Prayer for Breaking Off a Religious Spirit
an inner healing prayer
Sozo
Sozo
I repent for and renounce every false belief system, every religious practice and every religious spirit that ties my love, acceptance, significance and my value in the eyes of God to my performance.
I renounce the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as my life source. It is not. God says that all religious systems produce death. He also says the Tree of Life alone can produce true life in me. Therefore, I embrace the Tree of Life as my only source of life.
I confess my love, acceptance, significance and value come from God’s loving nature through Jesus’ gift which is in me by His Holy Spirit. I renounce every belief system, religious practice, and religious spirit, including false forms of Christianity that tie my acceptance to unrealistic demands and perfect performance but then denies me access to the living God, true intimacy with Him, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit.
I repent for and renounce the spirit of Leviathan, the spirit of Phariseeism, the spirits of pride, judgmentalism, criticism, perfectionism and legalism. I embrace grace, mercy, forgiveness, love, joy, peace and everything else that is true of God’s nature and the intentions, actions, and attitudes that He has for me!
I now take full authority, as a child of Most High God, over this demonic stronghold of religiosity and I command this spirit of Leviathan, Phariseeism, pride, judgmentalism, criticism, perfectionism, legalism and all other associated demons to leave me now, based on the finished work of Christ on the Cross. You religious spirits are no longer welcome here so BE GONE in the mighty name of Jesus and never return to torment me again! Amen!
A Christian can go to church every single Sunday morning, for as much as 20 years or more, and NEVER change. They can worship, pray, read the bible, serve the church and do all the things a Christian is supposed to do but remain just as unclean and just as broken as when they entered because they are merely feeding their religious spirits.
The saddest thing about Christians with strong religious spirits is that they will usually “beat up” anyone who has fallen down due to some major sin like adultery and when this person tries to get up by trusting in the Cross and letting Jesus wash over them with His blood, these spirits will tell the sinner to just stay down. They will attack him with words like, “You think you can get off that easily?” So the sinner feels condemned and judged. The sinner cannot find true healing and freedom in Jesus in an environment like that. So he starts to strive just like other Christians with religious spirits and he soon learns to follow the strict rules of dos and don’ts of the man-made, performance-based religion of the church.
A religious spirit is “a type of demonic spirit that influences a person, or group of people, to replace a genuine, living relationship with God with dead works and empty traditions.”
There are a number of trademarks of the religious spirit. How does a Christian with a religious spirit look like? Can we spot him or her right away as soon as they come into our Sozo rooms?
Concerned with outside appearances of being holy and righteous — The religious spirit deceives Christians into thinking that if they behave, act and talk like a Christian, this replaces the need for Christ in their lives. Pride creeps in and puffs up the believer into thinking they are “all that and a bag of chips.” This kind of thinking actually blocks the blessing of an intimate relationship with God. —“…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” - James 4:6
God’s love and salvation are being earned — Even though a Christian can even teach about Jesus and the gospel of salvation, the religious spirit continually lies to him and tells him that he still needs to perform to earn God’s love and acceptance. They are often stressed-out, burned-out Christians who constantly live with feelings of guilt, condemnation, shame, self-doubt and self-hatred. — “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9
Craving a position of honor in the Church — Closely related to pride, the religious spirit drives the Christian to seek positions within in the church or ministry where they will be recognized and commended. As a result, he or she tends to become isolated and secretive. They don’t let anyone near enough for fear that others will see their flaws and will no longer be “worthy” of the position. They are also more focused on tasks and getting praised for accomplishments than developing a true relationship with God and with others. — “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” - Philippians 2:3-4
Harsh, judgmental attitude toward others — The religious spirit will skillfully mutter words of judgment toward others in the Christian’s ear and he or she will start to develop a spirit of superiority. The voice of the religious spirit will become louder and louder until the Christian feels completely justified to place blame and accuse their brethren. This, like the position of honor, can tend isolate Christians and can also blind them of their own weaknesses. — “…First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” - Matthew 7:5
Rigidity, stubborness and a refusal to change — The Christian with a religious spirit rejects any revelation that calls for a change. Because of the spirit of pride that has set in, this Christian thinks he or she already knows what is best. He or she is often closed off to any other ideas or thoughts of moving forward when the Holy Spirit begins to speak. — “…He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”—Romans 8:3-4