Conquering Jezebel Spirit that’s Hijacking Your Prayers

Jezebel is not a woman with a strong personality who just needs some people skills.

Jezebel is not a woman who needs to read How to Win Friends and Influence People. And by the way, Jezebel can operate through a man or a woman. Jezebel is an androgynous spirit, having the characteristics of both men and women. We sometimes refer to this spirit as “she” because it manifested in women in the pages of the Bible.

An abusive church leader once insisted he saw a Jezebel spirit superimposed over my body and that I was in danger of giving myself over to Jezebel if I didn’t step in line with his wishes. I was certainly alarmed, so I submitted myself to several pastors outside that church for a thorough examination. One of the pastors asked me a startling question:

“Are you seducing people?”

“No!” I exclaimed, not understanding why he would ask such a thing.

“Are you leading people away from Jesus?”

“Of course, not!” I said.

“Then you aren’t operating in a Jezebel spirit.”

That set me free and helped me see where the true Jezebel was operating.

Along with “false prophet,” a Jezebel accusation is one of the most serious fiery darts you can throw at a believer. It implies that they aren’t a believer at all but that they are fornicators who will not inherit the Kingdom of God and false brethren who are purposefully leading people away from Christ for their own gain.

Will the Real Jezebel Please Stand Up?

Who is Jezebel and where did this terminology come from? Many say there is no such thing as a Jezebel spirit, but once you’ve seen the patterns of how this spirit operates you can’t deny its reality. Jezebel was the name of a pagan queen who married King Ahab in Scripture. She served the false gods Ashtoreth and Baal.

Ultimately, we’re not dealing with Jezebel. We’re dealing with the goddess Ashtoreth that Jezebel served. We’re dealing with the spirit that morphed the wicked queen’s personality. That’s because we become like the one we behold. Consider Paul’s Spirit-inspired words in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV), “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” The wicked queen Jezebel was beholding Ashtoreth.

Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven, the female counterpart to Baal. She is known as the wife of Baal and was the high goddess of Canaan. Indeed, she is the goddess of love and war. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, prostitution was practiced in the name of Ashtoreth and prophetesses were attached to her temples to whom she delivered oracles.

Ashtoreth is the very goddess that Israel worshipped during its times of apostasy (see Judges 2:13; 1 Sam. 7:3-4; 2 Kings 23:13). Ashtoreth is the goddess of love and war. Ashtoreth is the chief god that Old Testament Jezebel served. In fact, Jezebel’s father, Ethbaal, was the high priest of the goddess Ashtoreth. Some believers are unwittingly serving Ashtoreth today.

Ashtoreth was Jezebel’s key influence. And we see the damage Queen Jezebel did in Israel. Jezebel seduced Ahab and many in Israel into idolatry, which essentially led them into bondage and God’s judgment of famine for three and a half years. Jezebel massacred the true prophets of the Lord while keeping the false prophets on her payroll, eating plenty from her table in a time of famine (see 1 Kings 18:13-19). Jezebel had Naboth killed and stole his inheritance.

Jezebel the Seductress

Note that Jezebel did all this, ultimately, through the power of seduction. Indeed, Jezebel is, at its essence, a spirit of seduction. We could just as easily say we’re battling the spirit of seduction. We call this demon Jezebel because both the Queen Jezebel and the woman Jezebel from Thyatira in the Book of Revelation carried this name and demonstrated the same demonic traits. One was thrown down and devoured by dogs. The other was threatened with a sick bed. Both were judgments on Jezebel.

Jesus identifies the root of what we call the spirit of Jezebel, a common term we can all use to identity the spirit (just like doctors use the term cancer in all nations to identify the deadly disease that destroys normal body tissue), and He gives one of the sternest warnings in Scripture. Revelation 2:18-29 (NKJV) reads:

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, “These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: ‘I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

“‘Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—“He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels”—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Notice the command not to tolerate Jezebel. People often tolerate it because they don’t discern it, or because there’s no one else to help with the tasks at hand—or because they are big donors. There are many reasons why people tolerate intercessors operating in a Jezebel spirit. All of them lead to destruction.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary says this of Queen Jezebel, “Jezebel has stamped her name on history as the representative of all that is designing, crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel. She is the first great instigator of persecution against the saints of God. Guided by no principle, restrained by no fear of either God or man, passionate in her attachment to her heathen worship, she spared no pains to maintain idolatry around her in all its splendour.” And Matthew Henry’s Commentary calls Jezebel a “zealous idolater, extremely imperious and malicious in her natural temper, addicted to witchcrafts and whoredoms, and every way vicious.”

An End-Times Assignment

I believe we are in the end times. I believe God is raising up prayer and worship movements around the world to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. And I believe that is why we’re seeing Jezebel manifest with greater bravado now than in decades past. Indeed, the late Lester Sumrall once said Jezebel would be one of the greatest opponents in the end-times church. Perhaps that’s why there’s so much emphasis on Jezebel in the Book of Revelation.

Keep in mind, intercessors are among those who are uniquely positioned to throw Jezebel down through spiritual warfare prayer. But you can’t throw Jezebel off the wall if you don’t dwell on the wall. Intercessors who live on the wall of intercession—those who watch and pray day and night, night and day—gain a position of authority to throw Jezebel down.

You can’t dwell on the wall until you build the wall. In this season, God is looking for intercessors who will make a wall, stand on it, and actually dwell on it to prevent Jezebel from gaining further inroads of destruction in families, churches, and cities.

God is emphasizing Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV) in this hour: “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

When Joshua sent two spies into Jericho, the spies entered Rahab’s house. When the king found out about it, he sent men to her house to take the Israelites captive. Instead of handing them over, she made a wall of intercession. Rahab told the king’s men the Hebrews had escaped—then helped them escape. Consider this act of intercession in Joshua 2, understanding that one definition of intercession is “interpose.” Interpose means to intervene or to put a barrier or obstacle between or in the way of, according to Dictionary.com.

Then Rahab lowered them by a rope through the window, for her home was set into the wall where she lived. She said to them, “Go to the hill country so that the pursuers do not find you. Hide there three days until the pursuers return. After that, you can go on your way” (Joshua 2:15-16 MEV).

Since her house was on the wall, she could provide a way of escape even when the gate was shut. Her intercession was their only hope of deliverance from the enemy. Rahab offered an act of intercession that saved the lives of two Israelites on a mission from God. But God rewarded her intercession by saving her entire family.

Intercessors who live on the wall have a perspective that can only be attained by living on the wall. Some intercessors only see the wall the enemy has erected. Other intercessors try to peek over the wall to see what God is doing. Intercessors who live on the wall can see further out into the spirit, gain God’s view into the situation, and tap into a divine prayer strategy to see His will come to pass.

Rahab lived on the wall. No doubt, she prayed on the wall. And when the walls of Jericho came crashing down, God’s wall of protection preserved Rahab and her family. Her act of intercession paved the way for God’s will and also paved the way for the Messiah, who was birthed through her family line (see Matt. 4:1-6). Only intercessors who build the wall and then live on the wall are positioned to throw Jezebel off the wall. These are Nehemiah intercessors who build with one hand and carry a weapon in the other hand (see Neh. 4:17).

Intercessors who build walls of prayer have a distinct authority to throw down spirits that try to penetrate that wall or erect a stronghold on that wall. Intercessors who live on the wall incline their ear to the Lord’s command to throw Jezebel down at the right moment.

The right moment is now. We’re in a Jehu moment—a Jehu season to throw Jezebel down. In 2 Kings 9:32-34 (NKJV) Jehu:

Looked up at the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”

It’s time to throw Jezebel down in your family, your church, and your workplace. Again, you do this in the place of prayer. And after you throw her down, bury all memory of her. Move on with your life in victory!