A Word to the demonic Spirit of Vain Ambition in the Body of Christ

If you have been around Western Christianity very long you will soon run into the Christian Climbers. They are not specific to any Church, denomination, confession or movement. They are universal. And, they have always been with us. Jeremiah faced them in Babylon. There were lots of climbers he had to face down. Every prophet and every King had them all around him or her. They are looking for position. Place. Honor. Assignment. Prestige. Using the gifts of God to fulfill their ambitions.

When seen in the light it's sickening. I wonder how Jesus felt when this happened?

Mark 10:35-45 (New Living Translation)

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.”

36 “What is your request?” he asked.

37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”

38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”

39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What makes this story particularly poignant is that it follows close on the heels of this episode just ONE chapter before

Mark 9:33-37 (New Living Translation)

The Greatest in the Kingdom
33 After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” 34 But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

36 Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[a] welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

Jesus makes this statement in Mark 10:43

But among you it will be different.

Among those who followed him closely, it was. There appears to be little jostling for power and position in the Book of Acts after Pentecost. Sure, there were impostors later. Paul kept running into them. 2nd Corinthians 11 is a part of a letter trying to reach people who had these ambitious Climbers coming thru town.

They are still here. They still climb. They still try to sit at the right and left hand. They still clamor with ambition for the chief seats. This is not as it should be. It is part of the reason that revival is held back. Who's name is going to be on it? Who's meeting will take off. Who is going to be the head of all this? It's sickening. I can tell you by the Spirit of God, it's a stench.

If God should pour out his Spirit in your meetings, you will think it's about you. You think You did something. You are the one who has found extraordinary favor with the Lord. Then all those who walked with you in harder times are cast aside. You are separated from them because of your importance. Father will allow you a little time in the sun, but soon you will find yourself humbled once again. If you would be exalted, you must humble yourself. If you wanna go up, you gotta go down. If you wanna be first you must be servant of all. It's an upside down inside out Kingdom.

I speak to those who might have ambition, let GOD arise in you today and the enemies will be scattered. You don't have to try so hard. Your breakthrough will come as you recognize who it is that puts one up and another down. You don't need to be connected the way you think. You need to connect with the one who MAKES the connections. Your impatience will most certainly produce Ismaels in your ministry.

Last night Apostle John Eckhardt at the end of a great night of Prophesy with Marcus Beaver spoke a word over the assembly about the importance of team ministry. Five Fold working together. If we are going to have breakthrough it had to come as a result of each giving place to the gifts around us. It's not about one. I hope that was recorded. It should be transcribed. It was the most important word corporately of the night. I don't know if Apostle knows how critical it was. It was the VERY WORD of God for this city. Apostle has great authority in this city and his words last night carry authority beyond anyone who was there's understanding.

I hope those who are ambitious will understand how the devil uses ambition to derail the purposes of God.

Even Shakespeare in his play, Julius Cesar has Brutus making a great speech in Act 2 Scene 1. It's a play we know well and this always speaks to the vanity of ambition. Speaking of Cesar:

I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round.
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.

The idea that ambition leads anywhere is a useless quest. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4 speaks of the folly, the vanity, the uselessness of this effort:

13 A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction. 14For he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom. 15I have seen all the living under the sun throng to the side of the second lad who replaces him. 16There is no end to all the people, to all who were before them, and even the ones who will come later will not be happy with him, for this too is vanity and striving after wind.

Be warned, your ambition, the scorning of the base degrees, the clamoring and climbing will result in ultimate rejection unless it comes from God alone. Be satisfied with where God places you. It is enough. John the Baptist sat in Prison tradition has it for 18 months hearing about Jesus ministry. He had baptised Jesus. He was there at the beginning. He was Jesus' relative. He at one time had a following and here he was in a dank cell waiting for the day when his head would be taken from him. He even sent a message to Jesus, "Are you the one, or are we to look for another"?

Yet, Jesus called him greatest of all men. JESUS.

Let HIM call YOU great. You don't need approval from men. The fear of man, wanting to satisfy a man, wanting to be approved by a man is a snare. The snare of the Fowler. It's time to step out of the mold. IF we are going to have a true breakthrough in Chicagoland, we must have a breaking of the demonic spirit of Ambition.

Or we will never have revival.