Recommended Reads: Confronting Jezebel and Discerning and Defeating the Ahab Spirit

I struggled with whether or not I should share these books as Recommended Reads because the reason I was reading them was personal but I think that's important to share this part of the journey because it fits.

Spiritual Warfare is Real

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places. (Ephesians 6:12)

This is a scripture we always say in church and intellectually we're aware of it but there comes a point where you can say that you actually understand what this means.

I had reached a point on my journey where I realized that I wasn't fighting against people.  I was fighting against demonic influences.

If what you're doing is going to advance the Kingdom of God, the thief is on his way to attempt to steal, kill, and destroy what you're doing. This is why we must put on the whole armor of God to stand firm against the devil's schemes.

11 Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)

I think we also need to know what it is we are dealing with which is how I came across these two books by Steve Sampson: Confronting Jezebel and Discerning and Defeating the Ahab Spirit.

IMPORTANT: Jezebels are not just women and certainly not outspoken women.  Men can and are Jezebels as well.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy and he uses other human beings to do it. 

As Steve Sampson wrote in his book Confronting Jezebel, Satan will always attempt to counterfeit the work of God....and counterfeits are sent to confuse and deceive.

No Confusion

I was at a point in my journey where I wasn't sure what was going on.  Things just seemed very strange and  I was confused. 

Confusion Definition

to perplex or bewilder:to make unclear or indistinct:to fail to distinguish between; associate by mistake; confound:to combine without order; jumble; disorder:Archaic. to bring to ruin or naught.

 I felt like all of these things above and that last definition was what WAS NOT GOING To happen on my watch.

I went to the World Changers conference in Chicago and in both the prophetic word session and the deliverance session, the people praying for me all talked about confusion...and getting confusion off of me in Jesus' name.  A few weeks before that conference, the Lord said the battle against confusion had been won.

God will always bring confirmation to what he tells us.

Anyway I get back from the World Changers conference and the next week I came across a video on Instagram.  My mouth dropped open when I watched the video because I had experienced what they were describing.  Their instructions were also SPOT ON to how to behave.

Next I kept thinking about how we don't war against flesh and blood...well we need to know what we're dealing with and how to pray against it.

Enter these great books by Steve Sampson: Confronting Jezebel and Defeating and Discerning the Ahab Spirit

It's Repenting Time

While reading the Confronting Jezebel Book, I will admit that I started squirming because I have a lot of those tendencies.  I can be aggressive, manipulative, and controlling.  It was time to repent. I don't WANT to be any of those things anymore.

I kept praying that God would break all of these things off of me because I know that those traits are not conducive to healthy relationships and I want HEALTHY relationships.

I'm a firm believer that if God is leading you to learn about something and you don't find yourself repenting and asking the Lord to change you, then you're being deceived.  The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth and I believe one of the reason God leads us to learn about things is so we can hold up the mirror to our own lives and see where we need to change.

Matthew 7:5

5 You hypocrite (play-actor, pretender), first get the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye

Ahab and Passivity 

Using others to stop our pain is the height of passivity.

I really appreciated the book about Discerning and Defeating the Spirit of Ahab.  It gave me a lot of insight into why someone may be passive and not take action.

Rejection and people pleasing are at the root of Passive Behaviors.  This was important for me to learn because as someone who has a more aggressive and bull in a china shop style, we can get frustrated with more passive personalities.

We need to encourage passive people to become more assertive (and not aggressive)

A Great Read for Single People

The author provides numerous examples of Married couples and other relationships as it relates to the Jezebel and Ahab Spirit.  I think it's important for us to understand why some of our relationships may not be working out and much of it is because women tend to flow more toward the aggressive Jezebel spirit and men tend to flow more toward the passive Ahab Spirit...in particular as gender dynamics become more confused.

So much clarity

After reading these books, I received so much clarity.  I wasn't confused about nothing.  

The process of sanctification (becoming more like Jesus) means more denial of our Flesh and more acceptance of the spirit.  Jesus wasn't aggressive but he was more assertive.  He never controlled or manipulated the people...he gave them a choice of whether or not they wanted to follow him (He that has an ear....) He also wasn't passive and worried about being rejected.  

He was about his Father's business and that's how we should be.

I say all that to say that I am so thankful for these books because they were just what I needed at just the right time.

I hope and pray that they are for you as well!