Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
The God of Your Idol
Pastor Scott
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
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"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."
(Luke 6:45)
One of the things that places you in real danger is mistaking knowledge for experience, maturity and fruit. Don't listen to the knowledge that comes out of your head; listen to the revelation of the fruit that comes out of your heart. Your heart is where your treasure is, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Many of us have head doctrine and heart doctrine, and they're different. The head doctrine can be right on, but is very difficult to distinguish from the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. All the while the Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to you. What voice are you hearing?
Many of us are familiar with a voice that goes off and we say, "That's God." Is that the God of the Bible, the God of the kingdom of light? Or is it the god created in your own image, by your own preferences, conscience and lusts? Is it the god of your personal idol that you've erected? It's dangerous to be answered according to the idols of your heart. One of the things that endangers each one of us is that ever present battle with pride, this selfness. Man's natural tendency is to believe that his perception is truth. It takes a mature, experienced person who has failed many times to say, "That voice that I thought was God kept producing this rotten fruit!"
God wants to bless you! Do you believe that? Then why are you trying to protect your idols from God? You don't believe God loves you and wants to bless you if you can't die to your own will. You need to come to grips with all of that carnality and ugliness in your heart and acknowledge you really want those things. Until you're thankful, you're never going to hear the voice of God. You're always going to hear the voice of lust, of self, of more, of image. We want a people that can hear the voice of God. If God said to you, "Take your son and offer him up," would you even know that voice? It's a difficult thing to be able to hear that voice. If God were to tell you to do what He did with Isaac, you better know that's the voice of God.
We're living in a time of ease. In our day it's so easy to lose the edge. Ideal is the goal. We're in shape for what we're doing, but are we in shape for what's coming? Are we "in shape" to walk in the spirit, to walk in the supernatural, to walk in the miraculous, to walk by faith? When I say miraculous, I'm not just talking spectacular. I'm talking about walking in dependence of the supernatural and the sufficiency of the provision of God. We don't have to supplement the supernatural with all of the technology and abundance we happen to have at our disposal. By the sovereignty of God we happen to live in a society that is abundant. I'm thankful for it and would rather be here than anywhere else. I like ease and comfort, but not at the cost of God's presence, voice or provision. Are we jealous for the blessings of God and not the abundance of the natural?