The Religious Spirit and Our Calling

"What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don't enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering." -Luke 11:52

Jesus was very popular among the religious leaders of his day.  However, it was not a positive popularity.  The Pharisees, because their power was threatened by Jesus, were the ones who plotted to kill Him.  The scripture says they hated him - they wanted nothing more than to put him away.  But it was the people who stalled the process of Jesus' crucifixion, because many believed He was the Messiah.

This gives us a weighty example about the truth of the religious spirit - it seeks to destroy true works of God in us, and it seeks to destroy our destiny. It reinforces the lie that we are required to perform religious rituals or duties in order to gain acceptance by God.

A man my dad knows owns a film studio in Hollywood.  He said for 30 years he felt ostracized in Hollywood - he was a black sheep to the church because he worked in Hollywood, and he was also outcast by the Jewish film producers in the area because he was a Christian. 

But the fact of the matter was, he was right where God wanted him to be.  When my dad met him and told him he had one of the greatest opportunities to make uplifting films that could change culture and draw people to hunger after Jesus, he said, "Boy, I wish I had known you 25 years ago." He had finally felt affirmed in his destiny.

Can you see any places where the religious spirit has operated in your life, living out rules and regulations in exchange for relationship and destiny?  Pray that God will redeem any areas where this has caused hurt, and that God would reveal His ultimate destiny for you, redeeming and restoring it for His ultimate glory.

“RELIGION: I obey; therefore, I am accepted. // GOSPEL: I am accepted; therefore, I obey.” - Caterina Santoro

Religion Trips Us Up

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses."  Galatians 5:16-18

Have you ever heard the story of the big red button?  I used to see it often in cartoons as a kid.  The cartoon character is presented with a situation in which there is a "big red button" he or she was not allowed to touch, and sooner or later they can't help themselves. 

I think this is a lot like religion versus a relationship with God.  When we're living in religion, we’re bound by a set of rules that we have to live by in order to be accepted by God and others in our faith.  The success or failure of our religion is based upon our ability to perform certain activities or refrain from certain ones based on the nature of what our faith law says.  But Jesus came so we wouldn't have do that at all on our own.  He was the fulfillment of the law, and yet set us free from it.  He came first so that we might have life, and life more abundantly.  He came to set us free! 

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit."  Romans 7:5&6

If we feel bound, I think it means we have not fully embraced the resurrection life that God desires for us.  Jesus sets us free from a list of rules and regulations, but we learn how to follow them when we simply place our trust in Him.  Our sanctification is God-birthed, versus self-birthed.  Sooner or later, we have no desire to press the big red button, because Jesus fills our hearts in every area that lacks.

Are you living under religion or are you led by the Holy Spirit?

The Kingdom of God

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." -Luke 17:20 & 21

Dr. Miles Munroe, senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, wrote a book called “Kingdom Principles: Preparing for Kingdom Experience and Expansion.”  In the book he describes the difference between religion (do's and don'ts) and the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught in the Bible.  He calls the Kingdom of God “the foundation of God’s plan for mankind.” (p. 81) 

Jesus mentions the “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” about 85 times in the New Testament.  In fact, if we read the entirety of Jesus‘  teaching in the New Testament, we will find He spent nearly all of His time on earth talking about the Kingdom! 

Why then is the kingdom so misunderstood?  What is the kingdom exactly?

According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a kingdom is:  “a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen.” In this case, the King is our Father God in heaven. From this we can gather that true Christianity has a lot more to do with a perfected and uncorrupted form of heavenly government then it does with religion.

Dr. Monroe goes on to say, “Life in the kingdom is really about returning to the governing authority of God in the earth and learning how to live and function in that authority.” (p. 158)  Because of Jesus, we are now in the process of gaining back what was lost in the Garden of Eden.  (Genesis 3)  

Repentance and our acceptance of grace through Jesus Christ unlocks the door for us to enter God’s kingdom.  But, it doesn’t stop there.  Jesus teaches about many keys that, when activated, unlock the power of heaven in our own lives.

There is so much we can learn about God’s kingdom.  Ask the Lord to show you His kingdom and the part He might have you play.  He desires that we pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10) and that we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (Matt 6:33).  He promises that all these things will be added to us when we do.