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The Dukes Are a Hazard
In recent months many believers have been experiencing what can only be described as "tempests" going on in their lives. Webster's Dictionary gives the following description of the word: 1. An extensive current of wind, rushing with great velocity and violence; a storm of extreme violence. The currents of wind are named, according to their respective degrees of force or rapidity, a breeze, a gale, a storm, a tempest; Gust is usually applied to a sudden blast of short duration. A tempest may or may not be attended with rain, snow or hail. Did you catch all of that? Sometimes you are faced with something that is not much more than a breeze…not a big deal. You handle it and go on. Other times, though, you experience a gale – a sudden blast of wind that is short in duration, but long on impact. You get "broadsided," so to speak. Then, other days, you experience what can only be described as storms. Storms are often a combination of wind, thunder, lightning, forceful rains, and sometimes hail. If it occurs in cooler temperatures, you may experience rain, sleet, or snow, or all the above. These have much more impact and usually last longer than the gale or the breeze. Finally, though, you have those days when all hell seems to break loose upon you and the term "storm" doesn't really describe what you are facing. It is a combination of forces that often is sudden and very impactful. These are the kinds of events many have faced lately. Forces seem to have come together and ganged up on you. One at a time, you can deal with them, but when they come at you four or five at the time…well, that is a different matter sometimes. Maybe you have faced this scenario: You find yourself battling in front of you, when suddenly the wind changes direction and you have to battle to your right while still battling the thing in front of you. Then, before you can catch a breath, another event breaks out behind you and you have to fight on all three fronts. You are still catching your breath and trying to deal with the battle in the front and to the right AND to your rear, when another battle breaks upon you from the left. You can hardly believe it when, from above or beneath, another battle begins to rage! You are being assaulted on all sides and you are screaming, "HELLLLLPPPPPP! Does that describe the last few weeks or months for you? If so, let me tell you who it is you may have been fighting. Recently, I was reading the book of Joshua around chapters 10-13. Later that evening in a period of time with the LORD He spoke a phrase to me and said, "The dukes are a hazard". I instantly recalled where I had read of five Midianite kings being referred to as dukes. These dukes were kings who were under the thumb of Sihon, king of the Amorites. These five kings had specialties in their life…how they operated and what was common to them in their lives and kingdom. These kings represent evil princes that operate in and around your life that are impacting what you can and will do and they are keeping you in bondage in certain areas of your life. [As you read this, also make a note to read about "The Makkedah Revelation" which has tremendous insight for the body of Christ at this juncture. You can find information on this on our website (www.lifespring1.com). The Makkedah Coalition mentioned deals with chief demonic spirits, yet this secondary or subservient level of demonic influence is impacting your life in different ways.] This level of influence is constantly robbing and distracting you over and over. These spirits, in some ways don't want to be identified. Yet, in other ways, they like the limelight. As you understand who they are, your effectiveness in evicting them from your life and situation will increase greatly. Many believers, however, will stay in bondage to a demonic presence because they refuse to admit that maybe they have succumbed in some degree to their influence. Often a telltale sign that they have impact is when someone will adamantly refuse to admit that they could potentially have some impact on their life. It is a matter of spiritual pride sometimes to say, "It's not 'in' me". What's the difference? They still have unnecessary inroads into your life. They still are impacting you and what you can do…so just be honest and get freedom working in your life! You can't just deal with the kings (the big daddy's of the demonic realm, sometimes you must also deal with the princes and the "peons" too. When you deal with the kings, however, there is a void of leadership in their ranks for a time and so the best time to deal with the dukes (or princes) is when there is a void of leadership in ranks. Now is the time to identify and deal with these spirits. Here is the hierarchy that you are dealing with: Sihon, king of the Amorites had exercised influence over these five "kings" who were less powerful than Sihon. They were described in two specific verses: Numbers 31:8 Joshua 13:21 Sihon, king of the Amorites was the ornery king who refused to let the children of Israel pass through his country on their way to the Jordan River. The Lord orchestrated all of this in order to bring about Sihon's defeat. These armies came up against Moses and the army of Israel and were defeated and the kings killed. Let's look at the influence these dukes had and what they were about. 1 - Evi 2 - Rekem Suppose you are confonted with something in your life that the Bible does not condone. Under the influence of Rekem, you will try to convince yourself and others that you are an exception because of some work condition, some "character flaw", geography, or some other excuse. However, on many things the Bible is rather plain. We don't make exceptions about how we live the Word just because we don't like the Word we are reading. If the word says a behavior is unacceptable, then stop the behavior. Rekem will cause you to come up with all kinds of justifications and lies to convince yourself and others that what you are doing is acceptable behavior. This is Rekem's Motto: Wreck 'em any way you can. Holy Spirit says very succinctly -- deal with Rekem in your life before he wrecks you! Rekem and Evi are in cahoots. They work together. The lying and coveting work together. One of the chief ways they are working together right now deals with the arena of debt. The spirit of debt works with Rekem and Evi to make you want what you don't have funds to buy. You will lie to yourself to talk yourself into getting what you cannot afford. When you buy into that lie you eventually get backed into a corner. Does the spirit of debt have you backed you into a corner? Ask yourself some hard questions and be honest with yourself so that deliverance and freedom can come about in your life. 3 - Zur Because Zur had no walls in his life of integrity or strength of character, he would go to the edge and see what it looked like. Apparently he passed these traits on to his daughter. He was not a rock, he was self-willed and he represents a spirit of compromise. Zur has several characteristics. Zur will entice you to go to the edge to see how close you can get without falling off. That is foolishness. This thing younger generations have of thrill seeking is part of that. They are willing to compromise their lives for a temporary thrill. God is calling a people to give up their lives, but not to compromise them. The spirit of compromise invokes a willingness to test the limits and see how close you can get to sin. It will invoke you to compromise and say "I can handle it…it's not so bad." You'll watch a movie you know better than to watch. You'll look twice at that person instead of turning away. You'll listen to the off -color joke and not walk away. You'll say a replacement word instead of the actual profanity thinking that's OK to do. You'll allow yourself to become too physical in relationships when you know that you are compromising values to do so. You'll find yourself settling for good, not best. You'll find yourself doing what your friends are doing instead of standing for righteousness. Zur will destroy you from the inside through compromise. Proverbs 25:28 says, "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls." [Amplified] Unless you have set boundaries in your life of things you will not do, areas you will not compromise, you will cross over into arenas of sin more and more. It does not matter whether everybody is doing it or not. If it's wrong…it's wrong! Period…end of discussion. A Spirit of compromise will seduce you to talk yourself into sin so your witness will be compromised. The world is not looking for people who can be just like them…they want to see people who are different…whose very convictions are convicting. History records men and women this degree of character…will history record you as one of them? Remember, we are not on this planet to follow the standard, but to raise it! 4 - Hur 5 - Reba Reba will invoke you to look at the differences with your fellow believers instead of focusing on the similarities. It will have you focus on faults (past or present) instead of seeing people through the eyes of grace. Reba will work with the spirit of religion to mask itself in a "pseudo (false) holiness". Reba is anti-unity. The LORD wants unity, not compromise. The LORD isn't asking for compromise, but we must understand that unity is not an option for the believer. The LORD wants our focus on the unifiers, not the dividers. When you focus on faults and weaknesses or points of division you will usually engage your tongue and begin to pass judgment on them. None of these things should be features in the lives of believers. This spirit works to bring division among families as well. They will cause families to not respect the boundaries in others lives. It will try to get you to "boss" others around, or invoke you to "offer your opinion" when it is neither desired, or needed. If often happens between siblings (of any age) when one tries to "mother" or "father" the younger siblings. It will invoke parents to bring the children into the middle of their disagreements or will try to use the children as weapons in parental disagreements. Any way that Reba can separate, he will. 6 - Sihon 7 - Balaam Revelation 2:14 2 Peter 2:15 Jude 1:11 Balaam was a "sold out" prophet. The only problem was, he was sold out to the wrong things. His is a story of hard headedness and rebellion. He tried to get God to curse Israel and use the supernatural -- the prophetic arena for his own ends. Balak, the king wanted Balaam to prophesy destruction on God's people when destruction wasn't in the cards for God's people. Prophesying for your own gain is a dangerous thing. If that tendency is in your life it must be closed out and closed off. You may say to yourself, "I don't do that." Let me ask you though, "Have you ever prophesied in such a way so that people would "see you" and be enamored by your prophetic prowess? Did you do it to be see (or heard) of men? Have you ever prophesied out of wrong motivations? Have you ever prophesied out of unction? Prophesying out of unction is simply prophesying out of your own soulish realm with out the "unction/anointing" of the Holy Spirit. The Bible does declare that "…you can all prophesy…" (1 Corinthians 14:31). However, it does not indicate you should do it out of the soulish realm…without the anointing of God upon it. Balaam represents a spirit of idolatry. He was willing to sell his prophetic gift and he was willing to manipulate in order to make the king happy. The end result of what he did was he made it easier for the children of Israel and the Moabites to enter into adulterous relationships and for Israel to begin to participate in their idol worship. The daughters of the Moabites were quite adept at using the "pillow talk" to seduce the Israelite men to worship their idols. To the Israelites, adultery was akin to idolatry. They, as a people, were considered to be "married to the LORD" and to have relations with idol worshippers was an open door to the influences operating in the lives of the Moabites. The children of Israel had enough issues without the soul ties of the Moabites. The word adultery comes from a word meaning "to apostatize", or "to break covenant". Balaam opened the door for that for the Israelites and God was not happy. This is one of the reasons it is mentioned in Numbers 31 that he was killed as well as the dukes of Sihon. Particularly for those who are prophetically gifted, you must realize that the prophetic gifting places a demand upon your life just as it did upon the life of Balaam, that cannot be ignored. Whatever gift that is in you places a demand upon your life that cannot be ignored. 8 - Balak The Moabites were the result of an of an incestuous son of Lot that came about when Lot's daughters determined to get him drunk and have sex with him in order to become pregnant, which both of them did. They had been under the influence of the sexual perversions rampant in Sodom and Gomorrah and though they were out of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah was not out of them. The Moabites were always problematic. The Moabites in your life will always be problematic as well. Unlike the old television show, "The Dukes of Hazzard" where things always turn out OK in the end, unless you are willing to deal with the dukes that are a hazard in your life, things may not turn out so well. You must recognize your enemies and begin to deal with them…one by one and defeat them in your life. Don't let another day of the tempest continue in your life. Here is a summary: The dukes and friends… § Sihon - tempest Go to war against these forces. If you recognize their workings in your life and your cooperation with them, then repent, receive forgiveness, and evict them from your life. Close any open doors and take action to keep those doors closed. If you lack walls in your life, then begin to submit yourself to the Holy Spirit and to godly leadership and begin building the walls of righteousness in your life. It will require a submissiveness on your life to get these walls built. You must allow godly influences the ability to speak into your life. If you don't get walls built, then enemies will be able to come and go as they please. Surely, you don't want that in your life. If you have tendencies to lie, then repent, receive forgiveness and begin the process of change. If you are covetous or lustful, repent, receive forgiveness, and begin dealing with that in your life. Evict those spirits off of and out of your life. Give NO PLACE to the devil. The Apostle Timothy was instructed by the Apostle Paul to "flee youthful lusts". You need to do the same thing. If compromise is an issue in your life or if you've just said to yourself, "I don't compromise", or "I don't really think what I'm doing is compromise," then, you probably have an issue with compromise. If you are judgmental, religious, or focus on differences instead of finding the unifiers, if you are often "suspicious" of others, then the spirit of division may be having impact in your life. Are you self-indulgent? Are you willing to "merchandise" the anointing upon your life? Are you in despair? In any of these arenas, get before God, repent, receive His forgiveness and begin breaking these influences off of your life. Let Jesus become the one who storms the tempests in your life. Do it now! You aren't getting any younger. Deal today with these things and begin to still the tempests. Deliverance is in your hands right now!
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