Encountering the Religious Spirit pt.3

We continue this series on encountering the religious spirit with tools to help you see if this spirit is hindering your progress in walking closer with the Lord.

First, if you read this or the previous series (The Spirit of Sheep’s Clothing) and you were thinking about how badly someone else needs to be set free from the religious spirit, that is evidence of this spirit working in your own life.

Two guys were praying at church: one was a high-ranking church official and the other was social outcast. The first man thanked God that he was not a sinner like that social outcast. The other man looked only on his own condition and begged God for His mercy. God was pleased with this man.

Jesus said it this way:

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

(Luke 18:10–14)

Being critical towards others because of what you think of their spiritual condition is an expression of the religious spirit.

Before you continue reading this issue, it would be wise to get your heart in a receptive and humble-before-the-Lord condition. Pause for a moment and ask the Lord to help you hear His voice so that if you read anything in this (or the next) issue that He wants you to know, that He will help you hear it, receive it, and walk more intimately with Him.

Your answers to the following questions are between you and the Lord. Be honest with yourself—the Lord already knows your heart.

Do you feel better about yourself when you attend more meetings, or spend more time reading the Bible, or praying longer?

Although these are good activities and helpful to your spiritual growth, simply becoming more Christ-like is the only evidence of spiritual maturity. A person who spends three hours a day in prayer might seem more spiritual than the person who prays five minutes a day. But it’s the quality of the time—the attitude of the heart—that matters to God.

Do you often take control and dominate the conversation when discussing spiritual matters with others?

An overbearing and bossy personality is opposite to the characteristics of godliness and only serves to exalt you in the eyes of man. The fruit of the Spirit includes: longsuffering, kindness, and gentleness. The wisdom from above is gentle, willing to yield, and is full of mercy. Additionally, you are to show all humility to all men.

Do you feel that you are closer to God or are more pleasing to God than other people?

Believing that God approves of you more than He does other people because of your title, accomplishments, or responsibilities in the church is a delusion. This is an easy trap to fall into because that concept is the way our society operates. But you are not of this world, nor is God’s grace, which is given to everyone. 

Are you on the cutting edge of what God is doing?

Believing that you are involved with the most important thing that God is doing is religious pride. If you actually are on the cutting edge, you would not notice it nor would you care because walking with Him is the only thing that you are focused on.

Do you suppress your emotions or are you overly emotional?

The religious spirit will use any method to divert your attention from seeking a pure relationship with God, even if those methods seem to contradict each other. The religious spirit could convince you that any display of emotion is fleshly and a lack of self-control. The religious spirit could also convince you that the display of emotion will make you appear as being touched by God. Emotions were created by God and He displays all emotions (except fear). It is good, right, and healthy for you to be emotional about the things of God as long as you do so with a pure motive.

Are you suspicious of or tend to oppose any movement of God that is outside of your current understanding?

Jesus said that new wine must be put in new wineskins. The religious spirit will do anything to prevent you from having a new wineskin (new wineskin enables you to receive new revelation from God). There is much, much more to God than all of us collectively know. While you must discern between good and evil, you must also have humble and teachable heart to learn more about God.

Does one particular ministry capture mostly all of your attention?

Following a ministry is fine, but if you feed only from that ministry, you are substituting it for the reason you were created: to have a one-on-one relationship with the Creator. The religious spirit doesn’t care if you give all of your attention, support, or time to a ministry because that way, you are setting that ministry up as an idol. If you think and talk more about a particular ministry than your own relationship with the Lord, the religious spirit has successfully deceived you into thinking that you are spiritual and pleasing God.

Does spiritual immaturity in others greatly irritate you?

A two-year-old child is expected to be immature and unable to care for himself. A sixteen-year-old is expected to take care of herself, but is prone to making unwise decisions. Maturity is relative and involves many factors. Those with the religious spirit tend to focus on and are annoyed by the immaturity in others.

When God speaks or manifests His power through you, do you see that as God’s approval of you?

This is a very successful deception by the religious spirit because we live in a world where performance equals success and acceptance. Taken to another level, do you readily follow any ministry because it shows great displays of God’s power or prophetic words? And onto yet another level, do you feel that because you have many prophetic words or have a powerful anointing, that others should follow and support you? Gifts and power is not a prerequisite for pleasing God, nor is it evidence that God approves of you. He approves of you simply because of grace. He loves you and accepts you simply because of what His Son did for you on the Cross.

After becoming aware of the characteristics of the religious spirit, have you become overly paranoid about it possibly working in your own life?

Again, the goal of the religious spirit is to turn your focus to anything other than having a personal, intimate relationship with the Master. Focusing on what the enemy might be doing to you is a wrong focus.

When in the company of other Christians, is how you look, act, and what you say continually on your mind?

This fear of what others might think about you is the work of the religious spirit. You should seek to please God rather than man. Your heart attitude towards God is more important than your outward appearance.

Do you frequently have feelings of condemnation or fear of failure?

The more you follow the religious spirit, the more distant is your awareness of God’s mercy. Because you are more concerned about man’s approval, you feel you actually deserve condemnation when you fail, especially when you fail in front of others. Consequently, you then open yourself to the fear of failure. It’s a vicious circle—one that the religious spirit greatly enjoys watching its victims be trapped within.

Does knowing Bible facts and memorizing many Bible verses make you feel spiritually mature or closer to God?

The religious spirit would actually help you memorize the entire Bible or help you accumulate all the knowledge of biblical history if all that kept you from having a loving, intimate relationship with the Shepherd. Obviously, Satan knows every word, verse, chapter, and book in the Bible and he was even an eye-witness to history as it was happening. Yet, those things do not make him close with God. Loving Him with all of your heart, mind, and strength is what brings you closer to Him.

The next issue concludes this study on encountering the religious spirit with more insightful questions that can help you discern if this deceptive spirit has any grip on you.

It is my prayer for you that Father will continue to help you to hear His voice, and more and more frequently.

With God’s grace and in His peace,

Gary

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