Modern day Pharisee behavior.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Matthew 23:1

Who would be the Pharisees and scribes of today? The entire chapter of Matthew 23 is a description of their ‘works’ by Jesus describing what they do. Religious fervor without actually believing internally and thinking it doesn’t apply to them. Being a scribe or Pharisee of today is actually about hypocritical behavior all the while posing and acting as ‘Godly’. This is using religion as a way to try to make yourself look better and above others and for controlling others.  How does one even get to this state? Deception. The individual deceives themselves by listening to the advice of the enemies of God (thoughts planted by the enemies of God in their minds). The enemies also play on the human roots of iniquity to tempt individuals to ‘feed’ those roots of pride, fear, and lust – by justifying all sorts of seemingly innocent ‘behaviors’ that lead the individual into deeper sin. The individual then uses that seemingly logical justification to become callous to those speaking the ‘truth’ to them. Those with a heavy calling to the prophetic often are scoffed at, ridiculed, and dismissed because the truth they speak hits so close to the heart that people want to deny it. Jesus describes this type of behavior further in this chapter.

When the Holy Spirit points out your sin by conviction … what do you do? Have you learned not to have the knee jerk reaction to become angry and or immediately deny it? Have you learned to become humble and repentant when the Holy Spirit points out your sin? How many times do you stuff and ignore that convicting ‘Word’ from the Holy Spirit? You do know He loves you and will continue to bring it up – making you choose to either become callous towards the Holy Spirit or soft and humble before Him. It is always our … choice. Our free will must be aligned with His direction and Truth. We must agree with Him if we want to stay on His ‘path’ for us.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:26-28

If we have forgotten the name of our God,
    or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
would not God search this out?
    For He knows the secrets of the heart. Psalm 44:20-21

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and derided Him. He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed before men is an abomination before God. Luke 16:14-15

God looks at our heart. He knows what the real truth is about us. Is there anything we can hide from Him? So when the Holy Spirit comes to convict us about something let’s learn to humbly greet Him with thankfulness for His mercy and love.

Let’s learn to not walk the path of the hypocrite. Let’s be slow to react or give our opinion, but let’s seek His counsel FIRST! This means having an inner dialogue going (conversation) with the Holy Spirit throughout your entire day. Are you always listening for Him at every turn or circumstance throughout your day?

Stop playing your religion and start having an intimate relationship with the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. Always be inviting Him to speak to you. Teach you. Show you. Guide you. Lead you. Open your heart to Him. Allow Him to go into the places you have deemed ‘forbidden’ in your soul.