The more I live, the more I discover that I don’t know much. As I travel the path of spiritual seeking, I become increasingly aware of this truth. I have also discovered that no one knows it all. If you meet a person who dictates to you as if they know everything, be very careful of them. For one, they are ignorant, and two, they will lead you away from your true spiritual identity.
One day, as I sat on my front porch, I began to realize that my idea of God had been passed down to me. I saw how religion had shaped my life in the most detrimental ways. Yet, this realization led me down the path toward a new spiritual identity—one that draws me closer to the true and living God.
If you look at your own life, you’ll probably discover that the way you view God was also passed down to you. It is the result of man-made beliefs that you had no part in creating. These beliefs have become customs molded into organized religion. They tell you how to pray, when to pray, and even shape your worldview of God—the Great One.
Yet, when you come to this realization, you must shift the paradigm of your thinking. You might see this awakening as something that takes away from you, but in reality, it’s the best moment of your life. We are all growing and evolving, and this is simply your awakening taking place.
In this blog, we’ll explore the new spiritual awakening that is required to overcome man-made religion and become more like God. You’ll learn that God is not separate from us, but that He is part of our very breath and lives within the vessel of our souls. So, come with me.
What is Spiritual Identity
Truth is the way things are. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it—it remains the same. In this light, a new spiritual identity brings us deeper into the truth of who we are. We are spirits, and this is the identity we seek to unravel.
Long before organized religion, people knew God in their own ways. Our ancestors discovered that God is everywhere and in everything. He is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the breath that sustains us.
You might be wondering, “Then where do Christians, Jews, and Muslims stand in all of this?” The answer is simple: even if they rid themselves of their religious identities, God would still be ever-present and active. This means that God exists outside of religion and does not require it to accept us.
Consider the man who goes to church all his life and never questions why he does what he does. He wakes up early on Sunday morning, drives to church, claps, sings, closes his eyes, and prays—yet may still have very little connection with God. This is because God is not found in religion or inside a church building. God is within us. Every breath we take is an impulse of God—the “I Am,” the Creator of all things.
Finding your spiritual identity doesn’t mean you stop participating in religion. It means you start practicing it in the right way. The Bible says that true and undefiled religion is to help the widow and the fatherless, and to keep yourself unspotted from the world. This means there is a form of religion that God accepts—and finding our spiritual identity helps us discover it.
So What About the Many Religions
I wrote a previous blog on overcoming religion. I explained that religion is a system of beliefs, practices, and moral codes that people follow in their effort to honor, worship, or connect with the divine. What if this system of beliefs and practices is in direct proportion to the way of God? This would be a scenario where religion is not something we try to get rid of, but something we embrace. Nonetheless, the sad reality is that religion, as we know it, is man-made and seldom represents the fullness of God.
Religion and spirituality are two very different things. The Bible says that God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit, as God is. This has nothing to do with man-made religion. To solidify my point, even Yeshua spoke against the religious spirit of His time.
When God meets man, He rids him of religion and empowers him with the wind of love. In fact, the religion of God is love. Even the Bible says that God Himself is Love. When it comes to spirituality, we must not mistake it for religion. Religion is a set of practices; spirituality is becoming one with and more like God. Those are two totally different things.
Imagine a world without religious customs — one where people embrace the Spirit that moved over the waters and said, “Let there be light.” In this world, we won’t have people practicing goodness while their hearts are far from God, but we will rather have good people who act out of their inner being. This is a world not void of religion, but one where religion is practiced in a Godly way.
Becoming One With God
In adapting a new spiritual identity, we must become one with God. The good news is that we are already one. God and man are like blood and flesh—inseparable and intertwined. Think of man as the physical body, and God as the blood that sustains that body. Without this blood, man couldn’t survive. This fulfills the Scripture that says life is in the blood.
Surely, our great Jehovah is the Life that sustains us, and the Breath that gives us reason. As we undress ourselves of earthly religion, we will find that it exposes us to the true nature of God. We will begin to see that God is everywhere—and that He is all there is. We will also begin to recognize His presence within us, rather than looking for Him outside of us.
Becoming one with God means that we harness His power in greater ways. Imagine a world where we have total control over our lives and encounters—a holy life, where the I Am is the food that sustains us. This is a world where God and man are inseparable.
Yet the modern world is far from this. If we need healing, we go to a man-made system of artificial medicine while neglecting the herbs of God. If we need food, we go to supermarkets to buy processed chemicals.
In a world where God and man are one, the earth will be our healing, and His presence will be our breath. We will be good, and love will be our religion. Wouldn’t you want to be a part of this world?
Final Thoughts
A new spiritual identity does not mean that we put away religion altogether. Religion is like a culture that we live by. Yet, a new spiritual identity will help us to practice our religion in a Godly way. It will mean that we become the expression of God that sustains us. The modern forms of religion are mainly made to separate us and bring us further away from the Light, yet a new spiritual identity will be the Light that gets rid of this darkness.
As you go, may you become one with the Spirit. Spirit is breath, and the breath of Life is God. When we become one with this breath, we unpack the power of who we are. Man-made religion is like a rocking chair that gets us nowhere, but true spirituality is the vehicle that moves us into His presence.
May we adopt a new spiritual identity, and in doing so, may we become the gods that we are. Be blessed.
