The Saul Controlling Spirit

Continuation of The Controlling Spirit in the Pray Portions by Sylvia Gunter.

"What if you discover that the controller is you?

Perhaps God has given you revelation of your true self, and you do not like what you have seen.  You do not want to be that way.  The first step in breaking the cycle of the Saul syndrome is to acknowledge where you are and what is being done by you or to you in terms of control.  Getting free is as simple as submitting to un-learn everything that you did not learn at the foot of the cross.  Forgive, and be forgiven, and get set free.

God will give you grace to let Him deal with you.  If you are controlling others for your own ends, you are not serving; If you are not serving, you are not Christ-like, and you have missed the whole point of the Christian life.  God wants you to be surrendered to Jesus to let Him form His life in you and live it out through you.  Humility surrenders to God; pride controls.    Pray for God only to control you and those around you and to take away your desire to control.  As you surrender to the Holy Spirit to fill you, you will become stron in the Lord.

There is a leadership-style test that is widely used in the body of Christ that glorifies this controlling personality type with a high-sounding description.  It has ignored God’s righteous standard of servant hood.  Think about the apostle Paul.  He was a Saul, and God arrested him on the road to Damascus.  God can also turn around the Saul in you or the one closest to you.  There is hope, but only God can do it.  Let Him.

Controlling like Saul is a sin needing repentance.

Pray: Father, in Jesus' name,

I renounce the Saul controlling spirit.  I do not want it.
I repent.  Forgive me for sinning against you and others I have controlled.
I submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and resist the tendency of my flesh to control.
I surrender to a new work of the Holy Spirit.
I choose to be strong only in the Lord.
By faith I receive Your grace for humility and holiness, for making me a person after God's own heart -- a worshipper, courageous, a warrior, prudent in speech, wise and discerning, handsome with the beauty of the Lord, with Your signature upon me. (I Sam. 16:18).  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Being controlled by a Saul is a wound to be healed.

Pray: Father, in the name of Jesus,
I forgive ______ for controlling me by the spiritual stronghold of Saul.
I renounce the soulish grip that Saul spirit has had ove rme in the past by their controlling actions.  Free me from all soul ties and the curse of control.
I bless this person in Jesus' name.
Bring me into the freedom and joy of true submission to You alone.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

**There is one more portion of The Saul Controlling Spirt, How to deal with the Saul spirit.