The Religious Spirit

The religious spirit is something that I am continually becoming free from; and yes, I do believe that it is a spirit and not just a thought process.  I want to describe the ways that I have been influenced by this spirit, in hopes that you can learn to recognize it and become free as well. The religious spirit is powerful and is at work on believers and non-believers alike.  It has one main purpose, to undermine our faith in the Gospel, spreading lies to blind us to what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and cause us to take control of our life with God.

The word 'religious' makes many think of the Pharisees in scripture who sought to become righteous in their own power; or the classic 'conservative christian', who lives a compromised life while having a aggressive disposition towards immorality. Both of these 'classic cases' can reveal some truth about the RS, but it is usually much more subtle than that.  You might be surprised by the drastic ways you yourself have been influenced!

The RS will always move our focus from what Jesus has done to what we need to do.  It loves to make us feel inadequate, unworthy, and condemned, so that we start striving under our own power to change the way God relates with us. Rather than demanding faith in us, the RS demands that we take responsibility for not manifesting the fullness of the Kingdom. Many people, both believers and non, see Christianity as a set of rules, laws, and religious practices that shape our behavior around a set of morals.  This being the case, the purpose of the Christian life becomes a striving upward call to live a principled life where we attempt to change our character to be more like Jesus.  This tactic of the RS reveals a true dichotomy between our experience and what Jesus actually paid for us to live in, but it falsely causes us to rely on our own effort to bridge this experience gap.

The good news promises us freedom from sin and a life led by the Spirit, but, as many of you have experienced, as soon as one 'accepts' Jesus a whole new set of laws are put in place.  You need to read the bible everyday, pray all the time, worship with others, confess all your sins, love God, love your neighbor, and don't forget to increase your faith! These rules are the same as the old ones, equally inefficient, and cause us to fail rather than producing a victorious lifestyle.

The RS is the same as the spirit of suicide, it tries to convince you that you need to kill yourself.  It tells you that it is your job to become introspective, discerning what thoughts and activities are not in alignment with God's nature, once you identify this lie or bad behavior you must stop it. This is not freedom, Jesus came to give us an existence where we no longer live in accordance with the law, we do not need to struggle with sin any longer.  We aren't transformed from the outside in, but from the inside out.  Many Churches and leaders may have a language of grace, but inevitably preach the law because they want to control behavior. They continually instruct that one need to add to their salvation, to purify themselves, and regulate their lives in order to attain to the full measure of Christ.  That message is demonic.

There are even more ways that the RS affects us.  The following include a few insights from other teachers that I find very convicting.  Someone with a religious spirit sees more negative than positive things in a church, individual or situation.  Someone with a RS think that they are on the 'cutting edge', believing that they have attained to a level on their own power that is above and beyond other Christians.  People with a religious spirit validate their ministry and lifestyle by comparing it to those they deem 'inferior'.  Those with a RS cannot take rebuke or correction, but attack and despise those who bring that message to them. Those with a RS do not have honor for those they find fault in. Those with a RS have a fondness for religious activity but not for God Himself; they care more about 'activity' and behavior than about encountering His presence. Those with a RS try to make other see them as superior, having more insight or wisdom than the 'normal' christian. And finally, those with a RS are quick to identify a RS in others. The more you recognize it the more you are influenced by it.

So, what is the solution, what is the antidote for the influence of the RS.  The Gospel is the answer, the RS only has a foothold where there is unbelief in what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  Jesus didn't come to condemn the world but to save the world, He didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.  You are righteous, Jesus made you that way, He purified you completely.  Your sinful nature was crucified with Him, you are no longer predisposed to sin but to righteousness.  He has given you a new heart, and a new mind.  He did what we could not, taking on what we deserved so that we could have what He deserves. There is no room for performance because there is nothing more to achieve, the medal has already been won, the curtains have closed.

There is no room for comparison in the Gospel because we had no part in it; it is a free gift so that no one can boast.  We do not get to change God's perspective on us, Jesus came to change our perspective on God.  He is always for you, never against you.  He works in and through you both to will and to work His good pleasure.  God has unified His church, and built it on the revelation of His son Jesus. He forgave everyone, and gave everyone direct access to the throne of grace.  We no longer view anyone according to the flesh because Christ took the sin of the world upon Himself.  You are loved, forgiven, accepted, empowered, even sanctified. His truth is true even if we don't believe it.  We experience this reality as we behold Him, and are transformed into His likeness as we are given faith in who He already is in us.  Your authority, confidence, victory, humility, and drive are gifts from our good Father, who lavishes His love on us.  Our sin struggles, shame, pride, and passivity only exist because we do not see Him in truth.

Those who do not experience Him are those who do not know Him.  They do not know the good news, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.  We have access to God because of what Jesus did, not what we strive to do.  We cannot get closer to God, for Jesus has already melded us together on the cross.  When we see from God's perspective we preach the fullness of His work to those who do not believe it, thereby providing an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to touch them.  There is only one distinction between all people, believers and unbelievers, we have the glorious opportunity of revealing the truth that has been revealed to us.

When we live a life based on what He has done, we continually behold heavenly things, and are transformed from the inside out.  We manifest God's goodness out of the revelation of Jesus.  The apostle Paul claimed to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified.  For he was crucified to the world and the world to him.

The Gospel, the good news of what Jesus accomplished, is so complete that it doesn't even give us room to give our lives to God, but takes it from us; He died for us while we were still sinners! Jesus didn't leave room for us to slowly surrender, piece by piece; but in one fell swoop He remade us, taking away the old and putting on the new.

We don't have the religious privilege of getting closer to God by slowly killing ourselves off, straining to become more holy by our own effort and self-sacrifice. There is only one sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing, and that doesn't include ours. "For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever, those who have been sanctified (Hebrews 10:14)." When we hear the good news, we have the opportunity for faith in it, this is what enables us to live a Godly lifestyle.

We do go through an experiential process, but it is only a process of our minds being renewed; of being transformed from Glory to Glory as we come to a knowledge of the reality that was brought about through the cross. The Gospel produces joy, hope, excitement, and peace. It provides faith, and inspires effort.

So come to a conclusion of your salvation, when you do so you will experience fear and a trembling self distrust, realizing that you had nothing to do with where you now stand, but that Christ worked salvation on your behalf. This revelation takes away comparison, complacency, pride, and false humility. When you are given the revelation of the Gospel, you know that God did what you could not, you tremble knowing you couldn't trust yourself to attain to the standard. In that self-distrust you learn to rely more on more on God, you become dependent on the Holy Spirit in all things, learning to walk in Him. For He not only gives you the desire, but the ability, to carry out His good pleasure. Trust in God negates self-dependence; faith in Jesus equals experiential transformation. Therefore, when you boast, and you should, boast in the Lord.

A Spirit of Joy and Thanksgiving!

Jesus was the happiest, most joyful, man that ever lived, He even endured the cross for the 'joy set before Him' (Hebrews 12:2)! We have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us, greater is He that is within us than he that is within the world (1 John 4:4).  Mr. Joy is inside of us! We are instructed to 'rejoice at all times' (Philippians 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:16), and that the 'joy of the Lord is our strength' (Nehemiah 8:10).  This joy is unspeakable and full of Glory (1 Peter 1:8)!  Paul was so fulfilled with Jesus' work that He was content no matter the circumstances (Philippians 4:11) to the extent that he even learned to rejoice midst suffering (Romans 5:5)! Is this a possible experiential reality that we can step into? Is it fathomable to you? What about worry, anxiety, bitterness or complaining? Did you know that these are 'anti-Christ' attitudes.  "Do all things without grumbling or disputing (Philippians 2:14)."  

Is this sort of lifestyle even possible!? Some people can't even fathom having a conversation where there is no complaining or bitterness involved! Yet scripture tells us to 'let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29). I am going to step out on a limb and say that the bible is true (sarcasm), and that this should be the 'normal Christian experience'. Our lives should be ones that are full of praise, thanksgiving, and divine contentment; while at the same time empty of worry, bitterness, and complaining! A normal Christian has nothing to complain about, but is completely 'whacked' over how good God is and can do nothing but be thankful!

I rarely see a normal Christian, we seem to have gotten a lot of things backwards.  Christians aren't known for their joy and bliss, but by their anger, resentment, hypocrisy, and shallowness. This should shock us! There are a few things that prevent us from living and experiencing life in the fullness of Joy. One of those is the demonic attitude of entitlement. Entitlement is the thought that we 'deserve' or have 'the right' to do, have, or experience one thing over another. Its a demand we make on the world around us, rooted in a unhealthy view of who we are.  This mentality of entitlement has permeated Christian thinking and teaching. 

 We have this strange expectation that God's will for our lives is to make them smooth and comfortable; that He is continually working towards making our lives match our perfect expectations. We want a perfect job with perfect co-workers, a perfect schedule that allows us to have a lot of free time. We think we have a right to not have to work hard, and yet be financially secure.  We run into relational problems and we think that we are no longer walking in the will of God. Our circumstances toss us to and fro, making our emotions run wild, and we don't know which way is up and down.  We then come to God and treat Him like a vending machine, wanting everything we want, right now.  Well let me tell you something, that is not how God works. He has never been interested in putting us in comfortable, safe, and 'perfect' circumstances.  The joy of the Lord isn't a powerful testimony when everything is going well, but when everything is going horribly!  God actually puts us in crummy situations so that we can shine His light in the darkness! 

The vast majority, if not all, of our grumbling, complaining, worry, and anxiety, stem from a wrong and unhealthy perspective on life. If we don't have many expectations then we won't be disappointed with what happens, seems easy right!? "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.' But as it is you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16)."

Lesson #1: "Your life is not your own, you have been purchased at a price, therefore Glorify God in your bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)."  We do not have a right to have a sense of entitlement, for we have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). You don't get to plan your life; in fact you don't even have the privilege of deciding who you are! Everything is rooted in God Himself. This is not bad news, but good news! You lose sight of yourself in light of the Gospel, and you become detached from the cares of the world yet united to everything around you. 

Lesson #2: My bible says that if we love the world or the things in the world, then the love of the Father is not in us. "Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful prid of life, i snot from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17)."  That is a tough word.  How do you know if you love the world? Simple, your emotions, expectations, and fulfillment are tied up in something that has the propensity to fail. If you aren't tied up in them, if the world or something in the world fails, no big deal. 

Lesson #3: Having a sense of entitlement in worldly things, reveals lack of faith in the Gospel, it is rooted in many lies. It produces great disappointment in us, and is such a joy kill. We need to re-align our minds with the truth of the Gospel.  To have our joy and satisfaction sourced in something that is doesn't change as much as our emotions or circumstances. Here is the Gospel truth: What do we deserve? Plain and simple, we deserve hell, but Jesus took what we deserve so that we could have what He deserved! Our salvation hands down, is the source of all our joy and bliss.  

We are saved!!! Hahahahahah!! We get to go to heaven, and be with God for eternity! We have been melded into one with our heavenly father, and have been set free from a body of sin and death.  How can we not be satisfied with this and this alone? The fact that our salvation joy doesn't permeate every facet of our lives, reveals that we don't believe in it very much.  That is just the cold hard truth. As we grow in our belief, and experience of our salvation, everything else ceases to matter.  Praises pour from our mouths because God is amazing!!

Lesson #4: We are concerned with all the wrong things.  You can tell you are in idolatry when a change in circumstances really throws you off.  If having to change your schedule during the day makes your emotions go wild, or if a little 'bad news' makes you have a 'bad day', then you are not focusing enough on Jesus (and these are very minor events in our lives that are scarcely mentioned in scripture).  Remember, look to Jesus, and you lose sight of everything else! Jesus is so good, and a revelation of His grace is so powerful, that we could even be tortured for our faith and still be overflowing with Joy (Romans 5:5).

Lesson #5: Things we are not entitled to include, an easy life, a perfect job, smooth situations, no problems, everything we have always wanted.  Things we are not entitled to but get anyway include salvation, the presence of God, the fruit of the Spirit, a destiny, a powerful identity, victory, and purpose in every moment. Things we are entitled to as believers but haven't taken hold of include, freedom from sin, ability to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, capacity to hear God's voice in the moment, and to have a worry, anxiety, and depression free life where we see everything through Christ's sacrifice. We should be concerned about these things, promises from God that we obviously don't believe to be true.  When He becomes everything, we find we have nothing to complain about and yet everything to be thankful for! This 'glorying' in Christ Jesus is actually what has the power to change the world around us.  If we are subject to our circumstances we will always be controlled by them.  "If we live for the praises of man we will die by their criticism (Bill Johnson)."  It is illegal to complain, we never have a good reason to do it, never. 

Lesson #6: Ask yourself if you actually believe you are going to heaven? Do you understand what that means? If it doesn't bring you joy then you need a grace enema, go get one. Life with Jesus is so wonderful!! Everything becomes a conduit of joy! We can look at each day with a sense of adventure, not caring what happens but trusting that there is glory in everything! 

Lesson #7: Life with God will certainly not fit our 'perfect circumstances' attitude, it is way better than that! Our lives as Christians aren't set apart because of how easy they are, but because of how our joy, passion, and stability, are sourced in a completely different reality than the rest of the worlds. From a nominal worldly level, to an extreme supernatural one, our lives ought to me marked with steadfastness, since the Spirit of God dwells within us and He is the same yesterday today and forever. 

Lesson #8: Don't take yourself, your call, or even life to seriously.  Learn to look and see the Glory in everything.  Take what lies in front of you and enjoy it.  Life is full of challenges, successes, failures, and learning opportunities; we miss out on the complex beauty of this life when all we want is comfort and ease. Most of the time we are running away from experiencing the fullness of life, rather than embracing the adventure of it! Remember, reshape your expectations, don't undermine your own satisfaction in life by expecting impossibilities.  Expect that God is in the present moment, no matter what is happening, and look to that.  Only then will you be able to enjoy and intentionally live in whatever comes your way. 

 You learn you can't read a book you wanted to because someone needs help with homework. . .awesome! You get a flat tire on the way to an important meeting. . . haha what an adventure! You realize you wronged somebody and need to apologize. . what an opportunity to learn and relate! Its raining. . who hoo water is falling from the sky!! Don't take life so seriously, enjoy every moment of everyday, soak in the present moment or you will miss it entirely. Take what comes and own it, don't let it own you.

Allow God to change you so that you see Him in everything! His attitude is one of surrender, willingness, gleeful expectation, and blissful joy! You never have to have a 'bad day' again in your life. You never have to feel like 'things aren't going your way'. Who ever said they would? Let go of your selfish expectations and grab hold of the moment. There is so much glory, even in the mundane things of life, in fact we are being transformed from Glory to Glory into ever increasing glory (2 Cor. 3). Washing dishes, GLORY!! Raking a yard, GLORY!! Driving for 7 hrs, GLORY!! Learning to overcome insecurity, GLORY!! Repenting. . . GLORY!!! Getting a bad grade on a paper that pushes you to be more diligent. . . GLORY!!! Having to get up early. . . GLORY!! Skipping a meal. . . GLORY! Did you forget that your life is not you own? You have been bought at a price, therefore Glorify Christ in you body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)!

We are stranger on this earth, here for a short time only, detached from the world, yet completely unified with it! Hahahahah! We deserve nothing and yet are given everything! You can't kill a joy that stems from someone who never changes, Mr. Joy Himself (Jesus)!!

Lesson #9: The things I have been addressing have mostly been natural things that come up in our lives that we just have a wrong perspective on.   However there are other things that we are not supposed to be detached or unaffected by.  We cannot turn a blind eye to the things that come from the devil such as death, sickness, injustice, and so on.  Although our fulfillment is always sourced in Jesus, the devil seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.  Those suffering under his attacks need support, prayer, and encouragement. Yet remember, that God lays a feast for us even in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23).  The devil hates it when we are unaffected by his attacks, but remain rooted and grounded to the King of Glory.