Beware of the Political Spirit - It's a Snare! by Victoria Boyson

www.victoriaboyson.com

Beware of the political spirit - all it wants is to get you to argue and debate. The enemy's goal is to get you mad. He doesn’t really care what you're mad about, he just wants you angry. But the Bible says, "Be angry and sin not," meaning there's a certain type of anger that you possess, but another that will possess you.

We have to be careful not to be caught up in the atmosphere of offense and anger that seems to get stronger every election season. It will spill over into every area of our lives until we are debating with people who actually agree with us.

The political spirit is sent to keep us at odds with each other and blind to our true enemy. One of its lies is to convince us that getting angry will solve our problems and the problems of the world. But James says in James 1:20, "Human anger does not produce the righteousness [or justice] God desires." We dare not assume that our anger is God's anger; there's a difference.

Our anger will not benefit anyone, but God's anger will. So, it's to HIM we turn, and it's our humble, heart-felt petitions that will turn Him to action. God does get angry, but when He does, our man-made kingdoms crumble.

So, don't get caught in the enemy's snare. You are too precious and important to the kingdom for that. Be bold in declaring truth, but always with redemption in mind.

Ask yourself, "What is my goal in what I am saying?" And then ask, "Is how I am responding to someone accomplishing my goal?" These are truths my mother taught me. When I've listen to them, they have saved me a lot of trouble.

James instructs us, "You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls" (James 1:19-21 NLT).

Anger usually makes us too quick to respond and we end up regretting what we say. If we cannot control our tongue, we will lose the war for mens' hearts. Too often when we are ensnared by the political spirit, we forget that our real goal in society is to win people to Christ.

We too easily loose sight of our real goals in life and our true enemy because we've become blinded by the political spirit. If it can keep us angry, our love will grow cold and then he has us. Then we are no longer soul winners, but we've become a political opponent.

Cold-love plus Christianity will turn quickly into a religious spirit "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 2:5 NIV). This opens the door to all kinds of wickedness and convinces us we're a Christian with correct motives.

Army of Demons
Truly, the enemy is so ambitious to get us angry because he knows much more than we do the power of our words. The words you speak carry an assignment in the supernatural realm; heated words of anger or rage, contempt or division carry with them an ambassador of darkness that accompanies them toward their intended victim.

Once arrested by the prideful political spirit, we can literally start a fire of pain. Our tongue can unleash power, which all too often leads either to life or death.\

Picture with me an unscrupulous person, we'll call them Slander. Slander is terribly jealous of a friend. We'll call them Mercy. The demon of jealousy that's entered Slander's life has generated contempt and even hatred at times for their friend.

Speaking with another friend, let's call them Gullible, Slander unloads a whole load of gossip about Mercy. None of it's true, but that doesn't matter. With every contemptuous word spoken, a demon spirit is standing ready to carry those words to the next victim. For, words aren't just words, they contain power.

The Word of God says the power of either life or death is in the words spoken (Proverbs 18:11) and that spiritual power will accompany your words. Understand that a spiritual power is a spiritual force, and indeed, it is a spirit. So, when you speak words of anger, destruction, hatred, etc, that evil spiritual power (demon) will carry your words to their intended victim.

So, if Slander tells 5 people hateful lies about Mercy, that is 5 demons that have been released into the atmosphere. If those 5 people tell another 5 people that is another 25 demons and if they each tell 5 more, that would come to 130 demons released into the atmosphere.

You can easily see how this could multiply exponentially until you literally have created an army of demons released into the spirit-realm to over take, not just our friend, Mercy, who has suddenly become hopeless and depressed and doesn't know why, but also, it's important to understand that, once released, demon spirits are not subject to the will of man. They will affect the speakers and hearers alike. If you let them loose with your tongue, they will definitely take advantage of what you've done and generate darkness in your own life. And bitterness will consume more and more of your life.

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "He who sups with the devil, should have a long spoon." Truly, if you open the door to the powers of darkness, you will get burned.

In James 3:5-6, it says, "In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself" (NLT).

David talked about this in Psalm 109:19-20. "Now may his curses return and cling to him like clothing; may they be tied around him like a belt. May those curses become the Lord’s punishment for my accusers who speak evil of me" (NLT).

The curses we unleash on others will return to us and the sentence we've imposed upon others will come back on our own lives.

BUT....
James also says, "For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way" (James 3:2 NLT). We can bless our own lives by our words as we send an assignment of blessing to others.

With our words, we can control the outcome of our lives as a "small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong" (James 3:4 NLT).

So, picture again Slander. They have now repented of how they treated their friend, Mercy, and, instead of cursing, they begin to bless them. Now their words are accompanied by a much different kind of Spirit - the Holy Spirit! And as they bless Mercy, their own life becomes overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit suddenly wants to hang out with them a lot more and changes their life altogether. Now everyone calls them Blessing, because that's what they do with their life now and they are blessed because of it. And just as important, the enemy has lost a key player in his familiar war against the saints and the political spirit is dealt a heavy blow.

A Fence of Prayer
Be careful of offense. Just as your miracle approaches, the enemy will try to offend you. If he can derail you with offense, he can delay your miracle. Be careful of the enemy's lie that some people don't matter, therefore it is okay to curse them.

Instead of offense, put up a fence of prayer around your heart by praying Spirit-led prayers for them instead.

The Lord warned us to pray for our enemies - that is for our good as well as theirs. If you pray for your enemies who are cursing you, they will stop cursing you when God gets a hold of their hearts. Bless and do not curse, for this is the will of the Lord

Pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" Matthew 5:44 (ESV).

Love in Christ, Victoria