Principalities & Spiritual Warfare: Part 2 (The Spirit of the World, The Spirit of Religion and Tradition)

The Spirit of the World

Nimrod and Babylon

Nimrod was the world’s first dictator mentioned in Genesis 10:8-12, described as a mighty hunter before the Lord and a powerful leader. Traditionally believed to be the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod is credited with founding several significant cities in Mesopotamia, including Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in Shinar (modern-day Iraq). His reputation as a hunter and a kingdom builder has made him a symbol of human ambition and defiance. Some interpretations suggest he led the construction of the Tower of Babel, an act of pride and rebellion against God. Though the Bible provides limited details about Nimrod, his legacy is often associated with the establishment of early civilization and the complexities of human pride and divine judgement (Gen. 10:8). The Tower of Babel was the epitome of what is considered the worship of man: “And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Gen 11:4)

The Beast coming out of the Sea

Revelation 13 portrays the Satanic Tri-alliance most descriptively. “And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.” (Rev 13:1-2). The leopard, bear, and lion symbolize powerful, warring nations, each embodying specific characteristics of speed, strength, and authority. The leopard represents swift and cunning conquest, akin to the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great; the bear signifies brute strength and oppressive power, reminiscent of the Medo-Persian Empire; and the lion, with its commanding presence and regal authority, reflects the Babylonian Empire. Together, these beasts form a composite creature symbolizing a future oppressive regime or alliance of nations, highlighting the recurring biblical theme of human empires rising in power and pride, often opposing God’s sovereign rule, until divine intervention ultimately prevails.

The sea is often a Biblical symbol of the nations of the earth. The church is symbolic of the holy nation of God (1 Pet. 2:9) but stands opposite to the nations of the earth. In the nation of God, the Spirit of God works, but in the nations of the world the spirit of the world (dragon) works.

The governments of these nations are opposed to the government of God: “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.’” (Ps 2:1-3)

Ten horns represent ten crowns (13:1). The beast has “complete power” (ten horns and ten crowns).  When the people of God called for a king of their own, they rejected God’s rule in their lives. “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.”  (1 Sam. 8:7)

In Daniel 7, Daniel sees a similar face. He sees the sea in turmoil and four large animals ascend from it (Dan 7:1-3). The one like a lion, the other like a bear, the third like a leopard and the fourth beast terrible and terrifying and very strong. The beast is described with ten horns and large iron teeth: devouring, crushing and trampling the remnant with its legs. It is also different from all the beasts that were before him (v 7).

Any form of nationalism and self-determination of one nation, at the expense of another, is violence, and an injustice to God’s creation. The Spirit of The World is our main enemy! Jesus’ life and ministry are in direct opposition to the world and religious government of the day:

“For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”  (Mark 8:36)

“But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”  (Matt. 16:23)

“He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him.” (John 1:10)

The Spirit of Religion and Tradition (Works of the Flesh)

The spirit of the world is easier to distinguish because it is in direct opposition to the values, methodology and working methods of the Kingdom of God. Distinguishing false religion is much more difficult because it tarnishes the desire and need that people must please and glorify God. It is terribly sad to meet beautiful believers who have fallen prey where they focuses on methods, rituals, rites and rules based on the Word, but without the Holy Spirit. We have to worship Him in spirit and truth. The spirit of religion and tradition is very hard to identify because it looks very ‘godly’ on the outside- it will speak a lot of churchy lingo and sound religious.However, we should keep in mind many of the New Testament apostolic letters were written to warn against such deception: false Christs (Mark 13:22); false teaching (Eph 4:14), false prophets (Matt 7:15, 20; 1 John 4:1); false apostles (2 Cor 11:13); false signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9).

There are evil spirits which inspire loyalty to religious concepts and practices in such a way as to oppose and possibly to counterfeit the true work of the Holy Spirit. Satan knows he cannot stop people from being religious. He therefore seeks to pervert the religious instinct of mankind by deception. All religious deceptions work to draw men away from glorifying and enjoying Christ.

The Tactics of Religious Spirits

Religious spirits work in many ways, and with many different tactics. We may see through some of their tactics only to be completely fooled by them in another area of our attitudes and thinking. Therefore, we must be humble enough to admit that we too, not having fully possessed the mind of Christ as yet, could be deceived in some areas.

It should be obvious to Christians that the power of non-Christian religions exercised over the minds of men comes from Satan. Only a supernatural power could drive men to worship rocks or rats. What power is it that keeps people away from worshipping the true God, the Creator and turning their primary affections to false gods and other vain things? It is the spirit which is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).

However, religious spirits are at work not only outside the church of Christ, but also within it. The extent to which Christendom has been infiltrated by evil spirits is greater than it will ever be possible to calculate. It extends virtually to every local church and across every denomination to a greater or lesser extent. This fact can be demonstrated logically by considering for a moment the theological disagreements and bad relationships which exist between churches, and also within individual local churches. How can these things be so, when Jesus put so much emphasis on us loving one another (John 13:34, 35), and was so emphatic in his desire for the unity of the church to reflect the unity of the godhead? (See John 17). Obviously, the spiritual power behind these problems is religious in nature.

Confronting the Religious Spirit

The religious spirit will also rear its ugly head when a man or woman full of the mercy of God and the power of the Holy Spirit begins to confront religious people in churches with the truth. At these times demons get stirred up and if possible, will provoke all kinds of unreasonable and malicious attacks on such servants of God. In some situations, they may even be publicly cast out of those so influenced by them. This ministry is necessary, and in the last days will become more and more common.

Jesus Christ had little trouble dealing with demons provoking sickness and disease in people. However, the Lord faced greater opposition from people controlled by religious spirits. These people did not know they had religious spirits. They thought they represented the true religion of God. They did not want to be free of the spirits that made them feel important and more righteous than those around them. Because of their pride and hardness of heart, even the Son of God could not help them to come to the Father. These people were known as the Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and experts in the law. It was these people who hated Jesus and conspired to crucify Him. They were motivated by pride, envy and self-righteousness. They refused to humble themselves and believe in the Messiah, despite the many proofs that Jesus gave. This remained true even after they were confronted with the fact of the resurrection.

The Influence of the Religious Spirit

We make a serious mistake if we assume that the spirit which motivated these Jewish religious leaders can in no way influence us. In fact, those who think like that are probably the very ones who are influenced by such spirits. While these religious spirits will obviously not promote the same errors now as they did in those people, there will be similarities of attitude and behaviour which will be clearly seen.

People who have come from religious and traditional backgrounds/churches may still need deliverance from a religious spirit/religious mindset or a religious background. They will often be stuck in the old; be stagnant or not moving forward; always talking about the old; not able to flow with change; find change very difficult and can’t flow with the new; not liking change; finding change very difficult; finding it difficult to change; finding it difficult to embrace the new and go with it- it is old, stagnant, dry, stuck.

I’ve notice that these types of people only come to me to ask me to pray for them in order to GET THINGS- they never come to ask for advice on how they are doing spiritually or how they can get closer to God. They never give- sometimes they will even dictate to me what and how to pray for them. It is fine to come with a prayer request but you can’t be controlling- they are often controlling and can’t let go and let God.

Their prayer life will be very mechanical and ‘religious’- no authentic relationship with the Lord, not led by the Spirit. They will mechanically recite scripture- they are repetitive and set in their ways. Very critical and suspicious. Very prideful and cynical. They will try and intellectualize everything. Spiritually dry but appear very religious on the outside- with all the right religious lingo. It is a vile demonic spirit. They will still come and pull from me prophetically as they are selfish, but they do not honor and the motives are not right. I do not allow this- I have boundaries concerning these things as God has taught me how to guard the anointing he has placed on me. They will always want to argue and debate doctrine. They haven’t had a genuine encounter with the Lord and are not led by the spirit- they have a very shallow understanding of God. The religious spirit will also always want to come against a genuine move of God- it hates a genuine move of God and will criticize experiences it has never had- it will also slander ministers and ministries that move in a true anointing of the Lord.

The Scripture gives us many clues as to the marks of the activity of religious spirits, especially those religious spirits which are closest to the truth and therefore harder to detect.

Characteristics of the Work of Religious Spirits

1. Fear of not being good enough. When we think our salvation depends all on us we will be fearful, because the Bible says that we all stumble in many ways. Until we cast ourselves at the mercy of God and truly give ourselves to Him, we go through a cycle of hearing laws, falling short, feeling guilty, trying to measure up, and repeated failure. People under religious spirits are carrying heavy burdens and do not have the sense of freedom that comes when we know that our sins are washed away.  The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit. If you are religious but you have no peace or joy, something is wrong. Condemnation and unrighteous judgment may have stolen it from you.

   
   

2. Fear of People. If you ask yourself more often: "What will the people at church think?" instead of "What will Jesus think?" you are bound by a religious, man-pleasing spirit. Puts on masks and facades. We should not offend people unnecessarily, but if we must choose between offending people and offending the Spirit of God, then let people take offense if they must. Many were offended at Jesus. “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25). It’s the fear of the Pharisees that kept many Jews out of the Kingdom of God. "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:42,43). When you are at church you behave in a certain way, because you are more conscious of people than conscious of God. If you really feared God more than people, you would not watch some of the garbage you watch on television. But remember that God sees all that you do. When will you give up that garbage, confess it to God and get on with serving the Lord from a pure heart?

   
   

3. Performance, not grace based. The religious spirit seeks to have us serve the Lord in order to gain his approval, rather than from having received our approval from the cross of Christ. Doing works to atone for our sense of guilt, rather than trusting the blood of Jesus. Some people are driven to do good works to make up for the wrong they have done. This kind of works will never bring us God's acceptance. It is another way of rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus when we say to God, "No, let me pay for it." These people don’t serve or do things because they love someone- God and people- but they do it to win accolades, gain favour. It’s toxic and manipulative and very unhealthy. Religion does it with an agenda but relationship does it out of love- love for God and love for people.

   
   

4. Emphasis on External Things. This could be on food (Hebrews 13:8; 1 Tim 4:1,2), marriage (forbidding to, or pushing people to marry), clothes and/or external appearance (Matthew 23:5; 2 Corinthians 5:12). "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness." (Luke 11:39). Religion can put new clothes on the man, but Christ puts a new man in the clothes. Two extremes: carnality and legalism. We deceive ourselves into believing that we can win God’s approval through a religious practices.

   
   

5. False Prophecy. We no longer stone to death those whose prophecies do not come to pass, but still we must judge prophecy. Failure to do this has given the religious spirit too much influence in the church. Just because we feel something spiritual does not mean that it was the spirit of God. "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. TEST ALL THINGS; hold fast to what is good." (1 Thess. 5:19-21). If we say "The Lord has spoken" and he has not spoken, we give place to a religious spirit. This can corrupt the church, by putting fear and condemnation into people when instead they need to be built up and strengthened and shown how to overcome sin and the devil. "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge". (1 Corinthians 14:7). Do you let people judge what is said? This is a commandment of Scripture.

   
   

6. Emphasis on traditions of the elders "this is the way we've always done it.” "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" (Mark 7:5). If limit God to a particular way of doing things in ministry, we may grieve the Holy Spirit and He will not work as He wishes. He may even leave us alone. If the way we do things is not working, perhaps we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to lead us to make the necessary changes. If the way we minister healing does not work, we need to ask how much we are being led by the Spirit, and how much we are stuck in tradition.

   
   

7. Emphasis on ritual. "And they have many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches…" (Mark 7 4:). We should keep our eyes on Jesus. The religious spirit makes outward things the major issue, and puts less emphasis on a right heart attitude of humility, gratitude, mercy and courageous faith. They will be spiritually blind (Matt 15:14). They know all about ritual and form, might even know the bible well, but nothing of relationship with Jesus and His power. It has to be about RELATIONSHIP and not RELIGION- and as a result will lead themselves and others to hell by subscribing to false doctrines instead of faithful, obedient relationship with Jesus (Matt 23:15).

   
   

8. Pride in personal sacrifice. A religious spirit becomes prideful and isolated. We may have given up things to serve the Lord. We may have prayed, fasted or given. But when we want others to know we do these things, and we wish to gain the approval and admiration of men, we are falling prey to the religious spirit (Matthew 6). The next step is to ask, "Why is God not blessing me, since I have sacrificed so much?". Lack of mercy. These people focus and emphasise on ‘I’- “I worked so hard…I made so many changes…I gave a lot of money” etc. They will also be easily offended (Matt 15:12). Offense is rooted in pride. People who live by grace have decided they will never be offended. Getting offended is the mark of a Pharisee. But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice', you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matthew 12:7). Mercy is one of the "weightier matters of the law". Remember the Samaritan who helped those in trouble by the roadside, while the others went to church. Remember that Jesus healed as an expression of the mercy of God. Healing is not a reward for good behaviour, although sometimes bad things like religious spirits can stop us from receiving our healing. When Jesus heals today it is an expression of God's mercy. There can also be religious pride, such as a ‘know it all’ attitude.

   
   

9. A religious spirit rejects progressive revelation and refuses to embrace change. This is why many churches become irrelevant to society. They become so focused on what God did 50 years ago that they become stuck in a time warp—and cannot move forward when the Holy Spirit begins to speak in new ways. When religious groups refuse to shift with God’s new directives, they become “old wine skins” and God must find more flexible vessels that are willing to implement His changes.

   
   

10. Lack of concern for the needs of people. The Pharisees would pull their ox out of the well on the Sabbath, but were upset when someone was healed. They didn't care about the needs of the people around them. Again- always focused on ‘I’- internally- inwardly-selfish.

    
    

11. A religious spirit develops a harsh, judgmental attitude toward sinners, yet those who ingest this poison typically struggle with sinful habits that they cannot admit to anyone else. They think they are superior to others and will seek to catch other people in their words (Matt 19:3) and make judgments (judgmentalism) in order to accuse (Luke 11:53-54). Pharisees are looking to read and condemn people through their actions, works and words, instead of leaving all to God’s judgment of the heart (Isaiah 11:3). Pharisees do not lovingly call out heresy in order to set people free, their prime purpose becomes heresy hunting. They will be quick to criticize and condemn (Matt 15:1, Rom 8:1) - will be inclined to see more of what is wrong with other people, other churches, etc., than what is right with them. Notwithstanding the need for correction and rebuke, a Pharisee will too often see as his primary mission only the tearing down of what he believes is wrong.

    
    

12. Hypocrisy – play acting. Why do some people have a special tone of voice in church?  What is this if not "play acting"? When we pretend that we have a concern for righteousness and justice but secretly hold onto certain areas of sin we are being hypocrites. These types of people put on facades and wear masks and lead double lives. The mouth will say sweet things but the heart is cursing. Psalm 55:21 His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart – they are an actor (hypocrite means ‘actor’), what they present on the outside bears no resemblance to what is going on inside (Matt 23:23-28). They will do things in order to be noticed by men – it’s all about the outside instead of the heart.

    
    

13. The Love of Religious Power, but rejection of the power of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees hated Jesus because they thought that because of him they would lose their place as religious leaders. They were upset with Jesus for healing and casting out demons. They called it the work of the devil. (Matthew 12:44).

14. Jealousy and Envy. They considered that if Jesus were truly from God he would recognise and honour them. "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos." (1 Corinthians 1:12). "But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12). What does it matter who God works through? We are making disciples for Jesus. If we have anything it comes from Him. Can we rejoice when God blesses someone else, or do we immediately feel bad and try to find fault with them. Remember Cain's attitude to Abel when his sacrifice was rejected, but Abel's was accepted.

    
    

15. Despising people. "But this crowd which does not know the law is accursed." (John 7:49) Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. (Luke 18:9) The Pharisees considered themselves better than the bulk of the people because of their knowledge of the law. We make a serious error if we consider ourselves better than others on the basis of race, education, knowledge, good looks or any such thing. Placing more emphasis on their traditions than on the plain teachings, commandments and declarations of the Scripture. Jesus told us to preach the gospel. (Mark 16:15). People are dying out there.  Why are we fighting about what kind of clothes we should wear, and how important this or that practice should be in church life?

    
    

16. Blindness to the work of God. Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant. They could not rejoice in the healing of the blind and lame. It had become unimportant to them. They were spiritually blind.

17. Fault-finding. "So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him." Mark 3:2. They were hoping to find something to accuse Jesus with.

18. Will be overly paranoid of the religious spirit, and quick to recognize it in others, but not himself.

    
    

19. Will have the tendency to glory in anything but the cross of Jesus, what He has accomplished and Who He is.

20. Will believe that he has been appointed to fix everyone else. They are always ministering to others, trying to fix others, telling others to trust in God but deep down they may not practice what they preach- never asks for prayer for themselves but is always happy to pray for others.

21. Will have a philosophy that will not listen to men, but “only to God.” (spiritual pride). “I can hear God for myself”. “I can read the word for myself”.

22. A religious spirit views God as a cold, harsh, distant taskmaster rather than an approachable, loving Father.  When we base our relationship with God on our ability to perform works, we deny the power of grace. As a result, they struggle to find true intimacy with Jesus.

23. A religious spirit becomes joyless, cynical and hypercritical. This can turn a home or a church completely sour. Whenever genuine joy and love are expressed, this becomes a threat to those who have lost the simplicity of true faith. Religion has such a stronghold on people. The very word of God, they claim to know from God, they use against God. You cannot get stuck in a denomination or religion; you’ve got to get stuck in the relationship. The relationship gives you revelation about what He is like in person. The Jews read stories about God from what they knew in text, but when they saw God come in person they hated Him because He messed up their belief system and image of who they thought God was. That's what religion does to you. It always keeps you in the past where God was and not where He is. Jesus was very harsh in the way he described the religious spirit: You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man, from his [inner]good treasure, brings out good things; and the evil man, from his [inner]evil treasure, brings out evil things. (Matthew 12:34-35 Amplified Bible).

Dealing With the Spirit of Religion

“To whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” (Galatians 2:5)

The age-old strategy of the enemy is to infiltrate the church with the falsehoods, human-oriented wisdom, that sounds right but is not. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the True Jesus and lead us to follow Him on a daily journey of self-denial, self-crucifixion and resurrection in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour! Again, do we struggle with ANY of these things? The spirit of religion wars against the Spirit of (biblical) grace. "Religion hinders positive relationships. It puts a bad taste for God in the mouths of unbelievers, it takes the fire out of marriages, it stops the flow of God in worship and it makes children hate serving God.” People who have religious mindsets need to be delivered and renew their mind in Christ like the bible says.

How to Get Rid of a Religious Spirit

We must be willing to take a hard, honest look at our lives and the fruit that we are bearing. We must be willing to get rid of "bad" fruit and allow it to be replaced by His divine grace and love. He loves us. He saved us and longs for us to bear HIS fruit not our own. All we have to do is remain in Him and Him in us. We must be doers of the word not hearers only. We can only bear such precious fruit if we are attached to Him, letting Him changes us, realizing we NEED to be changed. Everyone one of us NEEDS to be changed. We say things like " I am a work in progress" which we definitely are but how desperate are we for change? Are we content to stay the way we are? Do we really want to look like Jesus? All it takes is FULL surrender and seeking HIM so that we can see Him as He really is and become like Him.

Prayer

The following prayer and help guide is from Truth in Reality. The main order for deliverance from a religious spirit is intercessory prayer that will soften the hardened heart of those who are in bondage to the religious spirit so they can in humility be changed. Then the religious spirit must be confronted in a process to repent, to renounce and to break all behavior patterns influenced by this spirit.

Here is a list of statements that can be used for deliverance as the person(s) with Godly sorrow speak them with sincerity, humility and submission to repent, renounce, break and proclaim.

1) Repent And Renounce: Entry Points

• I repent and renounce every opening, known or unknown in my generations that I have given to a religious spirit in my family line even back to the 10th generation.

• I repent and renounce every opening, known and unknown in my personal life that I have given to a religious spirit, and every work of darkness connected with it.

Character of God

• I repent for not fully receiving Your love, compassion, mercy, grace and forgiveness and I renounce any belief that You, Father are distant and judgmental.

• I choose to embrace all aspects of Your character and to intimately know You.

• I repent for allowing myself to be led by any other spirit than the Holy Spirit.

Relationships

• I repent for relying on my own intellect in worship, praise, prayer, reading of the Word and spiritual Warfare.

• I repent and renounce all legalism, traditions and religious formulas.

• I repent and renounce all participation in dead works.

• I repent and renounce all dullness to the things of God.

• I repent and renounce hardness of heart.

• I choose for the oil of Your Holy Spirit to flow across my heart.

My Behavior Patterns

• I repent and renounce placing man’s opinion of me above Yours.

• I repent and renounce compromises of the truth, of my integrity and of my purity.

• I repent and renounce all compromises in my attitude toward sin.

• I repent for my lack of transparency for covering sin, for not confessing sin, for not receiving correction, for being defensive and quick to justify and rationalize my sin.

• I repent and renounce all deception and hypocrisy.

• I repent and renounce all pride, arrogance and self-righteousness.

• I repent and renounce all comparison, judgment, criticism, gossip, jealousy, covetousness and anger.

• I repent and renounce all persecution and slander of those moving in the Holy Spirit.

• I repent and renounce every act of rebellion that has reinforced the spirit of religion in my life.

• I choose to have obedience as my heart attitude.

• I choose to no longer partner with the same spirit that killed Jesus and that continues to attempt to kill the work of the Holy Spirit today.

• I choose to no longer oppose God.

2) Break

• I break every hex, curse or vow, every spell, incantation or ritual.

• I break every covenant and blood covenant, every sacrifice and blood sacrifice.

• I break every ungodly soul tie, every ungodly generational tie in my family line.

• I break any other legal right, known or unknown, for the spirit of religion to stay.

• Spirit of religion, as the Body of Christ, I and those with me come against you:

• We refuse to allow you to steal our intimate relationship with our Lord.

• We refuse to allow you to kill the flow of the Holy Spirit in us.

• We refuse to allow you to destroy the anointing of others through us.

• We choose to receive the anointing to break the power of the spirit of religion in the Church of Jesus Christ in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

3) Proclaim The Lordship Prayer

Pray this prayer to invite Jesus to be the Lord and Master of each area of your life. Even for some mature Christians, the only reason that the demons are still present in their lives is that Jesus is not Lord of one or more areas of their life. Meditate on this prayer for each area of your life and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any hidden sin(s). Repent and confess these sins thereby closing the door to these evil spirits. Then these spirits have no legal right to remain and they must go from you (James 4: 7-10). Then a time of refreshing shall come upon you (Acts 3:19-20).

Lord Jesus, I confess that I have sinned and I acknowledge my need of You.

I thank You for dying on the cross for me and I accept You as my Savior. 

I invite You now to be Lord of every area of my life:

Lord of my spirit, all of my worship and my relationship with You;

Lord of my mind, all my thoughts, all my attitudes and all my behavior;

Lord of my emotions, all my feelings and all my reactions;

Lord of my will and all my decisions;

Lord of my body and all my physical health;

Lord of my eyes and all that I look upon;

Lord of my ears and all that I listen to;

Lord of my mouth and all that I speak;

Lord of my hands and all that I do;

Lord of my feet and everywhere that I go;

Lord of my sexuality and all its expression;

Lord of my family, my entire home, all my pleasure and all my relationships; Lord of my time, all my work and all my service for You;

Lord of my material goods, all my possessions, all my finances and all my needs.

Thank Jesus that Your blood was shed that I might be set free.

You and You alone are my Lord and Master, Amen.

Now that you have repented, renounced and broken all relationships with the spirit of religion and have proclaimed Jesus as Lord of every area of your life, walk in freedom with the Holy Spirit.