SUMMER OF PRAYER

JOURNAL | WEEK TWO

SPIRIT OF RELIGION BE GONE!

Entry 4 | 06.13.2022

Confirmation of breaking off the Spirit of Religion: We prayed against this spirit in prayer room as a group of 3 asking the Lord to send more of his children into prayer rooms. Then Pastor Matt stood up and prayed almost exactly what we had just prayed in our group of 3. 

The Lord has been telling me that He wants to break off the Spirit of Religion from His people.

This spirit is known to hinder progress of Intimacy with Jesus. This spirit can actually take the place of Intimacy with Jesus in people's lives. This spirit can make believers and non-believers think that worshipping God looks a certain way. It will say that if you do a, b, and c, then you can't possibly be a true Christian. It will say that if you don't do d, e, and f, then you can't possibly be a true Christian. But Christ said He came back to fulfill the law not abolish; and by doing that, He flipped the entire system on its head. And from the days Jesus began to speak Kingdom words, religion has battled against the Kingdom.

Not all parts of religion are bad. Religion gives us a place to go to learn about our Savior. Religion sets up a hierarchical system of order for leadership in the church. It defines what certain groups of people believe and how they approach the Kingdom. It creates unified places of worship where people can find fellowship and support. So, it is not inherently bad. But when abuses rise up in those systems, people get hurt. And people equate that hurt with Jesus. But my friend, I am here to tell you that religion is not Jesus and Jesus is not religion. Religion helps us access Jesus and understand the nature of the Godhead. And Jesus can be found inside of religion. But they are not one in the same.

Lord, help us to understand where religion fails us in having Intimacy with You. Your word says that those who seek wisdom will not be rebuked. Lord, we seek Kingdom wisdom to separate religion from Intimacy with You. Speak to the hearts of Your children-believers and nonbelievers- and reconcile the hurt that has been experienced. Insert peace where trauma exists. Insert faith where rebellion has lived. Allow Your children to see You calling them regardless of the past experiences that has wounded them. Tear down the lies of the enemy that says Jesus can't even be found in church anymore. Tear down the lies that you can go to church 2 hours on Sunday, and that is enough. Insert the desire into each of your children to read Your word, worship You, and pray with You. Send each of Your wandering children into a house of faith that will build their relationship with You instead of tearing it down. Separate for us relationships with people from relationship with You. Help us to respect each other in our differences and experiences. Help us to see You rightly in all of Your Majesty. Help us to seek out Your truths on our own instead of waiting for religion to do it for us. Help us to understand what the roles of religion and the church are. Help us to understand how these differ from a relationship with You.

What does a relationship with You look like? What does true Intimacy with the Lover of my soul look like? Unfortunately these answers can be guided by religion, but they cannot be answered by it. These answers are only found with the King of Kings. Each experience is different from the next. All are filtered through the unique set of circumstances that made us who we are. But through time and effort to build a friendship with the Lord, those answers will be discovered. Intimacy with the Lord is the most interesting relationship I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It is difficult but rewarding. It is intense and comforting. It is peaceful and jarring at the same time. It is correcting and soothing simultaneously.  And very often I find myself telling the Lord, "it makes no sense to keep doing this. Why do I keep doing this when it is wrecking me to pieces?" But I keep going because I know where the journey is taking me. It is taking me into the heart of the Father...the Creator of the Universe. It is purifying my sinful nature and changing my mind, heart, and body. Christ is undoing what the world and religion has done to me and correcting those wrongs. He is building me back in a way that is whole and useful to His Kingdom. What man cannot do, He is doing. What the world has broken, He is fixing. Where religion ends, He begins. Where the church cannot access, the Lord has already overcome and revealed and begun to repair.

So stop listening to the enemy lies about what you have to do or cannot do to love the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Run! Run straight into the arms of the Father and allow Him to guide you. The Holy Spirit literally told me where to go to church, which gave me a religion that has helped me find Intimacy with Christ.  Have you asked the Lord for a church? But not just any church, a church that will help you love Jesus and to learn the nature of the Kingdom so you can recognize it and seek it further. Religion isn't going to get you into Heaven, but it is a good place to start. That is why the enemy comes so hard against religion. He doesn't want even 1 person to find a good church. He doesn't want you to learn that church hurt isn't Jesus hurt. He wants you to equate those negative thoughts and experiences with Jesus. Man is not Jesus. And Jesus, while 100% man, is still 100% God. So stop letting the enemy twist that in your head.

Jesus is perfect love. He will not harm you or abandon you. He has beautiful plans for his children. He will give you your heart's desire, but He asks you to desire Him. If you have tried religion and it didn't work, I implore you to try Jesus. Find a church that doesn't care about the walls of the church but pushes you to new levels of learning and worshipping Jesus. Don't look at what is done on Sunday or Wednesday, look at what is done on "non-obligation" days. The Lord draws us nearer to Him always. We are the ones who respond yes or no. If you have been answering no, will you try the answer of yes?

Jesus, we love You. We thank You for tearing the veil so that we can access You and draw nearer to You. You want relationship with us more than we can ever want it. Lord, will you allow us to experience You on a deeper level? Allow us to feel what pure love feels like. I know we cannot handle a full understanding of it, but Lord grant us just enough to know what true love is. Lord, I trust You. It is in the Mighty Name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Sara B.

KINGDOM OPPORTUNITY

Entry 4 | 06.14.2022

I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Tony Evans this morning, and he introduced me to a new term: Kingdom Opportunity.  Not only did I realize this is a great term, but I realized I was standing in the midst of a Kingdom Opportunity.  Praise Jesus for these situations that educate us and guide us. Pastor Evans explained that a Kingdom Opportunity is an opportunity to chose the Kingdom needs over your own needs. He explained that it often forces us to utilize spiritual knowledge we gained from experiencing spiritual warfare. This means that the Lord has literally prepared us in some way for this exact opportunity. Some might say that we were born for a time such as this. That the Lord chose us for this exact time and for this exact purpose. He used the story of Esther to illustrate this term biblically. Esther was perfectly situated in the palace to rescue her people, the Jews, from genocide.

Have you ever been face-to-face with a kingdom situation that you knew was forcing you to act, and the goal was contrary to what you desired? Maybe your heart desired that promotion, but the Lord was telling you not to do it. Maybe the Lord was asking you to step out in faith, but you were too scared to step outside of your comfort zone. Maybe you had been praying for something to happen, but the sacrifice to gain it was too grand.

What happens when you pray for patience? What happens when you pray against your pride? What happens when the Lord anoints you for an assignment? These things are always much bigger than we are equipped to handle. So what do you do when the Lord says chose between your want and my Kingdom need? He might say, you want more money, but I need you to quit your job and go to Africa. He might say, you want to be promoted in the church, but I need to know that I can trust your pride to handle submission to leadership.
What do you do then? Well, you make a decision. Do you want more for and from the Kingdom, or do you want what you want?

I have honestly not ever heard anyone testify that picking the Kingdom was a mistake. What you normally hear is that they received some kind of phenomenal reward that they could never have dreamed to receive. Now, don't twist this. You don't do Kingdom work for rewards, and very rarely is a Kingdom reward money. The rewards I am speaking of are greater measures: greater measure of love for someone else, greater measure of compassion for a cause, a greater measure of purpose to fight for, a greater measure of closeness to Jesus. But on the flipside, you often hear someone say on their death bed, "I wish I would have....." and it always goes back to something that aligns with the Kingdom. I wish I would have: spent more time with my family, done that missionary work, read my Bible, etc.

When Your Kingdom Opportunity arises, what will you chose? Flesh or spirit? Yourself or Kingdom? Instant or delayed gratification?

Thank You Lord for opportunities to examine our hearts and learn if we are focused on You or the world. Thank You Lord for greater measures of You. Thank You Lord for freewill that allows us to seek You and chose You. Thank You that You always seem to send a sort of moral compass to assist us in these times. Thank You that You give us opportunities that allow us to position ourselves into alignment with You. I love you, Jesus. Amen. 

Sara B.