The HIVITE and the PERIZZITE Spirits



The HIVITE and the PERIZZITE Spirits

“The Spirits behind false humility, selfishness, vanity, and spiritual dependency on man”

• HIVITE literally means “villager” while PERIZZITE literally means “belonging to a village”..these two evil spirits are very similar…they both deal with LIMITED VISION OF LIFE…what makes them different is the WAY in which people under the influence of Hivite spirits limit their lives…

• The word VILLAGE has the connotation of “smallness”…people who grow up in a village are exposed to very limited opportunities for growth: educational, cultural, and entertainment opportunities are scarce

• If they are not careful…people who grow up in villages can have a very LIMITED VISION of life

• Since VILLAGES impart a sense of “smallness”, villagers tend to see themselves as SMALL AND INSIGNIGICANT PEOPLE who are a small part of a small and insignificant community

• People trapped by the Perizzite spirit see themselves as people with LITTLE POTENTIAL whose only task in life is to live a quiet biological existence and to stay our of the way of the people who are “really” important in this world.

• Perizzites not only believe in their OWN smallness, but also believe in the smallness of the “villagers” around them….INCLUDING THEIR CHILDREN

• The Perizzite spirit can lead to MANY GENERATIONS OF SPIRITUAL STAGNATION….since stagnation always leads to POVERTY (in the material and in the spiritual realm)…Perizzite spirits tend to produce MANY GENERATIONS OF SPIRITUAL (and even literal) POVERTY

• There is an example in the Bible of someone who felt that because of his “lameness” even referred to himself as a “dead dog”…”lame people” refers spiritually to those who feel UNWORTHY…they have a VERY LOW SELF-ESTEEM

• EX: Mephibosheth…his name means “exterminator of shame”

• 2 Samuel 4:4 “And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephilbosheth.”

• 2 Samuel 9:5-8 “Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar. Now when Mephilbosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephilbosheth. And he answered, Behold your servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father; and you shall eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself, and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a DEAD DOG as I am?”

• Notice that even after hearing all of David’s super nice words…he still referred to himself as a “dead dog”….

• This young guy was PHYSICALLY lame…but also SPIRITUALLY lame…he thought of himself as UNWORTHY

“Walking” in Scripture, spiritually refers to “the ability to conquer and to establish kingdom authority”

• EX Scriptures:

• Joshua 1:2-3 “Moses my servant is dead; now arise, go over this Jordan, you, and all these people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that THE SOLE OF YOUR FOOT SHALL TREAD UPON, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”

• Genesis 13:17-18 “Arise, WALK THROUGH the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto you. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.”

“Walking” in Scripture, also refers to the ability to judge

• Ezekiel 37:24 “And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd: they shall also WALK IN MY JUDGMENTS, and observe

• Ezekiel 36:27 “and I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to WALK IN MY STATUTES, and you shall keep My JUDGMENTS, and do them.”

• Leviticus 18:4 “You shall do my JUDGMENTS, and keep My ordinances, TO WALK THEREIN: I am the Lord your God.”

• 1 Kings 6:11-12 “And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, As for this temple you are building, if you will WALK IN My Statutes, and execute My JUDGMENTS, and keep all My commandments to WALK in them; then will I perform My word with you, which I spoke unto David your father.”

• If you are “WALKING IN HIS JUDGMENTS”…then it must mean that you are aware of what His judgments are!

This is why Scripture also relates “walking” with BEING IN FRONT OF GOD’S PRESENCE….EX:

• 1 Kings 6:11-12 “Now Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when You said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to WALK BEFORE ME as you have done.”

• 1 Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you WALK BEFORE ME in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws…”

• 2 Chronicles 7:17 “As for you, if you WALK BEFORE ME as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws”

• If you look up the word “before” that is in all these verses…it is translated from a Hebrew word “paniym”…which literally means “to walk before the face of the Lord”

• Because, as believers, we have a direct relationship with God (the Great Lawgiver Himself)…because of that…we are called to MAKE JUDGMENTS

• 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 says that “We have been given the mind of Christ”….He didn’t give that to us for no reason!!!!!

• It means that we have the ability to hear from God and to discern His laws and spiritual principles.

• So………..let’s relate this to the Perizzite spirit….since “walking” is related to “making judgments” and to having a DIRECT RELATIONSHIP with God….the Perizzites…who are spiritual “cripples/lame”…they are people who believe that they DO NOT have the authority or the ability to make spiritual judgments………………because of that…they refuse to “walk” and they prefer to delegate spiritual judgments to those who they believe to be more worthy of such an honor than their “little insignificant” selves….

• This creates a relationship of SPIRITUAL DEPENDENCY between the cripples Perizzite believer and those whom he or she considers to be of a higher “spiritual caste”

• Haven’t you heard believers say “Who am I to judge?”….by saying this, they are admitting that they are SPIRITUALLY CRIPPLED….unable to WALK in God’s judgments and they are denying a direct relationship between themselves and God!

• Many people take Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged” as a spiritual excuse to remain in their spiritual lameness…..They are taking these words OUT OF CONTEXT!!!!!

• If “judging” was so inherently wrong…why would Jesus have said this in John 7:24…”Judge not according to the appearance, but JUDGE righteous judgment.”

• Look at this passage …1 Corinthians 5:1-6 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have ALREADY PASSED JUDGMENT on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, HAND THIS MAN OVER TO SATAN, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his SPIRIT SAVED on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? “

• If you look down a little bit in 1 Corinthians 5:12 …Paul actually REPRIMANDS THEM for NOT judging those WITHIN the Church…

• 1 Corinthians 5:12 “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to JUDGE those INSIDE? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you.”

• Then…why did Jesus say in Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged”?????

• This is the verse so many use to try to shame Christians for discerning poor behavior, ethics, morals, and values: the "judge not lest ye be judged" verse.

• Just like that crazy tattoo that some people have that says “Only God can judge me”…..

• Using only  Matthew 7:1 is entirely incomplete. This verse is not speaking to not judging at all -- it is speaking to not judging unfairly or any other cheap and selfish way. Read the rest of the story ...

• Matthew 7:2-5 "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged [if we judge with an evil heart or dark intent, His judgment of us will reflect it; if we judge nobly with honesty and justice, His judgment of us will reflect that, too], and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you [if we use extremes or exaggerations or other ignoble means, our judgment will reflect it and judging with fairness and compassion will garner likewise in His judgment of us]. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye [point out his sins, "minor" in Jesus' example here] and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye [our own sins, even and especially those we will not admit, magnified by our selective blindness]? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' [tell him of his "minor" sins] when all the time there is a plank in your own eye [that there are greater or the same sins in our own lives which we do nothing about or think we are above]? You hypocrite* [pointing out the sins of others while thinking of ourselves as above sin], first take the plank out of your own eye [sincerely ask the Lord for forgiveness and learn and live the Truth and Light by His Word], and then you will see clearly [be in a righteous position] to remove the speck from your brother's eye [to judge and to help him out of his bondage to sin]."

• At Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan, Jesus was talking to the multitudes gathered there after hearing of His message and of His healings to beseech them to not become like the Pharisees and hypocrites who think they are above sin.

• * Jesus' use of "hypocrite" in this verse is "hupokrites" {hoop-ok-ree-tace'} meaning an actor, stage player, a dissembler, pretender.

• John 7:24 says “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a RIGHTEOUS judgment.”

• RIGHTEOUSLY means to use the TRUTH of the Word to discern sins and NOT by appearances only….

• We are to judge the BEHAVIOR…not the individual…judge the DEED…not the doer…judge the CHOICE…not the chooser

• BUT..when we do “judge” we have to do it by obeying His Word….try to nurture the goodness in a person….just like Jesus did…remember…He saw an APOSTLE in a Murderer!!!! (Paul)

• Another Scripture that people under the Perizzite spirit use is John 8:1-11 where the scribes and Pharisees had caught a woman in the act of adultery and they told Jesus who was teaching in the temple that the Mosaic Law required she be stoned to death…they were trying to make an opportunity to trick Jesus so they could accuse Him…

• When Jesus said “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone”…..Jesus was NOT arguing with the JUDGMENT….He was also NOT ARGUING the law nor the woman’s guilt…He was arguing with our RIGHT TO EXECUTE the woman

• Jesus did NOT excuse the sin of adultery…He FORGAVE her of it then He said to “Go and sin no more”…

• Jesus was not afraid to call a sin a SIN

• Perizzites would have us to become MORE TOLERANT of sin….which is exactly what is happening in the world today…we are urged, sometimes even by PASTORS, to be more tolerant…in order to be “politically correct” or to “avoid invading the comfort zone” of Christians…..

• SORRY, BUT NO….Jesus spent 3 days in HELL so we wouldn’t have to spend even one moment there!

• We have got to LOVE people so much that we call SIN…SIN….love them enough to call the truth…TRUTH

• On Judgment Day, Jesus will send the unforgiven sinner into the fiery pits of Hell…..now THAT is intolerance of sin!!!

• The Bible gives us quite enough knowledge and understanding to make each of us a RIGHTEOUS JUDGE of behavior…even and especially our OWN… IF we read it and apply the WHOLE TRUTH…not just bits and pieces that seem to “fit” our agenda

• So……………to recap….Perizzite believers are unaware of their spiritual authority to JUDGE…and so they are like “spiritual cripples”…unable to walk in His judgments and unable to establish God’s kingdom authority on Earth

• Why do we have so many Perizzites in churches today???...why are there so many believers whose spiritual calling dies before it gets the opportunity to grow?…because they buy into the doctrine that preaches the greatness of the “minister” and the littleness of “regular church folk”….

• They buy into the doctrine that says that only full-time ministers can make spiritual judgments ….and so they sit quietly in their pews and take in all that is told to them…without the right to judge what they hear….

• Don’t you know that it totally makes God FURIOUS to have a Church that is “lorded over” by pastors who have denied believers the right to have direct access to GOD….it’s like the pastors stand in as PERMANENT MEDIATORS between God and the “regular church folk”……………..so sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Been in a church like that before though! YUCK!

• God is a JEALOUS GOD….He wants us to be DEPENDENT on HIM…not ON MAN as the Perizzite spirit would like for us to be!

• GOOD NEWS…God Himself has prophesied in His Word that the days of these spirits are numbered and that a MIGHTY PEOPLE will be raised up in these last days to manifest His Glory on Earth!!!!

• This will be a WALKING remnant…not crippled by man…but EMPOWERED by the Anointing of the HOLY SPIRIT!!!! WOO! WOO!

• READ: Zechariah 8:1-20

• OK….now check this out….you know that every single word in the Bible is there for a reason…so is every single NUMBER….so I did a search on the number 5…since Mephibosheth was crippled at age 5….I found some stuff…then I called Lanan and Rashonda to check…and this is what the Number 5 symbolizes…

• The number 5…It belongs to the virtue of grace manifested and operated as the hand of God in a life or ministry. It speaks of a vow of devotion or sacrificial service to the Lord …it is also a symbolism of the five-fold ministry of the New Testament

• Ok…hang with me…..despite the fact that Mephibosheth represents a minister who had authority to walk on his own…his nurse decided to carry him in her arms when she decided to flee….in the same way that an overprotective mother does…she SMOTHERS….making for COMPLETE DEPENDENCY on the caregiver

• Good parents want their children to learn to walk, to grow and to eventually become independent….bad parents MANIPULATE their children into staying under their control…never letting go…even when the child has left home and is already married….they continue to MEDDLE

• Mephibosheth’s nurse was acting just like a bad parent….in the spiritual sense, she was SMOTHERING his ability to walk on his own…which ultimately CRIPPLED him when she fell….

• Pastors who do this to their sheep are held responsible by GOD for creating a sense of constant DEPENDENCY on MAN…but God also holds believers responsible for ALLOWING themselves to stay in such a spiritual dependency.

• Check out Jesus’ words to Mary when Mary tried to maintain control over Him…John 2:3-4 “And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “WOMAN, what have I to do with it? My hour is not yet come.”

• Jesus didn’t say “Yes, Mommy, whatever you say”…by calling her WOMAN, Jesus was saying to Mary, “Woman, your time is up; you were faithful as a mother in taking care of me, but now I have to WALK in My anointing…

• I have actually been under a Pastor that put a “spiritual ceiling” over our heads…we could go just “this high” but no higher…when Donny and I were going to leave that ministry…because GOD told us to…we were told that “our marriage would fall apart and our anointing would be no good out from under that covering” ……hummmmmmmmmmm…..that would be a Perizzite spirit at work!

• One of the Perizzites favorite sayings might be “once small, always small”………..meaning if the first time they saw you , they saw you as a baby…no matter how much you grow in Christ…you will always be seen by them as a baby….they will only be willing to listen to you when you are “PUBLICLY” recognized by some spiritual “authority” that they revere…………….WOW……………….ever so true!!!

• Because people who operate in a Perizzite spirit already believe that they are SMALL AND INSIGNIFICANT…they tend to have a warped view of what “church” is to be….they view it as more of a place to come and get their “soul (mind, will, emotions) needs” met than as a place where they are to get armed for SPIRITUAL BATTLE…

• They already believe that they have no spiritual authority…so they are completely dependent on the “pastors” of a church to tend to their needs…the “church” then ends up being a place that is a wasteland of spiritual dependants who can do nothing for themselves

• EX: Your friend is in the hospital…instead of YOU getting your anointing oil out and getting yourself down to the hospital to pray and claim healing over your friends’ body…you call the Pastor to come and do it…cause you don’t really believe that you have the anointing it takes or the faith it takes to pray a prayer of healing…do you really believe that God only hears the prayer of the pastor???? How sad if that is the case!

• Some people are so twisted by this spirit….not necessarily because the pastor has caused them to be…but simply because they have such LOW SELF ESTEEM…that they believe that if the Pastor prays for them, they will be healed…or if the Pastor hears from God, then they will have a Word from the Lord….if the Pastor blesses their activities, then God’s blessings are ensured…..WE ARE NOT TO TRUST IN MAN BUT TO TRUST IN GOD!!!!

• God can’t use you if you’ve given away your spiritual responsibility to grow…if you have sooo placed your DEPENDENCE on MAN instead of God…you have become a Perizzite “VILLAGER” with no spiritual vision and hopes…you are USELESS in His Kingdom……….BUT…it is up to you to reject the Perizzite spirit or doctrine

• Who have you placed your faith on? God or man??????

• I know of some people right now, good people who have many gifting from God, that do EVERYTHING their Pastor…who operates in a Perizzite spirit (by making them feel dependent) tells them to do…..if he says “don’t go to that particular church’s function”…then they DON’T GO…even though that function was causing them to grow in God, even though that function was causing them to make godly relationships…..

• Your walk with God does NOT consist of obeying EXTERNAL church rules and regulations…your relationship with God is a DIRECT, FACE-TO-FACE relationship with Him….where YOU have direct experiences with Him, where YOU grow in Him and where YOUR growth helps others to grow in Christ as well!!!!

• Now, I’m not saying that you don’t seek godly counsel, or that you never get your Pastor to pray with you or agree with you about anything…I’m not saying that at all….I am saying that if your whole relationship with God is DEPENDANT on what your pastor says or does…that there is something OUT OF WHACK!

• DEPEND on GOD…not on man….

• This dependency on man, this constantly downplaying your importance to God to the point that you really think that God can’t use YOU…this thinking LOW and SMALL of yourself is actually in reality considered to be FALSE HUMILITY!

• The definition of false humility is : deprecating one's own sanctity, gifts, talents, and accomplishments for the sake of receiving praise or adulation from others

• This is just what someone under Perizzite influence does…deprecates himself or herself in order to PLEASE or receive praise for doing so from someone else…or from the Pastor…(cause believe it or not…some Pastor’s actually WANT their congregation to be completely dependant on them….that is just total craziness to me!!!)

• Now the word HIVITE…which is very much like the Perizzite…it also means “villagers”…what makes them different from the Perizzites is the WAY in which people under the influence of Hivite spirits limit their lives…Hivites love to LIVE IT UP

• The Hivite spirit is prevalent in the sons and daughters of wealthy millionaires…..of course, not all of them….but think about the wealthy kids of millionaires that you hear about in the news…from Hollywood…most of them that have the “live it up” attitude have lives that are totally OUT OF CONTROL…they have so much money that they seem to live in a total “freedom”…doing whatever crazy things they want to do…and sadly, some end up dead from these things

• So how does THAT relate to being a “villager”…because of their LIMITED VISION OF THEIR LIVES…they live to simply enjoy their wealth and fame…they really have few ambitions in life…all they want to do is travel around the world and have a “good time”….

• This kinda even sounds like what some RETIRED people do…retired people are very prone to believe that they have nothing else to do in life but relax and enjoy the wealth they have accumulated during their lives..

• Hivites are very SELF-CENTERED people who only think about themselves

• Hivites deceive themselves into thinking that the abundant grace that surrounds them is proof that the universe exists to serve them…instead of the other way around

• Hivite believers get so “engrossed” by the grace and blessings they are surrounded by that they slowly forget that they are actually called to live SELFLESSLY

• James 4:1-10 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your DESIRES that battle within you? You want something, but you don’t get it. You kill and COVET, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because YOU ASK WITH WRONG MOTIVES, that you may spend what you get on YOUR PLEASURES. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely? But He gives us MORE (more translates from the Greek word meaning GREATER) grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the HUMBLE.’ Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinner, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. GRIEVE, MOURN, and WAIL. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. HUMBLE yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

• This is saying that a GREATER GRACE is given to those who humble themselves…to those who are willing to submit to God’s perfect will….a greater grace to tear down strongholds…a greater grace to manifest God’s glory here on this earth…..this is something that Hivites will never see because they are so SELF-CENTERED, so SELFISH

• Let’s look at what the Bible says about being SELFISH:

• 2 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are NOT YOUR OWN, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

• Another term for SELFISHNESS is NARCISSISM…it is characterized by vanity, conceit, egotism, and self-obsession

• Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

• Selfishness and vanity are sooooooooooo destructive!

• Narcissism is bound up in selfish ambition---putting one’s needs and desires above all else…it always leads to discord, envy, strife, and evil…which is exactly what the devil wants…to sow discord among believers and discredit their witness in a world where everyone is watching

• The Narcissist has no time for others because their needs and desires are irrelevant to him…he is completely self-absorbed…

• James 3:13-18 “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the HUMILITY that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”

• God is raising up a mighty Church full of consecrated, selfless believers …who will take the spiritual atmosphere of the Earth by storm…who will fill the Earth with God’s presence and judgments like never before in human history….IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO ABOUT LIVING HOLY!!!!

• Hivites are content to living a HEDONISTIC approach to life…HEDONISM is the pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially pleasures of the senses…it is motivated by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain

• The last part of the Scripture that we just read said to…“Wash your hands, you sinner, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. GRIEVE, MOURN, and WAIL. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. HUMBLE yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”…this is something that people operating in the Hivite spirit will never choose to do!

• Hivite believers only go after those things that are PLEASURABLE ….this makes them USELESS when it comes to spiritual battles…sometimes you have to be willing to suffer…to endure hardship…EX: to stay up all night praying and interceding….to fast…to speak the truth even when it is not going to be welcomed…etc…

• 2 Timothy 2:3-7 “Therefore endure hardship with us as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this.”

• Just because we are called to be soldiers does not mean that all pleasure or blessings are wrong…..not at all! (God has called some people to be Kings in the Kingdom to help His Word spread through the earth!)....This verse even says that if we labor in Him we have the rights to be the “first to receive a share of the crops”….that’s super WONDERFUL!!!

• Just like athletes have to make sacrifices to become great….we have to be willing to live for God and obey Him…even when there may or may not be a reward here on earth…you can be SURE that there will be an ETERNAL one!! WOO! WOO!

• Because Hivites are SELF-CENTERED and VAIN…they are constantly consumed with the CARNAL MIND…they love REASONING and DEBATE…they love to get us all consumed in DISCUSSIONS of things they really do not matter…this causes us to not be WATCHFUL like God has told us to be

• They can delude others into thinking they live well in righteousness because they TALK WELL….how many people do you know like this…they “talk the talk but don’t walk the walk”...

• They are DEVOTED to their own minds…thinking very highly of themselves….that they are the “end-all” to every answer under the sun

• They love to cause DISTRACTIONS by their deep conversations…by their doctrines, and dispensations…

• Look at what the Word of God says about that…

• Psalm 119:37 “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

• Titus 3:9 “But avoid foolish controversies, genelogies, dissentions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”

• 2 Timothy 6:20 “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the IRREVERENT BABBLE and CONTRADICTIONS of what is falsely called “knowledge”.”

• 1 Timothy 1:6 “Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into VAIN DISCUSSION”

• Ephesians 4:17 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”

• 1 Corinthians 3:20 “And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

• Galatians 5:16-26 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, fits of anger, rivalries, dissentions, divisions…

• Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

• 2 Timothy 2:16 “But avoid IRREVERENT BABBLE, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.”

• The dictionary definition of DISTRACTION is: the act of drawing apart, separation (we’ll talk about this in a minute), to divert attention, a diversion…perplexity, confusion, disturbance, disorder, dissention, madness

• FYI…most car accidents are caused by us being DISTRACTED…Distraction s from INSIDE the vehicle account for 62% of the distractions, while outside the vehicle accounted for 35%....hummmmmmmmmmm…think on that

• Are we focused on Jesus…or has the enemy distracted us with other things…maybe a boss that rides us, a neighbor that makes too much noise, kids who don’t ever clean up…

• Hebrews 12:1-2 says we must FOCUS on Jesus…”Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

• 1 Corinthians 7:35 “And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without DISTRACTION.”

• The crazy thing about distractions is that when they happen…we are TOTALLY UNAWARE! We have no idea that anything at all is happening to us, and we simply react.

• The opposite of DISTRACTION is FOCUS…1 Timothy 4:16 tells us to “keep focus on your life and your teaching. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

• PEOPLE ARE WATCHING HOW YOU REACT TO DISTRACTIONS!!!

• ________________________

• The Hivite and Perizzite Spirit wants to try to slip a “spirit of separation” in on us….but that is not what God has called us to…He has called us to a Ministry of Reconciliation…you can read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 to find out more about that

• To reconcile is “to change from enmity to friendship”…to restore to friendship or harmony…putting together what is torn or broken…to renew

• UNITY…that’s what God’s kingdom is all about….Satan’s kingdom is about DIVISION and SEPARATION

• SO….Satan’s foundational tool is to DIVIDE and CONQUER…because Matthew 12:25 talks about the fact that “every kingdom divided cannot stand”

• So…Why is the spirit of separation such a destructive force in the church today???...because it causes there to be no UNITY….and God cannot command the blessing where there is NO UNITY!

• This spirit of separation works in marriages, friendships, families, churches, between races, at your job, at school, between nations…WHEREVER THERE ARE PEOPLE!

• It’s a spiritual battle…it has to be fought though PRAYER…renounce its operation in YOU…repent of your sins of separation…let the blood of Jesus cover them all…repent of pride…ask God to fill you with a spirit of humility…pray for God to send His spirit to overcome and restore

• The ultimate cure for separation is UNITY!!!!

• Instead of pride (vanity, arrogance)…..HUMILITY (Phil.2:1-8)

• Instead of Self-centeredness (Jealously, rivalry)….SACRIFICE (Heb.10:1-10, Rom. 12:1-2)

• Instead of Deception (vain imaginations, idolatry)…TRUTH (John 14:6, John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13)

• Instead of No Fear of God (rebellion, disobedience)…FEAR OF THE LORD (Prov. 8:13, Rev. 15:4)

• Instead of Control (Manipulation, occult)…FILLING OF THE SPIRIT (Rom. 8:1, 14:13)

• Instead of Rejection (insecurity)…ACCEPTANCE (Rom. 8:23, 8:15, Gal,4:6-7, Rev. 12:10-11)

• Instead of Unforgiveness (resentment, bitterness)…FORGIVENESS (Matt. 18:21-35)

• Instead of Perversions of God-intended roles…SUBMISSION (Eph. 5:21, Jam. 4:1-7)

• Instead of Confusion (disorder)….GODLY WISDOM (James 3:17)

• Instead of Apathy (not caring)…LOVE (1 Cor. 13, 1 John 3&4)

• Instead of Ignorance…MERCY & TRUTH (John 8:32, Heb. 4:16, Jam. 2:12-13, 3:17, 5:11)

• Instead of Busyness…HOLINESS (1 Pet. 1:13-19)

• Instead of Materialism (greed, worldliness)…EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY…(2Cor. 8&9)

• Instead of Anger (hatred, violence, provocation)…DEATH-TO-SELF (Gal. 2:20, 5:24, 6:14)

• Instead of Racism (prejudice)…RECONCILIATION (2 Cor. 5:18-21) and RESTORATION (1 John 4:7-19)

• Instead of Death…………..LIFE (Rom. 8:1-11)

• Have you ever had a “relationship meltdown”???? Where a relationship becomes strained…it is painful…you have experiences the spirit of separation…

• KNOW THIS…relationships in the church are under attack. This last decade has set records for divorce and separations…even among Christian leaders…and even smack in the middle of huge revivals…(like the one we attended in Florida last year…)

• GOOD NEWS…Luke 10:19 we’ve been given AUTHORITY “to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.”

• Why does the enemy target relationships??? Because our connections with one another are critical…

• Ephesians 4:16 “From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

• The devil loves to subtly twist his way in by causing relationships to SEPARATE

• Jesus defeated these Hivite and Perizzite spirits and WE CAN TOO…He defeated the Hivite spirit by giving His LIFE as a SACRIFICE to God to pay for the price of the sins of the world…He defeated the Perizzite Spirit by never being SEPARATED from God…He did that by WALKING in obedience to the will of God for His life and He was in constant fellowship with His Father

• Didn’t He tell us in John 14:12 that “You will do what I have done and GREATER works still” ????

• Didn’t He say in Luke 10:1-9 :You have seen Me do it, now you do it.”????

• Didn’t He show His Disciples the way to live and then say “FOLLOW ME!”??????

• Put on the FULL ARMOR of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

• YOU CAN DEFEAT THE ENEMIES OF THE LAND!!!!

As to the number 7 and its meaning; Seven is the number used is scripture extensively representing perfection or completion.

It was used primarily in the apocalyptic writings; Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation signifying such. 

Apocalyptic literature was written in signs and symbols to veil the meaning of the message from certain enemies but readily understood by the people of God.

So……………we can infer that since God has warned us and COMMANDED us to UTTERLY DESTROY these 7 Evil Spirits……it is because He is trying to “complete or perfect” us

Remember…He is coming back for a pure and spotless Bride for his Son!

• AND HE IS COMING SOON!

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