The Hidden Spirit that Wants to Trap You in Bondage

We’ve all failed sometime in our life; that’s a given. We’ve all battled with making mistakes, maybe huge mistakes or poor choices. Failing is a normal part of life. No one can do everything perfectly, and we all learn as we go. The problem is when we choose to live in that place of failing. At different times in our lives, we all have figured out some things we’re just not good at and some things we do very well. The reality is it's disappointing and discouraging when we fail. Although, we can’t grow unless we’ve experienced failure. The problem is if we stay there, that’s where the spirit of failurism can come. The Lord gave me this series of messages, and I taught my congregation where I am the Lead Pastor. God was very clear that although there are no technical or proper definitions for the word failurism, it is a real issue. God has His own meaning and explains how failurism is real and exists.

So, here’s my story; let me share with you how the Lord revealed all this to me. I was sitting on my front porch in my regular favorite spot where I do devotion early every morning.

In my usual morning routine, I do my regular devotion and ask the Lord throughout the week what would You like me to speak about this week, what is on Your heart? I always ask Him to share with me when He’s ready, as I never want my devotion time to be all about preparing my next message to release. I want to focus on my daily growth, so I usually present this question to the Lord, and He faithfully answers me when He is ready. It commonly happens on a Tuesday morning. On this particular Tuesday morning, I spent a lot of time with Him, and I said, Lord, what message do you have for me to release this week? What do our people need to hear from You? He said to teach them about failurism, and I said, failurism? He said, yes, failurism, the spirit of failurism. Lord, is failurism a spirit? And He said yes, it is a stronghold with many manifestations. My people need to be made aware of this, and it must be broken off their lives.

Before we get technical and dive into the supernatural, let’s talk about the word failure. What does failure mean? Merriam-Webster defines “failure” as:

• A usually slight or insignificant defect in character conduct or ability
• A state of inability to perform a normal function
• A fracturing or giving way under stress
• A Falling short
• One that has failed

As I stated above, we have all failed and fallen short. That is why we need our Savior, Jesus Christ. He provides Salvation so we don’t have to live in failure, shame, guilt, and the condemnation that comes with it. I don’t want to get ahead of myself because we will be talking about the symptoms and manifestations later. The reality is if you have read your Bible and are familiar with it, there are many stories of people, men and women of God, who failed big-time.

Adam & Eve, Moses, King David, Solomon, Samson, Abraham and Sarah, and Saul of Tarsus, whom we know as Paul in the New Testament, are just a few that failed several times, made huge mistakes, and did evil in the sight of God.

So…What is Failurism, Exactly?

In preparation to teach our church members and Connect Groups, where I am a Lead Pastor, about failurism and its strongholds, this is the definition the Lord gave me. “Failurism is the state of continually walking in past sins, mistakes, and the rejection that came from those areas where you previously failed.” You live as though you will always fail, be rejected, and it becomes your way of life.” Those caught in this deceptive stronghold don’t even realize they are caught in the stronghold of failurism. When we stay in a state of failurism, we open the door to the demonic realm and allow oppressive spirits to come in and attach to us. Then we become best friends with the spirit of failurism.

Once we’ve allowed this spirit to attach to us, it begins to manifest in different ways in our life. We create habits and patterns in our life that control how we think, what we do, and what we don’t do. We build a life around lies and deception from this attached spirit. In turn, this opens the door for other demonic oppressive spirits and strongholds to deceive you and play on those new patterns created. The failurism spirit will use your already made demonic weaknesses from your personality and characteristics learned throughout your life. Those demonic weaknesses become a vehicle for the lesser demons brought in by the spirit of failurism to be carried in and then become a way of life for you. Your reality and thought processes are not given to you by God. They built up in your mind become learned behaviors and reactions you have created for your life through the influence of the spirit of failurism, including all the manifestations of this major stronghold.

The spirit of failurism is a demon sent by Satan to taunt you and remind you of your past, annoy you in your present, and ruin and halt your future. It will continue to tell you that you have made no progress, never going to be able to change and be different. It plants in your mind the idea that even if you repent, you are not forgiven, and you will always fail no matter how much you try. This demon believes that if it highlights that we as humans fail and that we will fail again in some form, he can influence you to continue to live under the weight of failurism.

This demon will continue to taunt you relentlessly by reminding you of your past. You become so frustrated in your present that you can’t find the strength to move forward in any direction. This is what I mean by reminding you of your past, annoying you in your present, and ruining and halting your future. All this demonic activity originates from Satan; however, this is a particular demon the Lord revealed to me with a specific assignment attached to it. Its particular job is to keep you from ever having a future in Christ, following the call, or finding out what your giftings are. It's not worrying whether you're saved or not and trying to steal your Salvation. It’s more concerned with keeping you so weighted down and frustrated with constantly battling this unseen enemy that you can’t even find a glimmer of hope for your future.

Therefore, your Salvation in Christ and the new life you have in Him can never play out in your life and can never be seen or lived out because the power has been stripped away. The power of the cross can change your life, but the demon’s end result is to keep you complacent and frustrated, so you can never move forward to accomplish all that Christ has called you to perform while on this earth. We were all born with a purpose from the time we were created in our mother’s womb. And this demon helps the enemy, Satan, keep us from ever finding or walking in that purpose because if we do, we could change the world for Christ and His Kingdom on the earth. Another main tactic of the spirit of failurism is to focus on our ability and power or strength. Jesus alone is our righteousness, and the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit is sufficient.

For more information on Anointed to Win, visit MyCharismaShop.com