In Part 6 of our Spiritual Warfare series, I sat down with my friend Katheryn for our very first co-hosted episode - and we will be co-hosting again for a PART 2 of her Story- This one is a "set up" for our next episode into Katheryn's testimony down a dark, twisty road into the New Age Movement! 

Kathryn is a woman with a radical testimony: raised Catholic, desperate for healing, and slowly drawn into crystals, energy work, tarot, and witchcraft — until one friend's bold obedience to the Holy Spirit changed everything to open her eyes, however, it led to fear, before it led to freedom! 

We cover a lot of ground in this part 1 episode of her story:

This episode is NOT about shame or fear — it is about freedom. We are motivated by love and the call to help set the captives free (Isaiah 61).

The challenge of being sober-minded and vigilant with eyes open, and not falling into radicalism, religion, or fear. .it's a fine line, but there IS a line! 

Part 2 is coming — including more of Katheryn's testimony and a deep dive on yoga and the dark roots and practices that Yoga is steeped in!

Scriptures Referenced

 Key Takeaways

Recommended Resources for Listeners (THEIR ARE SO MANY!) 

For anyone who wants to go deeper on the topic of spiritual warfare, here are are few of the highest-rated, most widely trusted resources available:

A satirical masterpiece written from a senior demon's perspective - showing exactly how the enemy works through subtle deception, normalized temptation, and counterfeit comfort. Wildly convicting and surprisingly entertaining.

One of the most practical tools in Christian counseling. Leads readers from the shadows and shackles of spiritual bondage toward freedom — affirming identity in Christ and learning to confront the enemy's lies.

Spiritual warfare 101. Walks readers verse by verse through a biblical worldview of the supernatural, renewing the mind and helping believers stand firm in their identity in Christ. Read alongside The Bondage Breaker.

Dr. Evans reveals that every struggle in the physical realm has its root in the spiritual realm. Helps believers understand the battle, use the armor of God, and walk in Christ's authority over every stronghold.

Based on Psalm 23:5 — a battle-for-the-mind book that exposes the lies of the enemy and the danger of giving him a foothold in our thought life. Perfect for someone just waking up to spiritual warfare.

Recognizes and resists the three enemies of the soul — the devil, the flesh, and the world. Written for a modern, culturally-engaged audience. Excellent for those coming from New Age or secular backgrounds.

A timeless Puritan classic that outlines the many subtle ways the enemy entices believers — and gives specific biblical remedies for each. Deep, rich, and enduringly relevant for any serious student of Scripture.

A beautifully written, heart-level engagement with the reality of spiritual warfare and the battle for the soul. Helps readers understand the story they live in and the role they were made to play.

🔗 Connect with Dani

Website: rootedrefinedrestored.com

Podcast: War on Love: If I Were the Devil

Email: [email protected]

What the enemy meant for your destruction, God uses to bring beauty for ashes.

Happy Monday, friend. We are five episodes deep into the Spiritual Warfare series and I am not slowing down - because there is still SO much to cover on this topic! And the more I read, study, and discuss with others, I feel more and more passion and conviction to share what I am! 

In this episode, I'm building on the military framework (because THIS IS WAR!) we've been working through and getting into two powerful strategic concepts: the indirect approach and interior lines. In military strategy, the indirect approach means attacking where the enemy least expects it - dislocating before engaging.

Interior lines is where it gets really personal. A military force on interior lines can shift troops faster than a surrounding enemy.

We also walk through four ways deception operates as the enemy's primary weapon:

And then I'm going to call out some things happening in our culture right now that I believe are a direct fulfillment of what Deuteronomy 18 warned us about — and what Paul saw happening in the early church.

This is not about fear. This is about discernment. The enemy doesn't look like the enemy. He masquerades as light — and if we believe Scripture, we have to take that seriously.

I also share from Job 1, one of the most clarifying passages in all of Scripture for understanding how spiritual access and protection work - and what Job's practice of covering his family spiritually looked like.

Coming up next: I'm sitting down with my friend Katherine, who was deeply involved in New Age practices before she came to Christ. Her story and insight are going to bring so much of what we've been building to life. You will not want to miss it.

As always, go straight to the Lord, go straight to your Bible. I don't want to be one more voice you follow blindly. I want to point you to the One who is the way, the truth, and the life.

All references are NIV unless otherwise noted.

Wolves in the Church: Spiritual Warfare at the Operational Level | War on Love Podcast

This week we're continuing our spiritual warfare series -and this episode might step on some toes. I'm going there anyway, because truth spoken in love is still love.

Last week we looked at the anatomy of spiritual war. This week we're zooming in on the operational level - how Satan works within nations, cultures, and systems, and specifically how his strategies show up inside the church.

If I were the enemy, the church is exactly where I'd plant my moles.

In this episode, I cover:

Scriptures referenced:

Next week: We move into the tactical level - how the enemy comes after us individually through deception, identity confusion, temptation, accusation, discouragement, and fear. Don't miss it.

If this episode blessed you, share it with someone who needs it. And if you've been bound by religion, law, or false doctrine - I'm praying this is the episode that starts breaking that off of you. In Jesus' name.

Connect with Dani:

You were never meant to fight this war blindly.

If life has felt like an unrelenting series of attacks - the persistent shame, the fear that hits out of nowhere, the bitterness that won't lift, the lies that somehow feel like truth - there's a reason. You're in a war that started long before you were born, and the enemy is counting on you not knowing the rules of engagement.

In this episode, I break down spiritual warfare the same way a military strategist breaks down a battle. Because the truth is, the enemy's tactics aren't new, they aren't creative, and they aren't hidden. Once you can name his weapons and recognize his fingerprints, you stop fighting blind — and you start fighting from the authority you've already been given in Christ.

This is Part 1 of my Spiritual Warfare series: Understanding the War.

What You'll Discover:

Scriptures Referenced: Matthew 22:37-38 · 1 Peter 5:8 · Ephesians 6:12 · John 8:44 · Isaiah 54:17 · 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 · Isaiah 14:12-13 · Revelation 12:7,17 · 2 Corinthians 2:11 · Job 1:12 · 1 Corinthians 10:13 · Matthew 4:1 · Ephesians 4:26-27 · 2 Corinthians 11:14 · Ephesians 1:20-21 · Ephesians 2:6 · Colossians 2:10 · Luke 10:19 · 2 Timothy 1:7 · Matthew 18:18 · Acts 19:13 · Romans 12:2 · Proverbs 4:23

Remember this: You have a real enemy with a real strategy. His weapons are lies, accusation, shame, and the spirit of fear. This conflict predates you — but you're in it. There are rules, God holds the leash, and we already know who wins. The battle is mostly waged in your mind. So renew it.

Part 2 drops next week, where we'll tackle this war from a different angle.

If this episode challenged or encouraged you, would you share it with someone who needs it — and leave a quick review so it can reach the people looking for exactly this?

Connect with me: daniellenicolecoaching.com  [email protected]

EPISODE TITLE: Why You Can't Love Like Christ Yet — And What Your Wounds Have to Do With It (How Fiery Trials Lead Us Into More Christ-like Love)

This week I'm doing something a little different - I'm sharing a message I gave at church on May 31st, 2026, for our worship night.

And it might be the most personal thing I've shared publicly to a congregation (excluding when I share my testimony for recovery meetings!)

As a trauma therapist and faith-based relationship coach, I sit across from Christians every week who love Jesus, pray, go to church, do all the "right" things - and still can't seem to access the peace, love, and freedom Christ promised. This episode is my attempt to bridge that gap: between neuroscience and Scripture, between head knowledge and heart transformation.

I share my own story - growing up without a father, addiction and abuse in my home, getting saved at 19, and what it's actually taken to heal (not just cope).

I also get real about my marriage, attachment wounds, and why the fiery trial you're in right now might be the very doorway God is using to bring you into deeper freedom.

In this episode, you'll discover:

The HHOW acronym: Humility, Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness

Four heart conditions that block love: wounded, anxious, bitter, and hardened How your early attachment style is still quietly driving the way you love today Why marriage is "the great exposer" — and why that's actually a gift from God Defense mechanisms we share with the animal kingdom (and how to move past them)

The gift of desperation: why fiery trials are often the doorway to transformation

Why vulnerability — not strength — is the path to more of what Christ has for you

Scriptures Referenced: 1 Corinthians 13 | 1 John 4:7 | Romans 12:1 | Isaiah 61:3 | John 16:33 | Genesis 2:17-18 | Genesis 3 | Genesis 50:20 | Deuteronomy 31:6 | 2 Corinthians 12:9 | Romans 8:28 | Matthew 22:37-39

Note: Next week we return to Episode 3 of our spiritual warfare series - The Strategy of Enemy Attacks. See you then.

Connect with Danielle: 🌐 www.daniellenicolecoaching.com 📧 [email protected]

War on Love Podcast

Episode Summary

Do you know who your real enemy is — and how he actually operates?

In this episode of War on Love, Danielle opens the second installment of the Spiritual Warfare series by tackling one of the most foundational — and most misunderstood — questions in the Christian faith: Who is the enemy, really?

Rooted in Scripture and grounded in real-life application, this episode walks you through a biblical portrait of Satan — his names, his origin, his character, and his tactics — so you can stop being blindsided and start standing firm. Because you cannot win a war you don't understand.

Matthew 22:37-39 • Job 1:2, 1:12, 2:6 • Isaiah 14:12-15 • Ezekiel 28:12-17 • Luke 10:18 • John 8:44 • 1 Peter 5:8 • 2 Corinthians 11:14 • Matthew 4:1-11 • Luke 22:3 • 2 Corinthians 4:4 • Hebrews 2:14 • Colossians 2:15 • Romans 8:28 • Revelation 20:2, 20:10 • Hebrews 11:1

You don't have to stay stuck in bondage, anxiety, or deception. The power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you — and you were never meant to live like a bird in a cage with the door wide open.

Connect with Danielle at daniellenicolecoaching.com to learn more about trauma-informed, faith-rooted coaching for Christian women and couples navigating betrayal, shame, and relationship repair.

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to know: the enemy is real, but so is the One who already defeated him.

If I Were the Devil: The War on Love

Spiritual Warfare Series | Episode 1

What if the greatest trick the enemy is pulling on the church right now isn’t convincing people he doesn’t exist — but convincing believers they don’t need to do anything beyond praying more?

In this episode, Danielle kicks off a brand-new series on spiritual warfare — and she’s not mincing words. Drawing from her 20+ years in the helping professions, her own personal testimony of betrayal recovery and sobriety, and her training as a trauma therapist and certified professional coach, she takes on some of the most misused scriptures in the church and asks the hard question: are we giving the enemy exactly the foothold he needs by over-spiritualizing everything?

“Salvation is sanctification of the soul.

Recovery is sanctification of the flesh.”

— Danielle Lew

Danielle Lew is a licensed trauma therapist (LCSW), APSATS-certified betrayal trauma coach, and Brainspotting/EMDR practitioner based in Gettysburg, PA. She brings 20+ years in the helping professions, personal lived experience with betrayal recovery and sobriety, and a radical love for Jesus to everything she does. Her mission: to help believers stop living in bondage and start walking in the freedom Christ died to give them.

spiritual warfare | Christian inner healing | false doctrine | faith-based recovery | Christian podcast | betrayal trauma | church hurt | faith and mental health | new creation in Christ | prayer and healing | Ephesians 6 | full armor of God | Christian women | Christian counseling | sobriety and faith | sanctification | freedom in Christ | Danielle Lew

www.daniellenicolecoaching.com | Danielle Lew. 2026. All Rights Reserved

Heart Conditions Series | If I Were the Devil: The War on Love

with Danielle Lew (Dani), LCSW, APSATS-CCPS

What do pornography, hoarding, endless scrolling, and emotional affairs all have in common? According to Scripture — and the enemy's playbook — they are all expressions of the same ancient heart problem: lust, covetousness, and distraction.

Danielle opens the episode with a chilling monologue from the perspective of the enemy — a reminder that distraction is not accidental, it is strategic. From Solomon's 700 wives to your smartphone screen, the enemy has always used what God designed for good to lead hearts away from Him. Lust, Danielle teaches, is the disease of more — an intense, consuming desire that promises satisfaction and delivers emptiness.

Drawing from 1 Kings, Ecclesiastes, Romans, James, and the Sermon on the Mount, this episode traces the fall of Solomon from a man who heard directly from God — twice — to a man who built altars to foreign gods to please his wives. The drift was gradual, and that, Danielle reminds us, is exactly the point. The slippery slope is real. The barber shop principle applies: hang around long enough, and you will get a haircut.

Lust and covetousness are not just moral failings — they are forms of idolatry. They install something else on the throne where God belongs. And whether the idol is pornography, a fantasy relationship, designer goods, social media metrics, or the dopamine hit of the next dopamine hit — the antidote is the same: a heart fully surrendered to the Lord, rooted in contentment, and walking in genuine community.

1 Samuel 13:14 | 1 Kings 9:1-9 | 1 Kings 11 | 1 Chronicles 29:18-20 | Deuteronomy 11:16 | Numbers 15:39 | Job 31:1 | Psalm 23:1 | Ecclesiastes 2:1-13 | Matthew 5:28 | Romans 1:18-32 | Romans 2:5 | Ephesians 4:17-24 | 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 | James 1:13-15 | Philippians 4:11-13 | Hebrews 13:5 | 1 Peter 5:8

Could you please:

lustful heart, covetous heart, distracted heart, heart conditions, pornography addiction, sexual compulsivity, lust and addiction, betrayal trauma, Christian healing, spiritual warfare, inner healing, Solomon, King David, faith and recovery, lust vs covetousness, Christian podcast, contentment, idolatry, impulse control, War on Love podcast, Danielle Lew, biblical teaching, addiction recovery, faith-based healing, Christian women

www.daniellenicolecoaching.com  |  Danielle Lew. 2026. All Rights Reserved

Episode Summary

In this final installment of the Hardened Heart series (finally, whew!) we explore what a hardened heart looks like in modern life — in our relationships, our culture, and ourselves — and offers practical, faith-based steps toward healing.

The episode opens by grounding the discussion in the Greatest Commandment: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. A hardened heart, the host argues, makes this impossible — blocking both the ability to receive and give love.

From there, the episode examines the signs of a hardened heart in today's context: chronic emotional unavailability, stonewalling, emotional numbness, contempt, defensiveness, and the inability to grieve or receive influence from others.

A significant portion is devoted to avoidant attachment — how it develops in childhood when caregivers are emotionally unavailable or dismissive, the core beliefs it instills ("I don't need anyone"), and how it quietly fuels addiction, isolation, and relational breakdown in adulthood.

We then explore how a hardened heart shows up in culture (numbing through screens, substances, and busyness), in relationships (blame-shifting, gaslighting, chronic loneliness), and specifically with a spouse — from the partner who has emotionally flatlined, to the high-functioning professional who gives everything to work and nothing to their family.

The episode closes with God's promises of restoration — drawing from Psalm 51, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel — followed by concrete solutions: praying for self-awareness, taking an attachment style quiz, getting into faith-based recovery, seeking community, asking trusted people for honest feedback, and pursuing soul care retreats or intensives.

The core message: healing doesn't happen in isolation. We get hurt in relationships, and we heal in relationships — if they're the right ones.

Hardened Heart Part 4: Impact on Faith & Church If I Were the Devil: The War on Love — Episode Summary

In this episode, we explore how a hardened heart directly impacts our ability to fulfill the greatest commandment - to love God, ourselves, and others. Drawing from Scripture, real-life examples, and recovery principles, this episode breaks down what a hardened heart looks like in both believers and non-believers, and why the difference matters more than we might think.

We examine Pharaoh as the prototype for the unbeliever's hardened heart - unmoved by miracles, self-centered, and resistant to God's commands. Then we take a closer look at something more subtle and more dangerous: the hardened heart in the believer. From "cheap grace" (the language of transformation without the substance) to self-righteousness, compassion fatigue, and doctrinal rigidity, we unpack how Christians can go through all the motions while remaining spiritually closed off.

Through the lens of the Prodigal Son's older brother, Simon the Sorcerer, and the disciples who refused to believe in the resurrection, we see how unbelief, pride, and bitterness can keep even devoted followers of Christ stuck - and how Jesus himself rebuked that hardness.

This episode challenges you to pursue the Lord with hunger, stay open to the Holy Spirit's movement, and do the honest inner work required to keep your heart soft.

Next week: the final episode - what it's like to be in relationship with someone who has a hardened heart, and strategies for what to do next.