Does the Spirit of Judas have its Sights Set on You?
Psalm 41:9 (KJV)
9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
Everyone knows Judas committed the ultimate betrayal, he betrayed Jesus, handing him over to his enemies and effectively causing him to be crucified. We know that was God’s plan all along, but that did not render Judas innocent. Not even a little bit. Judas made that choice of his own free will.
I want to teach you today how to recognize the Spirit of Judas when it shows up in your life, because it will. This message is especially important for anyone in or called to any type of ministry.
Matthew 10:36 (kjv) - And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Judas will always show up in your inner circle. It is not uncommon at all for the Spirit of Judas to show up at your work place, among your friends, even in your own household. Your household consists of anyone who lives in your house or who you would let live in your house.
Part of how the Spirit of Judas lands such direct hits is he shows up unexpectedly, and always infiltrates your inner circle as someone there to help you.
One minute he’s there offering all sorts of help to you – offering to mind your finances for you and eating with you and greeting you with a kiss and the next minute there he is betraying vital information about you to a mob of your enemies. And then he collects his gain – as he watches them carry you away to be killed. And off he goes to his next mark.
Beware, especially in these times, of people acting overly helpful. I don’t know if anyone’s told you lately, but there is an enemy who wants to take you out. Judas is only one of many he will assign against you to hinder your progress in the Lord. We are going to have to turn our discernment up on high now, if we are to survive any part of these end times.
Now, more than EVER, We need to know who we can … and cannot trust. So I want to teach you today about the Spirit of Judas and what happens when a person carrying it comes into your life.
Judas true nature wasn’t revealed until the time of the end of Jesus’ life on earth. Just when Jesus has to face his most difficult challenge, just as he is up for spiritual promotion, here comes Judas. Judas always shows up at the time of the end.
Your Judas too will show up when you are up for promotion to a new and IMPORTANT SEASON. And he will act like your friend and offer all manner of help to you, but he’s not there to help YOU. He is there to help HIMSELF. Judas wasn’t traveling with Jesus and his disciples to learn from Jesus or to help them, he was traveling with them to help HIMSELF. You will see Judases show up in the lives of those you love near the time of the end of their lives.
The dictionary defines betrayal as the act of delivering or exposing to an enemy by treachery or disloyalty; to be unfaithful in guarding, maintaining or fulfilling; to violate a confidence by revealing or disclosing in violation of confidence.
True betrayal can only happen where there first was a closeness or intimacy between two people. And that former closeness is exactly what makes betrayal hurt so badly.
Some Traits to Help You Recognize the Judas Spirit
• Judas will ALWAYS show up in your inner circle. He or she will infiltrate your circle to get close to you to plan their attack.
• Judas is a liar and he will lie right to your face. Judas will lie to you about what other people are saying about you and then lie to them saying you are saying this or that about them when you aren’t ... meanwhile you’re walking around wondering why this or that person stopped talking to you. That’s why.
• You can stop their slanderous assault from working by going to the other person and just asking them if they said what Judas claimed they said.
• This spirit loves to pit one side against another. Judas doesn’t care about destroying relationships. He is trying to derive gain from both sides. Judas’s often enjoy strife and confrontation.
• Judas is greedy - He wanted the Treasurer’s position so he could skim the offerings. An article about employee theft on workforce.com says this:
Employees who feel under-compensated or unrecognized for their work sometimes respond by a self-devised “bonus” plan.
• He felt he wasn’t properly compensated for whatever work he did, so he just set up a little skimming operation and started taking what he wanted, all the while acting submitted, helpful and devoted.
• Judas is a thief - The whole reason Judas protested about the lavish perfume offering Mary poured out on Jesus was because he was skimming and he was angry he didn’t get to take some of that, too.
• Judas is jealous
• Judas is the very ESSENCE of BETRAYAL - Mark 14:10 - And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
• Judas will betray confidential or intimate knowledge about you to your enemies.
• Judas is underhanded and sneaky
• Judas acts like he is doing one thing, when really he has a completely different motive. Almost always the cover story is he/she is there to HELP you, but that’s not why they’re there at all.
• Sometimes the cover story is they act like they are submitted to you or want to learn from you or want to be mentored by you, but it is a lie to buy them time learning about you so they can figure out a way in to get what they want from you. Judas will often turn out to be someone you sowed in to.
• Judas is discouraging towards the higher things of God – things like worship and giving:
John 12:3-6 (kjv)
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
• Judas is conspiratorial and will often enlist others in his plot – whether that be the Pharisees, a spouse, acquaintance or whoever else he can use to help with his dirty work.
• Judas acts innocent & trustworthy. Let me read you the story of Judas betrayal of Jesus and show you what I mean:
Matthew 26:20-25 (kjv)
20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
21 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
23 And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
Judas acted completely innocent like he knew nothing about any betrayal. IS IT ME, JESUS? I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY BETRAYAL! You will find Judas people are very good at acting innocent. But he WASN’T innocent because in
• Matthew 26:14-16 (kjv) – Just SIX VERSES EARLIER, it says:
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
Encounters with a Judas can not only change your life, they can destroy your ministry or any hope you have of ever having one. Just ask anyone who has dated a Judas.
Warning Signs a Judas Spirit May have Set Its Sights on You
• Just when the Lord has started raising up your ministry and exalting your anointing, a close friend has begun to act…strange … less supportive … Jealous and Envious
• Someone close to you is trying to infiltrate every part of your life – often under the guise of being helpful – and sometimes to the point you have to be forceful to stop them from doing so.
• Someone close to you is trying really hard to ferret out personal or financial information they have no reason to need to know – stuff that is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS.
• Someone in your life feels like and voices that they are not being given enough, paid enough, etc. Judas never feels like he was treated justly or given enough, that’s why he became a thief. Pure unadulterated greed.
• Your gut feeling is telling you something isn’t right about this or that friend or friendship.
• Your spirit literally feels dirty after being around a particular friend or person. This is God’s Spirit in you telling you there’s something demonic there – Don’t ignore it.
Thirty pieces of silver was Judas unemployment insurance. He had been working on a little next egg for awhile, every time Jesus sent him out to give to the poor, he also gave to himself! Then at the last he gathered an army together which was overkill, to capture Jesus & even then he kept up his false front by kissing Jesus.
Mark 14:45 (kjv) - And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
What the Enemy Gains by Using a Judas Spirit on You
• The devil wants to get your emotions in an uproar – because when we are emotional, we don’t make sound decisions and our emotions exhaust us
• The devil wants to destroy your ability to trust so you can’t have healthy relationships and friendships, and so you will have difficulty trusting the Lord
• The devil wants to harden your heart and if possible get you into bitterness.
TIMING
• Judas always shows up AT THE TIME OF THE END – the end of someone’s life, the end of a season, the end of a relationship you were in. This is a BIG red flag.
• It was just before crucifixion when Judas true colors began to show...he wanted to be sure he got everything he wanted. Often when someone passes or is very ill and you know they are going to pass Judas will show up in the people around you. Greed brings this spirit out in full force and it can no longer remain anonymous.
• Judas will and is showing up more and more now in this, the time if the end! We need to be very cautious about people who suddenly try to worm their way into our inner circle.
Action Plan:
If, as you are hearing this, you have already let a Judas into your life, let’s talk about what you can do.
1. Break the soul tie with that person. The closeness you shared with them created a soul tie. Here is a simple prayer to do it: Like this: Lord God in Heaven, I break and sever the soul tie between me and so-and-so, in Jesus mighty Name. If they have any co-conspirators that you know of, repeat this with each of their names as well.
2. Repent if needed. Look at how you have handled your end of the situation and repent if any of it was displeasing to the Lord.
3. Forgive them. This is usually the toughest part. The HARDEST thing to do when someone cuts you so deeply is to not turn around and just unleash everything you’ve got on them.
Forgiving them is VITALLY IMPORTANT – if you handle your Judas experience wrong, you will find it difficult to let go of what they did to you and this is NOT something you can carry into your new season. The Lord allowed Judas to be exposed in your life because He does NOT want liars, thieves and backstabbers in your future! They don’t get to travel with you into your promotion. NO. The Lord has no promotion for liars, thieves and backstabbers.
As you struggle to forgive the ones who hurt you, remember this – If you act like Judas, you let in a spirit of Judas.
But, if you handle this right, you will find that not too long after it happens, you can pray for the Lord to bless them and help them to do better and pretty soon you won’t be thinking of them at all.
4. Let them go. Cut off all contact between your life and theirs. This is pretty tough because sometimes Judas was someone you loved. A snake is still a snake and its going to do what snakes do no matter how much you dress it up and be nice to it and try to be friends. You deserve better and God wants better for you than Judas’s for friends and helpers. And by the way, letting them go means not only are you not still calling to check on them or text with them but you block their email and their phone calls and texts and you also DON’T CHECK THEIR FACEBOOK AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA. When you’re checking people’s social media, the soul tie STAYS IN PLACE and that means the demons in them have access to YOU. WALK AWAY. LET GO. COMPLETELY.
• End with prayer for the congregation to recognize this evil spirit’s work in their lives.
