On 28th of June, Esther Soo – Executive Leader and Director of Ellel Singapore – shared about releasing ungodly control in the Ellel 7-Day International Training School at Everly hotel, Putrajaya.
How do we know if we are under ungodly control?
We are under ungodly control when we lost the free will to choose (or our choice is not seen as valid).
Direct control involves intimidation, which is the use of physical threat and violence to force others into doing something or refrain from doing something.
Indirect control involves manipulation. A more subtle form, this is usually used on people of equal status, such as changing the environment to manipulate minds.
If we are honest, all of us are guilty at some point for asserting ungodly control. And some of us also experienced receiving ungodly control.
What is godly control?
God gave us authority and power to exercise godly control.
Godly control is basically good leadership. Good leadership builds an individual under our influence, to the full purpose and design of God. It builds the true identity of the person. A person under godly leadership feels free to express his or her talent or spiritual gifts.
Parents exercising authority over their children, is a form of godly control. Nevertheless, as children grow older, the control must be lessened accordingly.
What is ungodly control?
Ungodly control, on the other hand, is bad leadership.
Bad leadership controls and damages the human spirit. It produces discouragement and lies, suppressing the expression of God’s purpose and design, and twisting the true identity of the person. It causes bondage.
Who is the first person to exercise ungodly control?
The first person to exercise ungodly control is the devil. He twisted the words of God and manipulated Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
What is the spirit behind ungodly control?
The spirit behind ungodly control is called the Jezebel spirit.
Jezebel was a princess of the Sidonians who married King Ahab of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). During his reign, Jezebel introduced idolatry into the land (1 Kings 19:1-2) and killed off the prophets of the LORD (1 Kings 18:4).
Although Jezebel has died (2 Kings 9:30-37), the spirit behind her lives. We can find this in the book of Revelation: the LORD is against the church in Thyatira because Jezebel was allowed into the church, to teach and seduce the church to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20).
What are the characteristics of the Jezebel spirit?
The Jezebel spirit controls both men and women, which likes to usurp authority. If a woman has a spirit of Jezebel, she likes to usurp the authority and leadership of her husband.
Although people with the Jezebel spirit appear to be natural leaders, they can be insecure and wounded inside. But on the flip side, they can appear proud, independent and rebellious as well.
They can appear religious too – that is why Jezebel is called a prophetess (Revelation 2:20).
At the core of it, the ultimate goal of the Jezebel spirit is to control.
What are examples of ungodly control in the Bible?
For example, Saul exercised ungodly control over David, due to his jealousy (1 Samuel 18). He used his power to attempt murder (1 Samuel 18:11,13; 19:1,10,11,18; 20:33).
Ammon also exercised ungodly control by manipulating Tamar into his presence and raping her (2 Samuel 13:1-22).
What are examples of ungodly control in our life?
Firstly, many Asian families are also guilty of this form of ungodly control. When a man marries, he is supposed to leave his parents, to be joined with his spouse (Ephesians 5:3).
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh (Ephesians 5:3).
But some parents like to hold their children, by commanding their presence all the time. This is a form of ungodly control, and prohibits the newly married couple to exercise spiritual leadership in their marriage.
Secondly, many women in Asian families took up the performance of religious rites in the family since their ancestors in China. This has to stop because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). The husband should take up the leadership role in spiritual matters.
How do we deal with ungodly control?
If the spiritual order of a family is broken, the woman of the house needs to repent of the Jezebel spirit and ask Jesus to break this in His name.
The men need to repent for not taking the appointed spiritual leadership. In turn, they took the spirit of Ahab, which qualities of the spirit include being self-centered, taking words lightly, abdicating his family responsibility, being greedy, using his wife to do his work, compromising, disliking confrontation and allowing his wife to do her own way.
The Spirit of Ahab opens the door to the spirit of Jezebel. They work in a pair. But because of the spiritual order placed by God, God will first judge the man for his spiritual authority in the family before the woman.
Hence, we must first recognize that we are under ungodly control. After that, repent for tolerating the spirit of Jezebel working in our lives. We need to forgive the person who harbours the spirit of Jezebel. Renounce all soul control in Jesus name. If there is an ungodly control from generational curse, break it also in Jesus name.
What if we are the ones who have ungodly control?
Firstly, Esther shared that we need to recognize and accept that we are doing wrong. We must repent and seek someone to deliver for us. We cannot deliver ourselves because we are dealing with a principality.
Do not listen to fear and insecurity. But we must take authority and bind these spirits. Most of those with these spirits suffer a lot of pain, and demons hide in pain. But God wants to free us from these bondages.
It is time to face the evil spirits like how Elijah faced the prophets of Baal in Mount Carmel – let fire come down and burn all spirits that do not belong to God, in Jesus name.
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