What Does Spiritual Warfare Feel Like?
Sep 29, 2026Show Notes Summary
Have you ever woken up with a suffocating knot of dread in your chest and wondered, what does spiritual warfare feel like in the middle of everyday motherhood? If you often feel like you are drowning in an inch of water over minor messes or feel utterly alone in a crowded room, you are not crazy—you are simply feeling the friction of the spiritual battlefield! In this deeply honest and validating episode of the Arise Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson wraps up the Spiritual Warfare series by pulling back the curtain on how an attack physically and emotionally manifests in our daily routines.
We dive into Isaiah 61 and Luke 13 to expose the "spirit of heaviness" that leaves us feeling bent over, discouraged, and defeated before our feet even hit the floor. Tamara shares highly relatable stories of toddler chaos and diaper blowouts to illustrate how the adversary weaponizes our exhaustion to create artificial panic and perfectionism.
You will also learn how to break the painful trap of maternal isolation fueled by social media comparison. Tune in to learn how to shake off the enemy's heavy cloak, claim the garment of praise, and let our Lord Jesus Christ loose the invisible burdens keeping you bowed down!
Episode Takeaways
- The Spirit of Heaviness (Isaiah 61 & Luke 13): Waking up with a mysterious gloom or dread is often a direct attack. The enemy wants to keep you "bent over" beneath an invisible, exhausting weight. Trade this heaviness for the garment of praise through worship music, scripture, and prayer!
- Drowning in an Inch of Water: Spiritual warfare often feels like double pressure—outward chaos matched by sudden, irrational panic. The adversary pushes your frantic perfectionism button over minor messes (like an empty wipes container) to make the storm look impossible.
- The Isolation Trap (Psalm 142): The enemy whispers that no one understands you and that you are completely on your own, weaponizing social media highlight reels. Defeat this isolation by turning your love upward to God, and then outward to encourage another sister.
Reflection Questions
- Have you ever woken up with an unexplained "knot of dread" and realized later it was a spiritual attack? How can you proactively put on the "garment of praise" tomorrow morning?
- What is one "artificial deadline" or unrealistic perfectionist expectation you can let go of today to stop the feeling of drowning in an inch of water?
- When you feel isolated or alone in your maternal struggles, who is one person God might be prompting you to reach out to and encourage?
Resources Mentioned
Free Resource: A Woman's Guide to Spiritual Warfare Get our free A Mother's Spiritual Defense Guide: 6 Empowering Steps to Fortify Home & Family downloadable pdf here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/A-Mothers-Spiritual-Defense-Guide
Host
Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson
Transcript
Tamara K Anderson
00:00:00.400 - 00:11:55.130
Hey, my friend, have you ever wondered what does spiritual warfare actually feel like in the middle of everyday motherhood?
Because perhaps you wake up with a suffocating knot of dread in your chest before your feet even hit the floor.
You feel like you're drowning in an inch of water over minor messes, or you feel utterly alone in a crowded room.
This can be a heavy place to be.
But don't worry, you're in the right place.
And by the end of today's episode, you'll know how to identify three distinct feelings of an attack, how to trade the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise, and how our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ unlooses the invisible burdens keeping you bowed down.
Let's dive in Ordinary women Extraordinary faith When God calls, we say yes.
Hello, and welcome back to the Arise Women of God podcast.
I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and today we are wrapping up our Spiritual Warfare series by getting raw and honest about what the battle of spiritual warfare actually feels like in our bodies, our emotions, and our daily routines.
But first, let's begin with that mysterious heavy morning fog in our brains.
Have you ever had a morning where you woke up with a heavy knot of dread sitting right on your chest before your feet even hit the floor?
No bills were overdue, no family emergency was happening, yet an oppressive cloud of gloom was suffocating the feeling in your heart.
It isn't very fun, is it?
Over the years, I have learned that whenever I wake up feeling off or not like myself, I'm under spiritual attack.
My dear sister, the adversary knows what you are capable of when you are anchored in God's peace, and he wants to stop you from following the Savior's example to go about doing good.
So he floods your mind with swirls of inadequacy.
You don't matter.
What you are doing doesn't count.
You're already behind.
Do those mind swirls sound familiar?
It's not just you.
Scripture gives this heavy cloak a specific name.
In Isaiah 61:3, the Lord promises to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
The enemy tries to drape a literal spirit of heaviness over your shoulder, sometimes like a lead coat.
Look at the woman in Luke 13:10, 16, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity.
For 18 years she was bent completely double and could in no wise lift herself up.
Her eyes were forced downward to the dirt.
She walked in a constant physical posture of defeat.
When religious leaders complained that Jesus healed her on the Sabbath, Christ pulled back the spiritual curtain and exposed the root cause in verse 16.
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo these 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day Satan had bound her.
That is exactly what spiritual warfare feels like for a Christian mom.
Feeling bent over beneath an invisible exhausting weight where your eyes are locked on the dirt of your flaws.
You can't lift that weight through mortal willpower alone.
You don't cure it by trying harder.
The cure is coming straight to the feet of Jesus Christ.
When you feel that morning gloom, flip the switch with God's help.
First, pray and cast out those thoughts of worthlessness and discouragement allowed in the name of Jesus Christ.
And then second, fill your soul with light, put on uplifting Christian worship music, open your scriptures, speak gratitude aloud, and trade that heavy coat for the garment of praise.
A second major indicator of spiritual warfare is that terrifying sensation of drowning in an inch of water.
It happens when we are tired, running on, impling, juggling too much, or at certain hormonal times of the month, right, ladies?
We're already depleted.
And then something objectively tiny happens and it becomes the absolute straw that breaks the camel's back.
Let's look at Psalm 69:1 and 2.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul.
I sink deep in the mire where there is no standing.
I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me.
And in 2nd Corinthians 7:5, Paul describes the squeeze.
Our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side without.
There were fightings within.
There were fears.
That is the double pressure.
Mother's face outward chaos in our home matched by sudden irrational panic on the inside.
I remember those days so vividly when my children were small.
You walk in to change a massive blowout diaper.
You reach over and the container of wet wipes is empty.
That frantic, helpless feeling floods your veins.
Or the days when you are desperately trying to get dinner on the table by 6pm and your patience is already worn paper thin.
And in the midst of that, your toddler decides this is the exact moment to climb onto the dining room table over and over and over again.
With every new adventure your toddler takes, the stress escalates.
You feel exhausted, utterly broken and carrying the weight of expectation on your shoulders.
Sisters, when this happens, look closely at what really is going on.
The adversary loves to make us fret over sometimes imagined deadlines he pushes that frantic perfectionism button in our brains over and over again.
Dinner must be hot at this exact minute.
The house must look flawless.
You must hold everything together.
He hypes up our internal anxiety until we feel like we have to collapse and defeat.
I can see this trap so much more clearly now that my children are grown.
If dinner is 30 minutes late now, I think, oh, well, life happens.
It isn't worth getting worked up over.
Back then, the stress felt so heavy because Satan was actively exacerbating the pressure.
When you feel like you are sinking in an inch of water, step back, take a deep breath, and let go of the enemy's artificial deadlines.
God's grace is sufficient for your messy kitchen.
The third and perhaps most painful feeling of spiritual warfare is the isolation and loneliness trap.
Even when you might be in a crowded room, you can be sitting on the couch surrounded by your beautiful family, or sitting in a church pew surrounded by friends and suddenly feel completely invisible, as though an impenetrable pane of glass is separating you from everyone else.
Look at David's cry in Psalm 142:3,4 when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.
I looked on my right hand and behold, there was no man that would know me.
Refuge failed me.
No man cared for my soul.
Ooh, that sounds painful and kind of relatable, right?
The adversary whispers.
No one understands how hard your life is.
Nobody cares.
You're entirely on your own.
I have a dear sister who has walked through years of severe health challenges and major depressive disorder.
Years ago, as a young mom, she was weeping and venting to God in prayer, crying out that no one else in her congregation, neighborhood or family understood how agonizing her life was day in and day out, just trying to stay alive and care for her kids.
As she wept, God answered her with a gentle, piercing question.
Do you want them to know and experience it?
She paused.
Her immediate answer was no, of course not.
Comparing herself to her perception of others had built an invisible wall of isolation around her heart.
Satan had tricked her into feeling completely abandoned.
But God always understands.
And the truth is, so many mothers around you are walking through their own hidden battles.
But we keep our pain private on social media.
The enemy weaponizes this daily.
He convinces us to compare everyone else's curated highlight reels to your behind the scenes blooper reel.
When you recognize the enemy's signature of isolation, break the silence, reach upward for God's hand, and then reach outward.
When you ask the Lord, Father, who else feels lonely today.
Who can I encourage?
He will inevitably direct you to another sister who needs your light.
You defeat isolation by turning your love upwards and then outwards.
Oh my dear sister.
When you feel the unexplained morning gloom, the frantic drowning over minor spills, or the bitter sting of isolation, you are not crazy, you are not disqualified and you are not failing.
You are simply feeling the friction of the spiritual battlefield.
Recognizing what spiritual warfare feels like is your cue to stop striving in your mortal strength.
You don't have to walk bent over under that heavy lead coat.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is standing right beside you, reaching out his hand, ready to loose you from your burdens and speak peace to your soul as we wrap up our Spiritual Warfare series.
Remember, you were never meant to navigate these unseen battles alone or defenseless.
If you want a step by step roadmap to help you audit your home's atmosphere, break through the enemy's shame loops and claim Christ's peace over your children, we at Women warriors of Light want to give you our complete digital toolkit for free.
Down in the show notes below, click the link to download your free copy of a mother's spiritual defense guide 6 Empowering Steps to Fortify Home and Family.
Once you get it, turn straight to the Is it mine?
Three Step Mental Hack.
It will help you instantly discern whether that heavy morning dread is physical fatigue, everyday stress or an adversarial attack.
You can also find the Home Sanctuary Audit where you'll find a checklist to help you recognize how and where the adversary is creeping in and follow that up with using the Cast out the Adversary word for word prayer script to evict the Spirit of Heaviness and speak Christ Light and Calm back into your home.
Download your free copy today on our website and walk in daily victory.
Oh my dear sister warrior, you are loved, you are seen and you are never alone in this fight.
The Savior who loosed the woman bound for 18 years is the very same Jesus who holds you today.
Shake off that spirit of heaviness, put on the garment of praise and stand tall in his radiant light.
Thank you for joining us today and until next time.
May you arise and do it God's Way, God Strong
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