God’s Boundary Lines

“The Holy Spirit has hedged us in according to God’s divinely set boundary lines.  The devil also sets boundary lines, but his boundary lines are always to shrink us, to bind us, to pull us back and to remove from us the spirit of faith and vision… Through faith and intercessory prayer, we are to move the boundary lines back to God’s prescribed position.”  Frank Damazio

Boundaries and borders are an important part of life.  We have boundaries around our property, around our city, and even around our job.  These boundaries protect us and help us to know our limits in how we should live and work.  They also give us liberty, knowing how far we can freely go.  

Boundaries help us to stand watch and protect what is within our borders.  Our next-door neighbor (a difficult one) has always tried to encroach on the boundary line of our property, and it is through prayer and building a fence that we have protected what is rightfully ours.  Through cutting down our tree, poisoning our plants and pushing against our fence, he has tried to steal or damage the property that belongs to us.  These are physical boundaries.

In a similar way, we all have spiritual boundaries.  God has given us authority and influence in certain areas, and we need to protect and stay within those boundaries.  In order to move forward in the fullness of the authority of God’s borders, we must realize that the devil also has ways he tries to restrict our borders.  He has a plan to hedge us in, to restrict and hinder all that God has planned for us.  God wants us to reach our full potential, the full limits of His boundaries for us, while the devil wants to narrow us in and cause us to miss the full calling God has on our lives.  In a real sense, he wants to poison and damage our inheritance.  

The good news is that intercessory prayer can push back the boundary lines of the enemy.

We can learn a lesson from the python, a snake that likes to squeeze its prey to death.  A python does not swallow its victim.  If it catches a bird, it curls around it and slowly crushes it.  With a deceptive plan, it pauses and waits for the bird to breathe in.  As it breathes in and out, the python tightens its hold very slowly.  Every time the bird breathes in, the python waits.  When it breathes out, the python tightens its grip.  Finally there is no air for the bird - it gasps for a breath and dies.  

This is how the enemy works with us.  He quietly and slowly limits our life and vision.  He may squeeze us for days, weeks, or months.  We breathe in and he closes in tighter.  It happens so slowly that we don’t even notice it.  But we are being squeezed and limited - unable to breathe freely - and eventually are pressed into bondage.  Frank Damazio in his book Seasons of Intercession describes so clearly how intercessory prayer can push God’s boundary lines back into place.  He says:

“But intercessory prayer pushes the lines back to where God has ordained them to be.  Intercessors sense the work of the enemy, but they also realize God’s destiny for the situation.  God has always set generous boundary lines for each individual, for His people, but that inheritance was only reached through warfare prayer… As God has given each one of us an inheritance, we need to reach our furthestmost borderlines through spiritual warfare.  As we engage in intercessory prayer, God urges us to stretch out to break out.”

A few years ago my husband and I were at a conference for pastors and leaders.  During one of the sessions, the speaker asked for those to come forward who felt like they were being restricted or squeezed like a python.  A large number of leaders went forward.  We were among them.  The speaker then interceded and prayed a powerful warfare prayer for the group.  

I remember the difference I felt after that intercessory prayer for us.  It was as if a heaviness and weight had lifted.  It was as if I could breathe freely once again.  I knew that God had broken through in each one of our lives.  This was very real and it made a huge difference.  Realize that if you feel restricted, the devil may be behind the heaviness and weight that is pressing you down.  You have an inheritance, and God wants you to break free.  There is a future and a hope for you!  

We each have a destination and we need to stretch towards it just as the Apostle Paul did.  He said in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”  

Paul was not willing to let the devil restrict him.  He was not willing to be limited into mediocrity - He stretched to the boundaries God had set for him - He pressed through every difficulty in prayer.  The word push or press in this verse means, “to press violently, to push one’s way into, to pursue, to speed on as in a race”.  There are times that we must press through in prayer in order to see the fulfillment of what God has told us.  

You have dreams God has given you.  

You may have dreams of what God wants to do in the prayer ministry of your church or city.  You may have dreams of working among drug addicts, reaching other nations, or starting a house of prayer.  Establish your dream in the spiritual realm through persevering prayer.  Do not let the enemy limit your vision or crush your dream.  Don’t give in to discouragement, one of the enemy’s most potent weapons.  Worship and praise God for what He is going to do.  Keep establishing it in the spiritual realm through intercessory prayer.  Build a spiritual fence around your boundary lines and the inheritance that God has for you, and do not let the devil encroach on your territory.  

How do we do this?  Here are some important things to remember in establishing your boundaries.   Some of this is a reminder of what we already have emphasized, but we must do it again and again as we press through into new territory.  

Establishing Your Boundary Lines


Know your God-given boundary lines - Know the boundaries God has ordained for you, strengthen your stakes, and push to their limits.  Don’t let the devil squeeze you into a narrow place.  “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes” (Isaiah 54:2).
Repent of Satanic strongholds in your life - Strongholds are false beliefs (“It will never happen”,  “I can’t do anything right”,  “I’m a failure”, etc.) that cause fear, grief, worry, and all sorts of negative feelings.  These are lies of the devil.  We must repent of them as sin because this is where we have believed the lies of the enemy instead of the truth of God.  “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” (Isaiah 30:15).
Strengthen your faith in God’s Word - Shake off the negative feelings of insecurity, doubt, and hopelessness.  No longer dwell on what is contrary to God’s Word but think on whatever is positive.  “Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.  Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion” (Isaiah 52:2).
Speak the Word of God out loud over your situation - Speak out verses God has given you for your situation.  God’s Word will shatter the enemy’s work.  “‘Is not my word like fire’, declares the Lord, ‘and like a ham-mer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” (Jeremiah 23:29).
Worship and proclaim praise at what God is going to do - Do this by faith even before you see it in the natural.  You are building in the spirit realm first.  “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs” (Psalm 100:2).
Walk in obedience to whatever God tells you to do - Run towards His commands, and hold fast to His truth.  “I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.  I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame.  I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:30-32).
       

Let us not let the enemy tighten his grip and squeeze us into a narrow place.  It doesn’t feel good.  God has promised each one of us a future and a hope.  He wants to give us breakthrough faith in prayer!    

“If you fear that your life is a waste or painfully limited, if you are dissatisfied and there seems to be nothing you can do about it, if you feel trapped, with no options, and think that life is all over for you, then you have been squeezed, limited.  Your boundary lines have been moved back by demonic forces.  This work of the devil strives to ruin your life, cause you to accept the narrow box he has put you in.  Through intercessory prayer, you need to believe Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’”  Frank Damazio

A Breakthrough Prayer for God’s Boundary Lines

“Lord, teach me to live within Your boundary lines for me.  Help me to use Your authority within those boundaries.  I pray that You would break through any restrictions that the enemy has put upon my life.  I thank You that he will not damage my inheritance.  You will help me to reach my full potential in You.  The enemy will not limit my vision and all that You have planned for me.  Help me to stretch beyond my limitations to the boundary you have set for me.  ‘I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me’ (Philippians 3:12).  I choose to press through in prayer and become all that You have designed me for.  I partner with You with my dreams and the desires of my heart.  I refuse to let the devil squeeze me into a narrow place but I stretch forth my stakes, pushing to the limits (Isaiah 54:2).  I repent of believing the lies of the devil (name any lies you have been believing).  I shake off any negative feelings of hopelessness or insecurity (Isaiah 52:2).  Help me to speak out Your Words of truth and worship You daily.  Help me to obey You completely.  I claim Your promise in Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’   Thank you for the freedom I have in You.  In Jesus name, amen.”

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
http://www.intercessorsarise.org

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