Yet this warfare operates at multiple levels. It comes at us from all different directions. Rather than occurring in some cosmic area somewhere up in the sky, no, the actual combat unfolds in mundane spaces—in our workplaces, and our homes, and our studies—and manifests not primarily through dramatic crises, but through subtle temptation to compromise in the small matters. “Come on, come on, you can have the apple. Did God say that? Yeah, it looks good. Eat it.” It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine.

And it manifests not primarily through dramatic crises, but through the subtle temptation to compromise in the small matters. Medieval Orthodox theologians like Gregory of Sinai understood this struggle as fundamentally about choice. Whether demons or virtues influence us depends partly on external forces, but ultimately on which spiritual presences one deliberately welcomes into Christ’s life. If it tastes good, and you know you shouldn’t have it, you eat it anyway. The adversary is so slick, so subtle. He holds the apple right before you. He holds the fruit. He knows the sweetness. He knows, for men, that beautifully young lady; so, women, that nice-looking guy.

So he tries to get us to compromise, you know, in the small things, you know, the things that seemingly are innocent enough. But when we take the small step across the line, it opens the door. It gives to our adversary rule. It gives him the privilege to mess with us. The Christian response to this conflict operates through spiritual rather than physical means, specifically through alignment with truth, since demonic powers derive their effectiveness from deception.

The thief comes to steal and destroy, but Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and that more abundantly.” Choices that we make, even the small ones, exposing it to the light, the gospel of truth undermines their authority. They have no authority over us unless we open the door and allow them in. It’s the small little things that seemingly mean nothing. But when we agree to it, it opens the door. We create a place. We know the expression of giving the devil an inch he will take a mile.

Victory unfolds gradually across a lifetime, accumulating through countless small decisions to refuse selfishness, dishonesty, and cruelty, each refusal representing both personal progress and a genuine blow against evil’s influence in the world. Rather than a burden of despair, this framework offers hope. The outcome isn’t uncertain, and ordinary believers, not celestial powers alone, participate meaningfully in goodness’s ultimate triumph.

To be sure, the greatest battles were won on Calvary and in our hearts when we were born again, but we must also fight daily battles in our life of sanctification.

In a book by Steve Gaines, Overwhelmed by God and Not Your Troubles, it says: Are your bills stacking up while your bank account dwindles? Is your marriage or singleness a source of heartbreak? Are you filled with anxiety because of health issues? Do you sometimes feel like you’re drowning and God is nowhere to be found? Do you wonder, “What in the world am I going to do? How am I going to make it?” Trials roll in like waves, one after another, and threaten to knock you off your feet. But instead of trying to stand against your problems, maybe the answer is to be swept away, not by your problems, but by God. Overwhelmed by God and Not Your Troubles is an invitation to rest and to fall into God’s love, goodness, grace, and forgiveness. Lift your tired eyes from the crushing trials that lead you to despair and fix your eyes on the awesome power and mercy of the God who is greater. You will experience peace, contentment, and joy that can only be found in Christ as you face your setbacks and hardships with renewed hope and strength from the Spirit. Hallelujah.

And Pastor Rod’s message, Shifted Souls, Mark 12:29–31. He told us that the soul is not a physical part, but it is a part of every human being, and it continues to live on even after death. We have a soul, and it lives in our body. The soul and the spirit differ. Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.”

He also admonished us to obey your leaders because they must give an account for your soul. Pastors, ministers—God placed this flock in their hands. They have to give an account for those they keep. They keep their eyes on the prize, to show them the difference between right and wrong, and sometimes those simple things, the little foxes, point them to pray for us. And we don’t want them to have to do that with grief and sorrow because of our stiff-neckedness or hard-headedness.

Do not fear those who can kill the body; rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body. God says, “Love Me with your whole soul, spirit, and body.” We must not continually yield to the passions of the flesh, for they will slowly take you away from God. It won’t stop you all at once. It slowly separates you from God and His presence. You know, one day you wake up and say, “Where’s God?” And you never realized that you turned your back or walked away while enjoying the pleasures of sin. I’m enjoying the flesh and not the Spirit. You wake up lost one day. We must come back to the Lord.

We need God to fix us and shift us back to Him. People can find themselves depleted because of what they have been through, depleted because of what we’re carrying, because of what decisions we have made. We need God to fix us and bring us back to Him.

Psalm 23:1–3: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

We need Him to restore our soul and draw us back to Him. We must be obedient and able to trust Him and obey so we can walk in victory. Don’t hold back. We just came through 21 days of prayer and fasting. Our pastor led us in that to help us draw closer to the Lord, to sensitize us to His presence, to His Spirit. We’re given the whole armor of God to help us fight the battles of the Spirit. And the Word says, yes, we can get angry, but don’t let the day end without getting right. Don’t hold grudges and disputes and go over and over and over again. Nip it in the bud, we are sons and daughters of God. Don’t let the little things that take you away. Don’t let the little foxes spoil your vine.

Don’t let the tricks balloon with things to take you away when you open the gap. That was easy, and then you compromise again, and you compromise again, and the next thing you know, you think God is someplace else because you walked so far away.