Saturday, March 2, 2013

So where do we go from here?

You wake up one morning and your mind is clouded and your heart is filled with questions.  Who is to be your God?  Who is your main idol?  Who are you going to follow?  How can you see God?  How can you see Jesus?  It is a wonder that you can even think of God at all with all of the other god's or idols in your life?  How can you claim to love Jesus when you cannot get close to Him with the idols in your life?

Can you hear him with all these voices screaming for your attention?  Can you really say that you follow His call, His leading with all of these others demanding you hear and please them?  Is He really the King of your life with all of these idols?  They do not have to demand time and do not, but you allow and offer them that time that belongs to Jesus, time that is really not yours to give.

How often do we take that which is God’s and cast it before swine?  How often do we take that which is God’s and stomp it under foot?  How often do we in our own arrogance take that which is God’s and sinfully abuse it then in turn walk in His house singing “Everything’s all right,” knowing full well that it is not.  How often do we hypocritically march into His house pointing out those that we perceive as hypocrites.  It is a good thing that there is not a mirror for us to look into to expose us.  Yet we fail to remember or realize that our all knowing, all seeing God is keenly aware of who and what we really are. 

It is a good thing that we cannot smell the stench of our spiritual hypocrisy or maybe not?  Oh that God would allow us to see and comprehend the sin that is in our lives and what does it do to our relationship with Him?  Our spiritual awareness is dulled by our sin that we often believe that our goodness is good enough while we are deeply entrenched in sin

Isn't it time to surrender to Jesus all that is in your heart and life?  Isn't it time to surrender to Jesus all that you have raised up in your life?  Isn't it really time to truly stop and take a look at the shambles your spiritual life has become, because of your pride and idol allowances? 

Place them one by one in front of Jesus and slay them in his presence.  Whether it be money, occupation, things, family, friends, whatever or whomever it is.  We must slay these idols before the King of Kings and allow him once again His rightful place on the throne of our heart.

It is no wonder that you're not happy, it is no wonder you are not content, you have tried to place Jesus on your idol shelf and he will not stand for it.  He will either expose them as idols they are and make you deal with them or he will do with you because of them.  He is a jealous God and rightfully so.  Notice this passage of scripture from 1 Samuel.  "Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.  When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.  And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord .  So they took Dagon and set it in its place again.  And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord .  The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it.  Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day." (1 Samuel 5:1-5)

In this passage of Scripture we see what takes place in our hearts we try to place God alongside another idol.  Dagon was an idol of the Philistines the idol had the head and arms of a man and the remaining torso of fish.  God's final point in this passage of Scripture is it when you remove the hands and head of your false god all that remains is the fishy part and it stinks.

God will not be placed with idols, he has to stand alone.  He must be placed separate and alone on the throne of your heart.  Someone once said that He is either Lord of all or He is not Lord at all." How true that is.

How can you serve Him when you're in the way?  How can you serve Him when you place idols in the way?  How can you serve Him when you allow your sin you to do so? 

If we want to be what He wants us to be, if we are to serve Him as He would have us to serve him, if we are to lead as He would have us to lead then we need to step out of the way.  We need to remove our clutter, we need to remove our junk, so that we can see Him, so that we can hear Him, and so that we can follow Him as we should.