Learning to overcome our fears and insecurities is a big hurdle for just about everyone. We all deal with fear in some form, but it's how we respond to those thoughts, beliefs and emotions that determines our success. Just because something triggers an uncomfortable feeling doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. It just means that there is an emotional barrier trying to prevent us from getting to something worth attaining on the other side of that awkward, uncomfortable feeling. In order to overcome fear, we have to come face to face with it and decide it's not going to be the deciding factor in whether or not we accomplish our goals, or make our dreams and aspirations come true. Good things are on the other side of our own unbelief, so we can't allow fear, insecurities and feelings of inferiority about ourselves sabotage our ability to fulfill our potential and discover how capable we really are!
There are many ways the spirit of sabotage can operate against people. Sometimes it is in the workplace or other social environment, fueled by jealousy, selfish ambition or competition among rivals. There are signs of course, such as a coworker that tries to take credit for work you have done, deliberately leaving you out of important need-to-know communications, or gossip and slander intended to ruin your reputation among your peers. It’s intended to hinder, halt or sabotage a person’s ability to make progress, achieve success or attain promotion. It’s easy enough to recognize the sneaky, underhanded behavior of a competitor that covets another person’s accomplishments, but the question is whether or not you can recognize a spirit of sabotage when it has your cooperation and agreement to ruin your own success. It takes discernment. For the purposes of this article, the content is focused primarily on the aspect of self-sabotage. It's what we do to ourselves through our own participation that comes from a negative, critical mindset.
No one would purposely, consciously try to destroy their own future, right? Wrong! Many people do it all the time, but fail to realize the root of the issue or how to correct it. So, what allows these destructive tendencies to occur? A spirit of sabotage gains a foothold in a person’s life through their agreement. Feelings such as unworthiness, insecurity, inferiority, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of abandonment, fear of rejection and all sorts of other fears give the enemy legal grounds to sabotage and abort the individual’s progress when people come into agreement with those lies.
Do you constantly show up to work late, make lame excuses for leaving tasks unfinished, or display certain behaviors that are a turn off to others?
Do you find yourself making excuses as to why you don't need to learn certain things necessary for the betterment of your life?
Have you made excuses to resist personal or spiritual growth?
Have you refused to take responsibility for your life?
Have you forced others to take on your responsibilities out of fear of failure and a reluctance to put yourself out there to see what you are actually capable of?
Do you find yourself saying and doing things you later regret that end up hurting relationships?
Does all your progress seem to halt prematurely and you feel stuck?
Do you find yourself paralyzed by indecision and feel anxious and overwhelmed by life?
Self-sabotage becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, as the individual's fears turn into reality. It’s not that they are unworthy or defective in some manner as they tend to believe, but the fact that the individual has placed their agreement with the lies the enemy has told them about themselves and their ability to be successful. They don’t believe they deserve it, so they inevitably do things that cause problems in relationships, mistakes in the workplace and other foolish decisions that undermine their goals and desires, and they end up ruining their hopes and dreams. The person is bound by indecision, confusion, unbelief, fear, an orphan spirit, and a false identity. These self-defeating attitudes and beliefs often show up through fear of losing what little progress they have made. The negative experiences only serve to underwrite the person’s belief system in unbelief and self-rejection more and more until they eventually succumb to the belief that they are resigned to a certain fate.
What the person may not understand at first is that these behaviors are actually directed towards themselves because the spiritual enemies working in their lives are working to reinforce a curse. The enemy has allies - various other spirits - that conspire together to bring a person down and work to oppress them. The individual begins to direct their anger and disappointment towards themselves in self-hatred. A person that believes they are unworthy of happiness and despises themself can’t imagine a blessed future where they are able to achieve true success in relationships, education, employment, family, ministry or other opportunities. Sabotage comes from a root system of unworthiness and a lack of self esteem. They begin to reject truth, reject wisdom and others as they also reject themselves. Their spirit becomes shut down and resists the love of God because inwardly they don't believe He wants to talk to them or loves them. They don't feel loveable but it's because an unloving spirit is attached to them. They try to earn love, approval and acceptance from others often as a replacement for God's love and acceptance. It is an erosion of self-confidence that sets a person up for failure. The father of lies attempts to cement their future in failure. It also covers the person in shame.
Self-sabotage is inwardly driven by a person’s inner critic and rehearsing negative thoughts about themselves. The individual often feels angry, insecure, jealous, guilty and frustrated with themselves but can turn those feelings into accusations or suspicions towards others. It can also give them tendencies towards controlling others through manipulation or just shutting down and withdrawing into themselves. These behaviors end up hurting their relationships, which perpetuates the negative cycles and reinforces their thoughts that they are defective and incapable of holding on to loving relationships. All of these things working together against the individual and causes an enormous amount of debilitating anxiety, stress and worry about their life and their future. Fear can actually become paralyzing and hinder the individual’s ability to make good decisions. It is the assignment of the enemy to stop, hinder, and halt the individual’s personal growth, which includes emotional and spiritual growth. This is known as Arrested Development. Demons strategize together to accomplish this objective. Self-sabotage is a strongman spirit that is kept in place through negative agreements with the enemy and is a curse in the life of the individual that must be broken.
The spirit of sabotage wants a person’s destiny and the enemy wants to claim that individual’s soul as a trophy for himself. It is gained by unbelief in God’s promises and a rejection of His truth, a rejection of the person of Jesus Christ who comes to us to declare the love of God and the yoke breaking power of the anointing. The person must make a choice if they will continue to entertain the lies of the enemy or completely reject the lies (taking a step of faith) to believe what God has said about them and their future. It takes visualizing a different future and choosing not only different actions and responses, but believing God has assigned value to our lives and He has good plans for our success. Choose to believe this is His truth over all His children's lives!
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
" Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it." Steve Mariboli, FearlessMotivation.com
While it is important to understand the thoughts that lead people into toxic, self-defeating behaviors so that the individual can learn to make different choices, it is equally important to recognize that all of these things are directly tied into a belief system forged by the enemy. It is a spiritually rooted problem that requires a spiritual solution, and that remedy comes through prayer.
Prayer:
Father, in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, I declare the spirit of sabotage is bound and rendered paralyzed, impotent and silenced over myself, my family members and specifically (insert name of person you are praying for). I command all demons working together to achieve the assignment of sabotage, ruin, false identity, arrested development and oppression over my loved ones is broken now in Jesus’ name.
I bind the strongmen at work and I take authority over the spirits of fear, insecurity, inferiority, shame, self-rejection and self-hatred, the orphan spirit, rebellion, confusion, indecision, unbelief, suspicion, jealousy, sabotage, false identity and unworthiness and I say, “May all your works of witchcraft and evil be bound in the name of Jesus Christ.” I declare your assignments are canceled now and you must leave ________ immediately in Jesus name.
Father, wherever the original door to sin and iniquity came open, let the blood of Jesus cover these sins, even back through our family’s ancestry. Forgive us for rejection of truth, and for rejection of You as a person and our Savior, Lord Jesus, and Your Holy Spirit. Forgive us for not believing what Your word has to say about us and our future. I break any agreements that were made with spirits of darkness. I renounce all lying spirits, unbelief, fear, insecurity, inferiority, shame, self-rejection, self-hatred, the spirit of heaviness and discouragement, the orphan spirit, confusion, indecision, suspicion, jealousy, resentment, sabotage, false identity and unworthiness that has affected me, my family members and (insert the name of the person you are praying for). I declare these spirits must leave me, my family and loved ones now in Jesus’ name, and no evil spirit is allowed to torment them anymore. Father, please put a hedge of protection around my family and loved ones now in Jesus’ name. I declare no weapon formed against us shall prosper according to Isaiah 54:17.
I declare me, my family members and (insert name of person you are praying for) will no longer feed on lies. I declare the father of lies is cast down at the feet of Jesus.
I declare truth and discernment has returned to us so that we recognize the lies and cast them down, verbally declaring that we will not agree with those thoughts any more.
I declare we have overcome all the power of the enemy through the blood of Christ and the word of our testimony.
I declare that Jesus Christ has washed us from our sins in His own blood according to Revelation 1:5, and through Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, according to Ephesians 1:7
Let the belief system and all the thought processes, the neurotransmitters and the brain’s messenger system in myself, my family members and (insert name) be rewired in truth, in faith and by revelation from the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, please unravel every lie that has held me and my loved ones in captivity. I declare we have an "all things are possible with God" mentality and we let faith have the last word.
Let every ungodly yoke break off now in Jesus’ name. Clothe us in garments of praise so that the joy of the Lord becomes our strength. Anoint our heads with the oil of gladness. Lord, put your yoke on us and hold us close to your heart. Hold us close to your side so that we can hear Your voice. Let our loving Shepherd guide us into paths of peace and righteousness and give us rest for our soul according to Psalm 23. Holy Spirit, guide us into more and more truth that will set us free. I praise You and thank You for our deliverance in the name above every other name, Jesus Christ the risen Son of God, amen.
Additional scriptures to declare for deliverance from one's enemies:
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2
He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. Psalm 18:17
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood...Revelation 1:5
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:31
With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26
I can do evrything through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
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