by Ron Devore

Jack Deere, a former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, church planter, and author of the book, “Surprised by the Presence of God,” once said, “Passion for the Son of God will conquer a thousand evils in our hearts and is the most powerful weapon against evil in our lives.” The enemy knows if leaders will focus on the evil in their lives, they will become that which they behold (2 Corinthians 3:18). So Satan has unleashed on the religious public his best weapon; a religious spirit. “A religious spirit is an evil spirit that seeks to substitute religious activity for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.” (Rick Joyner in his book, A prophetic Vision for the 21st Century). It’s main objective is to get believers to hold to a form of Godliness, while ignoring, or even denying the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:5).

The religious spirit is the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” that Jesus warned the disciples about (Matthew 16:5-12). It acts like leaven in bread; it adds no nutritional value just a lot of inflation. In the same way it adds no life, value or power to the church. It simply feeds the human pride that caused the first fall.

Satan knows God will not inhabit any work based on inflated human pride; instead God resists all such endeavors (James 4:6-7). One of Satan’s primary strategies is to get us to fall to human pride, and religious pride is the ultimate of this deadly evil. Satan knows that, like leaven, once it gets in it is almost impossible to remove. Pride by its very nature is the most difficult stronghold to remove.

A sure sign we are afflicted is that we tend to believe all reproofs, exhortations and corrections in the Word of God are designed for others, not ourselves. That is why Jesus said the primary problem with the Pharisees was that they saw only the moat in their brother’s eyes while ignoring the plank in their own.

One of the most deceptive characteristics of the religious spirit is it is often founded on zeal for God. There were no people more zealous for God than the Pharisees; they prayed more, fasted more, read the Bible more and had a great hope for the coming of the Messiah. But when He came they crucified Him! Saul of Tarsus is a perfect example: he held the garments of the killers of Stephen and consented to his death, as did the killers of Jesus.

The religious spirit seeks to have us serve the Lord to gain His approval, rather than knowing our approval comes only through the cross of Christ! So it needs to be said the religious spirit bases it’s relationship to God on personal discipline rather than on the atoning power of the Blood of the Lamb. When we see God through the eyes of a religious spirit and become infiltrated with the leaven of the Pharisees (pride), we tend to lead others by control based on our position rather than our relationship.

How are you living today? Are you living led by relationship with God or religion? Are you leading through relationship or religion? Have you let a religious spirit steal from a relationship with God by inflating your life with things that have no value?

Ron DeVore is the President and Founder of World Outreach Ministry Foundation. Ron and his wife Shirley have served in ministry in the United States and since 1987 have served in Uganda and around the world.