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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
spiritual harassment	stacey	Sunday, April 20, 2008
Question: It seems as if every time I have some kind of spiritual breakthrough or leap of faith I experience some kind of counterattack. It could be as a result of something I read, something God has revealed to me, or just any experience where I experience his peace and love. It is almost always followed by some negative reaction most often in the form of nightmares. Some of them are so frightening that the emotions tend to follow me through the whole day. Right now I'm reading about the life of Padre Pio and it seems as if the enemy is not happy about that at all. Also I've had the experiences of God revealing some of his plans for me. Now I tend to be a very skeptical person and I question every thing that I think is being revealed and I also make sure it does not contradict scripture. Since I'm so hard to convince that something is true I have found that God will usually confirm to me what he is saying many times in different ways before I will even consider it possibly being from him. Even then I stay constantly in prayer and am very cautious. The aggravating thing is that whenever he seems to be saying something or showing me something you can bet that the enemy will come in a few days later and give me his own version to try to convince me that it wasn't really true or that I did not hear from God. For example I recently prayed to God about a very pressing matter and seemed to recieve an answer in a dream that very night which has been confirmed over and over again. About a week later I had a dream with many of the same elements but it was totally twisted and perverted to make it look as if the first one was a lie. Now I definitely don't believe every dream is from God but I felt that this is one of the few that I have had that I felt was coming from him. I guess what I'm trying to say in so many words is that whenever anything good happens to strengthen my faith or God reveals to me something good in my life the enemy tries to ruin it or take it away. It puts me in such a state of confusion when this happens. What can I do?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Stacey: The fact that this is happening to you is a good thing! Yes, a good thing. It shows that you are doing the right thing in your life with God. The devil will try to rob us of the victories we gain in our relationship with God. That is why this happens right after something good happens. What can you do? Do not get upset. Just recognize this for what it is -- an attempt of the Enemy to rob you of the victory you just gained. Do not let him rob you. Laugh at him and say, "Praise God for the victory, and thank you Lord for letting the Enemy get at me for it tells me that I am on the right track toward You." You can also protect yourself with various spiritual warfare prayer that you can find in our SW Prayer Catalog linked below. The Hedge Prayers of Protection come to mind as one you should consider. But the bottomline is that if the Enemy is not bothering us in some way, then we must be a coach potato and not living as a Christian. But when we are growing in Christ we can expect the Enemy to try to rob us of our victory. It is called the Christian life. Persevere in the faith, do not be confused, but recognize what the devil is trying to do, and claim your victory. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

spiritual harassment

stacey

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Question:

It seems as if every time I have some kind of spiritual breakthrough or leap of faith I experience some kind of counterattack. It could be as a result of something I read, something God has revealed to me, or just any experience where I experience his peace and love. It is almost always followed by some negative reaction most often in the form of nightmares. Some of them are so frightening that the emotions tend to follow me through the whole day.

Right now I'm reading about the life of Padre Pio and it seems as if the enemy is not happy about that at all. Also I've had the experiences of God revealing some of his plans for me. Now I tend to be a very skeptical person and I question every thing that I think is being revealed and I also make sure it does not contradict scripture. Since I'm so hard to convince that something is true I have found that God will usually confirm to me what he is saying many times in different ways before I will even consider it possibly being from him. Even then I stay constantly in prayer and am very cautious.

The aggravating thing is that whenever he seems to be saying something or showing me something you can bet that the enemy will come in a few days later and give me his own version to try to convince me that it wasn't really true or that I did not hear from God.

For example I recently prayed to God about a very pressing matter and seemed to recieve an answer in a dream that very night which has been confirmed over and over again. About a week later I had a dream with many of the same elements but it was totally twisted and perverted to make it look as if the first one was a lie.

Now I definitely don't believe every dream is from God but I felt that this is one of the few that I have had that I felt was coming from him. I guess what I'm trying to say in so many words is that whenever anything good happens to strengthen my faith or God reveals to me something good in my life the enemy tries to ruin it or take it away.

It puts me in such a state of confusion when this happens. What can I do?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Stacey:

The fact that this is happening to you is a good thing! Yes, a good thing. It shows that you are doing the right thing in your life with God.

The devil will try to rob us of the victories we gain in our relationship with God. That is why this happens right after something good happens.

What can you do? Do not get upset. Just recognize this for what it is -- an attempt of the Enemy to rob you of the victory you just gained. Do not let him rob you. Laugh at him and say, "Praise God for the victory, and thank you Lord for letting the Enemy get at me for it tells me that I am on the right track toward You."

You can also protect yourself with various spiritual warfare prayer that you can find in our SW Prayer Catalog linked below. The Hedge Prayers of Protection come to mind as one you should consider.

But the bottomline is that if the Enemy is not bothering us in some way, then we must be a coach potato and not living as a Christian. But when we are growing in Christ we can expect the Enemy to try to rob us of our victory. It is called the Christian life.

Persevere in the faith, do not be confused, but recognize what the devil is trying to do, and claim your victory.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.