It has always been interesting to me, that Elijah, after seeing such an amazing miracle and the manifestation of God's power....runs for his life from one woman! We know of course that woman was Jezebel. I King.19:3-4 Tells of Elijah's run for his life.
So....He has seen God move in an unbelievable display of power...and one woman threatens him..and he runs! What's with that??
One of the greatest effectiveness ( if you want to call it that) of the Jezebel spirit is it's ability to threaten and intimidate. Jezebel then..and now...loves to project a sense of power, that they do not have. Again, it's based on fear and intimidation. This spirit loves to cloud the minds of those it's seeking to dominate.
Some examples of how we might 'hear/recognize' that spirit in today's situations: " If you don't do this, we'll have to withhold our tithe."..." Submit to me, or you won't have any spiritual covering." .........." If you don't stop ( or listen to me...or do what I say...) that I'll make sure that no one ever...supports you again." ...." I'll sue this company/church/ you...until you either go out of business or leave."
These are all a use of illegitimate power and authority. This doesn't mean a person shouldn't stand up for themselves, but it should b done through the proper channels. Manipulating, intimidating and dominating another human being are blatant uses of control and illegitimate authority.
Elijah was temporarily influenced by fear - even tho he'd just seen God move - and that fear resulted in discouragement and despair and opened him to being influenced by Jezebel's projected ( and exaggerated) power. " I am have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left." I Kings 19:10
We can see from this, that the spirit of intimidation was so strong and that it projected to his mind that there was not a single person left who was devoted to God. Ever had a similar 'extreme' reaction or response to the trial you were going thru?? Suddenly you go from 'standing strong' to...' I'm just going to quit. Nothing I've ever done has made a difference."...or .." Everyone is against me." When in reality there are one or two...but seriously...'everyone':? No!
Not true. You are in the grip of the intimidating power of Jezebel!
This spirit wants you to feel abandoned, to surrender to hopelessness. It's desire is to paralyze the prophetic flow of God. And it will.......if you surrender to it.
The first step to surrendering is to fall into agreement with fear...and from there you go into 'self pity'. Self pity is a clearly conscious resignation and surrender to the victim mentality. ( There is a GREAT teaching out called, "Overcoming a Victim Spirit" - if you haven't heard it - get it! It's really well done.) When you see yourself as a victim, you literally enter into agreement with Jezebel and some say you are actually entering into sin with her, because you are no longer resisting her.
Remember, the Jezebel spirit has no regard for godly authority. This spirit is in complete contrast to the will of God. This spirit wants to BE God. In a person...this manifests as, wanting to be in charge, in control. This is the person in a church who believes that they'd do a better job as the leader of the committee they're on...or the elders/deacon board they're on..or even, as the leader/pastor of the church. They work at removing godly authority with the conscious desire to put themselves in that position.
The Jezebel spirit has no conscience. Those under her control have hardened their hearts and their consciences have become seared. Their 'will' is king...and they are supreme!
The saddest part for me, is the way Jezebel destroy the fruitfulness of others. Ahab, acting like a spoiled child, wanted a vineyard for his own selfish convenience. He had an innocent man . Naboth's fruitfulness ended because of that act! Naboth could not give up the inheritance of his fathers to the king. The Jezebel spirit desires that righteous people forsake their convictions and inheritances, so that IT can do it's religious work!
As a church, we need to 'know our enemy'. Even the Generals of this world, who wage warfare study the tactics' of the one they are going to battle against. The church has often turned a blind eye to how Jezebel works, and we've done that by having her use our own desire to 'get along'...or be 'submitted'...or 'to keep the peace'..in our churches. While those are good things, we also need to know when TO FIGHT!
More on that....soon!~
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