Rebellion, Manipulation & Control
I Kings 16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
Ethbaal – priest-king; ruler of the coastal Phoenician cities – Tyre & Sidon
Jezebel’s father
His name means “toward the idol” or “with Baal”
Baal - lord, master, husband; nature god, god of fertility).
King of the Sidonians (Sidonian means “to catch in a snare/trap”)
Sexual perversion, gender change/equalization & the sacrifice of children
Asherah - goddess of war; queen of heaven; goddess of fertility
offered children for sacrifice; accompanied by male & female prostitutes; goddess that could change male into female & females into males; they would wear clothes half feminine/half masculine
**If you tolerate Jezebel in your life, relationships, marriage, church then how can you defeat Jezebel in your nation?
JEZEBEL
Jezebel: Phoenician princess, a controller in a prominent position
Name means “where is Baal?”; without cohabitation – a refusal to live together or cohabit with anyone; you are your own authority; you have no accountability; you’re your own lord
The spirit of Jezebel is a spiritual power that operates though people’s lives characterizing independence, rebellion, intimidation & manipulation.
1000 years after Queen Jezebel died – the spirit lives on and has no respecter of person; John writes
An extreme case b/c she was in a prominent position and she was a murderer
[Chart – Jezebel]
Jezebel emasculates men (surrounded by eunuchs) destroys the identity of men/their husband
Don’t have to be married to operate in the spirit of Jezebel.
Don’t have to hold a position of authority
Once the door is open, rebellion & control manifests through all ages & states of life
The root of control & manipulation is rebellion. Rebellion is disobedience, nonconforming, defiance. When God has made Himself clear to you and you willingly choose to disobey but rather choose to willingly be led by another spirit.
I Samuel 15:23 Rebellion is as witchcraft….trying to assume authority without being under proper authority.
HOW DO DOORS OPEN?
Generational – Example: Eve – choosing to believe a lie thus putting your own ideas & ways above God and anyone else in authority.
Hurts & wounds
Prov 4:23 Keep (guard, protect, watch over) your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring/flows the issues (boundaries of things that we will allow/disallow) of life.
The heart is the core/center of your body; the heart is the center of your identity; it refers to what connects your soul and spirit. It’s the core driver of your life. (mentioned 826 times)
Ps 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds their wounds.
Brokenhearted (fragmented/shattered) - broken - to walk over so much that you create a mark/rut/line. You have been walked over by people, mistreated by people and it’s left a mark in your life/heart
I’ll never trust a man/woman, I’ll never share my feelings, I’ll never become venerable again
I’ll never be like my father/mother, I’ll never marry anyone like my father/mother,
I’ll never ______________________________
Areas you don’t talk about,
Concealing the anger, resentment, unforgiveness to allow it in our heart to hide, conceal and control giving this spirit access to our lives
When you come into agreement with a spirit, it manifests through us
Father heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds (an idol - a substitute)
I can’t worship the Lord with all my heart, b/c I’ve allowed my heart to become occupied by these other spirits.
Jezebel didn’t start off awful: through doors opened through her family; undealt with attitudes as a child, etc.
DELILAH: JUDGES 16
5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him (lure, trick), and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
21 Then the Philistines took him and [d]put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.
SARAH: GENESIS 15
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
SAUL: I SAMUEL 15
18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are [b]consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the [c]spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of [d]witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
“In other words, if you’re rebelling against God, that’s just as bad as if you were into witchcraft. If you have a stubborn spirit, you’re no better off than the person who is worshiping an idol. This business of rebellion and stubbornness is something that God is not pleased with in our lives. Rebellion is just as bad as witchcraft. Stubbornness is just as bad as idolatry.” Chuck Smith
“All conscious disobedience is actually idolatry, because it makes self-will, the human I, into a god.” (Keil and Delitszch)
HOW IT MANIFESTS
-Manipulate to get what you want.
Get angry and don’t want to talk/deal with things
Cry b/c you’re not getting your way
Get quiet and go inward and don’t deal with things
Try to manipulate your environment to always have everything in control so that you feel safe
-Deep fear of rejection that causes people to control (I don’t want to be venerable or hurt)
-Play the victim role – deep root of pride; it’s a fight to get a resolution; deny everything (no sense of ownership) and turn on you. Hold grudges. When you think it’s forgiven, it’s not…it’s stored up and will bring up faults against you again.
-Ungrateful
-Draw information out of you and use it for power.
-Cut people off
-Great ability to serve, but serving with the agenda to eliminate everyone else so you can be dependent on them.
-Undermine others by talking about their faults so they look spiritual or compare the amount of work they’re doing
-Unforgiveness
- Children & Financial Aid – going from parent to parent/person to person to try to get what they want
Singles: God says lay the POI/guy on the altar
Elijah: prophet from Gilead. Awesome miracles took place through him. Rain came and stopped at his command, a dead boy was raised back to life, challenged 450 prophets of Baal and killed the AND out ran a chariot!!!
Elijah when vexed by this spirit: Filled with fear and perspective of God distorted withdraw from responsibility isolate became passive depressed suicidal
HOW TO OVERCOME
Recognize it’s a spirit so that you can defeat it with spiritual weapons.
Does this spirit have room of operate in my life?
Is there generational fear, anxiety, control? Any bondages, traumas, or anything this spirit is using in my life to manipulate me?
For example: I battled rejection and abandonment from my father and in turn looked for acceptance.
Rev 2 (to the angel of the church in Thyatira) 19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
Repent to God for tolerating the spirit; repent to people
Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee
Reset the boundary
Allow & Invite God into those areas.
Jesus – so merciful to give jezebel time to repent.
Ahab repented and was spared but his sons were cursed.
Because of Jezebel’s influence, Ahab built and promoted idol worship in Samaria. Years later, Jesus said I have need to go through Samaria where He meets a woman with relationship issues at a well who after an encounter with Jesus goes and wins the city to Jesus. What Ahab and Jezebel destroyed, the woman at the well was delivered and brought others to Jesus.