Note: This is the second article in a two-part series. For part 1, click here.
In these last days, the Jezebel principality is trying to rule over many nations, churches and families. God’s people need to have and use biblical discernment, because the enemy uses the Jezebel spirit to try and emulate, mock and destroy the true work of the Holy Spirit.
To help you discern the true work of God, I recently shared six signs of the true work of the Holy Spirit versus the work of the Jezebel spirit. Here are five more.
- Truly prophetic leaders will remain under authority and adhere to protocol. Those operating under a Jezebel spirit will not.
Examples of adhering to protocol include:
- Avoiding the appearance of evil.
- Maintaining proper boundaries of physical touch between the sexes.
- Staying within your chain of command; and
- Making sure that prophetic words and counsel are encouraging and upbuilding in nature. (For example: “God will give you the wisdom to make the right decision. You do hear His voice,” rather than directive “The Lord told me you should marry so-and-so or take that new job.”)
- When someone with a truly prophetic spirit preaches, teaches or prophesies, the Holy Spirit will bear witness in your heart. You will sense the anointing. However, a teaching or word from someone with a Jezebel spirit kills the anointing.
When a word is birthed by the Holy Spirit, there will be an increase of anointing in you when you hear it. Your heart will burn within you for Jesus.
However, when someone with a Jezebel spirit prays, teaches, preaches or shares a prophetic word, it’s like someone dumps a bucket of ice on the meeting. The anointing and fire disappear from the worship service and from your heart. It kills the mood completely.
- A true prophetic spirit will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. But a Jezebel spirit will try to turn the hearts of the people toward the Jezebelite.
Malachi 4:5-6 says this:
“See, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreaded day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
Isn’t it interesting that God describes Elijah as the one who turns the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers—when Elijah is the prophet whose ministry killed Jezebel? I find that very interesting indeed.
A Jezebel spirit will build a tribe around itself. The Jezebelite will try to gain a following. Sometimes it succeeds. The damage it can do to your church or organization has a lot to do with how much of a following it’s allowed to gain
- A true prophetic spirit, however, will also have influence—but the person who is filled with the Holy Spirit will use his or her influence to:
- Build others and launch them into effective service.
- Build a cohesive team that operates together as the body should.
- Build up the ministry area in which they’re serving; and
- Build the church.
Look at the fruit. When you see someone with a Jezebel spirit, there’s unlikely to be any real building or effective equipping going on. But someone operating in godly leadership or the true spirit of prophecy will always build up others and fling them into their destiny as Jesus did. That’s the whole purpose of prophetic ministry: to encourage, edify, build up and equip.
- Truly prophetic people get their prophetic words directly from God. A Jezebel spirit will recycle other people’s words.
A Jezebel spirit has no connection with the Holy Spirit, so it has no godly revelation or fresh bread. However, to maintain appearances, it will take the stale bread of someone else’s old word or elementary teaching, and try to re-present it as something new and revelatory.
Someone operating in true prophecy, however, will have an intimate relationship with and sensitivity to with the Holy Spirit. They will usually spend lots of time alone with God in prayer, worship and the study of God’s Word … and their prophetic words and teachings are filled with the fire they receive from that secret place of God’s presence.
You can taste the difference.
A real prophetic word will light you on fire. It will resonate with your spirit. The Holy Spirit will bear witness in your spirit. It might make you cry, or even whisper as the awe of God overwhelms you.
But a false word from a Jezebel spirit will be flat, boring and unfruitful in your life. And as stated in No. 8 above, it will often feel like someone just dumped a bucket of ice on your meeting.
Basically, the true prophetic will resound with the testimony of Jesus and the fruit that Jesus commanded us to bear in our lives.
Revelation 19:10 says: “I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'”
The true prophetic is all about Jesus. Watch for God’s Son, God’s Spirit and God’s Word to be manifest in your leaders and in those who call themselves prophetic. And if you don’t see the testimony of Jesus, if you don’t see humble and faithful service when no one is looking, if you don’t see people being equipped and encouraged … then you are not likely seeing the true Spirit of prophecy in action.
This list of red flags is not an all-inclusive list. It’s also so important to know that one red flag alone isn’t enough to diagnose a situation or to say that a person has a Jezebel spirit. Sometimes, a person who isn’t operating correctly in the prophetic may simply need additional teaching. They may simply need a little bit of gentle correction.
However, that doesn’t mean you ignore the red flags. Ask God for discernment. Look carefully at the fruit of the situation you’re seeing. You will know them by their fruit. But no matter what, you be sure that your life is being influenced by God Himself, by His Word, by the godly leaders He has placed over you.
Jamie Rohrbaugh equips believers around the world in the areas of prophecy, prayer, spiritual warfare and kingdom wealth. Her work has appeared on The Elijah List, Crosswalk.com, iBelieve.com, Christianity Today‘s Women Leaders and other outlets. Follow her blogs at FromHisPresence.com and OverNotUnder.com for fresh biblical insight and encouragement.
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