And now, dear brothers and sisters, I’d like to give one final word of caution: Watch out for those who cause divisions and offenses among you. When they antagonize you by speaking of things that are contrary to the teachings that you’ve received, don’t be caught in their snare! For people like this are not truly serving the Lord, our Messiah, but are being driven by their own desires for a following. Utilizing their smooth words and well-rehearsed blessings, they seek to deceive the hearts of innocent ones. (Romans 16:17-18)
Two of the most devastating and destiny-destroying spirits of the dark realm are the spirit of bitterness and the spirit of rejection.
They will cripple an individual’s ability to discern things spiritually and they will use them to attack authentic miniseries. They are known to lead people into causing division, chaos, and destruction, oftentimes by attacking the leadership of the ministry that they feel betrayed them.
They will secretly go to those who are still part of that ministry and plant subtle lying words to cause a seed of deception and rebellion to fester in those individuals’ minds.
There is currently such a ministry getting ready to launch in Jacksonville, Holy Spirit has been clear, this is an Ishmael ministry birthed out of rejection and bitterness. The hand of the Lord will not be with it, in fact, His hand will be against it.
For some reason, Jacksonville is a prime city for such illegitimate ministries to be established. I remember asking Holy Spirit about this a few years ago and He said it is because the enemy sees the destiny of this city and he is launching an all-out war to prevent its destiny from being fulfilled.
There is a revival destiny in this region, which has been the purpose of the Lord since before the systems of this world were put in place by the devil. Jacksonville, Mayport, and St. Augustine all have the blood of the first martyrs crying out. All of which dedicated this land to the Kingdom of God.
The enemy has been allowed to plant a crop of disunity in this region. The spirit if envy has been left unchecked and it’s poisonous fruit is becoming ripe and ready for harvest in this hour.
If you were to step back and look at this city’s faith community it has pretty much been a demonic playground of jealousy, division, and spiritual discontentment for several decades. It is in truth, a fertile field for religion to take root and for the enemy to build an empire of illegitimate ministries and churches.
The spirit of pride says I can build a bigger house, better designed, more appealing to those who have tired of the old ways. Then they set their eyes on the already established congregation and see how many they can suck into their organization, once obtained they toil in performance to keep them content. Better and bigger sound system, more worldly appealing interiors, coffee shops, lounges, and the best celebrity preaches they can afford.
They overemphasize the anointing on their own lives as well as that of their personally chosen leadership, and they will sell their souls to gather the largest crowds. Many times, they will imitate the leaders that they felt had rejected them, and follow in their steps in hopes of gaining the fame they have or had.
Don’t get me wrong, Jacksonville is not the only city to be spiritually held hostage, it is happening in towns and cities throughout this nation. I am merely speaking of the region where the Lord has planted my wife and me at this time, it is also the birthplace of our son.
Over the past two years the Lord has been speaking to me personally on what truly pleases Him. and the type of individuals that He is willing to mantle up to war for this region’s destiny. He has shown me that it is very important to walk in humility and honor those who have been contending for the faith here already.
With that, He has also told me that I must be willing to call out the corruption, sound the alarm on the deception, and that I must fully die to self by surrendering completely to the governing authority and Lordship of Holy Spirit.
He has been clear that pride has no place in His Kingdom and the desire to be great is the door that makes way for the enemy to come in with pride and envy. To be satisfied with what I have regardless of what others may have. To seek to make His name known, even at the cost of my own dreams and desires. He has often said that when I fully give my dreams and desires over to Him, I will begin to experience the incomprehensible dreams He has had for me since before I was born.
So brothers and sisters, it is extremely important that we all ask Holy Spirit to increase our gift of discernment and that we walk with our spiritual eyes open. We must walk cautiously, taking nothing at face value but rather let us walk in patience, allowing Holy Spirit to verify for us if a gathering, ministry, or the leadership is ordained of the Lord or if it is a trap of the enemy.
It has never been more important that we realize we each must learn to commit and submit to living under the governance of Holy Spirit, being led by Him at all times. This region is, as is where the Lord currently has you assigned, crying out for a move of the Lord, and we must be able to discern that the enemy is throwing everything he has against it.
However, let us hold to the promised truths of scripture, knowing that we have superior spiritual weapons that he cannot stand against, and we know that his weapons cannot prevail against us (Isaiah 54:17). As well let none of us forget that the greatest weapon we have against the forces of evil is love.
So let love be our measuring tool as we deal with others, and may His Holy Word be the sword for which we use to slice through every illusion the enemy puts before us (Hebrews 4:12).
Radical Disciples - A Remnant Revolution 