Is sleep paralysis spiritual or purely physical?

Can science explain or solve it and, is there treatment for it?

Sleep paralysis has been a plague in my life for years.

I experienced it in childhood and it has persisted into my adult years.

Today, I want to share my experience battling this phenomenon. Let us shine a light exposing the truth that it is a spiritual fight.

What Is Sleep Paralysis?

Sleep paralysis is a very real condition. In sleep paralysis, a person will experience an inability to move while being cognitively aware.

They are still able to breathe and move their eyes but they cannot speak.

It tends to occur right before one falls asleep or right before they fully awake.

The experience, though brief, is often extremely terrifying.

The episodes also tend to be accompanied by hallucinations, mostly of a sinister kind.

My Personal Experience

For me, sleep paralysis would often occur right before I settle in to sleep.

I can’t recall my first encounter but I know it plagued me a lot during my teenage years.

It felt like a ‘presence’ of some sort was holding me still. It was as if the aim of this encounter was to plunge me into the abyss of death.

Now, I am already quite claustrophobic, so this heightens the panic of the situation.

At times, the episodes would play out with me hearing a voice.

Never a pleasant one.

Though, I grew up hearing cultural ghost (duppy) stories, I opted not to believe I was encountering any.

I would always rationalize that this occurrence had to be scientific.

To be honest, my young brain back then would not have been able to function with such a possibility.

And, I just thought all that was far-fetched.

I just knew I hated it. The fear of recurrence affected my ability to peacefully sleep.

How it Affected Me Physically

Sleep paralysis caused me more than mental unrest.

During some episodes, my teeth would gnash.

This was extremely unpleasant, both audibly and physically.

In my mind, I would have to really fight to free myself of it.

At the end of the paralysis, I would have very labored breathing and I would be sweaty.

How I Used to Fight Sleep Paralysis

To pull myself out of the horror of it, I would focus really hard.

I would hone in on one tiny part of my body.

A pinky finger for example, and then when that moved, I would move on until the whole hand could move.

After that, I would muster up enough strength to jerk my body back to reality.

It required so much energy.Later on in adult life, I would enlist the help of my husband.

You see, I would try my hardest to shout his name our scream during the episodes.

My husband would eventually tell me he heard me moaning.

He described it as a low moan, nothing as urgent as I would be trying to communicate.

We agreed that this low moan meant I needed him to shake my out of sleep paralysis.

That, I must admit, was such a relief for years.

I am so grateful he tried to understand and help even though he could not relate.

I thought this sufficed and my episodes are rare.

Still, I now know better.

How Believers Should Fight Sleep Paralysis

Sleep Paralysis, is primarily a spiritual battle.

Science cannot explain it and science has not been able to effectively treat it.

This should not surprise us.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that our battles are not well fought in the physical realm.

We therefore must learn to fight in the spirit according to verses 10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Not only is this the best way to fight sleep paralysis, but we must apply this instruction to all our battles.

We, as the body of Christ, must stand in our identities as children of the Most High and learn how to fight spiritually.

We need not fight as the world does.

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It is counter-productive for us to fight physically while the enemy fights us spiritually.

So, I fight sleep paralysis now with different tactics.

I fight with winning tactics.

And, the wonderful news is fighting spiritually isn’t half as exhausting as fighting physically.

This is because Jesus IS our armor.

Ephesians 6 tells us to put on our armor.

And friends, Jesus is our armor!

This is true even in sleep paralysis.I no longer try to move body parts or gnash my teeth.

I no longer cry out for hubby.

No friend, I cry out for Jesus.I cry to Abba Father.

And, He rescues me. He whisks me out of the depths of the despair of sleep paralysis.

The enemy has recently gone so far as to whisper to me, “You are going to die now”. And I resolve first off that should I die in my sleep or any other way, I won’t go out without calling on the name of God Almighty.

Furthermore, we know that the enemy is the father of lies. He will not get the privilege of taking me out with his lies.

No, thank you sir. Get thee away from me!

God Will Rescue Us – He Already Won

In this last episode, I cried out to God and spoke in my heavenly language.

I came out of it swiftly and with zero sweat.

God rescued me. He fought the battle for me.

Jesus has already won the victory y’all!!

He said it is finished so now we see that spiritual warfare is best fought with praise!

When we pray to God and worship every day. we wear our spiritual armor. We fend off the attacks of the enemy.

No sleep paralysis or anything else will conquer us!

Tell Me…

Have you ever encountered it?

Have you ever seen personally how calling on the name of Jesus helps you win spiritual battles?

May we all grow in our faith and become so spiritually mature that we fight our battles through worship.

We invite you to read our recent post on Spiritual Discernment. We would love to share what we are learning there with you.

Until next time…

Stay Blessed