The sparkling Mediterranean Sea with Carmel's mountain range in the background...Can you imagine Elijah praying on the summit while his servant watched for a cloud?
It has been weeks since my last post - I've been busy and I'm sure you have, too. We've been studying the prophet Elijah in our BSF lessons and I didn't know whether I should mention Jezebel or not. And then, last night I heard about another "Naboth" who had given up his/her position due to a Jezebel's murderous spirit. Yes, Jezebel was tossed from an upstairs window, trampled by horses and eaten by dogs but her spirit is alive and well. Jesus warned us about her in Revelation 2:20: "You tolerate the woman Jezebel..."
If you have been "Jezebeled", you may feel like Elijah and want to run and hide...and you probably should for a minute or two. Jezebel leaves us confused and depressed. When I was blindsided by Jezebel (she can be a man or a woman), I ran for cover and did not want to leave! Elijah was so depressed he wanted to die but God sent an angel to minister to him and then sent him on a 40 day journey to Mt. Sinai (where Moses had encountered God and was given the Torah - God's instructions on how to live. That is a good place to run to - the first five books of the Bible!) At Mt. Sinai, Elijah had a fresh encounter with God and THEN he was able to make his way back to his God-ordained position and complete his ministry.
Sylvia Gunter's Prayer Portions has helped me recognize a Jezebel spirit and know how to pray. Here are some signs of a Jezebel spirit that the book mentions (for a thorough description see the book): "Jezebels are proud, independent, and rebellious. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. (1 Sam. 15:23) (Isn't it just like Satan to make those stuffed "witch" dolls and signs at Halloween cute and funny when in reality witchcraft is destructive and hurtful?) Witchcraft is control or knowledge through any other means than the Holy Spirit. Stubbornness, insubordination, or arrogance is like iniquity and idolatry...When we flee from accountability, this is idolatry of self and pride...Pride also resists correction from anybody, because of its insecurity in identity...
"Jezebel resists authority, controls and exercises power over everyone, works through others, speaks negatively, curses, threats and intimidates, usurps her husband's or her leader's authority and may even act in his name. She manipulates and controls men in leadership (or tries to!), goes after the position of leadership as a base to work from, uses power plays, lies, accuses, manipulates, uses a 'religious' occasion to do her dirty work, accuses other of what she has done, gets others to do her dirty work (don't you hate being used like that?!), and she believes the end justifies the means, condones sin, even murder, to get what she wants...."
Mrs. Gunter tells us how to avoid the Jezebel spirit:
"Personal submission to God for Him to develop godly character rooted in humility, equipped by the Holy Spirit and enlightened by the word of God to know what is true (therefore what is false).
God-directed submission to your God-given family covering (husband or father).
Submission to the order of spiritual authority in the church (or organization) where God has placed you."
Mrs. Gunter warns: "Know the harm that being the object of the Jezebel spirit has done you. By the grace of God, recognize your potential for operating in the Jezebel spirit."
Ouch! Not only have I be "Jezebelled" - could I have been the Jezebel?!
Thankfully, Gunter's teaching reveals that "God loves these Jezebel people. Jezebels need to be healed of the causes of their destructive ways. God wants to redeem them from this curse and use them as major influencers for righteousness." We need to deal with this spirit "for the church's sake corporately (so we can pray down revival rain... as Elijah did; for the kingdom's sake (Rev. 2:26-28); for the children's sake (it is a generational curse); for the sake of obedience 1 Kings 19:9,11); for our soul's sake (the revelation of the Morning Star is promised to overcomers of the Jezebel spirit - that is more revelation of Jesus!); for our health's sake - tolerating Jezebel can cause sickness."
I wish I had known Mrs. Gunter's teaching when I was flattened by a Jezebel spirit. She tells us "to dispel darkness, simply turn on the light. Responding according to the flesh is not the answer. (I see that, now!) Don't retaliate in kind; that only multiplies the evil you are trying to overcome. The spirit of Jezebel is defeated by the name and nature of Jesus worked in us--His love, gentleness, meekness, humility, and blessing. We are following the Lamb (Rev. 19:11-16), and you are only ready for victory when the Lamblike nature is worked in us."
Isn't that beautiful?
And, if you are convicted of operating in the Jezebel spirit there is hope! Mrs. Gunter reminds us to:
"Renounce it!Repent of ways you have used it. Ask God's forgiveness and that of others, submit to God and resist it. Receive God's power to forsake it and move only under the control of His Holy Spirit."
I hope this is helpful...it is not a subject we want to talk about.(See why I put this off so long?) None of us want to be a Jezebel or be used or "sucked in" by a Jezebel. How it must grieve our Father when we are jealous or envious of someone else's ministry or God-given position and then attempt to "bring them down". There is room in His Kingdom for all of us.
(I cannot say enough about how helpful Sylvia Gunter's Prayer Portion is. You can order it online at The Father's Business. All of her material is a "must-have" for prayer warriors.)
Comments