Episode 390 – Is Everything A Spiritual Battle?

About this episode

Pastor David and Elise discuss the concept of spiritual battles and the implications of labeling crises as such.

Maybe you’ve been in this scenario: you’re going through a particularly hard time, your emotions are all over the place, you don’t feel like yourself, you’re worried something is wrong. You reach out to a trusted friend or pastor and what’s their advice: “Sounds like a spiritual battle that you should pray about.” Are they right? Is it always that? Is every crisis we face a manifestation of the spiritual realm? This week, Pastor David and Elise challenge the way we talk about “spiritual battles” and think about the dangers and benefits of facing the spiritual world. Along the way, we’ll explore some strange (and maybe disturbing?) religious practices throughout the ages. Find the article we used for this episode here: https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/the-problem-with-calling-everything-a-spiritual-battle/

People in this episode

Host: Pastor David

Guest: Elise

Topics covered

• spiritual battles
• emotional struggles
• religious practices
• spiritual realm
• crisis management

Keywords

• spiritual battle
• emotions
• crisis
• prayer
• religious practices
• spiritual realm

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Relevant Magazine

More episodes of Beyond Sunday

• Episode 395 – Challenging Stuff in the Bible: Isaac and Abraham · June 1, 2026 · 38 min
• Episode 394 – The Casinofication of Church · May 25, 2026 · 36 min
• Episode 393 – Gen Z Wants Justice. Are They Right? · May 18, 2026 · 41 min
• Episode 392 – What If Aliens Are Real? · May 11, 2026 · 39 min
• Episode 391 – Challenging Stuff in the Bible: Reconciling Violence and Forgiveness · May 4, 2026 · 41 min
• Episode 389 – What Happens When We Get Jesus Wrong? · April 20, 2026 · 48 min