IDOLATRY & ME?

Deuteronomy 7:1-9 "When God, your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you…all bigger and stronger than you are. God, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy them, Offering them up as a holy destruction to God. Don’t make a treaty with them. Don’t let them off in any way. (Show no mercy to them!) … before you know it they’d involve you in worshiping their gods…Here’s what you are to do: Tear apart their altars stone by stone, smash their phallic pillars, chop down their sex-and-religion Asherah groves, set fire to their carved god-images. Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure. God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and Important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations.

Notice the final verse above...It states that God is able to keep His Promises with those "who love Him and observe (obey) His commandments." His commandment that is given in Deuteronomy Chapter 7 is simply this...

DO NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO COME BEFORE YOU AND ME!

It's all about relationship with Him...Not Slavery but Love! In simple, easy to understand terms it means that God desires you to flourish in a totally committed relationship with Him! You were designed for relationship, fellowship, intimacy, and empowerment, with a constant walk with Him.Now we can understand why He doesn't want anything (idols) to come between you and Him, because it can sever our relationship with God. Deuteronomy 5:9 "You must not bow down to them (idols), nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God..." He is jealous because He wants your affections and He desires for you to prosper!

New testament states the same principle...Mt 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." In other words, Put relationship with God first....then everything else will be taken care of!

OFTENTIMES WHAT HINDERS OUR RECEIVING FROM GOD ARE THE IDOLS IN OUR LIVES...

AN IDOL IS ANY WORTHLESS THING WHICH WE CHOOSE OVER RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

How do we Destroy the idols in our lives?

1) Ask God to Reveal anything which has taken priority over your relationship with God. Verse 2 says that God will turn them over to you! He identifies them specifically by name. Ask the Holy Spirit to identify the idols (Ites) in your life.

REMEMBER:

A)BE HONEST WITH GOD

B) LET GOD BE HONEST WITH YOU!

2) You Must Completely destroy Them! Realize it’s All or Nothing! Re 3:16 “So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.”

3) Don’t make a Treaty with Them. They are not your friends. The thief uses them to “steal, kill and destroy” John 10:10 Ex 23: 32 “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.” They seek only to entrap you into the Arm of the Flesh. Even good things, ministry, people, etc., can be used to take our focus off of God.

4) Show no Mercy to Them! Leave no trace of that idol. Cut it off! Kill it. Wipe it out of existence! Matthew 6:33 says to “Put God and His Kingdom first in our lives and everything else will be taken care of.” ANYTHING WHICH ATTEMPTS TO TAKE THE PLACE OF GOD IN OUR LIVES ONLY SERVES TO CUT US OFF FROM HIS HAND…IT’S A TRAP…DON’T BUY IT!

5) Get Violent in the Spirit! Mt 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Tear them apart…Smash any semblance… chop down anything that desires to take root in your life… burn it to the ground and blow the ashes away!

6) Know that You are a “…CHERISHED, PERSONAL TREASURE…” OF GOD! Vs. 6

7) Make a Commitment that Nothing in Your Life will take Precedence over God! 2 Peter 1: 2 “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue…that by these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world…”.

8) Ask the Lord to give you the willpower and The Ability power to do what needs to be done. Php 2:13 “For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

John 3: 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

WHATEVER YOU MANUFACTURE YOU MUST MAINTAIN!

WHATEVER GOD MANUFACTURES; HE WILL MAINTAIN!

9) Partner up 1Co 12:21 “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.” You are members of the Body of Christ. You CAN NOT do it ALONE!

Idols are very dangerous...they tend to draw our attention away from God; break our intimacy with Him; which in turn places us out of position to receive His best!

SEARCH AND DESTROY TONIGHT!