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Date Posted: 18:48:10 09/14/06 Thu
Author: Micky M. Wolf
Subject: The Spirit of Leviathan or The Dominion of Indulgence?



Are we choosing “indulgence” rather than a “receiving” in the meeting of our needs that is ordered, ordained and “generously given” in Love, from God, through Jesus, with the Holy Spirit?



Let us begin with the Miriam Webster definition of “indulge”, the root word of indulgence, the Strong’s Concordance description of “Leviathan”, then move through what scripture has to say about Leviathan.



Miriam Webster Definition of “Indulge”:


Indulge: 1 a : to give free rein to b : to take unrestrained pleasure in : GRATIFY; 2 a : to yield to the desire of : HUMOR b : to treat with excessive leniency, generosity, or consideration intransitive senses : to indulge oneself - in·dulg·er noun synonyms, INDULGE, PAMPER, HUMOR, SPOIL, BABY, MOLLYCODDLE mean to show undue favor to a person's desires and feelings. INDULGE implies excessive compliance and weakness in gratifying another's or one's own desires . PAMPER implies inordinate gratification of desire for luxury and comfort with consequent enervating effect . HUMOR stresses a yielding to a person's moods or whims . SPOIL stresses the injurious effects on character by indulging or pampering . BABY suggests excessive care, attention, or solicitude . MOLLYCODDLE suggests an excessive degree of care and attention to another's health or welfare .



Strong's Concordance (3882 and 3867) “Leviathan”:

A wreathed animal or serpent. The constellation of the dragon; also as a symbol of Bab. To join itself, to remain, cleave. The constellation of the dragon is known as Orion (3685) means to be fat, silly, foolish. Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8.



The “spirit of Leviathan” is a powerful spirit, and it seems, one that is to be understood as a “principality or dominion” rather than a single spirit. Some of what we know about Leviathan is most clearly described in Job 41: [Amplified Bible]

Job 41 "Can you draw out the leviathan (the crocodile) with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? 2) Can you put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook or a spike? 3) Will he make many supplications to you [begging to be spared]? Will he speak soft words to you [to coax you to treat him kindly]? 4) Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? 5) Will you play with [the crocodile] as with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your maidens? 6) will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? 7) Can you fill his skin with harpoons? Or his head with fishing spears? 8) Lay your hand upon him! Remember your battle with him; you will not do [such an ill-advised thing] again! 9) Behold, the hope of [his assailant] is disappointed; one is cast down even at the sight of him!

I sense the Lord calling us into a new revelation of this Leviathan; that is, for this generation of generations, this Leviathan is a “dominion, a principality of indulgence”. The Leviathan of indulgence in these times is not a single spirit that can be defeated by a single intercessor in a lonely attempt, even well-intentioned, to dethrone it from its’ powerful hold on us, individually, or as a culture and society.

We are vulnerable to this “Leviathan dominion of indulgence”, but we are not powerless, however, we can not intercede against the Leviathan of indulgence without first understanding its’ power, albeit temporary and limited to this world:

10) No one is so fierce [and foolhardy] that he dates to stir up [the crocodile]; who then is he who can stand before Me [the beast's Creator, or dares to contend with Me]? 11) who has first given to Me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heavens is Mine. {Therefore, who can have a claim against God, god Who made the un-mastered crocodile?]

God created this beast; we cannot “rail” against God for its’ presence among us – what we can choose is to own that it is present, and beseech Him to save us.

Can we “own” the fullness of its’ ugliness and behaviors?

What is at the root of our failure to “see the Leviathan of indulgence” for what it is? It seems we must first identify our fear, for “fierce and ugly” is this thing. Being “attached” to this “Leviathan of indulgence” is to be caught up with it, not being able to see it for what it is in the beginning. It seems indulgence, and indulging ourselves can occur so subtly over time that “one is so near to another that no air can come between them…they are joined to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated…”

13) Who can strip off [the crocodile's] outer garment? [who can penetrate his double coat of mail?] Who shall come within his jaws? 14) Who can open the doors of his [lipless] mouth? His [extended jaws and bare] teeth are terrible round about. 15) his scales are [the crocodile's ] pride, [for his back is made of rows of shields] shut up together [as with] a tight seal; 16) One is so near to another that no air can come between them. 17) they are joined one to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated. 18) His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the [reddish] eyelids of the dawn.

19) Out of his mouth go burning torches, [and] sparks of fire leap out. 20) Out of his nostrils goes forth smoke, as out of a seething pot over a fire of rushes. 21) His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth. 22) in [the crocodile's] neck abides strength, and terror dances before him. 23) the folds of his flesh cleave together; they are firm upon him, and they cannot shake [when he moves]. 24) His heart is as firm as a stone, indeed, as solid as a nether millstone.

If we are blind to its’ “attachment to” us, then how do we even know it is present, that it is ugly, that it is “behaving” in a way which is ultimately destructive - to ourselves, to those in our lives, and to those we encounter on the journey? Before we consider that question, let us ponder this. Why did God question Job, “who dares not arouse the un-mastered crocodile [Leviathan], yet who dares resist Me, the beast’s Creator, to My Face? Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?” For this, indeed, is a formidable enemy:

25) When [the crocodile] raises himself up, the mighty are afraid; because of terror and the crashing they are beside themselves. 26) Even if one strikes at him with the sword, it cannot get any hold, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin. 27) He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. 28) The arrow cannot make [the crocodile] flee; slingstones are treated by him as stubble. 29) Clubs [also] are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rushing and the rattling of the javelin. 30) His underparts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery; he spreads [grooves like] a threshing sledge upon the mire. 31) He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a [foaming] pot of ointment. 32) [His swift darting] makes a shining track behind him; one would think the deep to be hoary [with foam].

The root of the “attachment”, of “Leviathan, the dominion of indulgence” is pride. Fear is the accomplice. Let us go back and look at two specific references in these verses:

13) Who can strip off [the crocodile's] outer garment? [who can penetrate his double coat of mail?] Who shall come within his jaws? 14) Who can open the doors of his [lipless] mouth? His [extended jaws and bare] teeth are terrible round about. 15) his scales are [the crocodile's ] pride, [for his back is made of rows of shields] shut up together [as with] a tight seal; 16) One is so near to another that no air can come between them. 17) they are joined one to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated.

Pride…is the “scales”…the “rows of scales that are shields…shut up together [as with] a tight seal…one is so near to another that no air can come between them…they are joined one to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated…”

33) upon earth there is not [the crocodile's] equal, a creature made without fear and he behaves fearlessly. 34) He looks all mighty [beasts of prey] in the face [without terror]; he is monarch over all the sons of pride. [And now, Job, who are you who dares not arouse the unmastered crocodile, yet who dares resist Me, the beast's Creator, to My face? Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?]

Pride has no equal among the “powers and principalities”. Pride behaves fearlessly; he looks “all beasts in the face without terror” – and “he is monarch over all the sons of pride”. Job, in his pride, was not foolish enough to arouse this “un-mastered crocodile”, and yet, he dared to resist God, the beast’s Creator, to His face. “Pride” is what caused Lucifer to fall from the heavens; pride is “the Leviathan” of all that is of the demonic realm. “Pride” is “the fuel” that “feeds”, “causing the attachment” of the “Leviathan of indulgence” to “stick” to us.

And it can only “be seen” through revelation from the Holy Spirit, by God. Things that are “attached” are “visible” only through “having the eyes of our hearts opened” to “see, own, and acknowledge” their presence. And in this "seeing", choosing to confess, repent, and beseech the Lord our God “to remove them” from us.

There “is nothing” about “Leviathan, the dominion of indulgence” that seeks to be “detached” or delivered from those to whom it attaches itself. Apart from our submitting to the Lord and allowing Him to show us its’ evil presence, we cannot be detached.

The importance of being “delivered”…

“Being delivered” is not a “spiritual event” of the past. A willingness to “be delivered” of evil is a vital part of any God-breathed, healthy, spirit-filled Christian life. To “be delivered from evil” is not necessarily, or always a public, spectacle-filled experience in the Christian life. The question for any of us may be – “am I willing to be willing to be delivered from this evil” at all costs? Even, and in the midst of the presence of "Leviathan, the dominion of indulgence”, which, in and of itself, resists every opportunity “to leave” because “indulgence” is everything about “I”, “me” and “mine”. It is everything about pleasure and pleasing, personal satisfaction and gratification. Note, again, the words in the definition of "indulge": PAMPER, HUMOR, SPOIL, BABY, MOLLYCODDLE.

It seems if we are to be detached, delivered from this dominion we must begin to choose against pampering, humoring, spoiling, babying and mollycoddling – ourselves and others. We must always remember “to choose and to behave” however, in a way that is Loving ourselves, and others, “in Truth and Love”.

It seems one of the greatest temptations in waging this great battle which only the Lord can fight and win, is for us to not confuse “detaching” with “cutting and running”. Who wants “to see” the ugliness of this “Leviathan of indulgence and pride”, much less submit to being detached from its’ presence in our lives. The very nature of this “Leviathan of indulgence” is pride, and in that pride the “power to resist” is never more “layered and tightly sealed”. The scales of pride are…ugly indeed, but not beyond the true power and authority of a God who longs to detach us from our “Leviathan of indulging” ourselves. As described in Strong’s Concordance, “Leviathan…to join itself, to remain, cleave." Lest we become lulled into a blasé, luke-warm sense of Leviathan being only a briefly referenced “unpleasantry” in Scripture, we risk, and have in many ways, succumbed to its' presence, its' "attachment".

The Hope Set Before Us…

Psalm 74:14 "You crushed the heads of Leviathan [Egypt]; You did give him as food for the creatures inhabiting the wilderness."

Isaiah 27:1 "In that day [the Lord will deliver Israel from her enemies and also from the rebel powers of evil and darkness] His sharp and unrelenting, and strong sword will visit and punish leviathan the swiftly fleeing serpent, leviathan the twisting and winding serpent; and He will slay the monster that is in the sea."

Our God will crush the heads of Leviathan, the Lord will deliver us from our enemies and from these rebel powers of evil and darkness. Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, are we willing to allow Him to open the eyes of our hearts that we might “see, own, confess and repent”? Are we “willing to be willing” and submit to being delivered from “Leviathan, the dominion of indulgence”? He is the Lord our God, and He longs to slay this monster.

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