Resisting the "Spirit of Intimidation"
Most of us start out our Christian experience believing we can conquer all of hell. Our faith and trust is at such a high level we believe there is nothing we can’t do for God. But somewhere along the way, something begins to happen; something such as a pandemic ravishing the attention of everyone, everywhere. Instead of us believing we can conquer hell, we believe hell is conquering us. Rather than seeing ourselves as the “victor” we see ourselves as the “victim.” It doesn’t take too much effort in this hour of history to look to the left or to the right to feel as though hell is conquering us.
However, I would like to suggest, at the risk of sounding like I’m over-spiritualizing the problem, that a spirit has been sent against the church. You see, I believe a “Spirit of Intimidation” has been assigned to hold us back, beat us down, and to tell us we are nothing.
This spirit reminds us of all our past failures. It causes us to live in want, barely getting by, settling for second best, feeling unworthy, living in doubt and retreating in fear. I want us to notice the enemy has so entrenched himself into our thinking, businesses, ministry, prayer lives, etc. to the degree we talk more about coping, or just getting by, than we do about conquering!
Instead of choosing to give in to the tactics of the Spirit of Intimidation, it’s time to give up our victim mentality and realize the Bible says, through Christ we are more than conquerors, not just copers. If we intend to go where God wants us to go, we must stand up and identify this attitude as a spirit sent from darkness and defeat it through Jesus Christ. At some point we have to draw the line and say, “I will not choose the pattern of worldly thinking, but I will bust out and live by the power of faith in this hour.” It is imperative we recognize there is a power living in us that is greater than the “Spirit of Intimidation.”
In fact, the Bible is full of men and woman who lived in this reality. For example, David didn’t allow a spirit of intimidation to paralyze him. He didn’t let the lion threaten him. He didn’t let the bear frighten him, and he didn’t allow Goliath to intimidate him.
You may be asking, “But how can I live like David? How do I know if this spirit has attached itself to my life?”
Start with listening to the words you speak.
Do you make statements like, “Things are never going to get any better,” or “It’s harder to serve Jesus today than it’s ever been. I just don’t know if I’m going to make it?” If so, you are inviting the Spirit of Intimidation into your home to have a seat at your table.
Intimidation at the table will cause us to turn away from God and towards one of four focuses:
1. Intimidation will cause us to believe the promises of God are unattainable instead of believing all things are possible with God.
Most of us have things we believe the Lord has promised us. What intimidation will try to do is come along and convince us the obstacles are too great. Intimidation comes along and convinces us the price is too great. But, the Spirit of God promises “Greater is He that is in me than he that’s in the world,” and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
2. Intimidation will cause us to walk in fear instead of faith.
By its very definition, fear is what makes intimidation work. Fear was what paralyzed the Israelites; it caused them to listen to the wrong voice and misinterpret the facts. Remember, “perfect love casts out fear.” As we walk with God, who is love, there is no place for fear.
3. Intimidation will cause us to focus on the “source of intimidation” instead of the Savior over the intimidation.
Israel’s attention was on the “giant” instead of the “giant killer.” The more they focused on the giants, the bigger the giants got. Their focus was an insult to God. He could part the “Red Sea” but could not defeat the giant. We must take our eyes off of that which is intimidating us and place our eyes on God.
4. Intimidation will cause us to focus on our weaknesses instead of the strengths God has said about us.
The Israelites not only focused on how big the giants were, but how small they were. When you focus on your weaknesses, you begin to believe the lie of Satan—“you can’t.” Satan’s plan is to render you ineffective. He is threatened by healthy, functioning members of the Body. When your eyes move from the Source to yourself, he begins to whisper in your ear, “You can’t.” We must fix our eyes on Jesus and continually say to ourselves and to the darkness, “With the help of Jesus, I CAN.”
Similar to David, Joshua and Caleb did not focus on intimidating enemies. While ten spies worried about giants, Joshua and Caleb returned with a different report. In fact, Caleb gets a special commendation because he had another spirit (Numbers 14:24). He had an overcoming spirit. A spirit that followed God fully. A spirit that says “I don’t care how many there are, we can defeat them.” A spirit that says, “I don’t care how high it is, we can jump over it. I don’t care how deep it is, we will fill it up and walk across it. If God is on our side, He has broken down their defenses, and we will have them for lunch.”
So, how do we become men and women with a different report?
We will recognize first, Jesus is in control, He is leading!
We will recognize Holy Spirit is with us. We can walk in confidence to declare, “Greater is He that is in me than he that’s in the world,” and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
We will have faith in spite of outward appearances. We are capable of standing rooted in the Word, grounded in hope and secure in the faith of God to see us through!