The I of Idolatry Part 1

http://www.ingodsimage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IDOLATRY.gif

In our bible study at the moment , we are coming to the end of a Beth Moore study called Breaking Free. It has been an enormous blessing in my life and God has ministered his love, kindness, teaching and challenging Word to my soul. I am so grateful for Beth and her love of Jesus and his word. I love how God uses her in people's lives who live in totally different parts of the world and with such very different cultural experiences. 

We are studying Idolatry. mmm... That very uncomfortable place that exists in our lives. 

The place where our hearts and minds lift up something, anything, above the rightful place that God holds. That often secret place, where our thoughts curl and cultivate all manner of thoughts and ideas that if we leave them will begin to dominate our thoughts and even our lives. 

One of the things I have come to realise, as I talk to many women about the joy of God at work in my life,I have found that many if not most women struggle with their thought life. Many of them will say things like, " I need to read God's word every day so that I can keep my thinking right." 

I know this is true for me in my life but the interesting thing is that many, many women also struggle with issues like anxiety and hopelessness.  They struggle with pride and jealousy. They struggle with idols like family, home, safety, trust and many more. Idolatry is when we put the I of our lives back on the thone. it is the very heart of sin. 

We fall into the trap of living life in every day existence without relying on God and his word. God's word will help us think right about life and circumstances.

Jesus is the one on whom our thoughts should be directed, especially when we struggle. 

Of course our struggles and our sin more times than most, come from a point of brokenness. It is from broken pasts or broken relationships that we build things that we think will keep us safe. The problem is we forget that God needs to and wants to work in us through those broken , hurtful experiences so that he can refine us and make us more like Jesus. 

The very exciting thing about this Beth Moore study is that she gives very real and practical help for sorting out our thoughts - our idols - those thing that hold us captive and keep us from worship God.

The very first idea here is to confess the sin.

If we are serious about doing business with sin we need to ask God to show is what our idols are.

Then we can confess them to God. Tell him about the things that captivate our hearts and minds above him.

Then we are standing in agreement with God against the wrong thoughts and lies we have in our thoughts. 

We are standing up with God and are no longer subject to those thoughts that will own us. 

I guess this is something I need to do a great deal in my own life. Keeping the truth of God's word clearly in my mind , by reading it regularly and thinking about it is key. 

Dear ready, if you like so many women I know and including myself, struggle with wrong thinking and lies 

can I encourage you to take God at is word. Get him to show you where you need confess. Sometimes good things like love and painful things like grief and loss grow into idols. 

We need Jesus ' help.

Confession brings great freedom and it raises us up so we stand in agreement with God and his word. 

*