“Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.” Psalm 16:4
I really feel I should speak on this verse, for I believe many Christians are having more problems than they are meant too have, and its because they worship of idols.
You may say that we don’t do that sort of thing now days for we are civilized and also Christians. The Apostle John said to the Church:
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:21
The trouble is we have been born into an age where one of the symptoms is that man will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Because we are immersed in the pursuit of pleasure we don’t see that there is a problem with a lot of things we are doing.
Exactly what is an idol for us today?
In ancient times they used to worship graven images like Baal and Ashtoreth, but what about us right now? An idol is whatever takes God’s rightful place in your heart. The bible says that Christ is to take 1st place in our lives. It’s not that He wants to make us miserable, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Christ has come to set us free and give us a far better life. John 10:10
Susannah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, once said, "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or removes your desire for spiritual things, that is sin (an idol) to you."
I am having such amazing times with the Lord now days and its since I threw out some of the idols/gods that were in my life. I wish I had listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit years earlier, as it would have saved me a lot of trouble.
As I said at the beginning of this message, sorrows will be multiplied to those who worship other gods. The Spirit of God is a jealous God and will wrestle with you until you give these idols up. He wants to make Jesus first place in your life. Unfortunately some Christians end up wrestling with God all their lives and never give them up.
Since I am called to be a preacher of the gospel, much more is required of me. I want to share 3 specific idols that I have battled with over the years. Praise God the Spirit finally convinced me of my folly and I put them on the altar and He gave me far better.
The first one was in the area of the drinking wine. I know there is no verse in the bible that says ‘thou shalt not drink,’ but it can become addictive. You can turn to the bottle for comfort instead of the Lord. I was told by a Christian doctor that having a glass of red wine with a meal was good for the heart, so I got into the habit of having one a day. The trouble is the glasses got bigger and the meals became more frequent.
I sensed the Lord say that it was becoming an idol and I needed to give it up. He spoke to me in the Song of Songs, that His love was better than wine. Song of Songs 1:2.
I couldn’t say this verse honesty because I knew that wine was more enjoyable to me than His love, but PTL now I can. Funny I put this verse up as a short video on Facebook once and I don’t think anyone gave it a ‘like’, which speaks volumes.
I know we all have different paths to walk and as a minister more is required of me, but all I can do is share my experience in the Lord.
Another big idol for me was watching graphic movies. I prided myself in being a ‘Movie Buff’ but I always felt bad after sitting in a movie or watching a video where there was swearing, violence or sexual content. As the years have gone by the content has got worse, yet I would still sit through them to see what happened in the end. What would Jesus do? I’m sure He would have left the room ages ago.
I would make the excuse that I am mature enough to spit out the bones so to speak, but I was deceived. The bible says that our identifying with things affects us.
“Bad communications corrupt good manners. “ 1 Corinthians 15:33
As the saying goes in computer circles, ‘Garbage in = Garbage out’. In other words, what you feed into a computer is what will eventually come out. We need to be careful what we put into us, for it will affect us.
After a long struggle, I stopped watching anything that had an ‘R’ rating and cleaned up my act. This was a difficult idol to throw away, but I’m so glad I did.
The trouble is when we are feeling down, or sorry for ourselves we indulge in things that comfort the flesh, but there is always a consequence. It says in Romans 8 that when we follow after the flesh it will produce death, but feeding the spirit will always lead to life.
This verse really spoke to me.
“Who shall dwell in the everlasting burnings. Who can dwell in the presence of God?
.. (The answer is that it’s those who) .. shut their eyes from seeing evil:
He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure.” Isaiah 33:15-16
This verse says that my looking at ‘evil’ was keeping me out of the presence of God. What I was seeing in movies was getting more and more horrific as Hollywood pushed the envelope. I now see that if you want to have wonderful visions of God then you need to monitor your ‘tele’ visions.
As the saying goes; ‘A picture tells a 1000 words.’ Its true, for what you watch has the power to capture your heart, and our hearts belong to Jesus. We need to guard our hearts for they influence our lives.
“Guard your heart with all possible vigilance, for from it flow the wellsprings of life.” Proverbs 4:23
Another translation says that we must guard our affections for they affect our lives.
Sorrows will be multiplied to those who worship idols, but favour and blessings will be to those who worship Jesus with all their hearts.
What bothered me was that I was more excited about sharing the latest movie that I’d seen than sharing the wonders of God’s word and the presence of Jesus.
The bible says ;
“where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
Our treasure needs to be in heaven and not in this world. I thank God that I have managed to wean myself off this idol that was really affecting my relationship with the Lord.
I know some of you will think I’ve gone too far but I will not exchange this new living relationship that I now have with Jesus for anything in all the world.
For some of you, this next ‘idol’ that I battled over will be hard to understand, for it is quite normal in today’s society. This idol for me was in the area of sport.
I loved keeping fit and played squash a lot. I did quite well at it for my age and annoyed those who were a lot younger, after being beaten by me. I loved it so much that I would play 2 or 3 times a week. In fact sometimes I would play every day if I could find someone to play with.
This was my greatest joy, and I always looked forward to my next game, but deep down I felt the Lord say that it was an idol. I reasoned that this was keeping me fit and healthy and would help me live a longer life. I felt Him say that He could do that for me if I listened to Him. There is a verse that says, “Today if you hear His voice, harden not you heart.”
There were a couple of other verses that would bother me.
“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:4
“For bodily exercise profits little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8
As I said earlier my primary calling is to preach the gospel. The word says that if your eye is single your whole body will be filled with light, and the Spirit wanted my undivided focused attention.
The Spirit was challenging me to love Jesus more than anything…even squash. Jesus said to Peter. “Do you love me?” and He was saying this to me too. Do you love me more than squash? Eventually I surrendered.
It’s been nearly 9 years now since I stopped playing and I haven’t been back to my doctor ever since. I still keep myself fit by going on prayer walks every day praying in tongues.
In the army, a soldier can’t have any other job, hobby or pass time that interferes with His mission. He needs to be available 24/7 and drop everything. He needs to be fully committed for he now belongs to the army and everything else goes on hold. In the past if the Lord said that he wanted me to fast. I would say I can’t as I have a squash tournament over that period and need the strength to play.
I was also priding myself in my own strength, but He was saying that He wanted to be the strength of my life. I found that this type of lifestyle can’t be achieved without the word. The word needs to be life to you and health to all your flesh.
My greatest skill now is in using His word and not a racquet to give me a long life and health. Jesus’ desire is that He be our all in all.
Joshua 1:8 says that if we meditate on His word day and night we will prosper and have good success.
As I said we all have a different walk in the lord and I’m just saying what, I have learnt. You need to ask God for wisdom concerning your life, and throw out any idols that are multiplying your troubles.