Fighting the spirit of manipulation Posted on July 11, 2011 by Ingrid Hansen The spirit of manipulation is witchcraft at work. It is a spirit that pretends to be godly while doing all it can to undermine the true people and the true work of God. Discernment helps us recognize the spirit of manipulation. Wisdom helps us fight the evil and courage helps to to keep standing in the midst of opposition. The people of God had decided it was time for a change. It was time to once again establish the Kingdom of God in the land. The people of God had started to rebuild the temple. “When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.” ” (Ezra 4:1–3, NIV84) The spirit of manipulation will first pretend it belongs in the church. The spirit of manipulation will pretend that it is holy and doing the work of God. The spirit of manipulation will masquerade as a Christian. The leaders discerned the false and discerned the motives of the heart. They rejected the spirit of manipulation. The leaders chose to obey God and not submit to the manipulative spirits. “Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language. Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: ” (Ezra 4:4–8, NIV84) Now the spirit of manipulation began to see who in the church would be willing to listen to murmuring and complaining. They began to whisper in the church about the character of the leaders. They began to speak about their plans which were better. They began to sow seeds of disunity because the spirit of manipulation was not in control. Eventually the spirit of manipulation found access to the king and swayed the opinion of the king against the church. “As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. ” (Ezra 4:23–24, NIV84) The spirit of manipulation seemed successful at halting the work of God. Now the people of God needed some supernatural encouragement. A prophetic godly word always carries more power than the spirit of manipulation. “Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them. ” (Ezra 5:1–2, NIV84) The prophets of God will serve alongside the people of God to see God’s purposes fulfilled. Eventually the prophets and the people of God revealed the truth to the king. The king decreed that the people of God could continue to rebuild the temple of God. “Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses. ” (Ezra 6:13–18, NIV84) The people of God prospered because the prophets and their leaders were not afraid to confront the spirit of manipulation. Because they showed courage, the people were able to once again restore the Kingdom of God in their land. Once again the people of God were obeying the Word of God. If we would see our nation restored to its godly heritage and our cities transformed, we will have to fight against the spirit of manipulation that finds itself at home pretending to be a part of the church. The answer is always to seek God, obey the prophets and keep obeying the word of God. The spirit of manipulation has no authority over the Word of God.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Oct 2013 10:54:54 +0000
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