2023 started off with a bang! Glorious meetings, open doors of incredible influence, salvations, miracles and breakthroughs supercharged my husband Tom and I as we gathered with our church and in a variety of meetings, from Korea to numerous places in the US. But in the midst of all this, we had been contending against major spiritual attacks sent against us, our family members and ministry friends. Unusual sicknesses, accidents, diagnoses and oppression had been attacking those we love and other ministry friends, so we began to press in to understand the enemy's assignment in this season.
On Sunday morning, January 29th, 2023, the Lord showed me that this assignment was an attack of the spirit of Athaliah, and it was coming against leaders – especially those who are reformers – and their families, in order to stop them in their tracks and from their Kingdom work of breakthrough and transformation.
A few days later, a prophet friend with our ministry, Gwen Sutton from the Northeast, was driving her car and heard that the spirit of Athaliah was coming against ministers and their families. Yet again, a few days later, Prophet Marty Layton from Nashville heard the same thing. Obviously, when God speaks the same thing to numerous prophets, we need to pay attention; but more than that, we need to fortify ourselves and take spiritual authority to break any and every curse.
God's Redemptive, Covenantal Grace
To be clear, Jesus hung on the Cross to become a curse for us so that we wouldn't have to live under a curse. Satan was defeated that day. However, he is obviously still loose on the earth, trying to harass and torment those who do not understand that we can enforce the victory of the Cross through employing our spiritual weapons (Ephesians 6:10-17).
We overcome every work of Hell by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony and by loving not our lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11). He may attack through his illegitimate power, but Isaiah 54:17 prophetically encourages us with these words: "'No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises up against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,' says the LORD."
Actually, in the midst of this story of the horrible, illegitimate ruler of Judah and all her violent acts (who usurped control of a nation and murdered a generation), we find a beautiful picture of God's redemptive, covenantal grace with His people and with His nation.
Who Was Athaliah?
So who was Athaliah and what are the characteristics of this assignment? 2 Kings 11:1 tells us, "When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs." (Photo via Unsplash)
Athaliah was the daughter of Jezebel and Ahab, a wicked duo who brought witchcraft, oppression and idolatrous worship to the land. Athaliah's son was king and was killed in battle, so she decided to seize the throne for herself. In doing so, she attempted to kill all who contained royal blood in the lineage of David in order to serve herself and her own wicked agenda. (This is a picture of the enemy's assignment against all Believers who are royal heirs of the Kingdom.) Her rule was established illegitimately on the blood of her own family. During this time, she empowered the temples of Baal and Ashtoreth throughout the land, advancing her demonic cause and taking out anyone who stood in her way.
This is an assignment against leaders, Believers, generations and even nations. It has implications both within the Church and individuals, but also within the governments of nations. She illegitimately seized the throne, spiritually and naturally controlling the land, and created a blood altar by using her own heirs as the sacrifice. I think you can definitely find a correlation with these acts and the sacrificing of generations through abortion. What a picture of evil!
In looking at her name in the Greek, we find the basic meaning is "Jehovah has afflicted" (see Strongs #H6271 and #H6270). This is exactly what she tried to do to others – to afflict, constrict and compress. Afflict means "to distress with mental or bodily pain," "to be caused harm or trouble by something," "to overthrow" or "defeat" and "burden." This is the nature of the attack – to afflict through any means, mentally or bodily (sickness, accidents, viruses, violence, etc.). Compress means "to press or squeeze together" and "to reduce in size." This is the purpose of the attack – to press us and reduce us to keep us from advancing. Constrict is the picture of the enemy, like a python snake, trying to squeeze the hope and life out of the Believer. This is the subtlety of the attack – to keep leaders and Believers distracted, discouraged or depressed as the enemy squeezes faith out of them in the midst of the battle. But the Lord is saying, "Enough is enough!"
Defeating Athaliah
In 2 Kings, we see several individuals who were responsible for thwarting and ultimately defeating Athaliah and her illegitimate rule. First, we see Jehosheba, Ahaziah's sister, the wife of the priest Jehoiada, hiding Ahaziah's son (Athaliah's one-year-old grandson Joash) and keeping him from being killed. Joash remained hidden in the temple of the Lord for six years. He was the only person left from the lineage of David, whom God had promised would produce the Messiah. But Jehosheba thwarted the plans of Hell.
Jehosheba is a picture of intercession, doing what needs to be done to re-establish righteous rule in the land and breaking the attack of the enemy. Her name means "Yahweh is an oath" or "oath of God." It's a covenantal name, as the last part of her name, "sheba," is a Hebrew word meaning "to seven oneself," which was a covenantal act of making an oath.
Every Believer must understand the power of our covenant and prayers to defeat the plans of the enemy. When all Hell breaks loose, we must press in to our covenant with God and receive strategies that will defeat Hell. There is no time to lose. As she acted quickly, so we must be earnest and urgent to engage in this battle, with spiritual eyes and ears open, and tenaciously go after every assignment from Hell, fortifying ourselves in our covenant with Him and overthrowing every decree of death and destruction.
The next character in the story is Jehoiada the priest, who led a revolution for the true king. He is the picture of the reformers whom God is raising up today. Reformers bring change. He was a priest but also commanded an army of watchmen to protect the true king by stationing them at the gate of the temple on all sides. In the seventh year of Athaliah's reign of terror, at the age of seven, Joash was crowned king by Jehoiada. Again, this is a picture of God's covenant, as the number seven is a covenantal number. Jehoiada's name means "the knowledge of the Lord." When we know who God is, we will know who we truly are.
When Athaliah heard the sounds of celebration of the coronation of the true king, she burst into the temple, crying, "Treason! Treason!" (2 Kings 11:14). Isn't it just like the enemy to accuse the righteous of what he is guilty of himself? And the soldiers (watchmen) took her out of the temple and killed her, ending her reign. God is empowering His watchmen to effectively deal with every demonic foe and break every assignment from Hell.
2 Chronicles 23:6 says that during this time of revolution it was not just the soldiers (watchmen) who guarded the king, "...but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord." It also tells us that every man had a weapon in his hand (2 Chronicles 23:10). Jehoiada, the reformer, made sure they were all in position. This is a time for true ministers to equip, encourage and empower Believers with the understanding that we should all be intercessors, we should all be watchmen and we should all be warriors! (Photo via Piqsels)
In the United States, our military goes to war but those left home remain in their civilian lives. In modern Israel, every citizen is trained as a soldier. When Israel goes to war, the entire citizenry goes to war. The Ekklesia needs to develop the mentality that it's not just the intercessors and leaders that fight against the forces of Hell, but each one of us must have a weapon in our hands and know how to watch and pray!
Restoring the Fire of God
After the death of Athaliah, Jehoiada re-covenanted the nation back to God and overthrew all the temples and altars of Baal. "Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, the people, and the king, that they should be the Lord's people. And all the people went to the temple of Baal, and tore it down..." (2 Chronicles 23:16-17). Again, all the people made a covenant, and all the people confronted Baal. Jehoiada then restored true worship, sacrifices and proper structure in the house of God.
The last covenantal character is the king Joash. His mother was from the city of Beersheba, which means "the well of the seven" or "well of oaths." Joash's name means "the fire of God." God is restoring the fire of God in the lives of His leaders and Believers everywhere. Joash was righteous as long as Jehoiada was alive and guiding the nation in righteousness. This is such a picture of spiritual leaders partnering with civil leaders to bring God's Kingdom into the land.
A Declaration and a Prayer
Do you feel like you have been under attack from something trying to thwart your destiny, to put out the fire of God in your life or to rob your generations, your children and your grandchildren? Have you had unusual accidents, sickness or pain? If so, right now, decree this with me:
I am bought by the covenantal Blood of Jesus and cannot be cursed. Therefore, I take authority over every demonic assignment against me, my family, my ministry, my business or my God-ordained leadership role. I break every assignment of an Athaliah-type spirit and decree that Jesus is my true King, and I will serve Him only. I declare that I am in covenant with God and will be the intercessor, reformer, watchman and warrior He has called me to be. I receive fresh fire from Heaven so I can complete my assignments and fulfill my destiny, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Additionally, I pray that God would raise up leaders, reformers, watchmen and intercessors to fight to covenant our nation back to God, overthrowing every false altar and decree of the enemy.
Release your fire, God, and bring us back to You. Let us be Your instruments, as was Jehoiada, to make every crooked place straight. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.
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Jane Hamon
Vision Church @ Christian International
Email:Â vcci@visionchurchci.org
Website:Â www.visionchurchci.org
Tom and Jane Hamon are the senior pastors of Vision Church @ Christian International in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Their ministry together is an example to the Body of Christ of a husband and wife team working in tandem and unity to accomplish God's purposes. Their ministry is characterized by a rich deposit of God's wisdom to provide apostolic covering for the Church, prophetic teaching and ministry, and demonstration of Kingdom anointing and power. They travel as an apostolic/prophetic team to the nations, imparting both the spirit of wisdom and revelation to establish the Church and break open territories through spiritual warfare for the Kingdom of God to be experienced in a powerful and practical way. Jane has also written several books, including her very practical work on Dreams and Visions, her call to marketplace ministers called The Cyrus Decree, and her proclamation over women in the Church to arise and be The Deborah Company.
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We so appreciate the prophetic voices of the Hamons, as they've spoken at our prophetic conferences over the years.
We appreciate Jane Hamon writing this up and giving us key insights on how to pray against demonic assignments in this hour. As you read this sobering and powerful word, let's be standing and decreeing together God's protection over our families and destinies. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List 
