Spirit of Religion and the Spirit of Tradition Invalidate the Word of God
Author Dawn Wilson
www.dawnwilsonminstries.org
We as Christians often “mark” the place of an experience we have with God and with His
presence.
Genesis 28:10-13 Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he
took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. 12
He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven;
and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the
LORD stood above it
Genesis 28:16-18 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this
place, and I did not know it." 17 He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This
is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." 18 So Jacob rose
early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a
pillar and poured oil on its top.
Jacob “marked” the place of God presences when he experienced the angels ascending
and descending from heaven.
We “mark” these experiences with God’s presence with a mark such as “if we sing this song
I’ll get into God’s presence” , “If I attend this conference I’ll get into God’s presence” , “If I
hear such and such speaker I will experience the presence of God.”
We often “mark” the places where we experience the presence of God. The danger in
doing so is that often when God wants to come to us and pour His presence out to us He
can not because we are not in our “marked” place of experiencing His presence. We
become unable to experience Him and His presence unless our “marked” circumstances are
present. We become unable to move and function in the new move of God. We have
become filled with a religious spirit – it must be done a certain way for God’s presence to
come.
It is a danger to "mark" who we will listen to and hear preach God's Word. When we do so
we become unable to hear the message of God through any messenger He would choose
to use. We must remain able to hear God and hear His Spirit through all whom He would
use.
Churches and well as individuals “mark” the place of God’s presence. This has lead to
many religious spirits and spirits of traditions in God’s churches.
We must guard against “markers” becoming a spirit of religion and a spirit of tradition in our
lives.
We also often “mark” a move of God.
Numbers 21:6-9 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people,
so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, "We have
sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that
He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the
LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come
about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." 9 And Moses made a
bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man,
when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
2Kings 18:4 He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down
the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until
those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
The people of Israel had “marked” a move of God. The problem was in their marking God’s
move among them they came to worship the object He moved through and not God.
When we mark a move of God we are in danger of doing this also. We are in danger of
worshipping the move of God and not the God behind the move.
Worshipping our “marked” places leads us into a spirit of religion and a spirit of tradition.
When we are unable to move into the new move of God, when we are unable to partake of
the new wine God longs to pour out into us it is usually because we have set up “marked’
places which have become filled with a spirit of religion and a spirit of tradition. When we
refuse any change, when we refuse any transformation God is trying to do with in us, when
we refuse to move with God it is usually because of a spirit of religion and a spirit of tradition.
This is what God has spoken to me about the spirits of religion and traditions. These spirits
qualify, disqualify and limit the Word of God and the revelation of God.
God spoke to me that these spirits cause us to take the messages we hear and qualify them
against our religion and tradition. What does not fit with our religion and our tradition we
throw away. We won’t even consider what has been spoken through the messenger of
God and in doing so we disqualify the Word and revelation of God. Because we qualify and
disqualify the Word of God and His revelation the Word of God becomes limited in our lives.
It can only perform what our spirit of religion and tradition agrees with.
Matthew 15:1-3 Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and
said, 2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their
hands when they eat bread." 3 And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves
transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Matthew 15:6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the
word of God for the sake of your tradition.
In these scriptures we see that the spirit of religion and tradition transgress and invalidate
the Word of God. I believe they do so because these spirits cause us to qualify, disqualify
and limit the Word of God and His revelation.
Mark 7:6-9 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is
written: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR
AWAY FROM ME. 7 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES
THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.' 8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the
tradition of men." 9 He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the
commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
Again, in this scripture we see the Word of God and His revelation set aside – disqualified –
in order to keep their tradition.
Colosians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty
deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the
world, rather than according to Christ.
The spirit of religion and the spirit of tradition is a trap of the enemy – he uses them to take
us captive. We must do as this scripture exhorts us – see to it that we are not taken captive
by these spirits but be taken captive by Christ alone.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and
able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to transform our lives. God's Word is sharper than
any two edged sword, it pierces between the soul and the spirit, it judges the thoughts and
the intents of our hearts.
Satan does not want the Word of God to prosper and be effective in your life. Satan uses
the spirits of religion and tradition to take you captive and make the Word of God of no
effect in our lives.
Let us be not taken captive by satan through the spirit of religion and tradition. Let us be
taken captive to Christ alone. Let us be open to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit
through the Word of God.
Author: Dawn Wilson
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