IDOL IN THE HEART

It cannot be overemphasized that ‘’God hates idols’’. Despite this, the youths of my generation who proclaim boldly that they have given their lives to Jesus Christ still harbor idols in their hearts. Many young people take these idols above God, they love the idols more than God and they can do anything to protect these idols in their hearts.

The word of God says “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt (darkness, sin), out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other god before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” {Exodus 20vs2-4}

With the above pre-warning by God, many people still create spaces for the idol, not on the earth, not in the heaven above, and not on the earth beneath but right in their hearts. They have turned it to the god that they worship day after day and have neglected the true God that brought them out of darkness into His marvelous light through the blood of His dear son that died on the cross of Calvary, even before their mothers conceived them in their wombs. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” – Ephesians 5vs8 and 1 Peter 2vs9

You may be part of the category of people described above and I know you may be asking questions like; in what way have you created space for the idol in your heart? Let us look at it together;

MONEY: When the word of God says the love of money is the root of all evil in 1 Timothy 6vs10, the Bible did not say to have money is bad, the Bible is not saying working for money is evil but loving money than God, wanting to get money at all costs without regard for its consequences and implication is evil! This is the trend among the youth of this generation, even those ones that said they have given their lives to Jesus Christ. They have allowed the love for money to become a great idol in their hearts. They want to get rich at all costs regardless of the end result, either negative or positive.

Many Christian youths now engage in cybercrime, many now engage in dubious and sharp practices, and many are now changing figures to get returns. If you call yourself a child of God and you still do any of these, you have an idol in your heart and God dislikes people like you. {Exodus 20vs4-6, Proverbs 15vs16, Deuteronomy 13vs6-10, Proverbs 16vs8}

SEX: The level at which the youths of this generation crave after sex is alarming even the so-called Christian youths. This is another idol that has taken over the hearts of many. Their thinking is not on the things of God nor on how they will achieve their glorious destiny. The devil has blindfolded them from seeing the plan of God for their lives by filling them with a hunger for sex.

As a child of God, it is recommended to read the advice of King Solomon in the book of Proverbs 5vs1-11. King Solomon is the best person that can be referenced on this subject matter because he had some unpleasant experiences on it.

Before you totally go in the way of the world, why not bring down the bridge that is linking your heart to this evil idol? Why not do just like Gideon? How he burnt down the evil altar in his father’s house. “That same night the Lord said to him, Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.  Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering. So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime. In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar” {Judges 6vs25-28}.

You can rebuild a new altar in your heart by allowing the Lord Jesus Christ to take over your heart instead of the thought of sex that is pushing you out of God into hell. {Proverbs 5vs20, Proverbs 7vs1-5, Proverbs 7vs24-27}

POWER: The desire and hunger for power is another deadly evil idol in the heart of many youths of this generation, including Christian youths. Many are badly hungry for political powers, spiritual powers, societal powers, financial powers, academic powers and many more. The urge to get power has eroded the love of God in the hearts of many and this has become an idol that they now worship even after the Lord Jesus Christ has promised us believers that; you will receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. {Acts 1vs8}.

Because you cannot wait patiently like the Apostles {Acts 2vs1-5}, you have allowed the devil to deceive you. There is no true power elsewhere apart from God through the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was talking about power, He is not only talking about spiritual power; He can give you the power to make wealth, he gives the power to do great exploits, He gives power for academic exploits, for political exploits if only you can wait on Him.

Do not allow the devil to push you into the ring against God; all the power you are dying to get is in God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you will ask for it. It is a gift that has been promised to be delivered into your hand if you will wait and ask for it.

FAME: This is another devil that is destroying the destiny of many young people. Many lights (lives) have entered into darkness all because they also want to be famous. Many have joined wrong associations because they want to dominate the stage even before their God-given time, they want to be in control and because of this they have chased out the spirit of God in their hearts and they now allow the desire for fame to take over the center stage of their hearts.

Do you know that the desire of King Saul to remain famous and to be accepted by people was what set his path against God? The desire to be famous among the people ruined his life and took the kingdom and authority that God gave to him. {1 Samuel 13vs1-14, 1 Samuel 15vs7-31}

You do not have to make the desire for fame send you out of God’s presence; you do not have to allow this idol for fame to send you to the early grave without fulfilling your goals and the purpose of God for your life.

Take out the idol from your heart today because its primary assignment in your life is to destroy your purpose and goals in life. The Devil just wants to use it to set you against God, he does not want the promise of God for your life to come to pass because he knows that you are the solution that the world is looking for. He knows you have been fully loaded by God to bring peace to the world and he is just using the idols as a point of distraction to take your eyes and heart away from this great purpose.

The Devil has nothing good to offer you, and if you have collected anything from him, you still have time and opportunity to return it back to him now by calling on Jesus Christ to help you. Whatever you want or you wish to become can only come through by surrendering your all to Jesus Christ and by allowing Him to be in control of your heart and life.

God hates idols, burn that idol in your heart and be free, rebuild that altar for God in your heart, and let God take over your heart with the power of the Holy Spirit. Allowing desire for fame, sex, power, or money to take the center stage of your heart is an idol of the heart and God dislikes it and people that do it. {Exodus 20vs4-6, Deuteronomy 13vs6-10, Exodus 22vs20, Psalms 97vs7, 1 Corinthians 10vs7, 1 Corinthians 10vs14, Leviticus 26vs1, 1 John 5vs21}