In this post, I want to talk about something that’s not totally familiar to most people. It’s something we all deal with at some point. It’s a part of spiritual warfare. Something we must be careful to recognize and deal with in our own lives, but you don’t always see posts like this, so I want to present this because I want to educate people about this. Even more than that, though, I want to begin a conversation about dominion.
Dominion is the ability to overcome and defeat the devil and
defeat his plans for your life. He really hates us and wants to destroy us and
our effectiveness in bringing about the Kingdom of God.
How many problems in life are the result of spiritual
issues? How many are the result of a
lack of dominion and spiritual authority on our parts? This post is a step toward taking dominion in
your life.
Isaiah 27:1 NKJV
In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.
Leviathan
M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, and author of the
book, The People of the Lie, said in his book that many of people’s
problems are explainable in common psychiatric practices. However, he also makes the statement that he
has, “seen the face of evil.”
“When the demonic finally spoke…an expression appeared. It was an incredibly contemptuous grin of utter malevolence. I have spent any hours inf ront of a mirror trying to imitate it without the slightest success… The patient suddenly resembled a writhing spirit serpent of great strength., viciously trying to bite the team members. More frightening than the writhing body however, was the face![i]
This is Leviathan!
Leviathan is like a sea serpent, a twisting spirit. It is a description of a type of spiritual
power. I believe there are only two
sources of spiritual power in the universe today – God and the devil. Look at the description of Satan in the book
of Revelation:
Revelation 20:2 NKJV
He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
Leviathan isn’t a name for the devil, it’s a description of
the power that he wields, a form of action.
He takes the things of God and twists them, perverts them. That’s the spirit of Leviathan!
A lack of spiritual authority and dominion in your life is
an open door to sin; to unrighteous thought and behavior. We call that unrighteousness iniquity.
Iniquity is a twisting dynamic, something happens when one’s mind or spirit gets twisted. It’s not just your neighbor or circumstances. It is your mind. It is a demonic twisting of the mind.[ii]
Iniquity is not just everyday sin; it’s unrighteousness of
the heart. In other words, iniquity is a
character issue, it’s part of what makes up your moral choices. When there is a lack of spiritual authority in
your life, when you’re not standing on God’s principles your mind and character
begin to twist. That affects your
thoughts, your understanding and your behavior.
You are no longer in your right mind. There is a twisting effect.
A [church] pastor in 1990, was involved in a church rebellion. In a meeting he literally lost his “I have it all together.” Some described it as going “ballistic.” This was not the event of a moment although it may have looked that way. No, somewhere he had opened a door or given place in his mind to this twisting spirit.. The issues were twisted in his heart. His motives twisted his view of leadership.[iii]
People who are twisted cannot think properly about
correction, discipline or even advice.
That spirit (Leviathan) rages against the stable and godly mind. They seek to make trouble, leading others into
their twisted pattern of thought. Leviathan divides, Leviathan ruins relationships;
Leviathan destroys:
Proverbs 12:8 NKJV
A man will be commended according to his wisdom, But he who is of a perverse heart will be despised.
This is the strategy of the Leviathan spirit, to destroy
fellowship and defeat God’s promises in you by destroying your faith in the
promise through causing you to suspect God’s intentions and your leader’s
intentions.
1John 2:18-19 NKJV
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
Who were they that went out?
They were members of the church; they were in fellowship with the saints,
but their minds were captivated by twisted strengths of arguments and
imaginations against God and His people and so they left.
Do you know who they are?
They’re the “former members” that speak against the church in public
with statements of twisted fact. “It’s a cult, they’ll tell you whom you have
to marry.” “They shun those who’ve
left. That’s Leviathan!
Have you ever felt like that? That there’s nothing for you but defeat? Do you feel like even God is against you;
that the other people in the church are against you? That’s Leviathan.
One last statement about Leviathan. He cannot be tamed by you. He is untamable. You cannot control demonic power in the
flesh!
What About Your Life?
This is a spirit that gains access to your heart but demonic
forces have no right to you. They cannot
just enter into a mind that is solidly focused on God’s will. They cannot enter into a heart that is filled
with the indwelling Holy Spirit. They
can only enter into a heart that is opened to them. A heart that is not released from sin.
One covert gave a great testimony of deliverance. She was doing really well but later confessed that she never gave up smoking marijuana with “friends.” Soon she found herself compromised and began doing all she had been doing before salvation.[iv]
This was the beginning of her “born again” life but she’d
never broken away from the habits and friends of the old life.
Think of the things that you say. Are they God surrendered words or are they
the language of the old life? What are
you watching? What are you listening to
and thinking about? Are they the things of God or the things of the world? These are important questions, because these
things can be an open door for Leviathan.
We’ve seen people caught up in twisted words and tortured logic, because
there was door that was never closed in their lives. Think about the following scripture for a
moment.
Isaiah 49:24
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, Or the captives of the righteous be delivered?
Is your life and the pursuit of God available to be taken? Are
your thoughts captive to the will of God, or are they vulnerable to hijack? Can the things of God be taken from you? When are the things in your home vulnerable
to thieves and hijackers? When your
doors are open and unguarded. When are
the thoughts of your mind vulnerable?
When the door to your mind is open and unguarded. We must protect our hearts and mind from Leviathan. One way we do that is to slam the door to the
old life. Another is to guard the door
and not allow the desires and lusts of the eyes and flesh to gain access to our
minds. You need a bouncer to cast out worldly
things. When we yield ourselves to the
demonic, when we surrender to sin, we are not merely held captive; It’s not
that we just become prisoners. What
happens is that we have given the demonic he right to access. We aren’t just captives we are legally
possessed by hell, because we have broken and/or ignored God’s law and
will. Hell owns us.
Leviathan is a spirit you must survive. You must survive the whispering of Leviathan
in your ear. You must survive Leviathan’s
strategies. Leviathan is the king over
the children of pride.
Job 41:34 NKJV
[Leviathan] beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride."
Pride is the spirit of Lucifer – The spirit of Satan. You will not defeat Leviathan in your pride. Pride says, “I will never make that mistake again!” You will! Pride says, “I know better now!” You don’t! Pride says, “I’m in control!” You’re not!
The Sword That Pierces Leviathan
It may seem like there’s no hope. How can we ever overcome? It’s in what I think. It’s in what I feel. It’s in the life I’ve lived to this point. It’s in my old habits. It’s even in the way I speak. I’m defeated; I will suffer oppression for the rest of my life. I can never be anything than what I am now.
Never underestimate the power of Salvation. When a soul is saved a miracle takes
place. Hard core sinners set free of horrible
addictions, in a moment; instantaneous relief.
It’s God that defeats the powers of hell and darkness. It’s God that frees us from bondages, habits,
evil thoughts and sin. It’s the great
promise of God. It’s by God’s plan that
Leviathan is defeated.
Jesus came to destroy Satan’s power. Jesus came to set us free from sin. Jesus came to liberate us from the possession
of hell. God promised that in the Garden
of Eden. That promise holds true today,
because God keeps His promises.
"Jacquelle Crowe, as a teen, wrote a book for teens about the miracle of salvation. In it she tells the story of a prominent pastor. He heard a message at a youth conference that stunned him. The speaker said being a Christian wouldn’t change anything. You could keep the same friends and keep up the same activities. In effect, the things you enjoyed would remain things you could enjoy even after salvation. She titled her book, This Changes Everything. She then went on to explain salvation meant friendships and relationships were all changed. The view of God and the church were changed. Salvation changed everything. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit transformed everything about her life. In a moment of time and through a simple prayer everything changed.”[v]
Jacquelle Crowe is no longer held captive to a twisting
spirit that wants to keep her captive. She was set free, liberated, in a moment
of time by the miracle work of salvation – and so can you be!
[i] M.
Scott Peck, The People of the Lie, The Hope for Healing Human Evil ©
1983, Touchstone
[v] Joseph
C. Campbell and John W. Gooding, Deliverance to Dominion © 2019
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