How to Set Boundaries While Facing Spiritual Warfare

That's why the enemy strikes us when we're alone and down. When we feel the most hopeless...it knows our weak points.

It was one morning that I knew everything was different. Everything felt different. My body didn't feel like my body any longer. My head felt as though it were on another planet. My spirit felt heavy and so did my soul. I knew something was off. So I sat up, and prayed.

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Have you ever felt a moment like this? Where something that normally occurs, like getting to bed at a normal time the night before, having restless disturbing dreams, then, upon waking, feeling as though your body had just been through an unseen battle?

I know that all sounds heavy, but it's what happened to me. For many nights and mornings. No matter my routine the night before, each morning felt like a heaviness that I couldn't even see was holding me down. I couldn't shake my tiredness; sometimes sleeping through my alarms.

In those moments, I would feel so defeated, so dragged down, that I questioned everything. I thought it was my own fault. My own doing.

But something told me to pray. I had previously watched a video on spiritual warfare, and how to tell if you're going through a spiritual attack.

I know, these words don't sound pretty or cute or witty or funny, but they're real.

So with that knowledge, I turned over on my stomach and folded my hands. I didn't even have the strength to sit up. But I prayed. I prayed hard. I prayed against any plans of the enemy, to turn them back, to rebuke them. To rebuke and denounce any plans that the enemy had for me or my body. I prayed for the Lord to protect my mind. I prayed to guard my thoughts and keep them on Him.

I prayed hard.

I stopped praying when I felt a presence and a knowing that I was being comforted. A gentle presence saying, go ahead and start your day, I'm with you. It was hard and heavy at first. I prayed through tears. But as my day progressed, I felt the strength come back into my limbs. Even if I had to force myself to stand.

Sometimes, the nights would continue like this and I would wake up feeling the heaviness again. And I would repeat: roll over, fold hands, bow head and close eyes, then pray.

I wish I could tell you that I immediately felt relief and all seemed to be well. But that's not my testimony. This continued for days, then weeks, then months. Sometimes it hit me while I would be sitting at my computer, slumped over at my desk. The heaviness would hurt my heart, and I could only pray through it. Then, I felt the presence again, so I knew I could stop and continue working. Sometimes, it took longer.

Spiritual warfare, I believe, isn't a fight that we're designed to go at alone. That's why the enemy strikes us when we're alone and down. When we feel the most hopeless. The enemy attacks us when our guard has loosened (not lowered) because it knows our weak points.

Walk into some Boundaries

That's way we need to strengthen our boundaries. During this battle I faced, I knew I had to stick to my boundaries like it was a life vest in a vast ocean. I needed to protect my mind and everything that it was exposed to. I couldn't let the enemy twist my words or thoughts to cause any more doubts. I needed everything to be blocked.

You just said, "I bet that was hard to do." And yes, you're absolutely right.

About everything.

But those boundaries kept me afloat. And although spiritual warfare is hard, grasping that life vest was the easiest decision I could make for myself.

Here's what my spiritual boundaries looked like.

Intentional time in prayer

When everything around you starts to feel like a distraction, you begin to ask yourself "What is this distracting me from?" "What am I missing out on, exactly?" "Why is this a distraction?" So I prayed the hurt away. I got deeper in my Bible. I loved on Jesus and myself harder. I loved my child even harder than I already did. I prayed and acted on each word I prayed from the Bible. I blocked out distractions from people, from things, from activities that used to bring me joy. Instead, I rested and prayed. I allowed Jesus to minister to me in only the way He could.

It felt lonely and isolating at first, but it was SO necessary. I asked God if I needed to fast, because that's usually how I fought my battles. But His response was clear, "No, you've done the work. Now I need your time!" So I prayed, and if I missed a day or moment, then I just prayed more and longer the next.

What did the Bible say about them false prophets, again?

Oh, about them falling away? Oh yes, them false prophets fell, sis. And when Jesus causes things to fall, just like He flipped them tables in the Temple, oh those things fell hard...with a thud!

The funny thing about calling out falsities and flipping tables, is that it's never done quietly. So when the things that I thought were reliable in my life were called out, those things fell away hard. So much so that I had to clutch the invisible pearls that I don't even own around my neck almost daily (I chuckle at myself often, just go with it!).

When God gives you instructions....my advice is to listen

Ok again, the falsities in my head had to fall away. So much so, that I wanted to stay in the safe protective little bubble world that I had built for myself for as long as I could. I would resurface for air every now and then, like a little turtle who needs to bathe in the sun for a few hours a day. But right back into the depths I would go. Floating in the ocean with my life preserver on felt...nice. Felt safe. Felt good.

But then, Lord, why do I still feel like this? "Because you're not where you're supposed to be," He told me. "I never meant for your comfort zone to become your home!"

Y'all!

Shooketh doesn't even describe the feeling I had. Needless to say, I decided to listen.

When the Lord closes one door, don't ask Him a million questions while you're trying to reopen it

Ok, but all jokes aside. Don't. Do. It.

You know the saying, When one door closes, another one opens? Yea...that only works if you stop trying to re-open that closed door, sis!

During this time, people came out of no where! I got so much spam emails (work and personal), phone calls, text messages and mail.....you naaaame it!

People from my past popped back up.

Boundaries that were set before (that I thought were safe and secure) were questioned, belittled, mocked, and chipped away at (by others, not me). So much so that I wondered, again, am I the problem?

Things resurfaced that I thought were safe to pursue, so I dabbled with it. I thought, it can't be that bad if I just try again (* insert cartwheel emoji *).

But the enemy has a way of attacking you in your comfort zone.

It's like touching a light bulb with your finger while it's still on (for my millennials...you remember the old school hecka hot light bulbs in our desk lamps, right?).

To be simple....I got burned.

Not a "ouch, that's stings!" burn, but a "Oh wow, that touched my soul" burn. Don't get me wrong, both hurt. But the other is deeper, more profound.

Profundamente...in Spanish is the best way I can describe it.

If Jesus himself flipped that table, leave it alone. If He didn't open that door, sis. Don't touch the handle.

Ok, so here's some new boundaries

Your walls were chipped at? Good! Your boundaries were tested? Great! That's why you made them, that's what they're there for. If your walls and boundaries (or your nerves!) weren't tested, then you probably didn't make the correct ones.

So this all leads somewhere, right?

Momma Naturalista, this is all too painful. Where's the happy stuff?

I'm not here to give you the happy fun, sappy stories, sis. I'm here to give you the real. I want to help you in the way that I was helped.

So it's probably time to establish some new boundaries. Not that the old ones didn't work, but the wall of armor has been penetrated.

[Previous car seat installation technician here] Did you know... If a car seat is involved in a car accident...even if it's only a fender bender, even if there wasn't a baby in the car seat at the time...the entire car seat, including the base, has to be replaced?

I know what you're about to say. Oh, well car seat companies just want your money...duh...

And I laughingly will tell you, NO!

It's because the entirety of the car seat, from the design of the base, to the cushions, to the shape of the buckles, is designed to protect its contents from an injury. Its only purpose is to protect its precious cargo (your baby, for those wondering). So when it is involved in an accident or collision, its protection diminishes. It's done its one job. No, car seats are not designed for multiple accidents or collisions. They are designed for only ONE. After that initial accident or collision involving a car seat, there are tiny microscopic tears, fractures, and stress lines in it. You can't always see them with the naked eye, but they are there.

Because the car seat was built to protect from that one accident. So now that its parts have been stressed, it's not going to function properly if it gets into another accident.

I don't know about you, sis, but I would want my baby to be 100% protected from these California drivers at all times, not 80%!

Your soul is no different, love. You need 100% protection from the enemy. At all times. Your walls were chipped at? Good! That's what they're there for. Your boundaries were tested? Great! That's why you made them. If your walls and boundaries (or your nerves!) weren't tested, then you probably didn't make the correct ones.

Now the enemy knows that there are weak spots. Those weaknesses will be tested over and over again. Because the enemy knows they are there. The enemy will continue to chip away at that weak spot until there is nothing left and can easily get access to you.

You wonder why you keep attracting (and let's be honest...entertaining) the same type of guy (or gal for my male readers). You keep making the same mistakes, over and over again. Not seeming to learn from the heartache and pain.

You keep telling the same person your private personal business, knowing that they are going to run and tell the first thing they see moving.

You keep accepting the same toxic job offers, knowing full well that there will be drama in the office on day one.

You have the same [toxic] family, but you show up to every single family function thinking that things will change (* there's that cartwheel emoji again *).

Need I say more?

You need to create some new boundaries, sis. With new direction and purpose for your life. The old served you, but now it's time for new. This time, try it with the Lord. Let Him guide your path if you ask Him for His help.

Lastly, forgive yourself

Don't wallow in pity, or self-doubt. That's where the enemy wants you to sit. And stay. Like a misbehaving puppy (hello fellow dog lovers!). The enemy wants you in a corner, to think about what you've done. To not move an inch. No outside time, and no snacks at recess.

But that's not where Jesus wants us. He's wants more for us. He wants to give us life everlasting. He wants to give us hope for our future. He's already forgiven us our sins. Just like He told the adulterous woman after her accusers left her alone, "Go and sin no more."

So don't wallow, don't be alone in pity. Cry on the shoulders of a loving friend. Let Jesus heal your heart. Don't let mistakes of the past hinder God's plans for your future. Learn from them, because our wounds can teach us where to go next, and what not to do again.

Repent, but truly repent.

Move forward knowing that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. Because He loves you.

Guard your heart

Know that this spiritual warfare is only temporary, that you'll get through it, and that your soul will be ok.

Let your soul be weary, but not weak. Let the tears come, but not stay. Let the burden be deep, but brief.

And this, too, shall pass, sis.

Love Always,

Momma Naturalista