Don’t Take It Personally

The devil, the instigator

Persecution in any form can test the best of anyone regardless of how patient they are. It can also cause the person being persecuted to leave the “sphere” (or area of authority he has been assigned to by God) he is in during his “test”. If you have been in an area where Satan has had an influence, your spirit or “light” will not leave his territory in the same shape it was prior to your arrival. While the devil’s vessels may come against you while you are there, your presence will be felt after you are gone. In fact, prior to your arrival into an area that needed God’s light, the enemy was already raging. Upon your arrival, the demonic influences increased due to the fact that demonic activity is stirred by the “light of God”. Demonic activity increases because it is trying to negate the presence of the Holy Spirit.

An effort will be made to negate the presence of a godly vessel. Dark spirits, using people that do not know God, will come against you. These demonic influences are attempting to resist God’s influences and will fight to stay “in power”. It is a major reason why someone who is a vessel for God will find that they are the target of increasing persecution. If you are discerning demonic activity as persecution, you know you are being persecuted for God and you will stand strong in faith knowing that God will not forsake you. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged”, Deuteronomy, 31:8, NIV. The battle is spiritual, not physical. In the name of the “enemy” his vessels will attempt to vex you in an effort to move you away from his territory.

Where ever you go, you may encounter opposition if you belong to God because the devil will stalk you in the spirit. He will attempt to harass and badger you. A person that the devil uses as a vessel may come against you in the work place and may recruit other people to come against you also. There is more times than not a “ring leader”. This may be a superior in the work place or someone in your family or circle of friends. If so, these people are not to be feared because for starters, they do not know what drives them. They do not know who (or what) seduces them into thinking that you are their enemy. It is important to realize that so many have to bond in order to come against you. The truth is that they do not stand a chance with God on your side regardless of how many are against you.

Should you choose to leave an area where the devil has a strong hold, there will be a void or vacuum in that area because of the Holy Spirit’s influence you possess. Conversely, when a mocker leaves, peace is restored because he too has had an influence; “Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended’, Proverbs, 22:10, NIV. The devil always likes to have agitators, instigators and manipulators (AIMs) at his behest. He will give his vessels authority over territory much like the Lord gives territory to His vessels.

The devil will tempt those he feels he can use into doing his bidding. Satan tempted Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would serve him instead of His Father, God, (Matthew, 4:1-11). This may have also been another attempt to take over God’s kingdom as Lucifer attempted to take over heaven from God. Jesus stated in Luke 10:18, that “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”, NIV. Jesus was tempted and, of course, we are also.

Notice that in some areas, there seems to be more of the devil’s influence than the Lord’s. This is because the enemy can grant his vessel(s) authority over those areas. The people or person involved need not be in positional authority. In other words, they do not need to be a supervisor, manager, or CEO. They need not be a pastor, counselor or choir director. In fact, the enemy often uses people that are not in any positional power structure. He will use people that will appear to seem like the “least likely” as God does.

Stated earlier was the fact that if you leave an area that God assigned you to in order to bring about His presence, there will be a void or vacuum after your departure. Jesus’ true power ensued after He was crucified. People you know will feel your “spiritual presence” when you are gone more than your physical presence when you were among them. If a couple of co-workers “have words” and someone insults the other, someone may say “Julie would have never said that to anyone”. In another scenario, a person you worked with needs help. No one has time to assist. The person needing help may say. ”Mike would have helped me, he was always helping someone.” People will miss your aura of peace. It may have appeared in your presence it was taken for granted. Some people appreciate what you bring to their lives just as you do.

There are times when an employee can manipulate a superior. When this occurs, the work-relationship changes and is now one of friendship instead of supervisor / employee. This was done because the employee has taken the time to manipulate the superior. Notice all the times the employee stopped by the supervisor’s office to “chat”. The employee used one of the devil’s AIM’s, (manipulation). In this particular case, the employee was a manipulator. His “aim” was to “get in good” with a superior. Now that he is in the good graces with the supervisor, manager or team leader, the employee can now “work” his manipulations.

The second method the devil uses is that the employee that has manipulated the superior(s) has found that there are people in the organization that have similar traits, (kindred spirits) with any adverse spirits he possesses (or at least they are gullible to his wiles).The term “kindred spirits” is used here but the employee does not know that because he is not spiritually discerning, “The person without the Spirit does not accept things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 2:14, NIV. The vessel’s actions are demonically induced. The only way the employee can recruit other people at the behest of the devil is they have to have an avenue in which the enemy can work from anyway. If they did not have spirits of strife, conflict, anger, or envy, he could never infiltrate their hearts in the first place.

It does not matter who comes against you or how many. No one can come against you and defeat you. The devil gives his vessels the same “pride” he had prior to his eviction from heaven. His vessels think they should “take over” any realm they are placed in much like Lucifer thought he was entitled to take God’s place in the universe. It is this pride that an employee and his cohorts have in conjunction with the given authority over a territory by the devil that drives them to create havoc and disorder. It will be noted here that a person with positon in a company often times will “cede” his or her authority to someone who is “gifted” in manipulation. If so, they have compromised their position. Any demonic spiritual influence reverses order.