FOUNDATIONS OF RELIGIOUS SPIRIT

The religious spirit builds its work on two basic foundations- fear and pride. The religious spirit seeks to have us serve the Lord to gain His approval rather than knowing that our approval comes through the cross of Jesus- Gal 6:14-15. Religious spirit bases its relationship to God on personal discipline rather than on the propitious sacrifice of Christ. Fear and pride are the two basic results of the fall and our deliverance from them is usually a long process. We can be patient with people who have religious spirit - giving them time to repent, but most times, we must not tolerate their ministry in our midst while waiting for their repentance. If this spirit is not quickly confronted, it will do more damage to the church, our ministries, our families and our lives than any other assault we can suffer.

Eli is a good biblical example of someone who ministered in a religious spirit founded on guilt. He had so much zeal for the Lord that when he heard that the Philistines had captured the Ark, he fell over and died. He had spent his life trying to serve the Lord as the high priest, but received one of the most frightening rebukes in the bible- 1 Sam. 3:13-14. His zeal for the Lord was based on sacrifices and offering that were supposed to compensate for his irresponsibility as a father.

Guilt can also stir us on to great zeal for the Lord- resulting in our attempt  to use sacrifices and offerings as an atonement for our fallings. This is an affront to the cross, which alone atones for our guilt. Such zeal will never be acceptable to the Lord, even if we can make sacrifices forever. Those gripped by this form of religious spirit will often be the most zealous to preach the cross. This is just a perversion because it emphasizes their cross more than the cross of Jesus. They delight in their self abasement, rather than the cross of Jesus.

Furthermore, idealism is one of the most deceptive and destructive guises of religious spirit. It imposes standards on others that are beyond the grace of God upon them or what God requires from them- Acts 15:10-11. Our grace to live for God should grow through love for Him and not because of pressure or guilt. The person with this kind of spirit will usually seek the perfect church and refuse to be part of anything less. Such people as this criticize  their church. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit, who are called ''the helpers'' may also have high hopes for their church, but they can still give themselves in service to some of the most lowly works to help these churches grow in vision and maturity. When a religious spirit is found on pride, it is evidenced by perfectionism; this extends to the point where every teaching is judged as right or wrong. Only Jesus can comply with such standard; hence when we impose such standards on ourselves, the result becomes serious delusions.

People with religious spirits can point to problems accurately but are unable to proffer solutions, except to tear down what had already been built. This is the enemy's strategy- to nullify progress and to bring about discouragement that limits growth. Hence, perfect obedience and understanding should always be our goal. We are compelled to always be open to greater accuracy in our beliefs  and teachings. If we have to wait to be perfect before we can minister, we can never be qualified. Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom just before He had to rebuke him and call him Satan- Matt. 16:23. Right after this great blessing of receiving the keys of the kingdom, the enemy deceived Peter, yet the Lord did not take the keys from him. When He gave Peter the keys, Jesus knew that he would soon deny Him. Paul the last-called apostle had to rebuke Peter again publicly because of his hypocrisy many years after, yet Peter was promised to sit on one of the twelve thrones that will judge the twelve tribes of Israel.

The Lord's leadership style was to provide a place where His followers could make mistakes and learn from them.

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