Kingdom Authority

Photo courtesy of Melissa Agustin

A bruised reed he will not break...
Isaiah 42:3

These days I feel like I’m in a spiritual greenhouse. Being in an unfamiliar environment and culture, I have had to be truly dependent on God and more spiritually alert to what is taking place around me.

One lesson I’ve been going through these past months is on how to break free of controlling powers. I thought I was over this particular lesson, but it seems that there’s always something more to learn.

A few weeks ago I woke up feeling that I’ve had enough of people who want to dictate to me how my life should go. A heavy spirit of offense was brewing inside my heart, and I could hear myself reciting a litany of judgment and criticism.

In my mind was this growing list of grievances. Then a familiar Voice began to gently speak. “Don’t go there, My child. Withhold your judgment, let go of that offense. Listen… a bruised reed I will not break.”

I recognized that Voice. It was my heavenly Father’s. And I knew that verse, it was from Isaiah 42. I read the passage:

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

And he will bring justice to the nations.

He will not shout or cry out,

Or raise his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,

And a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

He will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth...

I was just amazed at the timeliness of the Lord’s intervention. Even more amazing were the new lessons He had for me.

I was feeling pressured, wrongly accused, and mis-judged. I wanted to defend myself, and to explain my side, but, oh well… what’s the point? When people have been under a controlling spirit for a long time, they get used to always having their way, wielding their influence and power.

And so as a defense mechanism, I allowed resentment to build up, and a judgmental spirit to take over me, when the Lord intercepted my thoughts that morning.

After reading the verses, I poured my heart out to Him:

What a contrast you are, dear Father! You are inviting me to soak myself in Your healing presence. This way I will never mistake any of the false voices around me for Your voice.

You are inviting me to watch how You conduct Your business and the affairs of Your kingdom. You want me to know what true kingdom authority is.

You speak with authority, yet in a spirit of meekness. How gentle Your spirit is, always speaking in a manner that is life-giving and life-affirming. Your meekness shows great spiritual strength harnessed to release power in an authoritative manner. In kindness You take all things into consideration; You do not speak out of turn, You never jar one’s sensibilities. You are the voice of Wisdom. You do not demean, You do not look down on. You do not despise. You give room. ‘A bruised reed You will not break, a dimly-burning wick you will not snuff out.'

Yet in true kingdom authority, You will speak out when needed, just like Jesus when He cleansed the temple. He did not mince words. He was not defensive or apologetic about being angry. He was angry for the right reasons: His Father’s house was meant to be a House of Prayer, but it had become a den of thieves.

When Jesus came to enforce His kingdom authority, all mouths were stopped.

I sensed that God was teaching me a truth I needed to learn, but my self-focus and “temper tantrum” were getting in the way.


My Father, when You as my Divine Surgeon operate on me, it will not matter to You if I am offended or not. You are after my healing and my restoration. So speak Lord, I’m listening.

I allowed my thoughts to dwell on the words “true kingdom authority.” Indeed, true kingdom authority aims to heal and restore. It focuses on the eternal, not the temporal.

“In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
He will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.”

What a reassuring thought!

- - -

In the days that followed, as I continued to meditate on the Isaiah 42 passage, I began to see why God was talking to me about kingdom authority in the midst of my personal battle with a controlling spirit.

True kingdom authority is a far cry from this world’s false and self-serving authority!

There is a false authority at work in the world today, empowered by an evil controlling spirit. This spirit is named after Queen Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife, the real power behind the throne. We can read about it in 1 Kings 19 and 1 Kings 21.The prophet Elijah had killed 450 of Baal’s priests and Jezebel was after him. So powerful was Jezebel’s control over Elijah that he, fresh from a great victory on Mt. Carmel, came under a depression so severe he wished for death.

In the New Testament the same spirit manifests in Herodias, wife of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee during the time of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, moving in the same spirit as Elijah, fearlessly decried their incestuous and adulterous relationship. As a result, John the Baptist is arrested, and eventually beheaded at the request of Herodias. (Matthew 14:1-12)

The Jezebel spirit is the spirit of false authority and is still very much alive in the world today. Jezebel is a subtle seducing spirit, tempting people in the area of lust, self-gratification either through sex, material things, position or power.

There are several ways that this spirit operates.

People could be directly under Jezebel’s power and be her tool to dominate others. Those under her control are often unaware of her schemes. In Revelation 2:24 we read that Jezebel’s teachings contain “Satan’s so-called deep secrets.”

The Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

But Jezebel is looking for subjects who will worship her, bow to her wishes and submit to her desires. By worshiping her, people are deceived into pursuing a hollow religion resulting in an impressive but watered-down and powerless faith.

Wrong priorities, misplaced loyalties. Tyrannized by the temporary. This is what happens to those who come under her power. For indeed, the Jezebel spirit is a cruel taskmaster, demanding that her subjects serve her interests alone, leaving no room for their own. She can manipulate them like puppets on strings.

The Jezebel spirit demands: “Please me. Do my agenda. Serve my purposes. Build my kingdom. Do not disappoint me. Meet my standards. Live up to my expectations.”

This spirit can also work indirectly, through another person, to keep one under its influence and power.

People with a controlling spirit are often very organized and efficient. They control their own lives and the lives of those around them, dominating people and situations for their own purpose and advantage. When there is a Jezebel in your life, you feel like you have no room to be yourself or to exercise your freedom. It is an oppressive spirit.

They are also often fault-finders. Keeping you indebted to them, either financially, or through a debt of gratitude, they are very good at guilt manipulation. They are hard to please and it takes very little to incur their ire or displeasure.

- - -

I thought that I could “smell” a Jezebel a mile away. But that week, even though I had recognized this spirit trying to manipulate my life, I felt like I was coming under its control.

My offense and my resentment had to go, but I also knew that just doing it intellectually wouldn’t be enough.

In 1 Kings 19:1-8, I read about the time that Elijah received a death threat from Jezebel. Depressed, tired, and defeated, Elijah’s reaction was to sit under a juniper tree, asking for death.

It was in this helpless state that Elijah was ministered to by God. God sent him an angel to feed him. “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for you,” the angel said. Elijah ate, and in the strength of that food Elijah was spiritually revived, and able to reach Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God.

It is easy to resort to a “poor me” attitude when encountering a person with a controlling spirit, or allow offense to set in, and strive to fight against this spirit in our own strength. Doing so only gives the Jezebel spirit legal ground over us.

In my past experiences, being offended or embittered because of a person’s controlling spirit only got me nowhere. God gave me victory when, instead of retaining that person locked up in my resentment, I chose to release him in forgiveness.

But this time, I needed to go through the process again.

Elijah was at the lowest moment of his life. And under that juniper tree he wished to die. But instead of preaching sermons to him on how to overcome someone with a controlling spirit, God shows up to meet his need. It’s the moment the Father was waiting for.

And that’s what God was impressing on me that Monday morning. “Don’t go there, My child. Lay down your puny weapons. Withhold that judgment, let go of that offense. Learn to fight in the way of true kingdom authority.”

Little by little, I was able to put together the pieces of what He was revealing to me that day and in the days to come. God will fight for me, for I never could fight the Jezebel on my own terms. Indeed the weapons of our warfare are not the usual earthly weapons we are familiar with: self-pity, offense, retaliation.

Just as Elijah chose to put down his human strength and in a way, said to God, “I give up, Lord, I can’t fight this battle on my own,” I needed to go to my Father and say the same thing to Him.

Faced with a powerful controlling spirit Moses, in Exodus 14:14, declared before the Israelites, “The Lord will fight for you, you only need to be still." I needed to stay close to the Lord, and allow Him to be my defender. I had to make that same declaration.

This is true kingdom authority: know your position, know your authority, know your battle plan, know your weapon.

Indeed there are many valuable lessons we can learn from Scripture. God can anoint a Jehu to trample a Jezebel under his feet (2 Kings 9:1-35). God can commit an unrepentant Jezebel to a sickbed and strike all her children dead (Revelation 2:22-23). There is a coming day when the Jezebel spirit will be exposed and conquered. When this happens, Jesus says “Then all churches will know that I am He that searches minds and hearts.”

As I read these words of Jesus to the church in Thyatira:

“To him who overcomes,

and does my will to the end,

I will give authority over the nations —

'He will rule them with an iron scepter,

he will dash them to pieces like pottery' —

just as I have received authority from my Father…”

(Revelation 2:26-27)

it becomes clear why God wanted to speak to me about His kingdom authority in dealing with the Jezebels in my life. He will fight, and He will give the victory! He will give authority over the nations!

Further down in Isaiah 42 are these verses:

“The Lord will march out like a mighty man,

like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;

with a shout he will raise the battle cry

and will triumph over his enemies.” (Isaiah 42:13)

This is the same Lord who “will not raise his voice in the streets” at the beginning of the chapter. Yet at the appointed time, he “will shout and raise the battle cry.”

That is why we use God’s kingdom authority when fighting the Jezebel spirit. He alone knows the timing and the strategy.

But kingdom authority is not learned overnight. In the natural as in the spiritual, the principle is the same. How does a son learn to operate the family business? How will I know what it means to be about my Father’s business if I don’t spend quality time with Him? We learn to use kingdom authority over time through intimacy and obedience, the same way a son learns the secrets of his father’s trade. “To him who overcomes, and does my will to the end, I will give authority..."

These days I just want to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His soothing voice. He speaks Truth to me, tells me who I am to Him, teaching me how to have my spiritual senses of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting and touch so attuned to heavenly realities that things of the earth realm do not take precedence. Teaching me personally about exercising true kingdom authority in my life.

I don’t want to miss out on your Truth, dear Father! I want to stay close to You, to develop my ear so that it recognizes Your still small voice above all the other loud voices around me. I don’t want to be sidetracked by a spirit that seeks to dominate.

I hear the Father saying, “I want you to learn from incidents like these. A Jezebel is easily offended when plans miscarry. I am training you not to be easily offended, easily piqued, either by people or circumstances when they cause your life not to go as planned or scheduled. There are interruptions that are actually intended as My divine appointments. They are tests built into your daily life to develop character. Make a choice: will you react, or will you respond?”

If I react, I will only harden my heart. But if I respond, it becomes more flexible.

I choose to respond. He is the Potter, I am the clay...

Encountering a Jezebel can really drain the life out of us, and the interruption sometimes causes a major delay in our plans, not to mention the agitation, the irritation…

Father, what is Your agenda in my life when such an interruption or a delay comes?

His reply: “It is the molding and the shaping of your inner character, My daughter; I am building in you the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in my sight.”

What reassuring words from my Father! Indeed His words are spirit and life! (John 6:63)


It has been said that we eventually become like the person we hold in negative judgment. My Creator was telling me that He didn’t want me to become like a Jezebel whose heart is cold and calculating. He wanted my heart to be always soft and teachable, growing in grace.

The case is put to rest. The Father has spoken: The strategic delays in my life serve an eternal purpose.

At last my heart is at peace.

When Jezebel attacks, this is my stand: under no circumstance will I tolerate her schemes. My secret weapon is an unoffendable heart. My hiding place is my Father’s presence, where the voices of control and condemnation are not heard. My strategy is to lay down my earthly weapons and let the Victor fight for me.

Indeed, my earth realm concerns are mere shadows of heavenly realities. Suddenly, they seem very small in the light of His countenance. What matters more to me is that I am learning to fight my battles in the opposite spirit, and understanding what it means to walk in true kingdom authority.

RECEIVE HOPE:

I have written about these things on this blogspot because it is possible that someone reading this today needs to receive hope. Dear reader, do you find yourself directly under a Jezebel spirit and you want to be set free? Do you recognize that you have been controlling your own life and the life of others around you?

Or are you indirectly under a Jezebel that is manipulating your life, and you are struggling with helplessness, self-pity and offense?

Come to the One Who alone can set you free. Jesus says in Revelation 2:26-28 that

“to him who overcomes…I will also give him the morning star.”

To overcome means that you repent if you have given Jezebel legal ground to operate in your life. It also means to allow the Lord to expose and remove structures in your life that have given this spirit a free hand to manipulate your life. Under the authority of Jesus, take a decisive “no toleration” stand against this spirit.

If you feel that the enemy wants to keep you in a dark place of bondage, be encouraged by these words:

“And we have the word of the prophets

made more certain,

and you will do well to pay attention to it,

as to a light shining in a dark place,

until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

1 Peter 1:19

To anyone who repents and overcomes, Jesus is your morning star, He is your hope.

No one whose hope is on Him will ever be put to shame.