Recently I have heard a theme running through men and women of God and what the Lord is speaking to his church right now. What is coming soon, and I believe what is happening right now to the body of Jesus Christ.
God is cleaning house and I want my house swept clean.
I cannot get away from what I see as why God is bringing repentance and judgment. The theme that is coming across loud and clear is L-O-V-E . Love to each other, love for ALL OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN CHRIST and not just those we agree with. These are the three Spirits I have heard emphasized & exposed to a deeper level recently and the Lord has spoken and showed me a deeper level of the "Pharisee" or Religious spirit and how it has crept into the church today:
What is dividing the church? Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers , against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
1. Leviathan
Job 3:8
Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.
This is a twisting, spirit that perverts the truth and divides, even the very purpose and plan of God for your life and others.
There is something very evil in judging a righteous man as Job was. Job had friends who made judgments on his life and why he was suffering and God's anger was against Job's friends. Job prayed for his friends.
PRAY & FORGIVE THOSE WHO MAKE JUDGMENTS AGAINST YOU, WHETHER THEY ARE TRUE OR FALSE. Forgiveness is an ongoing action.
2. Cain
Cain killed his brother. Genesis 4: 5 But for Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant , and he looked sad and depressed. 6 And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it .
Jealousy provoked in Cain, made him angry and depressed. (Depression is anger suppressed) We would not murder with a gun or knife, but with words . When we get angry with a sister or brother, then we speak negative words about someone – that's murder. If we do not master our anger it turns to depression and ends in MURDER.
Bless everyone brother and sister. Master your anger & depression, before you murder with your mouth.
BLESS YOUR BROTHER/SISTER IN CHRIST & ASK THE LORD TO HELP MAKE YOUR WORSHIP & OFFERING PLEASING TO HIM.
3. Pharisee
The Pharisee leads others to themselves or their group and their ways, and not into a personal relationship with God.
Matthew 23:15
"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.(Fit for Hell)
A Pharisee spirit wants to plan for your destruction, your downfall.
Matthew 12:14
But the Pharisees went out and held a consultation against Him, how they might do away with Him.
A Pharisee attributes the works of the Holy Spirit and the move of God to satan.
Matthew 12:24
But the Pharisees, hearing it, said, This Man drives out demons only by and with the help of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Matthew 9:34
But the Pharisees said, He drives out demons through and with the help of the prince of demons. (Even if we do not understand it, we had better not judge it.)
A Pharisee – Fault finder) always points out faults, or someone who is doing different than their own rules they have set.
Matthew 12:2
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, See there! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful and not permitted on the Sabbath.
A Pharisee puts great emphasis on money and little importance on doing Right, being Just or showing Mercy.
Matthew 23:23
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you give a tenth of your mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected and omitted the weightier (more important) matters of the Law--right and justice and mercy and fidelity. These you ought [particularly] to have done, without neglecting the others.
A Pharisee preys and takes advantage of the weak and innocent ones and then covers it up in a religious activity.
Matthew 23:14
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you swallow up widows' houses and for a pretense to cover it up make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation and the heavier sentence.
A Pharisee judges his actions against your actions, and condemns you.
Matthew 9:14
Then the disciples of John came to Jesus, inquiring, Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, [that is, abstain from food and drink as a religious exercise], but Your disciples do not fast?
A Pharisee demands exclusive allegiance to himself and does encourage those who want to draw close to the Lord by prayer and relationship and fellowship with the Lord on the daily and personal basis.
Matthew 23:13
But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so.
How can we stay far from this spirit?
John 14:31
I do only what the Father has instructed Me to do. [I act in full agreement with His orders. James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians). He who does not love abides (remains, is held and kept continually) in [spiritual] death .
Romans 2:1
THEREFORE YOU have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and denounce].
Judging with our words only exposes our own sin. Knowing that judging brings judgment to our own lives, should be enough to put the fear of God in our hearts, but if we don't trust enough that God will straighten every unjust thing out in the end , then we tend to hold a judgment in our heart. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Wait long enough and you will see a man's heart by the words they speak to you.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
In everything we do and say, there should be life flowing out of us. We cannot lose the life spring out of our heart. James 3:11
Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?
May 16, 2007 Written by Cheryl Lundberg
