Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;...1
Timothy 4:1 KJV
In letter to Timothy, Apostle Paul
warns of a time in the future when people were going to depart from the faith
for two key reasons. First, they would depart because they gave heed to
seducing spirits, and secondly because they gave heed to doctrines of devils. Our
focus will be the seducing spirits or the spirit of seduction. When you look at
the word seducing in the Greek it means exactly what it says. Seduction or
seducing is the persuasion to disobedience or disloyalty, to be led away by
false promises, to be enticed to sexual desire by arousing hope or desire by artful
attraction. To bait, allure, tempt, betray, and finally trap you.
You may ask yourself so what does
this have to do with me? Without even knowing it most Christians expose
themselves to this spirit on a daily basis. Seduction is a spirit. On a daily
basis whenever you listen to music, TV, drive down the freeway, walk down the
street, and go shopping it is there.
While you watch TV you are bombarded with commercials that seduce you to
eat, spend, drink, go to parties, and arouse lustful thoughts as they show
sensual scenes or make provocative gestures.
Just go anywhere, and there is music playing in the background that is
planting seeds of sensuality, violence and temptation. If you are driving down
the freeway there are signs to come visit the nearest strip joint, go to the casinos,
eat, and buy things you can't afford. Then you go to the store, and the aisles
are lined up with the latest gossip, with seductive women or men on the front
cover; complete with tips on how to become a more sensual person yourself. Then
there is TV shows that encourage adultery, fornication, witchcraft, violence,
and every other sin known to man. What we don't realize is that by watching,
reading, or looking at these things we are giving heed (paying attention) to
these seducing spirits.
Still don't think this is a problem
let's look at the life of Samson the strongest man that ever lived.
Let's read on to Judges 16:4 Afterward
it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was
Delilah. 5 And the lords of the
Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his
great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that
we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven
hundred pieces of silver.”
Here is Samson a strong man who was supposed to be consecrated or separated to
God for the purpose of serving Him but lived his life unchecked from
temptation. Unfortunately, he comes upon a woman who becomes his downfall. Delilah
is symbolic of a spirit of seduction. Her mission is to entice, find out what
your weaknesses are, so that you can be overcome, be bound and afflicted.
Delilah can also be a man because it is a spirit working through a person. As I
mentioned before it works even through media. If you read the rest of Judges 16
you will see that Delilah continues to ask Samson over and over again what the
source of his strength is until she finally wears him down.
Then
she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not
with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your
great strength lies.” 16 And
it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so
that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that
he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my
head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am
shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like
any other man.”
(Judges 16:15-17)
As you can see from the above
scripture the spirit of seduction will use loyalty or love as a reason for you
to give into it. This spirit likes to wear you down until you become weary, and
weak in your heart. Delilah is always after our consecration because consecration is
the source of God's power in our lives. When Samson gave into seduction he lost
all his strength.
When
Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the
lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all
his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the
money in their hand. 19 Then she
lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off
the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength
left him. 20 And she said, “The
Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said,
“I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did
not know that the Lord had departed from him. (Judges 16:18-20)
Not only is the spirit of seduction
after your consecration it is after your whole heart. It will not stop until
you give in to it fully. Without knowing it many Christians have been lulled to
sleep while being stroked by this spirit with promises of better times if only
we will succumb to it. The next thing
you know the devil ambushes you. The biggest mistake we can make is to think we
can shake off the temptation after flirting with it. This is dangerous my
friend. No matter how strong you think you are; one day you will not be able to
shake yourself free from the bondage the enemy lured you into. Just like Samson
you will realize not only is your strength gone so is your relationship with
God. God is the source of our strength. I have seen many warriors once strong
in the Lord succumb to this seducing spirit, and lose their vision. They become captives of the enemy, and some of
them never return from the enemy's prison camp. I believe this warning is for
everyone. We can never play with the idea that we are above temptation or too
strong to be seduced. This is a life lesson from the bible.
If we are being seduced the bible
gives us the key to getting free from it. We need to stop giving our attention
to it. We cut off the cable TV and internet if necessary. We stop looking at the
magazines, reading the romance novels, and watching the shows that arouse us to
sin. We stop conversing with people who entice us to return to our former party
lifestyle, and we cut off all means of communication with people who will not
respect our boundaries. We stay away from people who carry a seducing presence
on them. You know who they are. They
like to flaunt their body. They like to show a little too much, and like to
flatter you. Flattery is hidden hostility. Desperate housewives isn't just a
show it is a reality. There is also desperate office guys too. Don't be afraid
to rebuke someone who is clearly disrespecting you. I once had to tell a
Christian that his lustful conversations were inappropriate, and I had to cut off
the communication because he was defiling me with his words. It is with words
that this seducing spirit enters the lives of many men, and women. Also be
careful who, and how someone touches you. I once had someone hug me at church, and a seducing spirit tried to jump on me. Years later I found out this person
ran off with someone, and left their wife. You can be sure that seduction, and
lust work hand in hand. Seduction works externally, and lust works inwardly but
God's Word destroys both.
I was sitting at Jack and the Box
on my laptop the other day when a man asked me if "I was reading nasty
e-mails." I told him that, "I ignore those kind of e-mails."
Conversation over. People will even use jokes to get you to entertain a
seducing or lustful spirit. Don't give it a chance. Walk away. You are in
charge of what you see, hear or pay attention to. You have authority to tell it
to go. In the name of Jesus I command the spirit of seduction to go! It might
stubbornly try to resist you but it has no authority or dominion and it must
obey the name of Jesus!
Let's pray. Father, I repent for
giving in and paying attention to a seducing spirit. Forgive me and release me from
its power and hold over my life. Show me the areas in which I can cut it off
and consecrate myself more fully to you. I don't want to be like Samson and end
up a prisoner with my vision taken from me. Open my eyes to be more sensitive
to this and give me the strength to shut it down immediately. Let your kingdom
come into my life and deliver me from temptation. In Jesus name. Amen.
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