Challenge: Identify your Idols My desire is to be married. My desire is to one day experience sex the way God intended it to be. My desire is to perhaps one day become a mother. <\/p> Marriage and sex were idols in my life before. <\/p> Marriage and sex are good things; God\u2019s ideas. But even good things, if they are in the wrong place in our life, can become snares of captivity.<\/p> So, I submit my desires beneath my desire for God. I submit my desires underneath my love and desire for God, underneath my trust for Him. Because I KNOW He is completely good and completely trustworthy, I entrust my life [and my desires] to Him (Psalm 143:8). <\/p> If my desires are unsubmitted to His heart, they are in danger of becoming an idol again. <\/p> Take delight in the <\/em>Lord<\/em>, and he will give you the desires of your heart.<\/em> (Psalm 37:4)<\/p> Unclench your hands from around whatever idols your grasping onto. If we truly want God\u2019s ways, if we truly want to \u201cdelight ourselves in the Lord\u201d, that our desires become the same as His desires, I\u2019m convinced that He won\u2019t give us something that is an idol! <\/p> I think the reason John pleads with us to keep ourselves from idols is because once they are in our heart, they are hard to get out. I was so amazed one day, fairly recently when I heard these thoughts from inside my heart: That I would accept more time in singleness so that I could do single ministry. That if I was taken to heaven before marriage, before I was able to have sex again, it would be ok. <\/p> 4.Is there some way that you are wanting to respond? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there are any idols in your life: \n
1. What are your desires?
2. Are there any desires in your life that are unsubmitted to God and are a potential idol? Is there something you want at any cost, more than you want what God wants for you? Is there anything before God in your life?
3. Are there things in your life that you believe can fill you and meet your needs more than God? Are there any areas of your life where someone or something else is sitting on the throne instead?<\/strong><\/p>
i. A desire (identified above)\n
ii. A method of escape or addiction\n
iii. Shopping, money, work, materialism, celebrities\n
iv. Manga, pornography, sex\n
v. Relationships (romantic, friendship, family)\n
vi. Other __________\n
Do you want to pray a prayer of repentance? Do you want to repent and ask Jesus to be the only One on the throne? Use your own words and\/or you can use the prayer below: \n
Father God, right now, I repent for putting __________ in front of you. I want to say out loud that I take this idol down from my life. It is no longer in a place before you in my life. I invite You, Jesus, You alone, to sit on the throne in my life, in Jesus\u2019 name. \n
Feel free to add any words as you pray. <\/strong><\/p>