45 Characteristics of the Ahab Spirit

This is a summary I compiled after reading Steve Sampson's book, " Discerning and Defeating the AHAB Spirit." After posting the 50 characteristics of Jezebel, I thought posting the 45 characteristics of Ahab would come quite handy! So here they are:


1) Making judgments about others based on too little information

 2) Comparing oneself to others to determine who is smarter, better looking, etc

3) Making assumptions about other peoples hearts & motives

4) Living with an exaggerated need to make everyone else happy

5) Being so afraid of rejection that you cannot handle facing issues as they really are

6) Drawing attention to oneself because of an addiction to drama

7) Never taking responsibility, it's always somebody else's fault

8) Not taking responsibility for their life claiming that God told them to do or not do something

9) Projecting a good Christian image in public, but in private is involved in sin

10) Always expecting disaster to take place

11) Doing something unacceptable & then doing something to try to make up for the wounds without dealing with the real issue

12) Avoiding telling others what they need and want by passively putting up with more of their poor behavior

13) Believe that If someone is angry with them, it must be their fault

14) Believe that if others don't tell them that they're a good person, then they must not be

15) Believe that it's their duty to make everyone happy and comfortable

16) Believe that everyone ought to be nice to them

17) Believe that they should always be and act happy in spite of any hardship or trouble that comes their way

18) Have a lifestyle of giving up their identity for the purpose of "peace at any price"

19) Always feel like a failure, unaccepted, insecure

20) Always have stories to tell about how others have taken advantage of them

21) Masters at seeing faults in others and tend to blame others for whatever is wrong

22) Their happiness and peace is based on their current circumstances and how loved, affirmed, and accepted they feel.

23) Come across as selfless, but are also very selfish (It is just more hidden, so they look good to others)

24) Draw all the attention to themselves, and if married, often stay in marriage because of their children

25) Selfish in marriage. Because they manage very early on to get the children volunteer as their emotional support system

26) Pull energy from the kids, holding them as emotional hostages because the children are forced for their own well being to emotional support the passive parent, who claims to be the victim

27) Use people to stop their pain

28) Give power away in order for other people to validate their identity, and to tell us who they are

29) Has a poor self image, mood swings, and impulsivity

30) Fears abandonment and become clingy, needy, and helpless

31) Immediately attach to others, and then push the same people away to avoid rejection.

32) Choose not to confront and will quickly brush away any thought of standing up for truth in a situation because of the fear of conflict

33) Never take up their God-given freedom. They refuse to step up, become assertive, say what they need to and command respect. Then they blame others for taking their freedom away when in fact they themselves gave it away

34) Difficult to talk to because they take everything as rejection.


35) Fish for compliments, and every time they walk in a room, they want to be seen and noticed. If they perceive that they are unnoticed, they become offended

36) Sexually addicted because they interpret sex as love

37) Depressed because they never deal with the feelings they stuff away

38) Usually do not forgive themselves and even have issues with God

39) Are blind to God's ability to make them whole. They don't believe the blood of Jesus was enough to handle their sins and heal their issues. Somehow they believe that you are a special case

40) Over merciful, seeing the best in every person and overlooking too much. They forgive others to quickly(not making them aware of their offenses)

41) Blame themselves when others betray or insult them

42) Resent verbal assaults, but refuse to take the offender to task and stop the behavior

43) Will do anything to gain acceptance

44) Usually nice people---too nice. They have low self-worth and try to gain ground by winning acceptance

45) Spend so much energy trying to impress everyone, even those they do not know, or those who could careless about them



I have learned that the Lord usually brings our short-comings into light, not to condemn us but to deliver us. I have tolerated the Ahab spirit for far too long but I'm glad that God brought this to light not to condmen me, but to deliver me. Steve says, "it takes courage to invite the Holy Spirit to examine and heal our minds, our hearts, and our lives. It takes courage to allow the light of the Holy Spirit to delve deeply within us to reveal the truth to us! The beautiful result of courage is a changed life filled with victory and freedom---not only for you and me but for generations to come!" You have the power to stand up with courage and say, "I will be the one!" I will be the one in my family who will break generational curses and change the course of legacy and history for this generation, and my children's children!