SPIRIT OF LEVIATHAN

SPIRIT OF LEVIATHAN

Job 41; Psalm 74:14; Isaiah 27:1; Psalm 104:25-26

My heart has been breaking at the destruction of Christian relationships in churches, between husband and wife, friends and family.  While crying out before God about this during our prayer meeting in Moscow, I asked God what is it that could bring such destruction worldwide.  While praying the Lord spoke these words into my spirit: ‘The spirit of Leviathan’.

On the 31^st of December the Lord said to me that this year is the YEAR OF COVENANT and that He would reveal His covenant with Israel and with His covenanted people to the world.

I suddenly realized that for us to embrace the covenant and its fullness in our lives we need to understand that there is a COVENANT BREAKER trying to break every covenant relationship that God is forming around us to keep us from the fullness of His covenant with us!

I also realized that God needs us to stand in covenant with Him and with those around us to bring in the end-time harvest, because our relationships form the net that would bring this harvest in!

I knew nothing at the time about the spirit of Leviathan, but I immediately did research and this teaching is birthed out of this research.  I must also add that I recognized so many of these things in my own life that I repented for hours before the Lord!

MEANING OF LEVIATHAN

Leviathan means ‘twister’.  He twists and distorts the truth and brings much confusion and chaos.  It causes people to hear things in a twisted way and they very often believe the very opposite of what was said.  Those under its influence are blinded to the truth.

The Word of God says that the ‘truth sets us free’.  Satan doesn’t want you to be free, he wants to keep you in bondage and he will do it by twisting God’s truth about Who He is, who you are in Him and who His Bride is.

*  In Canaanite mythology Leviathan personifies ‘chaos’

*  In demonology he is one of the seven princes of hell and the gatekeeper

GOAL OF LEVIATHAN 

Goal of Leviathan is to oppose and break covenant and to bring destruction and division by:

a.     Breaking relationships between friends

b.     Breaking relationship between husband and wife

c.      Breaking your relationship with other believers and with your church

d.    Killing the fire of God in you

e.     Causing people to excuse themselves from making a commitment:

                                      i.     In relationships – people rather live together

                                     ii.     Keeps you from saying ‘yes’ to God when He calls you to serve His kingdom

f.      Attacking ministries:

Psalm 104:25 “There the ships go to and fro, and the Leviathan which You have formed to sport in it.”

                                      i.     ‘Ships’ often speaks of ministries or churches.

FIGHTING LEVIATHAN

‘If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again.’

Job 41:8

‘In that day His [the Lord’s] sharp and unrelenting, great and strong sword will visit and punish Leviathan the twisting and winding serpent; and He will slay the monster that is in the sea.’

Isaiah 27:1

Before continuing I want to warn you that Leviathan is a global spirit (sea often speaks of nations) and that you cannot stand against this global spirit from a personal position.  What you should do is to repent for any way that you allowed this spirit to get a hold in your life and then ask the Lord to remove it from you.  But more about this later.

HOW DOES HE ENTER YOUR LIFE 

In Job 41:34 we read that Leviathan ‘rules over the sons of pride’.   Therefore, we see that pride opens the door for Leviathan in our lives.  We need to understand, however, that pride cannot only be linked to arrogance, wealth and position.  It is also one of the fruits of REJECTION and SHAME.

Whenever we feel rejected, we reject and through pride we cut people out of our lives. Whenever we feel ashamed, for example about the way we grew up, pride inside us tells us that we actually deserved better.

Therefore, the first thing that we need to do to deal with Leviathan in our lives is to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us every area of pride in our lives and then repent of it.

CHARACTER OF LEVIATHAN

We find the character of Leviathan in Job 41.

Verse 15 and 16:  ‘His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a tight seal; one is so near to another that no air can come between them.’

-       pride, especially because of rejection, will cause you to shut yourself in, cutting yourself off from other believers, causing you to move in a spirit of independence. 

-       ‘Air’ or ‘breath’ often refers to the Holy Spirit.  When you act in a spirit of rejection and independence you also shut the move of the Holy Spirit out.  That is when you start feeling spiritually dry and you cannot hear the voice of the Lord anymore.

Verse 17: ‘They are joined one to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated.’

-       the satan knows the power of God when two or more gather in His Name.  As He says ‘there He is’.  The age-old strategy of the devil is to isolate you from other believers and from the church so that he can have a field day overwhelming you with his lies and deception.  Don’t allow him to separate you!

-       Because this isolation is not a period of separation in which the Holy Spirit led you, you will find it very difficult to spend time in the presence of the Lord.

Verse 18 and 19: ‘His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.  Out of his mouth go burning torches, and sparks of fire leap out.

-       Often those under the influence of Leviathan speak out against godly leaders, on the television, in churches, everywhere!  With there criticism they spark ungodly fires around these people chosen by God.

-       They are often in rebellion to godly leaders wherever they go

-       They are also very suspicious of anything the Holy Spirit does through others

-       They pull down and break down with their words and do not build up

-       They resist submission to true spiritual authority

-       They have a condescending attitude towards other believers whom they criticize

-       They give words that they perceived to be from God but it pulls down and destroy instead of building up.

Verse 20 and 21: ‘Out of his nostrils goes forth smoke, as out of a seething pot over a fire of rushes.  His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth.’

-       Often the criticism in our hearts is like a seething pot while we stand in the presence of God in churches or gatherings worshipping God.

-       Your worship is then like smoke in the nostrils of God and not like a fragrant aroma.  One of the teachers on Leviathan called it ‘false worship’.

Verse 22 and 23: ‘In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.  The folds of his flesh cleave together; they are firm upon him, and they cannot shake.’

-       Pride makes your neck stiff, that is why God called the Israelites a ‘stiff-necked’ people. 

-       You become un-teachable in your pride

Verse 24: ‘His heart is as firm as a stone, indeed as solid as a millstone.’

-       Eventually your heart becomes so hard with criticism that you have no grace anymore.  Not for yourself or for anyone else.  And you are so shut in yourself that the Holy Spirit cannot move in and through you to help you break out.

HOW DO WE OVERCOME

Do not allow a spirit of condemnation to come upon you as you recognize the effects of Leviathan in your life.  WHAT GOD REVEALS HE HEALS!  The heart of God breaks for His people that are in spiritual bondage and His desire is for you to be FREE and to live the abundant life He bought for you through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

God has given us the powerful tool of REPENTANCE to loosen us from the hold of the enemy.  Repentance loosens us from our agreement with the enemy. When we loose ourselves from our agreement with the enemy then we need to come in agreement with God. 

The climax of Job’s story is when God came and revealed to him the spirit of Leviathan that rules over the sons of pride.  Job responded with “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

He then repented, prayed for his friends and the Lord restored him – “made him prosper again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”

So, first of all we need to REPENT!

1.     For any ways in which you twisted the truth or agreed with twisted truth.

2.     Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal those areas to you where you have PRIDE in your life and then repent of it.

3.     If you CRITICIZED other believers and ministers of God (whether you are right or not!) repent of it and pray:

a.     That God will give you a tongue that will bring life and not death; a tongue that will release the love and passion of Jesus Christ and not the evil fires of the enemy

b.     That God will open your spiritual eyes to look at these people in a different way

c.      That God will bless each one of these people you criticized, to serve Him fearlessly, in holiness and righteousness, in His presence all the days of their lives (Luke 1:73-74)

4.     Repent for REJECTING others and maybe rejecting God.

5.     Repent for JEALOUSY in your life.

6.     Repent for LOOKING DOWN on others.

THEN, 

7.     Invite the Holy Spirit to come and breathe His life in your spirit again.

8.     Pray that the Lord will remove all lies and deception from you and to fill you with His truth.

9.     Pray that the Lord will remove your fear of commitment and pray that He will show you where He wants you to commit.  Trust Him in it!  Whatever is born of God overcomes the world! (1 John 5:4)

10. Pray that the Lord will form the relationships that He has in mind for you, around you.  When God reveals it to you, embrace it and do not reject it.

11. Pray that the Lord will soften your heart again with His love and that He will pour forth His love in your heart again.

12.  Pray that the Lord will remove all effects of the Spirit of Leviathan from you.

Pray that the Lord will develop the following in your life:

a.     Humility

b.     Total obedience to God

                                               i.     Do what you do not only out of obedience but out of love for God

c.      Honoring one another

d.     Celebrating one another

e.     A spirit of intercession for God’s appointed ones

Isaiah 27:1-2

‘In that day His [the Lord’s] sharp and unrelenting, great and strong sword will visit and punish Leviathan the swiftly fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting and winding serpent; and He will slay the monster that is in the sea.

In that day it will be said to her, A vineyard beloved and lovely; sing a responsive song to it and about it!  I, the Lord, am it’s Keeper; I water it every moment; lest anyone harm it, I guard and keep it night and day.’

1 Cor 3:9 ‘… you are God’s field …’

REMEMBER!

I believe that God is ready to slay this monster that is in the nations when we repent and remove its influence from our lives.  You are God’s field and He is singing a song over you.  He is the Keeper of His garden, His field (YOU!) and He is watering you and keeping guard over you for His glory!

Know that God loves you deeply and His desire for you is to be free to love Him and serve Him in joy!  You were burdened with rejection, inferiority, fear and insecurity for too long.  This is a new season:  A season of victory and freedom in Christ!  This is a season to stand in Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father and see His Kingdom come in your life and in your family.

I bless you in your time of prayer as you allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse you from the effects of Leviathan and to allow the Holy Spirit to position you in a right relationship with Him and those He wants to place around you, in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ.

Carol Singleton

I used some of the insights about the spirit of Leviathan given by God to Colin Urquhart - Apostolic leader and founder of Kingdom Faith.