The Warfare Short Series Part 1: War Ready: Living Awake

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Even in the months of the podcast season when things are slow, we have content for you. Our team thought it was a great idea to start reviewing previous (but timely) episodes of our show during the times that Mista Yu is away from the microphone. All of these episodes (or beautiful Blasts from the Past) were previously broadcast, but we are sharing them with you at a time when you might need them most. It seems like people are neglecting their health in some really harmful ways these days. I felt like this episode would be a great support to those who might be in that category. Hope you enjoy this beautiful blast from the past!

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What if you’ve been fighting the wrong enemy? We open the mic with gratitude for our audio-first community and then move straight into a wake-up call: peace-time habits don’t work in a world charged with unseen conflict. Not a scare tactic, but a sober look at why so much feels personal and chaotic—and how Scripture reframes the battle so we stop wasting energy on the wrong targets.

We walk through Ephesians 6 and unpack the whole armor of God in plain language. Truth is the belt that keeps everything from falling apart, especially when “my truth” turns pain into policy. Righteousness becomes a quiet strength, not a performance. The gospel of peace gives our steps purpose in t

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Chapters

• 0:32 The Spiritual Warfare Within Us
• 16:10 Preparing for Spiritual Warfare
• 25:25 Spiritual Warfare and Divine Authority

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:32

Welcome back to the all-purpose pod for an all-purpose life. Wherever you are and however you're listening today, call me Mr. You the Podcast. We thank you again for making us a part of your morning, your day, your week, your life. Thank you for joining our show. We definitely appreciate it. We are the all-purpose pod for an all-purpose life. We talk about a lot of things on this show, which you guys well know. It's been four glorious seasons, and we're definitely grateful to God for allowing us to have the opportunity to have this level of platform. Uh for all you guys that are listening, uh audio only, we appreciate all the support. It's been undying support, in my opinion. It's basically the roots of what we do. We started off this way, and we're going to end it this way. Audio podcasts are definitely, in my mind, the future. We're not getting away from it. So you get a lot more audio podcasts so that you can be able to listen while you're driving, while you're jogging, working out at the gym, doing laundry, taking a break from homeschooling, whatever it is you do on your day on your commute. We're gonna definitely be here for you audio podcast-wise. So you probably see, or I should say, you should hear, a lot more of our show than you're probably gonna see it. It won't be a lot of video going forward, but we're grateful for the support and we're very, very thankful that you're still listening to the Call Me Mr. You the podcast and all of our brand of shows that are out here on all the social media platforms. So thanks again for doing what you do. Um, in regards to today's show, just want to ask you guys a question. Are you aware that we're at war? I'm asking a question for all you guys that are listening, especially you guys in the back. Are you aware that we're at war? When somebody is aware that they're at war, this is what it should look like. There should be preparation, they should be robed or have the appropriate attire for the occasion, and they also should be living their lives, adjusting, uh, preparing, just taking every single day with the mindset that they are at war. When you're at peace, it's a different story. Ask anybody that's built in the military before, you can ask any one of them, and they can tell you everyone to a man and say the same thing. When you're at peace and you're not at war, per se, your demeanor is different, your attire is different, the way you approach every day is different, you don't walk through the same disciplines and the same regimen. You even eat differently, you sleep differently, you address your uh your regular errands and your uh workplace responsibilities differently when you know you're at peace per se and not at war. It's a different approach. That's why I'm asking the question today. Are you aware that we're at war? See, some folks are gonna look at their newspapers or on their news feeds to try to find out what he is talking about. But this is not about the kind of war that you're thinking of, it's not the kind of war that you hear about in third world countries or in places such as the Ukraine and Russia and Iran and Iraq and places where actual war is taking place in the literal sense. But we actually are at war in the literal sense, it's just a there's just a spiritual component to it that I don't think we recognize, that we don't understand. So when I ask you, are you aware that we're at war? It's a really important question because if you don't if you're not aware of that, then you walk around here like we're at in peace times and we're not. You won't have the appropriate attire, you won't have the right approach and mindset. You'll think everybody you meet, everybody you talk to, everybody you connect with is your friend and not an enemy. Or you'll approach it as if everything that happens to you is just happenstance and it's not a a targeted attack against you or some aspect of your being to cause you to not function in the full capacity and purpose that God called for you to walk in. So there's a lot to go with it. I I question if I can get it all put out in one episode. I'll do my best, just don't see it happening. But when we talk about being at war, I think one thing to be really, really aware of is that the Bible speaks about this. So if you're wondering how you can get the answer to the question that I asked you earlier, it's very simple. The Bible has the answer. If you turn to Ephesians chapter 6, it speaks about what people may think of as just maybe just an analogy, but it really is more than that. The apostle Paul was saying something that was pretty deep here. It's not an analogy, it's actually a standard, it's actually a a discipline, a mindset that we need to have in order to function in everyday life. He references something called the whole armor of God. Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps not. Hopefully, I'll be able to help out a little bit with that today. The whole armor of God. Now, the word whole means entire, all parts together. So that's important because a lot of times some of us uh pay attention to some aspects of our armor and neglect the other ones, and then we wonder why we're having trouble in specific areas because it's not complete. We're not walking in complete preparation, we're kind of walking in incomplete preparation. Imagine what that can do to a natural life, a natural lifestyle. So imagine where it's exponentially worse in a spiritual lifestyle, if that makes any sense. So the whole armor of God as referenced in Ephesians chapter 6. What it's talking about is being prepared for war. What it's indicating if you read it is that we are actually at war. We're not in peace times, we're at war. And I want to kind of explain a little bit more as we get into this, but I want to read Ephesians chapter six so you can kind of get a bit of a picture as to what's being said here. Now, Ephesians chapter 6, we're gonna start at verse 10, and we'll probably end at verse 17. Okay? So Ephesians 6, chapter 10. I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10, excuse me, to verse 17. And it reads, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, and you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now read verse 18, I think it's important. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Now, this is important in many different areas. That's why I know this entire episode couldn't encapsulate even all that I just read. There's that much going on there. But I'm gonna try to do my best to kind of help this make sense and kind of flesh it out a little bit, and if we need to, we'll cause this to uh be a part one of an extension of uh episode that we'll get into to kind of flesh this out further so we can kind of complete this. But stay with us, we'll be right back. Thanks again for listening to one-on-one with Mr. You and your inspiration station. I'm really excited about today's episode and a chance to share another compelling story with all of you that I really hope changes your tomorrow. Let's not waste another minute. Let's get into it. Hi, friends, it's Mr. You. Welcome to a very special fan mail episode of our show. Uh, fan mail is super important to me personally because I want to always connect with our viewers and listeners, and a lot of times this will give me a chance to do that. So, fan mail is a way where you can text me directly. The link is in our show notes for every episode that we do. Hopefully, you'll find that either in the beginning or at the end of the show notes, but it's definitely there, and you can send a text to me personally, I will answer those texts in the upcoming fan mail episode. Give you a special shout out, just add the information you want to have to that uh to that text, and I'll shout you out on an upcoming episode. But I definitely encourage your support there. This is a show that is still growing, the brand is still growing, and your involvement, your thoughts on topics and episodes mean so much to me personally. So please continue to do that. Please continue to use fan mail to let me know what you think and how a particular particular topic or episode has resonated with you. We look forward to hearing for more of you guys regarding that. We got some friends in Jacksonville for Florida that send a shout out to us, 7253, that said everyone should listen to Mr. U. Well, that's really really really nice and very humbling. We pride ourselves on being the all-purpose pod for an all-purpose life. So we're excited whenever our work here in podcast land resonates with somebody. So thank you again for our friends down in Jacksonville. We know there are more friends that have been giving me shout-outs, just haven't been using fan mail, but I encourage that. The links in the show notes. Send me a text, let me know what you think about our show. Happy to shout you out on upcoming episodes. So thanks again for listening. Don't forget the link to fan mail is in the show notes. Look forward to hearing from you guys really soon. Have a great day. Thanks for making us part of your week. Hi, it's Mr. You. Hope you were inspired by what you heard today. If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and on our YouTube channel, and please leave a comment and a review. This episode was made possible by support of viewers and listeners just like you. Thanks. In regards to this, check out the beginning part. It says, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. That's important because a lot of times, as believers, we give ourselves we get the impression somehow that we're doing all these things that we do so greatly and so successfully in our own strength, and we don't. We in our own strength, we probably mess things up. As you can look around the world around you, we see enough indicators to let you know, to let you see that if it was up to us, we really screw things up royally if we were left to our own devices. So thank God that we have Him to give us wisdom and insight, or we'd be a hot mess out here, which is kind of the case. But verse 11 says, put on a whole armor of God. It's emphasized twice in this passage that I just read. In verse 13, it says the same thing. So there's definitely emphasis on the whole armor of God. I think it's important. Don't miss that part. You can't leave a part out of the armor. But I did lay out all the different parts, but I want to mention some part of verse 11. I think it's important to you. It says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the wiles of the devil. Now, if we get into a place where you feel as though there is no God, there is no devil, then this may not appeal to you. But I hope that you will listen anyway because I believe there's something in it for everyone that's listening to this show. Excuse me. But verse 12 says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And there's a whole story and background, excuse me, of where this is coming from. But most of the time, people that we know in the natural sense, in natural relationships, we are spend so much time fighting against each other. And we got people that we call enemies in our workplaces, enemies in our neighborhood, enemies on our uh neighborhood watch committees and and and enemies at our church. And I'm like, these people, I mean, I'm just gonna make a blanket statement here and we'll try to get into it if I can. But these people that you're talking about, that you label as enemies, they're not your enemies. They may not be your friends, but they're not your enemies. The enemy is one that is after your life, after your soul. That's the enemy. And this passage I just read is talking about principalities and power. That's why it says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. The people that we are bothered by or aggravated by because they said something out of turn to us that came out of pocket against us, or they tried to hinder something that we were trying to accomplish. Maybe it was a goal or a project we wanted to get off of the ground, and at every turn, every time we try to come up with a great idea, this person rises up in the boardroom to try to combat what we're talking about. Just it feels so personal, like they're coming against us, but it's not you have to understand it's not that person. There's a physical and a spiritual access, excuse me. There's a spiritual and a physical aspect to all of us. There's a spiritual aspect working in that person against what you're trying to accomplish, the practically trying to uh get launched that you think is gonna be a benefit to the community or a benefit to the world, or that person who's always in the on the board, always being negative about about great ideas. Those it's not just somebody who has an attitude problem or who didn't grow up in a uh a nice loving home life or environment. There's a spiritual component, and that's a lot of deep stuff to try to get into in one episode. I understand that. Love to have an ongoing conversation about it if that interests you. But what I'm trying to let you to see here is that we're talking about the whole armor. Nobody puts on armor unless there's actually a war to be had, it doesn't make any sense. Whether it be in biblical times or in historical times, or both. When somebody puts armor on, it's because there is a battle about to be fought. If you watch the movie Braveheart, you saw people get into their armor. If you saw movies like 300, what's happening? They're putting on armor because it's about to be a battle, even in the Avengers. Some of you Marvel fans would love that reference. Putting on armor means it's about to be a war. A battle is about to take place. There's no reason for armor here unless it's asked a war. So for anyone who has a question about the question I asked you guys earlier on in the episode, I think the answer is very clear here. If you're putting on the whole armor, it really means that one, there's a war, and then the whole armor of God means that the armor is being given to you to wear, not to put it in a shelf or a closet, or to put it on a whole when you feel it's convenient for you, but you put it on because it is for your protection, it is for your benefit. Benefit against what? Again, in verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. People wonder why the world looks so bad, why so many evil things are happening. People are sacrificing children, sacrificing animals. They're burning down churches, they're shooting up churches. And you're wondering, okay, what this is a person problem, this is a human problem, is it? I think a lot of this that we're seeing has spiritual uh connections and origins, and this passage of scripture kind of validates that for me. Hopefully, it does for you as well. But we also know in verse 13, and we just read that earlier, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. How many of you can deny that the days are evil that we're looking at right now? Bad things are happening, evil things are happening around us, but we can't withstand it without the whole armor of God, and that's how we stand. Excuse me. So in verse 14, we start getting into the different parts of the armor, the different tools that we need. There's actually six in place, and the seventh would be prayer, but we have six in place. The first one is going to be the girdling your waist with truth or the the belt or girdle of truth. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. Ephesians 6 and 14. It's translated as because in in those times when they used to wear the girdle, it would refer to a lower back and the crotch area. In ancient days, men would wear long robes that would get in the way of their working or their fighting, so they would wrap up the long dripping material, and it was a way to gird up the loin to be ready for battle because it was so long. So, in this in this culture, this time, we recognize that we need to have truth. People are fighting out here on message boards and in in the community and on social media about their truth. Everybody's talking about what their truth is and what they feel the truth is, and they have their own personal truth, and every other truth outside of their personal truth, if it doesn't line up or align, it doesn't matter. Excuse me. But it really does matter because at the end of the day, we can have our idea of our own truth, but it's always going to be warp because we're infallible, we're imperfect, and we are prone to, as humans, we're all prone to take our experiences, our hurts, and make them into either something that we worship or something that we give honor to or make a symbol, or we wear it as some kind of badge of honor, or we use it as a defense mechanism where we can't function in relationships because of what we've gone through. That's the human experience, not trying to downplay it. We all deal with it. What I am saying is that we can't be trusted to be in charge of quote unquote having our own truth. I mean, look what happens when we share our views on social media, how much how many bad things happen, how many generations of people we impact just because of our idea of our own truth. But we so we need to have truth without question. The Bible says, stand therefore, having good at your waist with truth. It's the best way to not be embarrassed publicly, it's the best way to not be embarrassed in the marketplace, walking in truth and integrity and honor. Those are words that we don't hear much anymore. We hear them in the military world, we hear them in certain organizations, but very, very rare in today's vernacular to talk about truth and honor and integrity. They're really, really hard to find lately. We're coming into a place where we're talking about political elections, and those kind of words, they pop up. But do you believe that they're applicable to the candidacy and to the whole political forum as a whole? Do you feel like truth, honesty, and integrity actually match what we see when it's not November? It's just something to think about. But truth should be important to all of us, not our truth, not the truth that we create out of our own hurts or our own fears, but the actual truth. And what is that? Hopefully, we can touch on it a little bit as we move forward. But we have to first acknowledge that there's actually a war to be had. Now I read a scripture that kind of verified that there is clearly a war taking place, even if we don't understand what's going on and we're not really involved, there's still a war taking place. I want to read a couple other passages to you, kind of help out to balance that point so that you understand what's happening. Alright, so here's a couple. All right, so 1 Peter 5 and 8 says, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Your adversary, so this is somebody who is against you on every level. They are opposing you in all that you do. That's what adversary means. And they prowl around like a roaring lion seeking to devour. They're on the prowl day in, day out, 24-7. That sounds like an enemy. That sounds like an adversary, that sounds like somebody that it is against you or at war against you. Luke 10 and 19. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Why would something hurt you? Something is coming against you. We are at we're at war, ladies and gentlemen. This is not something being made up here. This is what's actually happening. John 10 10 says, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. These are words from Jesus Christ in the scriptures. The thief, most thieves, in the natural sense, a thief comes to steal, they come to get a particular good. Uh, if you ever had anybody steal anything from you, you get how that feels. The helpless feeling of being stolen from. But thieves generally come to steal, they don't come to do anything else, they come to get the goods and get out of there as fast as possible. You've seen it in movies and cinema, TV movies, TV shows. It's it happens all the time, it's pretty common. The thief wants to get the stuff and get out, even the oceans 11, use it as an example. That was thievery, even though you enjoy the uh the plot. They want to get this the goods and get out as if they were never there. This thief that Jesus is speaking about comes to steal and kill and destroy. We're at a place where we gotta recognize where we are. We don't we're putting on armor and we're being guarded and we're being given authority over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and we're being watchful and sober because there's an adversary, the devil, out to destroy us. We're at war. I don't know how many different passages we need to lay that idea out, but it's it's very, very clear. We're not in peace times. We can't walk around glad-handed people and singing kumbaya. We we don't have the luxury. Too many bad things are happening around us, and they're all indications of war. Not just the natural war that we're seeing in foreign countries, but the war we're seeing here even on American soil. We are at war. We're not at war against big businesses and companies that are feeding us foods that are not good for us, showing commercials about food that's not good for us, trying to entice us to buy it. That's just a part of all that's really going on around us. We're at war. And every day you wake up, you have an impact in that war. You have an impact in the in the final victory, you have an impact in that victory uh being exhibited in your life. You play a part in this, and we're not gonna be able to get into all of this on this episode, but we'll definitely flesh out all of the parts of the whole armor on a future episode. But just acknowledge that we're at war. I'm not saying walk around guarded and unable to live and be free and have friends and create relationships and networks. That's all life stuff. We have to do it. Please do that. It's best for you to do that. Be mentally and physically and spiritually healthy. But don't walk around thinking, you know what, we're at peace, and because I know who Jesus is and because he's my Lord and Savior, this stuff can't touch me. Let's not lie to ourselves. The Bible says, anybody who chooses to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Nobody's exempt from that. But I'm just saying today, if there's no other message you get from what I'm saying today, if you don't get anything else, at least please get this part. Be prepared, be sober-minded, like it says in 1 Peter 5 and 8. Recognize you have authority, like Luke 10 and 19 says. Recognize that in John 10 and 10, Jesus gives us life and life more abundantly. We have blessing because of him, not because of who our mom and daddy is or what kind of job we have, or how much money is in the bank, but it's because of him. Recognize the authority that we walk in. There's so much more. Even 2 Corinthians 10 and 4 is a great passage of scripture that tells us about the fact that we need to acknowledge that we're at war. I'll read that before we close out today. 2 Corinthians 10 and 4 says, For though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh. Listen to that. We're not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. And this gets deep now, but what's a stronghold? Think about it like this. And you've seen this in cinema and TV movies and television shows as well. It's a very common uh situation. But look at somebody whose great-grandfather was an alcoholic, right? His son may have challenges with that, but maybe he overcame it. His grandson may be full-blown alcoholic. And people say, Oh, it's genetic is passed down. How is it passed down? Is alcoholism in your genes or is it spiritual? Those are the kind of questions that we probably couldn't answer on this episode, but it's something to think about. It's not as simple as what people tell us, it's not as simple as, oh, you're just born with this. I don't believe that you're born with alcoholism inside of you. I don't believe you're born with the propensity to do violent acts inside of you. It's spiritual. And even in the in the Bible, in the Old Testament, when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, there was a caveat given as well. That if you choose cursings, that you see the cursings on your future generations. If you choose blessings, you see blessings on your future generations. This is a spiritual context, this is not natural. So something you can pass down through genetics. This is spiritual, and even this war is spiritual. Second Corinthians 10 and 4 said, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. It's not about a physical sword in our hand, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We have the ability to do that not in the flesh, as you heard most. Multiple challenges now. We're not waging war according to the flesh, but we are at war. It's not denying that we're at war, it's acknowledging that. You gotta do the same thing, you gotta acknowledge that we're at war. You gotta acknowledge that. We're not avoiding that part. And then I want to get into it a lot a lot more. Talk about how to prepare for this, how to be on guard and to be mindful and watchful. We'll talk about it on a future episode. For all you guys that have been listening to our show, thank you again for the support. We really, really appreciate it so much. And we hope it continues, we hope it grows, we hope you can share us or feel free sharing us with your friends, family, associates, and what have you. We're moving forward. A lot of new things are happening with our brand of shows, a lot of changes, a lot of shows going away, and a lot of shows beginning. So we're really excited about what's going on. Please continue to listen to our show and support us on our social media platforms. If you are a YouTube uh watcher and subscriber, please subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com at TheCallMe Mr. You. Or please, of course, also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. It's the only place besides Stitcher where you can subscribe to our show. So please do so. We definitely would appreciate that so much. And of course, you may see some stuff on social media. Uh please like and share there and forward your questions to us. You can also send us fan mail through this episode. Send text directly to me, and I'll answer it on a future episode. But thank you so much again for all your support for our show and all that we're doing. We definitely appreciate it. You guys are a big part of why we do what we do. Looking forward to those episodes coming up soon about the whole armor of God. We'll be dropping that really soon. But thank you again for joining us. Have a great day. Enjoy the music. Coach out.