A Victim Spirit
I recently read Arthur Burk’s book called Overcoming the Victim Spirit. Following are some of the ideas and concepts of the victim spirit.
What is a victim spirit?
The Webster dictionary defines victim as a living being offered as a living sacrifice; an individual injured or killed by disease or accident, a person cheated, fooled or injured (a victim of circumstances or “accident prone”).
A victim spirit can be seen in finances, relationships, vocations and ministry. A victim spirit always settles for less, has little or no joy, dishonors and disrespects a person, and never walks in the honor that God calls one to walk.
Matthew 7:6 talks about a victim spirit and how you can be devoured and torn to pieces by a predator. “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” The holy part is the honor and dignity of a human being which God warns not to “touch my anointed” by physical or verbal abuse.
A victim spirit is a way of looking at live that unknowingly attracts abuse.
How does it work?
The following are some of the faces of the victim spirit.
- You attract dishonor everywhere
you go; people who are normally gracious with others are drawn into taking cheap shots at your face - You dishonor yourself or you criticize yourself with an inner correcting
voice - When someone around you is unhappy, you apologize for and own their pain, even though it is usually not your fault
Remember the woman who kept going to the unrighteous judge and kept demanding justice (Luke 18:6)? She wanted legal protection from her opponent. She evidently was being harassed or victimized by her opponent or predator. Perhaps she was trying to get a restraining order or police protection from a stalker. Or maybe she just wanted the honor, love, and respect that comes with being a human being. She is a Biblical example of a face of a victim spirit.
Here are some of the tell-tale indicators of a victim spirit. You can have a victim spirit in varying degrees. All of the following don’t necessarily apply.
- Joy – you have none, nor any hope of having any and you don’t realize you have none
- You suppress the pain with endless work
- You reject all abuse but you tolerate neglect
- People offer you nurture, comfort or compliments, but you can’t receive them because you feel unworthy
- Your total mind set revolves around enabling your predator; you simply don’t even think in terms of your being an independent entity with value apart from being an enabler
- You visualize the possibility of being in less pain if you become a better enabler
Well, what about Jesus? Wasn’t he a victim?
John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My
life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
The difference in this is no one is allowed to take my life or to “suck the live out of me” but I can voluntarily lay my life down. In the abuse and victim spirit they are taking my life, my dignity, my respect, and my honor from me.
A good illustration of the danger of the victim spirit
In a bowling alley we all know there are two gutters that prevent us from knocking down the pins. On the right is the one known as the spirit of pride. We are very familiar with this one and try to stay clear of this spirit. The gutter on the left side is just as bad and it is the opposite spirit which is “false humility” – in reality this is the victim spirit. It is just as damaging as the spirit of pride, but is not recognized as readily.
Emotions
Here are some telltale emotions that are prevalent in a victim spirit.
- You feel cheated or taken advantage of
- You feel lied to or violated in some sense
- You feel powerless or trapped to change the outcome
- You also feel anger, some at the predator but most toward yourself for being a victim
- Most of all you feel helpless that change can come about
What are the results of a victim spirit?
You settle for much less than what God has promised you. You will never walk in the dominion that God said you would walk in. You settle for mediocrity. You can end up angry, bitter and full of resentment.
Men are just as susceptible as women to this spirit and maybe more so. When men have a victim spirit they can invite disrespect and dishonor from their wives. They can find it almost impossible to love their wives as encouraged by Ephesians 5:33.
What does freedom from a victim spirit look like?
Freedom from the victim spirit changes you from being dominated to having dominion.
- You can enjoy “being” in the presence of God without “doing” anything
- You leave a trail of “essence of joy” everywhere you go
- Your anointing of joy is so great, it infects the land and buildings where you have been
- Blessings begin to pursue you and attack you even when you feel your cup is already full
- Honor naturally flows toward you in formal or informal settings
- You realize that the debt of love is unpayable
- You finally take responsibility to nurture your own soul
How the demonic can relate to the victim spirit
Now the steps of recovery are bound into the root of these problems. While everyone hits a pothole in the road now and then, victims seem to hit
them much more often than others. Some have asked, “Do I have a sign hanging around my neck saying, ‘Come abuse me’?” Probably you do. It is not a visible one in the natural but one part of the victim spirit’s job is to be a flashing beacon in the spirit realm, attracting the attention of all predator demons.
Once a predator demon has made 
connections with a victim demon, the two demons facilitate bringing their human hosts together in a a damaging way. So this could explain why women will escape from an abusive relationship only to attract another one.
The other half of the victim spirit’s job is to persuade the human victim that there is nothing that can be done to change the situation. They arrive at the conclusion that the problem is their fault, and that they just need to lower their expectations in life and endure what comes.
Bad news
The bad news is that a very large number of people who love the Lord and are being greatly used by Him are in actuality hampered by a victim demon.
Good news
The good news is, living with a victim spirit is optional. They can be identified and evicted.
The deliverance model for victimization
Find out what opened the door for victimization. It could have been a rape, war, slavery, abandonment, business fraud, political betrayal, or a host of other things. Most likely it will be generational and one or more of the ancestors will have the same problem. The mind set is generally stronger than the demons. The demonic is easily evicted with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, the mind set must be replaced with the truth of who you are in Christ. This is accomplished through theophostics – a process of having the Holy Spirit expose the lie you believe and speak the truth which sets you free.
Look at the promise in Ezekiel 34:28-29. This is a new testament prophecy. “They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid. I will establish for them a renowned planting
place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations anymore.”