The Spirit Of Religion Wants To Steal Your Mic!
I am not a huge dreamer. Some people can take a power nap and get a prophetic dream, not me. However, when I do have a dream from the Lord, I take notice. When He chooses to speak to me through a dream I know it’s important! I want to share with you a dream I had several months ago. It was one of those times that even during the dream I was aware that there was substance to it. The Lord was revealing something and I needed to pay attention. After I share the dream, I will explain the interpretation, though it’s rather obvious.
In my dream, I was invited to speak at a very large church. I knew that it wasn’t the kind of church that I would generally be invited to speak at. It just wasn’t in the circles that I would usually be connected with. I knew I needed to go and accepted the invite.
Upon arriving I was given a tour of the building. It was huge! When I was escorted to the sanctuary the size was unbelievable. It stretched beyond what the outside of the building would seem to allow. It was uncommonly large in a way that transcended physical possibilities. My guide escorted me to my seat and I was given a microphone. I understood that after worship I would take the stage and preach.
During the painfully dry worship set, the Lord began to download a message into me. I resisted as I knew they would not receive a message like that in a place like this. It was a message that would severely challenge along with a call to come out of the dead place they were in. The urgency of the message grew stronger and I knew it was the Word of the Lord so I resolved to declare what He had given me.
As the worship music began to close I reached down for the microphone I had been given. It was gone! Instantly I had a knowing that it was stolen. Someone had intentionally taken the mic from me! Knowing I had heard from the Lord I approached what I believed to be the pastor of the church. I told him that someone had taken my microphone. He shrugged it off, unconcerned, and said that he would just preach instead.
I then watched as he stepped up to the podium and began to deliver a message that literally made me nauseous. A sick feeling settled deep in my stomach as I heard him spew lifeless venom through his message. Surely the congregation would not receive this? I stared out at the crowd and saw a sea of people, eyes glazed over with no expression on their face. They were taking it in the way a patient would succumb to an anesthetic. The crowd was being lulled to sleep and seemed to enjoy it. It was what they wanted.
I then noticed how the “pastor” moved about on the stage. He moved with an unnatural gait. It wasn’t just odd, it was inhuman. I realized that I was watching a demon spirit and not a man. He was not releasing the gospel of life but a decree of death…and the people swallowed every word.
I awoke from the dream so grieved in my spirit and reached for something to record what I had seen. I felt sad, troubled and angry at the same time! The Word of the Lord was halted through theft and deception while a spirit of religion released anesthetic poison to a crowd that stretched as far as I could see.
The Lord began to speak to me…
The spirit of religion wants to steal the mic! It seeks to silence the drawing forth that I would declare over My people. It will trade life for a lie, freedom for bondage and relationship for a mere ritual!
Just as an addict may depend on pain pills to get them through the day, many in the Body of Christ have succumbed to powerless religion to fill the void that is a product of not pursuing His presence. Instead of living in His glory, we choose to simply check a box. The scriptures are not silent regarding the spiritual nature of not just the world but those who claim to be believers:
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
– 2 Timothy 3:1-5
There is a lullaby of religion that would sing us to sleep if we allow. It will dress us up to look the part all the while offering a life of compromise. You see, compromise isn’t just the sins we can all usually agree on. Compromise is anything less than the relationship the Father intended when the veil was torn and the Bride was invited to enter into the chambers of holiness and presence.
Sunday after Sunday, multitudes sit in church, proudly feeling as if they have done their due diligence when it comes to being unashamedly devoted to living for the One who shed His blood for us. Would Jesus approve of the mediocrity of much of today’s church? Have many have traded true intimacy for an imitation? Instead of seeing a book of Acts church are we seeing a church who is simply acting?
Don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about being exuberant for the sake of being exuberant. We can also get religious about manifesting something that the Spirit of God is not in, just because flesh expects it. We do not need a fabrication of the Spirit any more than the stifling of the Spirit.
I encourage you reader, stand firm against the spirit of religion who would seek to steal your mic, your message of power and holiness, of relationship and intimacy. Shake off the stagnation and proclaim the full gospel that produces progression and not idleness. It is time for the church to wake up! It is time for the saints to arise! No more sleeping saints!
A word by Jason Tanksley
I am not a huge dreamer. Some people can take a power nap and get a prophetic dream, not me. However, when I do have a dream from the Lord, I take notice. When He chooses to speak to me through a dream I know it’s important! I want to share with you a dream I had several months ago. It was one of those times that even during the dream I was aware that there was substance to it. The Lord was revealing something and I needed to pay attention. After I share the dream, I will explain the interpretation, though it’s rather obvious.
In my dream, I was invited to speak at a very large church. I knew that it wasn’t the kind of church that I would generally be invited to speak at. It just wasn’t in the circles that I would usually be connected with. I knew I needed to go and accepted the invite.
Upon arriving I was given a tour of the building. It was huge! When I was escorted to the sanctuary the size was unbelievable. It stretched beyond what the outside of the building would seem to allow. It was uncommonly large in a way that transcended physical possibilities. My guide escorted me to my seat and I was given a microphone. I understood that after worship I would take the stage and preach.
During the painfully dry worship set, the Lord began to download a message into me. I resisted as I knew they would not receive a message like that in a place like this. It was a message that would severely challenge along with a call to come out of the dead place they were in. The urgency of the message grew stronger and I knew it was the Word of the Lord so I resolved to declare what He had given me.
As the worship music began to close I reached down for the microphone I had been given. It was gone! Instantly I had a knowing that it was stolen. Someone had intentionally taken the mic from me! Knowing I had heard from the Lord I approached what I believed to be the pastor of the church. I told him that someone had taken my microphone. He shrugged it off, unconcerned, and said that he would just preach instead.
I then watched as he stepped up to the podium and began to deliver a message that literally made me nauseous. A sick feeling settled deep in my stomach as I heard him spew lifeless venom through his message. Surely the congregation would not receive this? I stared out at the crowd and saw a sea of people, eyes glazed over with no expression on their face. They were taking it in the way a patient would succumb to an anesthetic. The crowd was being lulled to sleep and seemed to enjoy it. It was what they wanted.
I then noticed how the “pastor” moved about on the stage. He moved with an unnatural gait. It wasn’t just odd, it was inhuman. I realized that I was watching a demon spirit and not a man. He was not releasing the gospel of life but a decree of death…and the people swallowed every word.
I awoke from the dream so grieved in my spirit and reached for something to record what I had seen. I felt sad, troubled and angry at the same time! The Word of the Lord was halted through theft and deception while a spirit of religion released anesthetic poison to a crowd that stretched as far as I could see.
The Lord began to speak to me…
The spirit of religion wants to steal the mic! It seeks to silence the drawing forth that I would declare over My people. It will trade life for a lie, freedom for bondage and relationship for a mere ritual!
Just as an addict may depend on pain pills to get them through the day, many in the Body of Christ have succumbed to powerless religion to fill the void that is a product of not pursuing His presence. Instead of living in His glory, we choose to simply check a box. The scriptures are not silent regarding the spiritual nature of not just the world but those who claim to be believers:
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
– 2 Timothy 3:1-5
There is a lullaby of religion that would sing us to sleep if we allow. It will dress us up to look the part all the while offering a life of compromise. You see, compromise isn’t just the sins we can all usually agree on. Compromise is anything less than the relationship the Father intended when the veil was torn and the Bride was invited to enter into the chambers of holiness and presence.
Sunday after Sunday, multitudes sit in church, proudly feeling as if they have done their due diligence when it comes to being unashamedly devoted to living for the One who shed His blood for us. Would Jesus approve of the mediocrity of much of today’s church? Have many have traded true intimacy for an imitation? Instead of seeing a book of Acts church are we seeing a church who is simply acting?
Don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about being exuberant for the sake of being exuberant. We can also get religious about manifesting something that the Spirit of God is not in, just because flesh expects it. We do not need a fabrication of the Spirit any more than the stifling of the Spirit.
I encourage you reader, stand firm against the spirit of religion who would seek to steal your mic, your message of power and holiness, of relationship and intimacy. Shake off the stagnation and proclaim the full gospel that produces progression and not idleness. It is time for the church to wake up! It is time for the saints to arise! No more sleeping saints!
A word by Jason Tanksley
