There’s a war on the masculine soul.
You hit that age—mid-40s, maybe 50s—where you wake up some days and it feels like everything’s pulling at you. Work’s not what it used to be. The kids are growing or gone. The body doesn’t bounce back like it once did. Somewhere along the way, you look in the mirror and go, “Wait… is this it?” And yeah, there’s this quiet fight happening inside. Nobody at work or even at church really talks about it out loud. Like something’s trying to steal your soul one compromise at a time.
Scripture’s not shy about it. Paul says we’re not wrestling against people or circumstances. We’re up against powers and principalities. These are spiritual forces that hate everything God’s doing in us (Ephesians 6). Peter calls the devil a roaring lion just looking for someone to devour. And let’s be real, middle-aged men are prime rib on his menu right now.
He hits us with stuff like:
- “You’re irrelevant now. Your best years are behind you.”
- “Nobody would notice one little look, one little cheat, one little outburst.”
- “You’re too tired for prayer, too busy for the Word, too burned out for real fellowship.”
And before you know it, you’re just drifting. You go through the motions and still show up on Sunday. The fire’s down to embers.
So here’s what I’ve been thinking about:
First thing—call it what it is. This isn’t just stress or a midlife slump. This is war. The enemy’s got a file on you—he knows exactly where you’re weak. Lust? Pride? Anger? Greed? Discouragement? Whatever it is, name it out loud to God. Get brutally honest in prayer. You can even grab a notebook and write it down. “Here’s where I’m getting hit the hardest right now.”
Once you see the battlefield for what it is, you stop fighting the symptoms. You start fighting the real enemy. And the best news? We’re not left defenseless. We’ve got the full armor, the Word, the Spirit, and a Savior who already crushed the serpent’s head.
You’re not alone in this. We can do this—one day, one honest prayer, one stand at a time.
Dr. Ron Geisler 