We all have met the “Know it All” spirit – at work, at home, at church. Doens’t matter. That person has no room to listen, no room to grow, no room for anyone else other than themselves and their big egos. They are critical of everyone and everything. In their eyes, you can never do anything right. Have you met him/her?
Me too. It’s exhausting. Just when you do what they ask, they change the rules. You thought you were helping and they meet you with criticism, and tell you how you did it all wrong. They turn the tables on you, especially if someone else is in the room, and make you think you are losing your mind.
This is a spirit of Jezebel – the spirit of control. They criticize others and mock other people just to feel better about themselves. They feed on gossip and can’t wait to spread the news. Be careful who you trust, and with what, with this spirit. There is no privacy, they feed on information, and love to use it against you. Especially if it will help them keep sitting on their “throne”.
It is sad when we sit by and watch this spirit at work and watch people leave the body of Christ because nobody wants to rock the boat and confront it. I have lived through church drama and Jezebels. It breaks my heart to see this happen. The body of Christ is hurting and throwing stones – at each other. Enough already, we have way more important things to do than to hurt each other! Let us repent of criticizing each other so we can be healed before this turns into a root of bitterness…
Quotes on Jezebel Her Critical Spirit
- “Insecurity and jealously can be a cause of someone having a critical spirit towards others. Focusing on men and not the Lord can cause one to be critical of every flaw of others. Satan is also the “the accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10) and sadly can work through or use believers to accomplish his work of tearing down. Those who are habitual fault-finders, constant critics of people and situations usually are sick in the body and full of tension and stress. The Scriptural solution to any of us even struggling in this area is clear: “stop passing judgment on one another” and that we can start to love others in the body of Christ, uplifiting them, edifying them and building them up.” ― Greg Gordon
- “Nine times out of 10, criticism is a defense mechanism. We criticize in others what we don’t like in ourselves.” ― Mark Batterson
- The critical spirit never knows when to stop meddling. ―Mason Cooley
- “the Jezebel that works in a ministry like this seeks to tear down and destroy the name of every person who may have attained some kind of recognition in an area of ministry. While they are occupied in naming names and pointing the finger at these ministers, they end up sowing confusion and discord, and cause many people to fall away from Christianity altogether.” – Lance Rowe
- “Another thing this spirit is very good at doing is causing a lot of in-fighting, back-biting, and malicious type gossiping among the people that are caught in its web. This kind of spirit knows exactly how to cause major dissension and strife even among the best of friends.” – BibleKnowledge.com
- “Behind most church fights and unresolved divisions is ugly human pride. And the worst kind of pride is religious pride. The Pharisaical pride of self-righteousness and superiority.” – Alexander Strauch
- “A “critical spirit,” is an obsessive attitude of criticism and fault-finding, which seeks to tear others down — not the same thing as what is sometimes called “constructive criticism.” The only criticism that is ever constructive is that which is expressed in love to “build up,” not to tear down — it is always expressed face-to-face, never behind their back. The person with a critical spirit usually dwells on the negative, seeks for flaws rather than good. They’re a complainer, usually always upset, and generally have a problem or a complaint about something. They often have little control over their tongue, their temper, and have tendencies for gossip and slander, which Paul said were sins “worthy of death” (Rom. 1:29-32).”- Victorious.org
Helpful Links:
- 5 Ways to Overcome a Critical Spirit – Crosswalk.com
- A Prayer for Forgiveness for a Critical Spirit – Beliefnet.com
- Overcoming a Critical Spirit – CBN
give you. But I am not sharing my life with you anymore. You have shamed my children and me. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I reject your inference that I am not right in the heart, and that I am not right with God. You don’t get a say. My relationship with God is my relationship, not yours. And who gave you the right to bad mouth and shame my kids?
