Dethrone your other gods

Some of you may ponder what I mean……The truth is, each of us have something that we enthrone in our lives……As believers, God only expects us to have one throne, that is His……..What?

 

The word tells us that when we lift up our voices unto God, He inhabits our praises. We build Him a throne, if you will, acknowledge His greatness and offer up a sacrifice of praise to Him…..That sacrifice is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.

 

Something similar happens when we let life dictate our response…..Because the power of life and death is in our tongues, we have to be very careful what we verbalize…..If we speak blessing, a blessing shall come…..If we speak negativity, guess what…..negativity will surely follow……

 

Many of us have either heard stories of someone who was told by their folks that they wouldn’t amount to anything, and that’s exactly what happens……

 

Let’s get practical….Many of us are filled with worry……We are concerned about our tomorrow, our future, our finances, our marriages, the credit crunch, whatever…….

 

Now, the word of God tells us how to handle this:

 

Jesus said, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world”

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me”

In Isaiah 26:3 “Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee”

In the epistles we are told “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests be known unto God”

We are also urged to “let the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”

We are encouraged that “the people that know their God shall do exploits”

We are told to “come boldly before the throne of God, to obtain grace and help in times of need”

 

Of course, I could go on racking scripture upon scripture…….the point is, however, we know how we should respond…..In spite of the knowledge of the word of God, what do we do?

 

We panic, we curse God, we mumble and complain, we act up, we try and make it on our own, etc……What is the sum total of all of this….We begin to build an alter for that worry, that complaint, that insecurity and that fear, and the more we mumble and grumble, we sacrifice to it with our lips (the same lips from which we should be giving God praise)…..And all that, does nothing but dethrone God from His throne in your life, and enthrones the enemy……

 

OK, that’s kinda deep. Let me slow down…..Do you know people who love to mumble and complain? Maybe they started off with a little negativity but before they knew it, they became increasingly pessimistic…..Then what happens? Even when it comes to the things of God, they react with the same negative attitude……Rather than being patient and trusting in God’s omnipotence, they begin to doubt God, they waver at His promises, and they fall out of His presence…….

 

Before you know it, the same person is to hard and stubborn, they reject God, they reject His son, His word and seem to live shortened frustrated lives…..My uncle was like that…..He let anger turn his spirit bitter, and before He knew it, His relationship with God was also compromised…..

 

When Jesus said that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, I firmly believe that he steals you from the presence of God (by enticing you in sin), he kills your relationship with God (by inflicting you with guilt, giving you a spirit of heaviness and bitterness) and finally destroys you (by keeping you out of the presence of God, and blocking your path back to Him, he condemns you to a life of defeat and spiritual death).

 

I believe that we were never designed to be away from God…..Just like the angelic beings dwell in Heaven in His presence, we were designed to function in His presence….We are meant to have fellowship with the Father, to be with Him, next to Him) In the garden of Eden, God would walk through the garden to have fellowship with His creation…..but when we sinned, we were drawn out of the presence of God and kicked out of the garden (so the enemy had stolen us away from God’s presence) and after that, he continued to kill and destroy mankind (our relationship with God was never right, men and women suffered physical death at each other’s hand) and we were utterly in a state of destruction……But thanks be to God, that He showed up in the midnight hour and purchased us back…….As the song goes, His mercy said “No”, “Uh uh”, “No way”……..

 

Back to where I was going, a sour attitude, a grumbling spirit help dethrone God and enthrone the enemy in your life….You begin to doubt God, begin to question His will, begin to waver at His promises…Instead of saying to that situation in your life that it is subject to God, and that it must bow at the name of Jesus, we seem content at staying frustrated and disappointed……Like Ezekiel, we need to prophesy to the dry bones in our lives, and tell them to “Hearken unto the word of the Lord”……

 

OK, so that means that you need to know the word of God…..That means you need to read the word, talk with God, ask for guidance and ask Him to open the doors that only He can open and to close the doors that no man need to try open…..You need to come to a point where you acknowledge that before God you are nothing, and that He is everything, and He wills (and He wills), only He can make you something…….

 

When I realized that I had many idols that I enthroned to the throne of God, I had to go pro-actively and start knocking them down…..The idols of sex, anxiety, confusion, worry, etc, that I had built and had began to worship by having a loose tongue, a bitter spirit and being stiff necked needed to be knocked down, and then I had to elevate the throne of God through praise, prayer and faith…….

 

What happened? As I began to enthrone God back to His rightful place, the idols began to fall away….When God arises, His enemies are scattered……And the things that were holding back my blessing were moved……

 

I need you to understand that God wants to bless you, He wants you to be stanky rich, He wants you to have all good things, for everything belongs to Him…..but He won’t give you those things so that you may consume them in your lusts…..Or so that you can go off and sacrifice to the other gods in your life, like your pride…..He won’t pour out His wine in old wineskins……He wants you to be a new wineskin before Him…..He wants you to love and adore Him, to worship and honor Him in your days…….

 

Understand that if you honor God…..He will honor you beyond compare…..Job was a man who honored God….Not only did he walk uprightly before Him, he also offered sacrifices on behalf of his kids (and even his friends) in case they had messed before God, and even when they had messed……Because He desired to honor God by not tolerating sin, by not cursing God, Job was like none other…His wealth, the beauty of His daughters, His sons, He was, for all practical purposes a baller! He was the macaroni with the cheese, if you will……

 

Understand that all God wants from you is to honor Him, purpose yourself that you will honor Jehovah, and he promises to honor you….He says that He will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly before Him……I don’t know what you are expecting from God, what you would like God to do for you, but I do know that He wants to do it for you, but you have align your will to His.

 

Wealth, blessings, honor, riches, etc all come as a result of aligning yourself with His highest will for your will…..And what’s that? He wants you to love Him with your heart soul, mind and strength…..He wants you to know and understand Him, He wants you to obey His commands and let not His word depart from you……He wants you to honor Him with all He has honored you with (your life, your health, your relationships, your job, your body, your finances, your all)….He wants your days on earth to be filled with opportunities for God’s will to be done, for His authority to be proven and for His Kingdom to be established in the hearts and minds of men.

 

But to truly honor God, you need to find those things in your life that you have built a throne for and knock them down…..Its time for spring cleaning, so go on and knock down your idols……Get rid of sour-puss attitudes, bitterness, striving, rebellion, etc…..Cast all those things aside and focus on the Lord your God……

 

Honor Him, and trust me, He will honor you……