bad dreams, intrusive thoughts, and an overwhelming sense of unease. My husband was working swing shift and I would stay until he got home just so that I could be on guard for my family until he arrived. Night after night, I prayed for discernment and understanding.

I was exhausted.

So, one night, I asked the Holy Spirit a simple question:

“What else can we do?”

Then one night, my son came pattering in the room around 2 am.

He tugged me awake and I remember taking a big sigh before grabbing him to pull him into bed with us.

"No, mama," he said.

I have to tell you this. I was not prepared for the words that came out of his mouth.

"I had a dream, but it wasn't scary. Our house was a haunted house and Satan was the owner. There was an old lady that came and told us that it was time to get out, but someone trapped us. Satan wouldn't let us leave. We had to call the police, but they couldn't help us because they couldn't see Satan, so they just left. Then that lady came back, and she had a man with her. He looked at Satan and said 'John 14' and then he house turned normal and happy again."

I immediately opened my Bible to John 14. I had carried this passage with me for years, but it wasn’t until that night that I began to understand what it was saying. The deeper connection would come later, but this was the pivotal moment when I realized we weren’t simply dealing with fear. We were in a battle we couldn’t see, and in that moment, it felt like we were losing.

It didn’t seem to matter that I was a believer. If anything, it felt like it made us more of a target.

So, I opened my Bible and began to read aloud. At first, I simply read random passages starting at John 14. I spent that night praying and asking God for clarity. As I continued reading, something began to shift. I kept coming across words and ideas like stand firm, spiritual powers, and authorities. Then I saw it clearly: the very things under attack in our home - our peace, our minds, our hearts - were all addressed in Scripture.

And then I saw the answer.

The armor.

From that night on, everything changed.

Each night before bed, my kids, my husband, my sister, and I would “put on” the armor of God together. It was simple, but it was powerful.

We wrapped ourselves in truth like a belt.
We put on the breastplate of righteousness.
We placed the gospel of peace on our feet.
We took up the shield of faith.
We guarded our minds with the helmet of salvation.
And we took up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

The more I understood the armor, the more my son’s dream began to make sense.

Scripture teaches that the spiritual realm is not something we can see with our physical eyes. It also tells us that Satan blinds the eyes of unbelievers, and that darkness must flee at the name of Jesus.

But it wasn’t until nearly two years later that I truly understood something deeper.

John 14 is Jesus explaining the very foundation of the armor directly to His followers.

John 14 was the armor before it was purchased at the cross. It was preparation for what was coming.

And, of course, the only thing powerful enough to drive out what was attacking this house was Jesus Himself. And the only thing capable of keeping it away was what He had already given us through His life, His words, and ultimately, His sacrifice.

The armor was no longer just a concept.
It was provision.

And it worked.

The nightmares stopped completely. The bedtime battles were officially over.

My children began having sweet dreams again and even moments that felt like glimpses of something holy.

We still joke today that that little 900-square-foot house was the most protected place in all of San Diego.

As time went on, I felt a gentle conviction.

Yes, I was using the armor.
Yes, I believed in its power.

But I didn’t fully understand it.

I could recite it, but I couldn’t fully explain it.

And I realized something important: Many believers know the armor.
Far fewer understand how to actually live in it. Even more are unaware that they are in a spiritual battle at all.

Scripture tells us clearly that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces. We are called to stand, but we have to choose to stand.

And that raises the question:

How? How do we walk in confidence in what God has given us? What does it actually look like to “stand firm”?
How do we use each piece of the armor not just individually, but together?

These questions led me deeper into the Word.

And what I found is this:

The armor is everywhere.

It’s woven throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.
It’s seen in the lives of God’s people.
It’s spoken through the Psalms.
It’s reflected in Proverbs.
It’s prophesied in Isaiah.
And it’s fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

My heart is to bring the armor to life not just as something we recite, but as something we understand, live in, and rely on daily through the Holy Spirit.

Because this battle is real. It’s constant. And while it may be invisible, the enemy is not.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we step into that reality. But it does not leave us defenseless. We are equipped. We are covered. We are given everything we need to stand.

The armor is not just protection - it’s a way of living.

It’s a mindset rooted in truth. A life grounded in Christ.

I’ll be honest, there have been many moments where I questioned whether I was qualified to teach this to others.

But I was reminded of this truth: God’s power is made perfect in weakness.

I am still learning. This is still a journey. But the Word of God is alive and active. It is our weapon, our foundation, and our source of life.

So get ready for a deep dive into the Armor of God and all that it entails.

Thanks for reading!

C