Influence and Suggestion

INFLUENCE.  This word has been in my spirit for a while now.  Several years ago God really began to reveal to me what it meant to my own life and recently I have been sensing it in the lives of those that I love and have been in intercession for.

Definition of Influence:  1. the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command. 2. corrupt interference with people or circumstances for personal gain.  3. the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways : to sway

WOW.  Can you say Deception?  Those who have sat under my teaching in the last year or so know that I have really stressed the importance of sharpening the gift of discernment in these last days.  I really sense that there has been unleashed in the earth a super abundance of deceptive spirits in recent years. I believe the purpose of these spirits is to pave the way for the Antichrist.  This deception is talked about in The Word:

Matthew 24:24, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

Jesus was telling us that we can not be moved by "appears" to be Jesus like.  Even if there are signs that follow these people...we MUST NOT BE DECEIVED.

What does that have to do with influence?  I'm glad that you asked.  :)

Several years ago, God showed me my error in being influenced by a spirit of influence. I didn't realize that this was happening to me but when I truly stopped and examined a certain situation that was happening in my life and my feelings, thoughts, opinions concerning that situation I realized that the words of my mouth, the decisions I had made, and the thoughts and opinions of my mind were not truth but were being influenced.

As I look around I realize that I am not the only one that has been under the attack of this spirit.

Let me tell you, the power of suggestion is real.  Don't believe it?  Have you ever been in a room of people and watched what happens when one person yawns?  It starts a domino affect.  Have you ever had someone come up to you and say, "Do you feel ok? You don't look good."  Suddenly you notice that you are more tired than usual.  Your back aches or you have some pain in some other area.  Why?  Someone pointed something out to you that causes you to closely scrutinize EVERYTHING.

hmmmmmm Stay with me, we are going somewhere with this.

SUGGESTION: 1) The sequential process by which one thought or mental image is introduced into the mind which leads to another. A psychological process by which an idea is subtly induced by and adopted by another without argument, command, or coercion.

I have heard of adulterous affairs that were begun innocently through incorrect friendships.  One party was unhappy in their marriage and began to talk to the other party.  Soon, the party that was offering support begins to see problems in their marriage that they never saw before. Soon, the two come to the conclusion that they are both unhappy and have so much in common that they begin to form wrong feelings with lead to wrong actions.

Sometimes in women's friendship circles we joke about "having each other's back".  We often comment that if someone hurts our BFF then they will have to contend with us.  Did the offender do anything personally to us?  No. We become influenced by what they did to our friend and suddenly those feelings of offence can become so real that it is as if they did the thing to us personally.  Now I am not saying that it is wrong to support and protect one another.  But there is a fine line of assuming someone else's offence through a spirit of influence that must not be crossed. 

As a teenage girl, I remember not liking someone simply because my friend didn't like him or her.  I remember that there were certain clothes, food, music that I didn't like simply because someone else that I knew didn't like them.  Do you see how influence can influence us?

Well those same things can happen to even the most well meaning Christians today if we are not careful.

In fact, I believe that here are even demonic influences that can operate in people..sometimes with or without their knowledge...which can cunningly influence others in the body of Christ. 

I have experienced this for myself.  Because of mercy and forgiveness I will not go into details of this experience but let me just describe to you how this spirit operates in case you may need to be on guard against it working in or against you.

This spirit will cause a person to become a chameleon.  They will take on certain characteristics of the person that the enemy has set his sights on.  They will develop a common interests, hobbies, or even struggles with someone else in order to seduce a friendship.  Once a friendship is formed, the spirit works on building trust. Often the trust is built by appearing weak.  This spirit will make the person appear helpless or in need of help/ministry.  Sometimes it will take on the role of a victim in order to elicit pity which will also cause the walls of mistrust or caution to be torn down. Taking on the same faults of shortcoming of another person often results in a feeling of being able to "relate" which will also build a false sense of trust.

Once it has built trust it will slowly and cunningly begin to find out the weakness of the person that it is singling out for attack.  Remember..the enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). The end result of a friendship that is built with people who operate under the influence of these spirits is always to destroy the person, their marriage, their ministry, their LIVES! 

This spirit will begin to offer "suggestions" through the spirit of influence about people, churches, pastors, and even spouses that build distrust, or dissatisfaction that can lead to broken friendships, destroyed and divided churches, and divorce.

2 Peter 2:8  That righteous man Lot vexed his soul day by day by what he saw and heard.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived. Bad company will lead to an evil end and corrupt your good character.

Friendships that were once strong and thriving in love and support soon become distant with very little in common anymore.  Pastors and churches that once were united and thriving in the anointing of God soon find congregations that are murmuring, dissatisfied, and rebellious.  Marriages that had love and satisfaction in them soon find that the "little" things are magnified and things that at one time could easily be overlooked or forgiven become huge stumbling blocks and justification for divorce.  Now these things don't take place overnight.  No no, the enemy is more cunning, deceptive and patient than that.  He knows better than to run full force into this thing.  People who allow this spirit to operate are willing to build and manipulate and strategize these things perfectly.

What happens is this spirit will discover the weakness of the other person in order to use it to manipulate and control them.  The person who was singled out for this attachment usually is not even aware of the deception that is pursuing them until it is too  late.  The knowledge of the "sins" or weakness of the other person is a power source which backs that person into a corner with a gag order on their mouths so that they are limited in their ability to point this person and the spirit operating in them out to those in leadership who may be able to deal with them. Often this spirit will not give any real "proof" of the spirit of error that is operating and all that the person under attach/attachment only has a "gut feeling".  They often feel guilty about their "feelings" that something isn't right about this person and the enemy begins to condemn them with words like "judging, criticism, and legalism".  They begin to question themselves about what they perceive is not right about this person and turn the guilt on themselves which results in silence because of their lack of "proof".

So, I challenge you my friend, to examine your own heart.  Are you dissatisfied in some areas because you have been influenced to "see" things about others or about your circumstance by what someone else has said or done?  This takes a new level of being honest with ourselves.  It takes laying down pride so that we can walk free.  No one wants to admit that they have been influenced.  Know this: It is by NO means a reflection on your character.  The enemy is SUBTLE!  He will attach the strongest and the weakest.  Makes no difference to him.

The key to freedom is first of all to slowly break ties with the person that is allowing this spirit to operate in them.  A complete break in contact or a confrontation could draw out an all out attack.  When threatened with the confrontation of the revelation of who they are and what they are doing, they will generally "go for the throat" and kill- either spiritually, mentally, emotionally and yes even physically. 

Secondly, we have to work on retraining our thinking, our seeing, and our hearing.  We have to meditate on the truth of God and begin to confess his word over our situations and relationships so that the truth of God can drive out the lies that have been built over time.

Prayer and much fasting should also accompany both of these things.  Take it from one who has been there...Freedom WILL come.  Recovery and restoration IS possible.  But the process must first begin will recognizing the truth.