Job 22:23-30: "If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored - so clean up your life. If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river, the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver! Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you. If people are in trouble and you say, 'Help them,' God will save them. Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure."
This is an astounding passage of Scripture. It gives us God's promises to people who put away their idols to love and worship God only. What are these promises?
- God will become their treasure.
- God will become their delight.
- Their prayers will be heard and answered.
- God will be glorified.
- There will be success and fruitfulness.
- Their impact on others, especially through prayer, will be powerful.
Perhaps you have wondered how you can have a heart that finds great delight in the Lord. Perhaps you have wondered how to finally be free from the idols of your heart, maybe that ONE idol that has kept hold of your heart for years...decades. Why do my prayers seem so impotent? Why is there no more fruit in my ministry to others? Why is God not more glorified in and through my life?
There is only ONE WAY all of these things can happen in any believer's life: we must TOSS our idols into the river of discarded gods and dust off the throne of our heart for occupancy by God alone. There can be NO joy in God while food or drink or sex or laziness or money or relationships with others or fear of the future rules my life. The human heart has room for one ultimate treasure: it is God or it is gods. It is the Gold and Sliver of the Almighty or it is the cheap trinkets of earth.
Can you taste what it would be like to have HIM as your only treasure? Don't you desire to be fruitful in His service? Do you long for the assurance that comes when you KNOW there is no other god before Him? Are you hungry for a prayer life that has impact for the Kingdom?
Again, there is one way and one way only. TOSS the IDOLS! Idols of the heart are deceptive...they promise what they can NEVER deliver: life, meaning, joy, impact, peace, assurance, love... Idols DISPLACE the deep love of Jesus with the cheap love of stuff.
"Lord Jesus, grant repentance to our idol grasping hearts. Grant us grace to toss the idols and grab ahold with all that we are to the true and lasting Treasure. Be our Treasure, be our Joy, be our fruitfulness, be our all. We seek to toss the idols in VAIN until your strengthen our hands and arms with the courage that will no longer settle for lesser things. Do this through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray...Amen."
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