Religious Spirits in Your life

Because we all come out of...

1. Traditional churches

2. Legalistic churches

3. Self-made belief structures

We need next to be set free from the influence of a “spirit of religion” and a “spirit of tradition”.

These spirits appear and sound Christian but lead to bondage and spiritual death.

 The choking of all spiritual life

 The removal of all grace, mercy and love

SOME COMMENTS:

Religious spirits can hinder you personally as well as the life of the church
Scripture says:

“Test yourself to see if you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

3. Religious spirits prevents us from receiving and moving in His power

Pharisees and Sadducees could not receive LIFE and LOVE of God (grace) ➢ Knew Scripture ➢ Prayed ➢ Attended worship ➢ Obeyed the Law

Could not receive LIFE and LOVE because they were bound by a religious spirit

Matthew 22:29 “Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.’”

Let's look at our own lives and "test" to see if this might be a problem

Free to receive His love
Free to be touched more deeply by His love and life
Free that we can hear His voice and flow in His gifts

Warning signs of a Religious Spirit

Note: Put a check mark before the ones that you can relate to.

❑ The tendency to see our primary mission as tearing down what we believe is wrong.

❑ The inability to take a rebuke, especially from those we may judge to be less spiritual than ourselves.

❑ An approach to the Christian faith that says: "I don't listen to men; only to God."  Independence and rebellion

❑ The inclination to see more of what is wrong with other people, other churches, etc. than what is right with them

❑ Overwhelming guilt that we can never measure up to the Lord's standards  Legalism

❑ The belief that we have been appointed to fix everyone else and their problems

❑ Giving a person more authority and power over our lives as a result of his or her position or title than the Bible actually gives them

❑ Putting man-made rules before the expressed purpose and will of God

❑ Holding to an outward form of your religion yet denying and not walking in the life-changing power of God

❑ A leadership style which is bossy, overbearing, and intolerant of the weakness or failure of others - A Jezebel spirit

❑ A sense that we are closer to God than other people – and so being encouraged when our walk with God looks better than that of others

❑ A sense that our lives or ministry are more pleasing to Him – and so being encouraged when our ministry for God looks better than that of others

❑ Pride in our spiritual maturity or discipline, especially as we compare to others

❑ The belief that we are on the cutting edge of what God is doing and most others are not.

❑ The belief that our way is the only real and acceptable and true way to worship, serve or please God

❑ A mechanical prayer life  Going through the motions without emotions

❑ Doing things in order to be noticed by others

❑ Being overly repulsed by emotionalism  or not allowing yourself to be emotional

❑ Using emotionalism as a substitute for the work of the Holy Spirit

❑ Keeping score on your spiritual lives

❑ Not willingly submitting in a biblical manner to those God has placed in authority over you – who exercise their authority correctly in a loving and God-fearing manner

❑ Glorying more in what God has done in the past than in the present.

❑ Misappropriate and constant use of the phrase “the Lord would say” or its equivalent

❑ The tendency to be suspicious of, or to oppose new movements, churches, etc.

❑ The tendency to reject spiritual manifestations that we do not understand

❑ The overreaction to carnality in the church

❑ The overreaction to immaturity in the church

❑ The inability to join anything that they do not deem as perfect or near perfect

❑ The tendency to glory in anything but the cross of Jesus, what He has accomplished and Who He is.

❑ Making major issues out of minor human or religious preferences

❑ Declaring the “mind of God” about issues the Bible does not give definite direction about or conclusions regarding.

❑ Becoming overly paranoid of the religious spirit  I’ve sinned against and blasphemed the Holy Spirit

Ministry Time to remove the influence of the religious and traditional spirit:

 Small groups

 Lay hands on them

 Pray to remove spiritual box

 Pray to break the power of traditional and religious spirits

How to do this:

 Renounce each one you have “checked” on the list

 Break the power of the spirit of religion and tradition by the blood and Name of Jesus

 Renounce all of the influence this spirit has had over and in you

 Ask to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit - giving control of your life over to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)

A joint prayer after ministry time: (from Ephesians 1:17-19a NKJV)

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe…