Overcoming Harassing Spirits
The word harass means to exhaust, fatigue, annoy persistently, create a hostile environment, worry, and impede by repeated attacks. As believers, at various points, you will experience the harassment of the enemy, and sadly, many believers live in a place of continual harassment. The long-term impact of living in such a hostile environment where you feel under constant attack, and you have to live on the defensive is not good.
When you become a believer, you are marked by the enemy, who hates you with passion, and his goal is to destroy you. The devil and his hoard are bullies who love to hold people captive in constant torment. I remember, as a teenager, being bullied at school, not just by my fellow students but also by the teachers. I hated school and found constant excuses not to go, so my attendance was horrific. Did it impact my education? Yes, but thank God, I was blessed and somehow did well. But what could I have achieved in a better environment?
David wrote while experiencing a massive attack by his son Absalom:
“My eyes waste away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies (harassers).”
Psalm 6: 8
David was explaining how the constant bombardment of the harassers was draining him and impacting him mentally. You lose your mental and spiritual sharpness as you become fatigued.
These harassers use words and actions to put you into distress and hinder you so that you are restricted. After David sins by taking a census of the people, the Lord puts three options in terms of punishment before him. David’s concern:
“And David said to Gad, ‘I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
2 Samuel 24: 14
The word David used for “distress” here means harassed. There is a torment to harassment, and as David had gone through it so many times, including recently, he didn’t want to go through it again. When you have been harassed, it leaves scars that create PTSD.
A spirit of harassment overcame the mighty Samson, as his wife constantly nagged him regarding the source of his strength.
“Now she had wept on him the seven days while their fast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her because she pressed him so much…”
Judges 14: 17
Listen to this:
“Then she said to him, ‘How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.’ And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart…”
Judges 16: 15, 16
The spirit of harassment never stops and makes the environment so hostile that eventually, you feel your only option is to give in. You compromise truths and values in the hope of peace.
Listen to what Paul said:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death works in us, but life in you.”
2 Corinthians 4: 7-12
Paul and his team were harassed non-stop by the enemy because the enemy sought to do everything he could to stop them. Aren’t you glad they didn’t quit?
This winter was very mild, so this spring and early summer, we were overwhelmed by ticks. I’m not too fond of spiders, especially ticks. I would work out the back, and when you came in, you would have to search yourself for these little bloodsuckers. You would be sitting and suddenly feel them creeping over you. It was a constant torment. And yes, you would find one somewhere on your body. It was constant harassment.
When I would go to bed, I was persuaded that they were crawling over me and biting me. I don’t know how many nights of sleep I lost. I would get up and search for myself and the bed and find nothing. It was all in my head. But that is how harassment works. Harassers want to bombard you until it gets in your head constantly, and now the attack is 24/ 7 and non-stop.
Finally, my wife told me, “They have got to you.” As she said that, the Lord said loudly, “It is a harassing spirit. Deal with it.” I was shocked as it never crossed my head, but now, looking back, it was obvious.
The Lord warned the Children of Israel:
“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
Numbers 33: 55, 56
It got so bad that I refused to go into part of my backyard. We had a storm coming and the Lord told me to walk my property and plead the blood over it. So, I began walking it, and I went to this big tree and looking at the rest, all I could think about was the ticks, so I stopped. Well, the storm came, and it was bad, and right at the spot I stopped, that is where the damage happened. It took down part of the tree just beyond where I stopped. The Lord corrected me that I couldn’t allow fear to hinder me and that it was time to deal with these harassing spirits. The Lord explained that they stole my enjoyment of walking through my trails.
The areas where we don’t make a stand and allow the enemy to remain open the door for his attacks. If we don’t deal with fear, the enemy will use it. If we enable pet sins to stay, they allow the enemy access.
Listen to the enemy. He may attack, but he should never gain the victory. When he comes, he should find nothing of his in you.
The Lord also said:
“But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”
Exodus 23: 22
Here, the Lord instructs us to learn to hear His voice and obey it; if we do, He will harass our enemies. Think about that! For every enemy’s plan against you, the Lord harasses him, so it fails.
So, we must recognize that it is an enemy attack and deal with it. If we sinned somehow, they let us be quick to repent. Then, let us refuse to allow fear to take us captive and flip the switch on the enemy. We need to understand the strategy of the enemy so that we know the right steps to secure our victory.
The enemy’s strategy is to steal your joy, rob your hope, fill you with fear, and exhaust you so you make bad decisions.
“Count it ALL joy when you fall into various trials…”
James 1: 2
In Greek, “count” is “hegemonic,” meaning to lead, rule, command, or influence. In other words, don’t let the trial capture you and get you discouraged and dismayed. This is what the enemy wants to do to you. You must make a quality decision to let His joy lead and influence you. Remember, His joy is your strength. The devil knows it, but we forget that, so he wants to steal your joy. Don’t let him but rather deliberately choose to rejoice. Get your joy levels up even higher.
Next, Paul said, “We are perplexed, but not in despair.” The hope of Heaven is an anchor to our soul, and it holds us secure in the Secret Place. Keep the vision before you and understand the bigger picture. Paul said:
‘So then death is working in us, but life in you.”
2 Corinthians 4: 12
The devil wants you focused on your little world and your big problem. Instead, get your eyes off of yourself and understand that the Lord wants to do something that impacts the lives of others. As we go through these deaths, they will produce life for others if we keep our eyes on Him, hear His voice, and obey Him.
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
John 14: 1
While the storm may rage, don’t let it into your heart. Stay in the Secret Place to hear His voice and obey His leadership. Keep your faith sharp and robust as you abide in His Word in the Secret Place.
Peter explained that times of refreshing come from the Presence of God. Another way of saying this would be that we can breathe again. When you feel weary, come unto Him and take His yoke in the Secret Place. Submit to Him and do what He says, not what your feelings, the world, or the devil tell you. You need the help of His Presence. So, if you want His presence, begin praising Him and stop reinforcing the problem or trial by talking about it nonstop.
Don’t make emotional decisions but rather press in through worship into His Presence and be still and know He is God. As you drink deeply of His refreshment, you will be spiritually strengthened, and clarity will return. God is not a God of confusion but clarity.
Take authority over the enemy and every word or seed he has sown. Speak the Word over the whole situation, and remember that every season will change. The devil wants to convince you that the season will never change. But it will keep pressing forward.
