Spiritual Warfare

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GodIsGracious

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I know there is a spiritual warfare going on. Some questions and interested in answers on them.

How do you know if you’re under attack?

Are you always under attack? If so, can the attacks increase?

What would be the way to discern whether one was under a spiritual attack? A severe one? Are there levels to attacks?

What would these spiritual attacks look like? Or rather, how do they appear?

Could these occur during Mass? Could they occur when you receive communion? is it that they can occur at anytime even if you do receive communion?

At what point would/could these attacks occur? i.e. at what point in a person’s life? Does it matter if they’re practicing their faith? Their religion?
 
My DH is and has been under spiritual attack.

He is very faithful and is attacked hard and often.

He says he knows when it is happening, because he feels darkness all around. He can also feel physical pain.

He meets regularly with a deacon who prays with and over him…often praying in tongues.
 
These can be tough to discern. We have the self, the world and the devil to contend with. The devil is sneaky, tries to stay hidden and complicates his attacks as to make getting help from the Church difficult. It may take awhile, under direction, to sort out attacks if persueing answers. With the Lord, His teachings and lessons in life are simplistic, though He may allow such attacks for a greater good. I stopped having major problems once I was consecrated to Jesus through Mary. I don’t know if the attacks have stopped or I’m just not bothered by them anymore. I am still discerning past experience’s with the help of my priest, but as he says, I may never get the answers I’m looking for in this life. Tim
 
I once heard Fr. John Corapi say words to this effect: “Is the devil real? YES. Should we be looking for him behind every bush and rock? NO.”

He went on to say, that spiritual warfare is real. It is happening all around us. But place your trust in Our Lord Jesus. He is our Light and Salvation. And ask Our Blessed Mother, too… for her prayers and protection.

Always remember that you are a child of God. And that God loves us all. That is our best “weapon” against the attacks of the enemy. Also, pray the Rosary. 👍

Thank you for letting me add my :twocents:

God bless you.
 
Thank you for the responses! I really appreciate you guys responding.

I’ve been in a tough and dark spot recently. But it’s mostly been thoughts and some doubts. I know that when I was not practicing my faith, I was more “at peace.” Every single time I would try and come back to the Catholic church I was not “at peace” so I’d leave again. I remember hearing something about spiritual warfare and that Satan will do his best to keep us from God. I’d been away for 20 years.

This time around it was the Holy Eucharist that brought me back and is keeping me here. There is nothing that will take me away from Christ. I’ve actually changed my lifestyle so I can make sure to continue to receive communion.

All of that being said, now, this time coming back (only been back since this past Christmas) all of my doubts, thoughts, feelings (and yes, I know “feelings” aren’t always reality ;)) has been centered around the Eucharist. Infact, I’ve written something on CAF before about some horrible horrible thoughts I’ve had. And sometimes they still do creep in.

I was going to go to Eucharistic Adoration but it was suggested to me that instead of that I really need a good talk with a priest. So I need to set that time up. That was when I posted this thread.

@Catholic90: How does this spiritual attack occur for your husband? How does he know when it is happening?

**@TOP:**Yes, they can be tricky, and like MarieVeronica quoted from Fr. Corapi, we needed search for Satan under every rock. I will be setting up a time to speak with a priest as was suggested to me a couple of days ago. Have you considered talking to a priest?

@MarieVeronica: Agreed! 🙂 I like being practical and not searching for Satan under every rock (or in my case, keyboard and behind every monitor! LOL! 🤓) The rosary is a good suggestion. Lately I’ve just been praying to Jesus and just being honest with him. It’s helping.

@glenaitken: Thank you for the link and I’ll be on the look out for Fr. Amorth’s two books as well.
 
GodIsGracious said:
**@TOP:**Yes, they can be tricky, and like MarieVeronica quoted from Fr. Corapi, we needed search for Satan under every rock. I will be setting up a time to speak with a priest as was suggested to me a couple of days ago. Have you considered talking to a priest?
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Yes, I have talked to as many as five different priests. Right now, I am sticking with one who is my parish priest and confessor. He has kind of filled in as the role of spiritual director. Though I have gotten different opinions, he is the one that knows me best and is very sound in his direction. We approach everything with caution and agree discernment is a higher gift. I keep contact with him about once a week, but we have only scratched the surface on certain things. I have tried to keep things simple, filtering out what is most likely diabolical and to complex for words. Some things are best left alone as to not get entangled in a trap. We focus mostly on building a stronger spiritual life. This is a lifelong process. As I grow in the faith, the less I’m concerned about past attacks, though certain things still do bother me. Learning about how the saints, like St. John of the Cross, approached spiritual matters has helped me let go of some things, but I am still working on it. Tim
 
Thank you so much God is Gracious, for opening this thread!! Exactly what has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks, and have been looking for an answer…this thread should help.
 
GodIsGracious said:
All of that being said, now, this time coming back (only been back since this past Christmas) all of my doubts, thoughts, feelings (and yes, I know “feelings” aren’t always reality ;)) has been centered around the Eucharist. Inf act, I’ve written something on CAF before about some horrible horrible thoughts I’ve had. And sometimes they still do creep in.
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I have learned that the warfare is the strongest when people are in the early stages of a conversion. It is really predictable right before a major confession that demons will try to interfere and try to make the person feel too ashamed to go. They are also very active early on in the spiritual journey. Each person who belongs to God’s Kingdom is a huge threat to Satan, so they will fight very hard to keep someone from getting into a state of grace. Often if you are just leading a sinful life, they just leave you alone.

About those thoughts - one way we teach people in deliverance counseling to deal with doubts and temptations that are likely coming from the enemy is to put your hand up as if to say “STOP!” and say, “I reject this though not of God, and accept only thoughts pleasing to God.” Now if you’re in the grocery store, you might want to avoid the hand thing and say that sentence silently to yourself. But in the privacy of your own home go for it. If the thoughts happen 50 times a day, do this 50 times a day. I’ve found that this technique of dealing with doubts and other disruptive thoughts is very effective. Eventually the demons tire of their little game and give up.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

God bless you, and welcome back home to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. 👍
 
Hello

I’m new to this forum, but I have lurked around whenever I had questions, and I’ve been searching for a topic like this. I really want to see if there would be any new interest into this thread.

After reading through this, I’ve finally realized that this is the turmoil I’ve been through- this spiritual warfare. Up until now I admit I have been a lukewarm Catholic in my faith, only meeting Jesus half-way. I think this is my wake-up call, and I can’t believe how it suits me so well- Satan trying to snare me through my mind and heart, where they are quite unprepared, as I now find. Dark thoughts constantly plague me, as well as depression, resulting in my contemplation of actions I normally would never pass a thought’s farthing upon. The harder I try to get closer to God, I find that it becomes even harder to do so. I recognize that this is Satan trying to pull me away, but now I’m positive that I won’t let him, and will no longer be lukewarm in my faith.

The journey will be long and hard, I already know it- every night I find that I’m weary and so tired of the day’s battle, but if this is what I have to go through to really come to love and live through Christ- if this is my cross to bare- then I will march through it, with God’s grace and help, of course. 👍

But I would also like to ask for help- I’ve yet to try a rosary, I know how powerful they can be, but I have been quite selfish with my time 😦 Other suggestions? Especialy spiritual readings? I will try to read the ones already posted.
 
Buy a statue of Blessed Mary. Have it blessed by a Priest. Keep it by the bed always. Trust me, it works in a huge way, but it will likely not solve all your problems in itself. Also, consider wearing the Brown Scapular.
 
The ordinary activity of the devils is temptation. Anyone who tries to actually be a Christian will be under attack via this method.

Which of course is through passions, emotions, suggestions of thought and imagination.

Temptation to distraction in prayer is one of the most common temptations.

It is by temptation that we are put to the test, to show what we prefer in life and eternal life, the Lord God and His will, or the pleasures of this earth and sin.

Through studying the writings of the saints we learn how to proceed on the path to Heaven.

Books like ‘The Spiritual Combat’ are also very helpful.
 
GodIsGracious said:
I know there is a spiritual warfare going on. Some questions and interested in answers on them.

How do you know if you’re under attack?

Are you always under attack? If so, can the attacks increase?

What would be the way to discern whether one was under a spiritual attack? A severe one? Are there levels to attacks?

What would these spiritual attacks look like? Or rather, how do they appear?

Could these occur during Mass? Could they occur when you receive communion? is it that they can occur at anytime even if you do receive communion?

At what point would/could these attacks occur? i.e. at what point in a person’s life? Does it matter if they’re practicing their faith? Their religion?
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My dear friend

There’s no set rules. Babies have been possessed and needing exorcisms in times gone by. Saints are sometimes partially or fuly possessed as a part of their victimhood, occasionally. You can be the victim of a diabolical obsession at any time and for any time and you can have terrible probs wth diabolical suggestion. And you can have the usual probs with demons tempting you, causing trouble in various ways. It’s important to remember God is in complete control so long as we follow Him we can’t be hurt. Satan is ike a vicious dog on a leash that barks a lot but can’t get near enough to bite us if we are friends of God. We must use the means at our disposal to us in spiritual warfare. God will often permit some trouble for us to test us but we are never tested beyond our strength. We must be in grace always and especially in spiritual wafre.Hope is helps.

God bless you:thumbsup:🙂

John
 
I fell away from the faith when I was a teenager… then later when I was in my later years in college I had a spiritual attack. I woke up one morning in bed, and felt the most horrible despair/hopelessness/evil presences in my bedroom. I then lost the ability to move my body and it felt like the “thing” was trying to take over my body and thoughts. I’ve never been so terrified as was then, and having not set foot in a Church in several years, I began to say the Our Father. After saying it, it went away, and I noticed a sense of peace in in the room. That’s what got me back to the Church… the knowledge that such an evil thing existed and its response to the Our Father. God is truly good!
 
MarieVeronica said:
I once heard Fr. John Corapi say words to this effect: “Is the devil real? YES. Should we be looking for him behind every bush and rock? NO.”

He went on to say, that spiritual warfare is real. It is happening all around us. But place your trust in Our Lord Jesus. He is our Light and Salvation. And ask Our Blessed Mother, too… for her prayers and protection.

Always remember that you are a child of God. And that God loves us all. That is our best “weapon” against the attacks of the enemy. Also, pray the Rosary. 👍

T

Thank you for letting me add my :twots:

God

God bless you.
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I like what you have said here.
Is it not fair to say that the fervent prayer of the Rosary, the frequent use of the Sacrament of Penance and the worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist are among the greatest weapons we have in Spiritual Warfare. Satan knows with fear that the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Great Warrior on behalf of Her children. And it will be the Immaculate Heart of Mary who will triumph and Crush the Head of Satan in the end.
 
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