A Modern Woman's Perspective On The Kingdom of God on Earth


November 21, 2017

How Religious Spirits Keep Christians From An Intimacy With The Lord

      Have you ever encountered a religious spirit in a fellow Christian?  I daresay if you are walking in your delegated power and authority from Christ, and know who you are in Him, then you most likely have met a fellow Christian with a religious spirit.  How will you know and what effect does this spirit have upon the Body of Christ?
     First of all, a Believer with a religious spirit will be critical of any revelations you might have received from God that are outside of his or her mainstream doctrinal training.  Just think Pharisees, and you will get a good picture of men with religious spirits. They might accuse you of being deceived, or constantly challenge you to show where that particular spiritual truth is found in the Bible. But I'm not writing this post in defense of those of us who have found ourselves at odds with our fellow Christians, nor to condemn those who don't see eye-to-eye with us, but rather in the hopes of highlighting the detrimental effects this spirit can have upon the relationship of our fellow Christians with our Savior.  Let me repeat that ... THIS POST IS NOT CONDEMNING CHRISTIANS, BUT RATHER EXPOSING THE SPIRIT THAT KEEPS THEM FROM A SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. You see, I want all Christians to enjoy the intimacy that I have with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and I want them to step into the freedom that can come when this spirit is expelled from their lives.
     So, what exactly is a religious spirit?  This may shock many in the Body of Christ but it is actually a spirit that comes from the Enemy to wage war against an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus in a Believer's life.  And I want to take a moment to point out a fact that escapes so many people who say they believe in God .... we are made in His image, and the Bible says, God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).  So, if we are made in His image, then we are spirits, too, correct? But here is what too many people miss when considering how they live out their faith in God .... we are created as spirits who are living through a temporary physical experience.  We came from Heaven where we were spirits, and after a very short life span here on earth, we will return to Heaven (which we call "home", right?) as a spirit. We are not primarily physical beings created to stumble upon an occasional spiritual experience, even though I'm afraid that this is how most Christians see themselves. When the Bible says those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth, that is the truth we must embrace as we seek to relate to Him as spirits in a spiritual realm outside of this physical world. 
     But back to the purpose of a religious spirit, which is in all reality, a spirit sent by the Enemy against Christians to keep them feeling distant from God and to ensure that they never meet Jesus in the spirit.  This spirit can severely limit a Christian's intimacy with their Lord and Savior, and result in a life lived in virtual isolation from the One who created them and Who longs for a heart/spirit relationship.
      I heard an excellent Youtube video by Ryan LeStrange, the founder of Impact International Ministries. Ryan gives a very short and concise description of what a religious spirit is and how it affects a Christian's life.  He describes the religious spirit as "a demon power that uses religious structures to entangle people in bondage; to prevent transformation; and to enforce the spiritual status quo".  In other words, the spirit entraps the religious person into religious systems and traditions that result in little or no growth in their understanding of how they are to relate and work with Jesus, which essentially results in no fruit.
     LeStrange goes on to say, "The religious spirit fights [against] revelation; it defies prophetic insight; it hates apostolic authority; and it uses tradition to build structures of limitation".  All that is just another way to say that it builds a chasm between the Believer and a spiritual intimacy with God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.
     If you have spent time with God in His Word, then you know that it is His heart's desire to lead us into new and fresh revelations of His nature and His plans for invading earth with the Kingdom of Heaven.  It only makes sense that Satan would do everything he could to keep that from happening.  As long as the devil can keep us entangled in our limited human reasoning, and uninterested in pursuing the spiritual realm and encountering Jesus there, then he can keep us impotent and ineffective.
     You see, God wants us to be in sync with Him; to be aware of what He is saying, what He is doing, and what He is releasing in the earth -- just as Jesus was when He walked among us.  We can only do that if we are tuned in to the Spirit through our own spirit.  We must be aware of His presence, and the only way to do that is in the spirit!  It is the devil's express desire to keep us from being transformed from our physical limitations into a spiritual awareness where we can commune and work with Jesus to bring about God's will on earth.
     Satan loves it when we, as Christians, are stuck in a paradigm that is unable to experience the presence of Jesus in our lives.  When we are stuck with our religious ideas and traditions, we are not able to partner with Him to bring about prophetic change on the earth.  The religious spirit works to block people's minds from becoming renewed and seeing and hearing in the spirit, which is our birthright -- it is what we are created to do!
     You see, God wants to reveal the deep and hidden mysteries of His Kingdom to us, so that we can help bring about the times and seasons of His plan for mankind.  But the Religious spirit develops blockades that keep men from seeking those new revelations. So, as a Body of Christ, we must pray for freedom from this spirit; we must pray to break the opposition that comes against us as we share these truths with Believers; and we must pray that our Brothers and Sisters in Christ are transformed with new hearts and minds that can resist this hindering spirit and come into alignment with us and our Father in Heaven, to bring about His plans for these times. It is now time to defeat and remove this spirit's stranglehold on the Church, so that we might enter into our inheritance!

1 Corinthians 2:14   The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him [absurd and illogical], and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters].
   

5 comments:

  1. Boy this one ring's true. I think the most difficult people to try to illustrate and walk out kingdom with are religious believers. They are so terrified of being deceived that ...well they are! That religious spirit locks down any opportunity to grow or have an experiential encounter with Jesus. I tend to shy away from them as the next step in the natural progression leads to me being persecuted by them and their leadership for being a heretic because my theology is in conflict with their milk level understanding. I now believe Kingdom as a concept and a mission should fracture and reform the church if we are to carry out the finality of the Kingdom. Kingdom can't happen with the current condition of the church! I want the church to rise up and take ownership of it's inheritance but honestly I don't believe its at a maturity level where it could step into its rightful identity. We must pick up the mantle of leadership and start to walk it out with the few who will take the field and stop waiting on the box church mired in religion. Onward and upward!!!

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    1. It saddens me to think that those we love inside the church box could soon come against those of us outside, but I see it as a definite possibility because the Enemy will exploit that. But the core truth of your comment is that "Kingdom can't happen with the current condition of the church!" I have to agree. God's Kingdom on earth is interwoven with the supernatural nature of God and His Kingdom in Heaven. With the Church being so bound up in the earth, they have no idea how to counter Satan and his supernatural tactics. Sadly, there will soon come a time when we can no longer wait for the Church to come into agreement with us, because we will be forced to step into our spiritual roles as ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven in order to help usher in God's plan for eternity. I pray that we can reach as many as possible before that door shuts.

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  2. Perhaps this attitude is warranted and perhaps not, but some clarification on both terms might help us to understand if we chose to be spiritual because we have not embraced one single doctrine or practice or because we are running from the stigmatism behind what new thinkers might deem to be dogmatic and therefore unappealing.
    Eye of the Psychic

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    1. I'm not sure if you understood my premise... I am talking about an actual spirit; not an opinion that comes from our own reasoning or minds. So, it is not a conscious decision that we make, but as I stated, "The religious spirit works to block people's minds from becoming renewed and seeing and hearing in the spirit, which is our birthright."

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