Breaking the Spirit of Religion (part 1)

[Vicky M. Penny]

Breaking the Spirit of Religion (part. 1)

By Evangelist Vicky Penny

The spirit of religion is a very dangerous spirit. Because many of us grew up in religious backgrounds, we are sometimes blind to the way this spirit operates. It is not about women not wearing make-up or wearing skirts to the ankles. It’s not even about not going out to a theatre or playing sports, no the spirit of religion has hidden itself in the hearts of God’s people, and it’s time for it to be exposed! Religion is a heart thing that manifests itself outwardly. Some of the traits of a religious spirit are pride, self-righteousness, nosiness, jealousy, competition, false humility, condemnation, shame, hatred, prejudice, and more. When a person is operating out of the spirit of religion, they often are “works” oriented, meaning they believe that God will bless them according to their good “works” and that God will beat them up if they get slightly out of line. The spirit of fear is also rooted in religion because it will have you afraid all the time. It will have you fearing that you’re going to sin and have you afraid that God will smite you as soon as you sin. In Romans 8:1, it tells us that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who are not walking after our old sinful nature but after the spirit (rather the things of the spirit). Many of us walk around like we’re about to be beaten up by God at any moment but God desires to bless, not curse. He laid the iniquity of us all on Christ (Isaiah 53:6). Thank God that Jesus paid the price so that we do not have to walk around so sin conscience. Now, we can be more God conscience and think more about Him and less about sin. Religion has its roots in tradition. It’s full of rules, regulations, and rituals which are all man made and not rooted in God’s word. For example, how many of us went to religious churches and was told not to visit other churches because they may teach you wrong doctrine? How many of us were told that we had to dress a certain way to please God? What really needs to be taught in some churches is how important it is to have a relationship with God.  It’s more important to be in a relationship with Jesus which will cast out religious attitudes and mind-sets. A relationship with Jesus will expose the hidden religion in the heart and bring about change in the heart. Christianity is more than just coming to church; it’s about being conformed to the image of Christ. The only way to do that is to hang out with Christ. You heard that old saying, “you become what you hang out with”. The more time you spend with Jesus, the more you see transformation because the mind is getting renewed (Romans 12:2). The more the mind becomes renewed, the less likely you’ll operate out of religion. In future articles, we will break it down further about the different traits. Remember, the most important thing to do, is to look for those traits in your own personal walk, expose them through prayer, and allow the Lord to do the transformation. We are all on this journey together.