Destiny Thresholds & the spirit of Pythos

Destiny Doors, Thresholds & Gates

Every season has a distinct line of demarcation that signals it's beginning or ending.

When the Lord is shifting you into a new dimension or season you must pass through a door or gate to access your time of enlargement. As you do so you will cross significant thresholds that represent a forward advance in God's purposes for you.

There is much imagery of this in the Scriptures.  Whether it be Joshua's generation crossing the Jordan to enter the promised land or the Apostle Paul's entrance into Macedonia as the Gospel entered Europe for the first time, we see clear thresholds of change that represent new seasons of destiny.

Paul qualified this as a 'measure of rule' in 2 Corinthians 10:13.

The Greek word 'measure' is 'metron' meaning 'one's appointed portion or lot'.  It's the equivalent of the Old Testament word 'inheritance'.  It speaks to that which God has given you as an assignment and inheritance.  It's the full scope of who God has built you to be and what He has appointed you to accomplish. A metron are the full picture of your destiny and the totality of your journey.  It represents your destiny in the sense that it speaks to the maximum calling upon your life.

Paul when on to say that the measure had a 'rule' included in it.  The word 'rule' is 'kanon' meaning 'one's realm and sphere of influence'.  It speaks to the increases of authority, influence, favor and effectiveness we experience when we cross thresholds into new seasons so that we can maximize our assignments and destinies and fulfill our metron.

As we cross thresholds in the timing of God we experience unique and distinct dynamics that confirm that a threshold has indeed been crossed.  Consider the Apostle Paul's prophetic retrospective in 2 Corinthians 7:5 of the threshold he crossed when God enlarged his sphere of influence into Europe.

2 Corinthians 7:5 "For when we came into Macedonia (literally 'extended land' representing a time of enlargement) our flesh (humainty) had no rest (relief, relaxation, freedom)  but we were troubled (to squeeze and press as grapes;  to press hard upon with distress) on every side; without were fightings, withing were fears".

This paradigm of crossing a destiny threshold as recorded in 2 Corinthians 7:5 is rich with Kingdom reality and prophetic dynamics that are at play for many in this present season.

Times of Enlargement

Note that when Paul crossed a destiny threshold into a Time of Enlargement the enemy released a warfare against him that affected a total consuming of his mental, spiritual and psychological resources.  Basically Paul wrote that the warfare was so intense that it drained and exhausted him on every level of his humanity ('flesh').

He qualified the intense level of warfare as being 'on every side' meaning that he was totally surrounded by his adversary and completely consumed with the fight.

He also said that he wrestled with fear, literally the Greek word 'phobia', on a deep internal level.  Paul's use of the word 'phobia' is a key for us because it speaks to irrational fears that carry deep dimensions of torment and soul affliction for it's sufferers.

In essence, Paul battled unrelenting, tormenting mental imagery that incessantly assailed his thoughts, bombarding his mind and emotions with the repetitive threats of death, doom and defeat.  The spirit of phobia had been unleashed against the apostle's life and it was wearing him out.

To get the full picture of the experience Paul was referring to, look at Acts 16:16 which tells of when he cast the spirit of divination out of the young woman in the city of Phillipi, the capitol city of Macedonia.

Historically, Phillipi was a major gateway city (a type of a prophetic Gate of Access or Destiny Door) to Europe to the west and Asia to the east.

It was a significant city politically, economically, militarily and culturally.  In essence it represented a big door for Paul and a gateway of access into his time of enlargement.  Phillipi is reflective of a distinct destiny threshold that's crossed when we enter a new season of greater influence.

After Paul cast out the spirit, the young woman's masters dragged Paul before the city's magistrates who proceeded to beat them 'with many stripes' and then threw him into prison.  The word 'stripes' literally means 'a death-blow'.

The spirit of pythos

Before moving forward I must tell you that the spirit Paul cast out was no ordinary devil.  The word 'divination' is the Greek word 'pythos' or python.

In Greek mythology, pythos, in the symbol of a serpent, was the chief spirit that guarded the Oracle of Delphi, which was the highest level false prophetic spirit in the Greek world.  In other words, the spirit of pythos that Paul cast out was a high level territorial spirit that had exacted deceptive control over the region of Macedonia.  It was a controlling spirit of deception that held the region captive under it's suffocating influence.

I want you to get the symbolism here because it reveals a deep prophetic pattern of the warfare many have been enduring in this season.

The beating and imprisonment Paul suffered was the direct result of a demonic blow-back for his taking authority over the spirit of pythos.

Remember the 'stripes' were intended as death blows to Paul's assignment and his time of enlargement.  As he crossed the threshold into an increase in his sphere of influence and realm of effectiveness, the spirit of pythos sought to suffocate him with relentless phobia, extreme persecution and cruel affliction.

In the animal kingdom the python is a snake that kills it's victim by squeezing it to death, crushing it's internal organs and suffocating it.

Likewise, the spirit of pythos is a suffocating spirit who's assignment is to squeeze you out of your destiny, your inheritance and your metron.  It is a suffocating spirit of extreme cruelty and affliction.

When you're wrestling with the spirit of pythos you will deal with unrelenting phobia that carries deep torment with it.  You will also suffer cruel affliction in your life and the season of warfare will exact an exhausting toll upon your soul.  It will leave you exhausted and spent spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

Victory over the Violence of pythos

The good news is that there is victory over the spirit of pythos.

As Paul & Silas sat in the depths of the Phillipian jail, surrounded by darkness and reeling from the many 'death-blows' that had been laid upon their backs, something shifted in their dark place.

The Holy Spirit began breathing the breathe of Life back into their suffocated souls and they regained their composure.  In the depths of brokenness and darkness the Holy Spirit released the wind of recovery within them.  In spite of the actions and constrictions of the spirit of pythos, Paul and Silas experienced Divine recovery in their dark place.

Prophetic Fault Lines are Shifting!

God's method of deliverance was to shake Paul's prison with an earthquake.

Earthquakes occur when the tectonic plates under the earth's surface shift due to the build up of pressure over an extended period of time.  The place where the plates come together and the shift occurs are called fault lines.  Research reveals that there is a fault line in the region where the city of Phillipi was located.

This is a powerful fact to consider because it tells us that Paul's experience with the spirit of pythos was prophetically strategic and that God had strategically positioned him in the very city where there was a natural fault line.  This natural fault line further reflected a prophetic threshold for the season Paul had entered.

Your season is not an accident.  You've been strategically positioned by Divine appointed and there is a dynamic of Divine Alignment affecting a shift in the fault lines in your life.  There's a Divine shift in your place of pressure and things are coming together for you.  Indeed, the lines are falling to you in pleasant places!

The Word says God shook the prison with a great earthquake as Paul and Silas prayed and praised.  In other words, God gave them external evidence of their internal recovery and shook the shackles of the spirit of pythos completely off of them!

While you're wrestling with the spirit of pythos you need to know that your relentlessness demoralizes your adversary.

You may be suffering under the suffocating squeeze of the spirit of pythos' constrictions in your life but there's an overcoming in your enduring.  There's a deliverance in your perserverence.  The Holy Spirit is replacing the suffocating dynamics that are draining you with His wind of recovery and life's coming back into you.

When God's positioned you at the threshold of enlargement and increase, He will use your authority to break the opposition of the spirit of pythos.  You will experience total and complete victory over the influence of pythos and the Holy Spirit is breaking it's strong hold completely off of your life.

There's a prophetic shift taking place in your life and the spirit of pythos is being broken off of you!

Stay connected,

Pastor Howard