The devil never plays fair, but he does play for keeps. Where he gains a toe-hold in our lives through fear, falsehood, trauma, injustice, betrayal, or generational iniquity, he will develop a foothold, which will ultimately become a demonic stronghold unless we do something about it. God has given us unique personalities with a specific purpose to fulfill our Kingdom assignment on this earth.
Psalms 16:5-8 “5 The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion, my cup; You hold and maintain my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good heritage. 7 I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”
Psalms 22:9-11 “9 Yet You are He Who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother’s breasts. 10 I was cast upon You from my very birth; from my mother’s womb You have been my God. 11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.”
Psalms 139:17-18 “How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You.”
The devil wants to kill, steal and destroy our belief in the truth (John 10:10) … to remain a victim puts a person at risk of losing sight of God’s Purpose.
If after being traumatically victimized our thinking becomes polluted, and we develop false conclusions and convictions. These can manifest in illicit behaviors like overeating, lying, violence, chemical abuse, various sexual perversions, phobias, excessive spending, or sloth. There are two different levels to the “victim spirit”.
First, the “victim spirit” refers to the (human) spirit of a person who’s been violated in some way and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, has failed to process the experience properly.
A person who embraces the victim mindset keeps the victimization pattern reoccurring, unless or until it’s broken. This does not refer to everyone who’s been abused; only those who continue believing lies and thereby allow predators to shape their lives.
A victim, for instance, can explain why it’s right for things to be wrong, continuing to allow access to an abuser, such as a woman who excuses physical abuse by her husband; in her mind she thinks she is the problem, and deserves beating.
Or a boy who continues to accept bullying or harassment at school, without standing his ground and speaking out for his intrinsic worth … in his mind, he’s worthless and he doesn’t merit anything else.
Second, a “victim spirit” can refer to any one of a host of unseen demonic spirits who are attracted to and desire to attach themselves to a person who will embrace their lies and behaviors, accepting a “victim identity.” An unseen world of darkness filled with spirit beings is looking for opportunity to harass and torment you.
Judges 19:25 “25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and forced her forth to them, and they had intercourse with her and abused her all the night until morning. And when the dawn began to break, they let her go.”
2 Samuel 13:11-14 “11 And when she brought them to him, he took hold of her and said, Come lie with me, my sister. 12 She replied, No, my brother! Do not force and humble me, for no such thing should be done in Israel! Do not do this foolhardy, scandalous thing! [Gen. 34:7.] 13 And I, how could I rid myself of my shame? And you, you will be [considered] one of the stupid fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray you, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you. 14 But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her.”
John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”
When victimization produces trauma, demons often attach themselves to the wounded individual to advance the diabolical cycle of events. The victim’s fear, intimidation, and hopelessness are now satanically supercharged.
In what ways does the victim spirit pervade your life? Here are some worse case scenarios:
- Boundaries – Your personal boundaries (if you have any) are consistently violated by others, as if t hey treat you i n contempt.
- Abuse– You’re easily trapped by people who want to physically, sexually, emotionally, spiritually, or financially abuse you, and you excuse their behavior as inevitable because that’s what you deserve.
- Dishonor– People who are normally gracious with others are drawn into taking cheap shots at you to your face.
- Ministry – You don’t feel worthy of being able to share what you’ve learned about God.
- Joy– You have none, nor any hope of having any, you’re numb to the world around you.
- Deception– You accept abuse from others because you’re used to it and don’t see that there’s another way to live – you are not able to discern the difference between the truth and the lie.
- Values– You easily absorb the values of the secular world around you.
- Potential– As far as you’re concerned you have no potential, only the people around you are worth anything, even if they’re perpetrators of abuse.
- Curses– You’re cursed from birth by the family you’re born into … your sex, your appearance, your personality. Everything about you is cursed and you feel you have no future.
In what ways does the victim spirit manifest itself?
A victim spirit can be seen in finances, relationships, vocations, ministry – in every area of life. A victim spirit always settles for less, has little or no joy, dishonors and disrespects a person, and never walks in the honour that God calls one to walk. Here are a few examples:
- Destruction – Unconscious self-destruction and being accident-prone.
- Injustice – Consistently finding yourself in situations where the rules are being violated at your expense and there’s nothing you can do about it.
- Malpractice – Always picking the doctor that’s the most incompetent.
- Devouring – Constantly having people take advantage of you financially, not being able to get a grip on your finances, having constant emergencies that drain your bank account or put you in debt.
- Defilement – Being a target for sexual advances or innuendo no matter how modestly you act or dress.
- Abuse – Habitual attraction to the “wrong” kind of relationships.
Defining the victim spirit …
Webster’s dictionary defines victim as:
- A living being offered as a living sacrifice;
- An individual injured or killed by disease or accident;
- A person cheated, fooled or injured (a victim of circumstances or “accident prone”)
Matthew 7:6 talks about a victim spirit, and how you can be devoured and torn to pieces by a predator.
Matthew 7:6 “6 Do not give that which is holy (the sacred thing) to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls before hogs, lest they trample upon them with their feet and turn and tear you in pieces.”
The “holy” is the honor and dignity of a human being which God warns not to “touch My anointed” by physical or verbal abuse. A victim spirit is a way of looking at life that unknowingly attracts abuse.
How does the victim spirit work?
The following are some of the faces of the victim spirit.
- You attract dishonor from others, and then dishonor yourself or you criticize yourself with an “inner correcting” voice.
- You apologize for and own people’s pain, when someone around you is unhappy, even though it is usually not your fault.
Remember the woman who kept going to the unrighteous judge and kept demanding justice (Luke 18:6)? She wanted legal protection from her opponent. She evidently was being harassed or victimized by her opponent or predator. Perhaps she was trying to get a restraining order or police protection from a stalker? Or maybe she just wanted the honour, love, and respect that comes with being a human being? She is a Biblical example of a face of a victim spirit.
Those living under the victim spirit will:
- People offer you nurture, comfort or compliments, but you can’t receive them because you feel unworthy.
- Your total mind set revolves around enabling your predator … you simply don’t even think in terms of your being an independent entity with value apart from being an enabler.
- You visualize the possibility of being in less pain if you become a better enabler.
What about Jesus? Was He a victim?
John 10:17-18 “17 For this [reason] the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life—to take it back again. 18 No one takes it away from Me. On the contrary, I lay it down voluntarily. [I put it from Myself.] I am authorized and have power to lay it down (to resign it) and I am authorized and have power to take it back again. These are the instructions (orders) which I have received [as My charge] from My Father.”
The difference in this is no one is allowed to take my life or to “suck the life out of me” but I can voluntarily lay my life down. In the abuse and victim spirit they are taking my life, my dignity, my respect, and my honour from me.
A good illustration of the danger of the victim spirit is … in a bowling alley we all know there are two gutters that prevent us from knocking down the pins. On the right is the one known as the spirit of pride. We are very familiar with this one and try to stay clear of this spirit. The gutter on the left side is just as bad and it is the opposite spirit, which is “false humility” – in reality this is the victim spirit. It is just as damaging as the spirit of pride, but is not recognized as readily.
Some tell-tale emotions that are prevalent in a victim spirit:
- You feel cheated or taken advantage of.
- You feel lied to or violated in some sense.
- You feel powerless or trapped to change the outcome.
- You also feel anger, some at the predator but most toward yourself for being a victim.
- Most of all you feel helpless that change can come about.
What are the results of a victim spirit?
You settle for much less than what God has promised you. You will never walk in the dominion – possessing the land – that God said you would walk in. You settle for mediocrity. You can end up angry, bitter and full of resentment.
Men are just as susceptible as women to this spirit, and maybe more so. When men have a victim spirit, they can invite disrespect and dishonour from their wives. They can find it almost impossible to love their wives as encouraged by Ephesians 5:33.
The victim spirit and the demonic …
Now the steps of recovery are bound into the root of these problems. While everyone hits a pothole in the road now and then, victims seem to hit them much more often than others.
Some have asked, “Do I have a sign hanging around my neck saying, ‘Come abuse me’?” Probably you do. It is not a visible one in the natural but one part of the victim spirit’s job is to be a flashing beacon in the spirit realm, attracting the attention of all predator demons.
Once a predator demon has made connections with a victim demon, the two demons facilitate bringing their human hosts together in a damaging way. So this could explain why women will escape from an abusive relationship only to attract another one.
The other half of the victim spirit’s job is to persuade the human victim that there is nothing that can be done to change the situation. They arrive at the conclusion that the problem is their fault, and that they just need to lower their expectations in life and endure what comes.
“Friends” of the “victim spirit” …
The Predator Spirit
It thrives on inflicting physical and emotional pain on others for the pleasure of the predator. The predator gets his greatest fulfillment out of the emotional pain he is causing by humiliating his victim.
It is important to note that a person can be a victim and a predator at the same time. It is quite common for a man to be victimized at work, then come home and abuse his family. Likewise, the child who is a bully on the playground, is most likely a victim at home.
The Poverty Spirit
This demon works primarily with a person’s mindset to keep them from possessing their birthright.
- A person cannot accept and keep for themselves the good things that come to them.
- They feel uncomfortable surpassing their peers. They are typically unwilling to pay a price to achieve. They are satisfied with less than God’s best for them.
The Spirit of Jealousy
Many times it is small people who have not been willing to pay the price to excel who are jealous of those who have paid the price. Their defense mechanism is to tear down the other person in their mind rather than growing up to the spiritual stature necessary for the job in question.
The BAD news?
A very large number of people who love the LORD and are being greatly used by Him are in actuality hampered by a victim demon.
The GOOD news?
Living with a victim spirit is optional … they can be identified and evicted!
Obtaining freedom from victimization requires us to appropriate God’s Power. God delights to make His Power available to us but only for Kingdom objectives. He is not primarily interested in helping us just to survive. He wants to partner with us in releasing His Power into our world in such a way that we become life-givers to others around us. The dominion mandate is about building up and expanding, not just survival.
It is vital that anyone aspiring to be free must, as an act of their will, choose to walk out truth even when it does not feel right. These deliberate choices to override their feelings and embrace Truth – embodied in Jesus Himself – will bring progressive healing to the victim on their way to dominion.
Walking in freedom from the victim spirit …
- Find out what opened the door for victimization. It could have been a rape, war, slavery, abandonment, business fraud, political betrayal, or a host of other things. Most likely it will be generational and one or more of the ancestors will have the same problem.
- The mind-stronghold is generally stronger than the demons. The demonic is easily evicted with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, the mindset must be replaced with the TRUTH of who you are in Messiah.
- This mind-renewal is accomplished through inner-healing, a process of having the Holy Spirit expose the lie you believe and speak the TRUTH which sets you free. Look at the promise in Ezekiel, this is a New Testament prophecy:
Ezekiel 34:28-29 – 28 And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the earth devour them, but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid [in the day of the Messiah’s reign]. 29 And I will raise up for them a planting of crops for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land nor bear the reproach of the nations any longer.
How does walking in freedom and FULLNESS change your life?
- Boundaries—Predators pull back from you and everyone around you, people are safer when they’re around you.
- Respect—Others protect and nurture you because you’re worth it and you know it.
- Honor—Honor naturally flows toward you in formal and informal ways.
- Reality—You recognize that God, your Father, loves you for who you are and blesses you with gifts throughout the day.
- Ministry—You deeply desire greater power and anointing to make a difference in the lives of those around you.
- Values—You embrace God’s Values and not the world’s, and because of this, you have the power to change the entire culture.
- Joy—Your anointing is so infectious that it infects the land, the surroundings, and the people you’re around … joy remains after you’re gone.
- Potential—You seek God to find out from Him His Design of your nature and His Call on your life.
- Blessing—There is life-giving virtue in your words.
What does “freedom” from a victim spirit look like?
Freedom from the victim spirit changes you from being dominated to having dominion.
- You can enjoy “being” in the Presence of God without “doing” anything. You leave a trail of “essence of joy” everywhere you go.
- Your anointing of joy is so great, it infects the land and buildings where you have been.
- Blessings begin to pursue you and attack you even when you feel your cup is already full.
- Honor naturally flows toward you in formal or informal settings. You realize that the debt of love is un-payable.
- You finally take responsibility to nurture your own soul.
Prayer …
FATHER, I ask You to please hold my hand and walk back with me throughout my life … standing still at the time, place and situation of every place where I was victimized.
Show me where my forefathers had opened up to this victim spirit and where I entered into the same trap.
I ask for Your Holy Spirit to reveal the lie, stronghold, and root of this victim spirit in my life.
I ask Holy Spirit, would You show me the Truth, and shine Your Light upon me, establishing me in the Truth, God’s Word, about me.
Help me to rise up with my God-given authority of taking dominion as You have ordained from the beginning of time.
I stand upon the complete work of the cross and take up my authority in the Almighty Name of Jesus. I take authority over every victim spirit (as well as every other demon that has been working in agreement with this spirit) against me and my family in the Name of Jesus. I bind you and send you to the Footstool of Jesus.
Lord please break every chain of the victim spirit (as well as every other spirit working in agreement with this spirit) that has chained me to places of despair and hopelessness.
Help me to get out of these demonic pits never to return again! Please destroy these places of torment and torture that have been used in my own and my family’s lives for so many years!
FATHER, please remove all the labels that were placed on me, marking me in the spirit to be a victim wherever I go. These labels drew victim and predator spirits to harass me in so many areas of my life.
I ask You LORD to please destroy these labels now with Your Holy Fire.
Help me to stand and walk as Your son/daughter. Please help me to re-establish Godly boundaries around my life where my boundaries have been violated for so many years.
Please help me to no longer live as a victim, but to walk in the Fullness You have purchased for me through the power of the cross!
Amen!
KNOW YOUR ENEMY!!
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