Hindering Spirits (3)

LEVIATHAN: The Hidden Enemy of the Flow of the Spirit and Presence of God!

Psalm 46:4 “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.”

John 7:38 ““He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ””

Psalm 104:26 “There the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.”

The Psalmist speaks symbolically of “streams” and “rivers” being places the Spirit of God flows powerfully!

Jesus speaks symbolically of there being “rivers” inside of us where the Spirit of God flows powerfully!

Perhaps the greatest enemy of the flow of the Spirit of God and Presence of God moving powerfully in and through us is our FLESH.

The flesh is that dimension within us that argues with the Spirit of God and entices us to disobey the will of God!

Our flesh becomes like a NEST inside of us that attracts demons and provides a PLACE for demons to dwell!

Today, I want to shed LIGHT on one of the common hidden spirits that needs to be recognized and cast out of our midst. It’s name is LEVIATHAN and it is first mentioned in Job 3:8 ““Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.”

I. The IDENTITY of Leviathan must be DISCUSSED!

Job 3:8 ““Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.”

Job 41:1 Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?

Job 41:25 When he raises himself up, the mighty fear .

Job 41:28 the arrow cannot make him flee . . . he laughs at the rattling of the javelin . . .

Job 41:32 Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear.

Job 41:34 He looks on everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of PRIDE!

Here is an animal that is symbolic of evil! This Leviathan is also a giant spirit that blocks the flow of God’s Spirit, Presence, Power and Prosperity in your life!

II. The MEANING of Leviathan must be DEFINED!

Isaiah 27:1 . . . even Leviathan the TWISTED serpent!

The word “Leviathan” literally means “to twist.” Leviathan is a demonic force that “twists” everything to hinder the flow of the Spirit and Presence of God! He is called the “twisting spirit!”

According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Leviathan is used figuratively for a “cruel enemy.”

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says this is a dragon not unlike a dinosaur. A beast that is hostile to God’s people!

For us, Leviathan and his characteristics are a picture of a large, but hidden enemy in the life of a Christian and the Church that cuts off the flow of the Spirit and Presence of God!

III. The STRATEGY of Leviathan must be DISCOVERED!

Psalm 46:4 “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.”

Psalm 104:26 “There in the streams and rivers),the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.”

When we gather in unity and worship, streams flow together from our spirit, and power for ministry flows!

There should be a flow in our spirit that promotes and protects unity in the Body of Christ! However, there is a wisdom!

1 Corinthians 14:33 “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

Leviathan will not live in Covenant!

Job 41:4 ““Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant forever?”

Whenever someone is affected by this spirit, it destroys Covenant relationships. This spirit breaks up marriages, business partnerships, friendships, and worst of all, churches!

If you are having trouble getting along with someone, it might by Leviathan! We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but with spirits and principalities . . .

IV. The PRESENCE of Leviathan must be DETECTED!

Psalm 104:26 “There the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.”

Leviathan is hiding underneath the water and water in the Bible represents several things:

*The Word of God

*The Flow of God’s Spirit

*The Mass of Humanity

Leviathan tries to hide where the Word of God and Flow of God’s Spirit are moving among God’s people!

We often do not observe his work until many have been hurt! He is hidden until exposed by God!

This spirit attends the gatherings of God’s people but will not live in Covenant with God’s people.

This spirit operates under the flow of the Spirit of God to TWIST the truth in our minds, in our conversations and in our understanding of each other.

This spirit gets between friends and twists! He gets between marital partners and twists! He gets into the life of the church and twists!

When a crocodile takes it’s prey, it twists it around until it takes the life out of it and then consumes it!

After Leviathan has stopped the flow of the Spirit by twisting and distorting the truth, it flees!

Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent . . .”

The presence of Leviathan is often behind many people who flee from their Covenant responsibilities and flee from their marriage, family and church! He puts a fleeing spirit in them and they leave!

V. The DEFEAT of Leviathan must be DECLARED!

Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.”

How do we defeat the spirit of Leviathan? He is defeated by the Sword!

Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.”

He is defeated by the Spirit and the Word!

Ephesians 6:17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

He is defeated by a discerning sword!

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

This sword helps you recognize the spirit of Leviathan! We cannot discern this spirit without the Holy Spirit and the Word of God!

We must allow Jesus to speak to us and through us, and when Jesus speaks, this sword will operate, and Leviathan will flee!

Revelation 1:16 “In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”

Jesus will fight for us with His sword!

Revelation 2:16 “‘Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.”

Whenever there has been division among friends, family and within the church, we need to recognize and then renounce the twisting spirit!

We must realize that our pride is from this enemy, look at this last Scripture about Leviathan.

Job 41:34 ““He looks on everything that is high; He is king over all the sons of pride.””

The spirit of Leviathan is the king of all pride! He knows that pride will keep us away from God’s Presence! Pride causes us to be offended easily and it will cause us to flee and fall away!

Pride makes us vulnerable to a demonic wisdom that twists the truth and justifies our distortion of the truth!

James 3:15 “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”

James 3:16 “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”

The apostle Peter addresses something similar to this in this passage:

2 Peter 3:16 “as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

Notice the warning from the apostle Peter about untaught and unstable people “distorting” or “twisting” the Scriptures!

2 Peter 3:17 “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,”

But we are to be on our guard so that we are not twisted and carried away from our own faithfulness by the influence of people who twist and distort the truth!

2 Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

The solution for defeating the spirit of Leviathan is to GROW in the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!