Why Are Lying Spirits Powerful and Convincing?

Why are lying spirits SO powerful and convincing?

  Lately, the assignments from the enemy have been intense and I honestly didn’t even realize what it was because the way it came was through self-doubt, fears, and they played on my insecurities.

 I am going to share this, because I have a feeling that some of you may experience this as well and not even realize what is going on. Do you not only hear this, but FEEL it?

 “Why are you standing? They don’t love you anymore. This new person, new life, is SO much better. They are happy now. Why would God break them up, that new family, just to give you back what you want? You made a lot of mistakes, and how do you know you won’t make them again? What if they come home and then do it again? You won’t be able to handle that. It’s better to just give up, be alone, and stop putting yourself into this position where you get hurt over and over.”

 I’ve been having some issues sleeping, and that is when it seems to come for a visit. Out of nowhere, this argument comes against me running this ministry. It comes with more than just words, it comes with this INTENSE FEELING. In a moment, I am overwhelmed by this lying spirit, and because it uses my present, past failures against me, it uses my fears against me, it uses my insecurities against me………..all things that have a ring of truth to them, I have not recognized the fact that it was a spirit because the power of the lie, comes from the TRUTH it tells. The more truth that lie has against you, the more powerful the lie.

 How do you recognize a lying spirit?

 It’s MORE than a thought. It comes with such force that you are bullied and overwhelmed into considering it, even believing it. You may completely forget the truth, or feel like you are a fool for considering it when you weigh it against your past or present situation. But when it lifts, the FEELING goes away, you question why you went down that path and why it was so powerful.

I have been having this visitor now for a few weeks. It doesn’t’ stay long because I change the subject. I have not rebuked it, but the pain of the lie has been so intense I basically have been just thinking of something else on purpose, which I guess made it leave. But what if I had not changed the subject? What would that spirit have caused me to do from it? I know that I did entertain reaching out to my friend and saying “Who am I kidding? I need to be real here, I am not good enough for this.” That was what I wanted to say, and that would have been coming into agreement with the lying spirit.

 These lying spirits are VERY powerful. Look at 1 Kings Chapter 22. When the Lord was done giving Ahab any more chances, He put out a request asking “Who will persuade Ahab” More than one spirit had suggestions, but it was the LYING spirit that God saw as the one that would get the job done.

 1 Kings 2:20-22 And one suggested this, and another that. Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’

 Again, I ask. WHY is this lying spirit so powerful and convincing? Especially for our spouses to get snared, deceived, and lured into a trap?

 I looked at this word entice (pathah) be spacious, abundant, young man in the prime of life, be open-minded, silly dove, one foolish as to his lips (most, openeth wide his lips). Be enticed, deceived, persuaded.

 As I looked at this word, I felt like it gave hints as to why a person COULD be enticed. How could ONE word mean prime of someone’s life, silly and foolish, and persuaded and deceived? Unless they all relate and give clues to who can be enticed?

 A person who is in their prime tends to be at their happiest or seeking to be the happiest, most energy, vitality, and potential, the time when they can be the most gullible and foolish if they are not SEEKING the RIGHT path in their life, but seeking to be selfish and please themselves.

 When I thought about this in my own life, why I kept getting enticed by this lie, I realized that it was tempting me in my selfish areas. In places where I realized how much more of myself I would have to give up in order to accomplish what God is asking of me. How much change would be required? How comfortable in my life I have been, but in order to do as God asks, I have to become uncomfortable and make some serious changes. When the enemy came to entice me, it could not reveal itself in that way, because no one likes to have their selfishness exposed. So instead, it attacked me in a different way.

 See, I have been a stay-at-home mom for 12 years. 5 of them have been doing this ministry at home. But God has put it onto my heart that HE WANTS an office. A meeting and gathering center. This means I would have to leave what I know, change my whole life. The enemy was coming at me with fear and insecurities, but it was attacking the area of selfishness that I didn’t realize was the open door. Do I really want to become a “working” person again?

 How does this pertain to you?

 You may get hit with the lies that your spouse is never going to be happy with you again, that you can’t live up to what they need. But how can it entice you? Perhaps that is touching a selfish area in you that you were not aware of. Maybe that change requires a lot from you. Something you are not willing to give up of yourself. I have seen MANY Standers who quit because they fell for the lie that they deserved to be happy, that God would never ask them to suffer as that was not in God’s nature. You can see that these are all selfish types of reasons that opened the door to the lyings spirit.

 Back to 1 Kings 22:8 where God chose the lying spirit. Ahab said, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad.”

 So Ahab easily believed the lying spirit because it fed his selfishness and gave him a way to keep doing what he wanted to do.

 This was pretty deep here, I am not sure I was able to explain it right. But basically, IF you keep getting a visitor from a lying spirit, see if you are swept away because of some area in your life that is centered around you being happy and not wanting to have to change your ways, or keep giving up part of yourself.

 Standing with you,
Sheila Hollinger