Praise the Lord for mercy and grace. Today we are going to get better equipped to do our job as children of God. This message came from a conversation I had with some friends a little while ago, so get yourself ready to receive the battle tactics from the Word.
Today’s Prayer
(from Hebrews 10:23-25)
(This is an individual Prayer)
Father, I want to always be a caring Christian, a supportive member of Your family, and willingly doing Your will. While I love to minister to others, and want be a living testimony of Your love and grace to a lost and dying world, I also want to lift up my brothers and sisters in Christ and have them lift me up as we travel this journey of life on earth. May our spirits soar on wings of eagles as we focus on You and exhort one another. Your Word encourages me to “hold fast the confession of my hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching”. So be it. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
The Jezebel Spirit
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. – Revelation 2:20
This is what’s been happening in my spirit the last couple days and I just have to share the revelation I got from the Word of God. One of the major ruling spirits opposing the Kingdom of God today is the spirit of Jezebel (spirit of control). It has dominion over many aspects of society including the workplace and the entertainment industry. It predominantly lives in females, but is not always gender specific.
The spirit of Jezebel seeks to destroy true worship, the family, morality, and the God-ordained leadership. It misleads and corrupts the Church and seeks to neutralize the lives of prophets, pastors, and other leadership.
The spirit of Jezebel is best seen in the story of Naboth’s garden in First Kings 21. In this story King Ahab desires to purchase some land next to the king’s palace. Naboth refuses to sell. When Jezebel hears of this, she embarrasses Ahab, telling him he should be ashamed because he is the king and has every right to the land. She promptly plots against Naboth to get the land for the king. This leads to Naboth’s murder. Ahab doesn’t know of this plot by his wife, but when the king shows up to claim the land, the prophet Elijah shows up too and pronounces judgment on Ahab and his wife. In this passage we see that God held Ahab ultimately responsible for the death of Naboth.
Jezebel’s ultimate goal is always control. The Jezebel spirit causes fear, flight, and discouragement. The people who carry this spirit are often natural leaders. Often subtle and deceptive, they are proud, independent, and rebellious. The Jezebel spirit can’t live without Ahab’s who allow the spirit to be effective and operate unchallenged. Ahabs fail to operate as Godly, loving leaders. Rather, they give in to pressure from the Jezebel spirit, often due to their own insecurities.
The answer to defeating the Jezebel spirit for the person who is influenced by it is true repentance, humility, and brokenness before God. The person who is “Jezebeled” must firmly stand against the exploitation of this spirit.
If you find yourself confronting this spirit, ask the Lord to give you discernment and wisdom. You will need fasting and prayer to win this battle. Men should not use this knowledge as a license to lord over or control women, but understand that this spirit opposes God’s design of the two equal but distinct roles for men and women.
Quote of the Day
The Jews would not willingly tread upon the smallest piece of paper in their way, but took it up; for possibly, they say, the name of God may be on it. Though there was a little superstition in this, yet truly there is nothing but good religion in it, if we apply it to men. Trample not on any; there may be some work of grace there that thou knowest not of. The name of God may be written upon that soul thou treadest on; it may be a soul that Christ thought so much of, as
to give His precious blood for it; therefore despise it not.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge