2 Timothy 1:12 “…for I know Him [and I am personally acquainted with Him] whom I have believed [with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in the truth of His deity], and I am persuaded [beyond any doubt] that He is able to guard that which I have entrusted to Him until that day [when I stand before Him].”  We need a God Who is wiser, more loving, and more incredible than we can imagine or think. Not a God Who obeys us!  I’m talking about THE God Who made heaven and earth!

Sadly, religion demands rules. We feel we must keep the rules, and steadfastly teach others to keep them, either actively or through disapproval. Religion has to have programs, agendas and numbers to prove its validity. Religion often uses fear and control. However, the Holy Spirit loves to start with just one person and Himself and call that a majority. Religion is not a fit container for the God of the Universe – He chose US, human beings, to be His PIPELINES OF LOVE into this world. The equalising and revelatory question in any given situation is – IS THIS LOVE? If it is not love, then it is not God.

You and I can always experience His love as it is spoken to us, from His word. The secret is to let His word minister to you. Don’t just agree with it … deliberately take it in. Act on it. Particularly those verses the Holy Spirit highlights to you, personally. Treat them like He is there, beside you, speaking them to you. Sadly, today in the body of Christ we feel we must shove our experiences onto someone else. Our God is so generous, He treats people as individuals. Experiences aren’t merit badges – they are for His purposes. 

Humanity has been given the opportunity to leave methods and systems behind, when Christ came and instituted a new commandment. ‘Love God … love each other.’  Over time, I’ve sometimes found that like-minded people like to club together, so they can agree. Then agreement becomes the priority not worship.That’s a great shame – when we always agree, we remain unchallenged in our beliefs, and stretching our faith is good for us. Romans 14:4: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand…”  

Religion likes clones. One size fits all! But a living faith seeks to actively love each other in ways that build one another up so we all grow. BTW that does not exclude correction. Today’s world hates that word. Instead, we all must be politically correct, so everybody has to be seen as right – believers, non-believers… Respecting someone else’s right to be wrong is almost law. Meanwhile God could care less about being politically correct. His standards are already perfect – He’s too busy laughing at our silly ideas to care what we think we know! Psalm 2:4: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”

Religion is man’s way of trying to manage God. James tells us that true religion is looking after widows and orphans. What a difference that would make! Humanity does not want to have a God Who colours outside their specific lines. Especially not a God Who would send His Son as an infant, to die for everyone! Instead, they want to put animals on the same level as human beings. You often hear people say: “Oh I could never follow a God Who does … this and that … “ These people want a god they can understand, someone they can judge for his actions. They think by critiquing His work they can change Who He is. Lately I’ve even heard people who were so deluded they gave their god a female pronoun! Rhubarb. Religion wants a god who has to answer to us so we can just obey the rules and then walk away, and live this life however we want.

Walking with the Holy Spirit is our calling. In order to get along with each other, we ALL need HIM. HE is not a series of symptoms or signs that we use to diagnose who is in and who is out. They will know we are Christians by our love not by speaking in tongues or prophesying. Sadly I think we may have wa-ay too many people who know everything, and too few that actually, reverently, live that way instead. 👋🏻