elevate July 10

so my ramblings turned out a little like this

A religious spirit is very similar to the taking on of an idol. Both of them steal the relational aspect of a personal God. Both of them allow the individual to manipulate, and make deals with God based on behavior and sacrifice.

Characteristics of a religious spirit can be broken down into as small as three parts, and as many as 25. I broken down to a number somewhere in the middle.

First if religion is taking over relationship in a specific area of your life outward appearance becomes very Important. What you say and what you do is evaluated by those who watch you. What other people think about what you say what you do becomes of greater and greater importance as a religious spirit grows.
Second there is a greater sense of condemnation and fear in your life. The idea that you need to get things right in order to be right. Also if you don't make things happen you may be a failure, or God's plans may fail.
Third would be pride, this comes from believing there is only one right way and you have it. There's also a pride in developing standards for yourself that you believe to be better than the standards of those around you.
Fourth would be a concept of judgment. There is judgment tied into religious spirit because if you're right then you judge others to be wrong. It is also a judgment that if you have the highest standards and other standards must be lower or lesser than yours.
The fifth one was legalism. This is where methods replace the relationship with God. This is seen as somebody who is walking close with God starts taking their behavior and turning it into a method by which everyone can be close to God. Legalism comes in as that method now becomes required for anyone who is close to God, or wants to be. In legalism the Holy Spirit's guidance is no longer desired on a moment by moment basis but maybe occasionally for big decision regarding a specific method or program, or personnel and after that the methods will take over again.
There is a need to figure out God, so that the individual can explain God. And tradition becomes more important than what the tradition was meant to remember.

All of these things take place within the context of people who love God or make that claim. They are people that at one point walked closely with God but a religious spirit slowly began to separate them from the personal moment by moment interaction that a relationship needs in order to grow.
If you sense a separation from an intimate relationship with God and religious spirit may be what the enemy is using to pull your part.