THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT IS OPPOSING THE HOUR OF HIS VISITATION
Dee Hoetmer
Many of God’s children have been brought to humility and brokenness before the Lord Most High God so that His name is no longer profaned in the earth and that the lost and dying world can truly see the essence of the true Jesus, and not as the Church has portrayed Him for centuries. However the spirit of religion is still a stronghold in many, that even in their brokenness, they are still not aware of this in their lives, for it seemeth good unto them.
The Religious Spirit In The Church
The Lord is raising up many that will not be accepted by the Church today as Prophets and Apostles. In fact many in the Church will be the first to persecute the ones raised up by the Lord in this hour. He will, by this work, offend the spirit of religion so rife, even in the born again Churches. The true anointing in these lowly one's lives will be an affront to most of the Church; the Lord Most High is coming to manifest Himself in Spirit and in Truth and in Mighty Anointing through His totally surrendered and broken ones, for this is how His glory is going to be made manifest upon the face of the earth. Will you and your Church be the ones who receives them or ones who persecute them?
I find that the lost and dying receive the mighty anointing of the Lord easier than Christians! Many Christians don't ask Lord is this of you, but put up walls if an anointing doesn't fit into their teachings. THEY DO NOT DISCERN BY THE SPIRIT, but are stuck in their learnedness and in their accepted forms and functioning of their previous religious teaching and experience. I am speaking even of those in born again churches experiencing some anointing and the presence of the Lord.
It is not only the manifestations of the anointing that will be an offence but also the physical appearance and the lowly estate of the bearers of His anointing and Glory. When the Messiah came as a lowly figure of a carpenter’s son and sat with wine bibbers, prostitutes and tax collectors and when He did miracles on a Sabbath, they cried crucify Him. The Messiah did not come in the form they expected Him to and it was an affront to them. They persecuted Him despite the mighty signs and wonders, despite the truth He spoke, despite the anointing in His life, and so THEY MISSED THEIR HOUR OF VISITATION.
If you don’t believe that the many in the Church will be the ones who will be persecutors of the new move of the Holy Spirit, let me ask you Beloveds of how often have you not been in a Church and had the spirit of prophesy come upon you, or a tongue, or the urgency to prayer for someone and have been scalded and frowned upon by the present leaders of the Church! THE SPIRIT OF RELIGION, THE SPIRITUAL PRIDE AND MAN’S INTELLECT IS A GREAT HINDRANCE TO LIBERTY IN THE SPIRIT AND TO HIS MOVING IN POWER AND MIGHT AMONGST US! The Church of Christ Jesus has become just as pharisaical and when He moves by His Holy Spirit in the new way as has been often prophesied in the last few years, many in the born again churches will say it is of Beelzebub, for the religious spirit together with their pride and their intellect cannot discern the true anointing or the works of the Holy Spirit, just like the Pharisees of old!
Luk 11:14 And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 11:15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils
Luk 13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.
Today Beloveds, if you truly move in His anointing are you not already persecuted? If some anointing does not fit into the order of the Church service, it is not allowed by many of the present day leaders. May I ask you WHO IS LORD OF THE SERVICE, THE LORD HIMSELF OR MAN? Many of the present leaders need to stand down and let the King Of Glory come into the meetings and to let Him have His way.
Psa 24:6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
24:7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 24:8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. 24:9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 24:10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
Many pray for revival and for signs and wonders to manifest but they themselves are in the way of what the Lord wants to do in His church. When revival does come in full manifestation of His anointing it will offend those with a religious spirit, both within and without the Church.
The Religious Spirit In Our Lives
I have often experienced, when praying for those with a religious spirit, that there is as if there is a brick wall around them and a ball of steel in their minds (made of pride, stubbornness and the spirit of religion). Wounded people need to put walls around themselves for protection and put on pride so as to not allow themselves to be further wounded. Also many (not all) I have discerned, with a spirit of religion and pride, were severely broken before they came to the Lord and had low self-esteem. Once they became born again and by not allowing themselves to be healed and delivered, they have put on pride of being able to quote endlessly the scriptures and like to lord it over others. They want to be seen as a spiritual leader but not with a heart of a servant. In a sense and put simply, as they were seen as nothing in the world, they can be seen as something in the Church! This includes those who pride themselves on knowing a lot about the demonic realm i.e. the hierarchy and the names of demonic entities and the deliverance ministry is almost their sole focus. This is because their God given authority over demons puffs up their deeply seated low self esteem.
JESUS IS ALWAYS TO REMAIN OUR FOCUS, NOT OUR MINISTRY, NOR THE DEMONIC REALM, OR EVEN OUR HEALING, TEACHING OR EVEN PROPHETIC MINISTRY. ALL THESE THINGS MUST SPIRITUALLY FLOW OUT OF OUR RELATIONSHIP IN INTIMACY WITH JESUS! IF NOT YOU ARE IN DANGER OF MINISTERING FROM THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL AND NOT FROM THE TREE OF LIFE.
These things bring spiritual death and not life and bring disrepute to the Holy Name Of the Lord Jesus and His church. We become “bible bashers” and we are not known for our love and compassion or empathy with the wounded in the Church or without. We become a people who sprout scriptures as platitudes and we pontificate to the hurting and lost, INSTEAD OF HEARING WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS SAYING ABOUT THE PERSON OR SITUATION. As time goes on we become the un-teachable religious spirits so rife in the Church today! The anointed ones, after trying to minister by the Spirit to such, walk away feeling drained and pained in soul and spirit from such and weep for their release from these things!
The Lord has been speaking through His prophets of healing those that would be healed at this time. I believe this is so that the Lord may do a complete work in them so that they may be partakers of His end time out pouring and to make them part of His end time army. However the Word says He resists the proud and Jesus was very rebuking of those with a religious spirit in His time upon the face of the earth.
Do you want all of Jesus? Do you want to be a pipe or conduit of the Power of His Might in this hour? Ask the Lord to show you His Glory and lay down your religious preconceptions. Ask Him to break the fetters and chains over your mind and of the spirit of religion and spiritual pride in your soul. BE FREE IN JESUS NAME! Give Jesus permission to heal you for the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and you need to give Him permission to do a deep work of healing in your inner man.
Receiving The Latter and Former Rain Anointing And The Holy Spirit’s Work And Manifestations In This Hour
We are told to test the spirits and so we must, BUT MANY TEST THROUGH THEIR INTELLECT AND NOT BY THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRIT. We have become so taught and become so knowledgeable, but yet remain without power and abiding anointing. Many have become letter of the law Christians and head Christians and not led by the Spirit, which the Word says these so led are the sons of God and no longer just children.
Many are fearful for there has been much that has been hype in the Church and many walk in a mixture of spirits so that you are not sure just what is going to be imparted to you. Of course many are rightfully fearful of who they let lay hands on them and this is good for more and more false prophets and counterfeit anointings will manifest in these last days, BUT WE WILL MISS OUT ON THE MOVE OF GOD IN THESE END OF TIMES IF WE DO NOT DISCERN BY THE SPIRIT FOR EVEN OUR INTELLECT WILL LEAD US ASTRAY; BEING INFLUENCED BY OUR DECETFULLY WICKED HEARTS AND INCORRECT RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS OVER MANY YEARS.
WE NEED TO BECOME AGAIN AS LITTLE CHILDREN TRUSTING OUR FATHER TO LEAD US INTO ALL TRUTH AND THAT HE IS A GIVER OF GOOD GIFTS. We need, in our humility and brokenness, to become as a child and say Daddy is this of you? One can test whether an anointing is of the Holy Spirit if you stay around long enough to judge the fruits in yourself or in others. If it brings about a greater love for Jesus and changes them more to be like Jesus what manner of anointing is it....Beelzebub will not glorify and change people to the image of Yahshua.
Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, THE SAME IS THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Mark 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
Matthew 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Luk 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Prayer
Lord I come before you as a little child and I repent of every time I judged with my intellect and have not discerned by enquiring of Your Holy Spirit
* a person sent to me by You
* a word or teaching that I deemed not of You because of blockages in my own mind and heart
* I repent of every time I have seen a manifestation and deemed it not of You without enquiring of Your Holy Spirit
* I repent of operating with the spirit of jealousy against Your anointed one
* I repent of opposing the work of the Holy Spirit in me because of my pride and intellect
* I repent of cursing knowingly or unknowingly with the words of my mouth Your sent ones because of jealousy
* I repent of every time I have wounded You Lord by being un-submissive to Your Holy Spirit and guidance
* I repent of every time I disobeyed You, knowingly and unknowingly
I give You permission to deal with me and ask You now Lord of Lords to heal me of wounds that has allowed the entrance of these foul things, and I ask You now Lord to pull out the roots
* of bitterness
* of unforgiveness
* of the spirit of anger which is like unto a murderous spirit
* of Pride… pride of life and pride in my intellect and natural understanding as opposed to being Holy Spirit led
* of jealousy
* of a haughty spirit
* of a un-teachable spirit
(The Lord resists those with the above-mentioned things in our lives so they must be dealt with first; to move from a measure of anointing to the full measure He is wanting to pour into and on us in this time)
I ask You now by Your Holy Spirit to pull out the deeply rooted spirit of religion out of me. (In faith do the action as of pulling out a taproot out of yourself either from your belly or the top of your head).
Thank You Lord that Your Word says that if we submit to You that the devil will flee from us.
I thank you Lord that You fill those areas now left empty with Your Holy Spirit as I sit before You with outstretched hands, receiving in faith. Thank you Jesus that you are the author and finisher of my faith. Thank you Lord, that in being totally submissive to You and knowing of Your great love for me, that I have nothing to fear of being left “un-protected and vulnerable” as I lay down my own intellect and pride and I willing submit to You, My Lord and King Jesus, to all that You have for me and to all that You want do in me and through me.
AMEN.
