Psalm 81:8-9 (Message) "Listen, dear ones.....get this straight; O Israel, don't take this lightly. Don't take up with strange gods, don't worship the latest in gods."
The Lord began to minister to me as I worshiped Him this morning. I was worshiping and singing, just talking inbetween words of melody and saying that my desire was that all would worship Him alone. The Lord spoke to me and told me that so many had gotten weary, just weary of the walk. He said, they were tired of waiting, they wanted instant gratification of their work for Him, they wanted to see results now, actually He said yesterday, and they were going on; they had stopped worshiping Him and were going to settle for less that what He had for them, in order to have the "NOW" thing.
Can you just feel the hurt, the pain in the Lord's heart? After all He has done for us, His children; after time after time bringing us out of disastrous situations, seeing that we were taken care of, and yet, there are so many, just as with the Israelites, that wanted it now, got tired of the walk, the waiting, the struggle and decided to go after other gods.
Other gods are anything that takes the place of the Lord in your life. When you decide that you do not want to worship the One who has given you life eternal, but decided that you will just do your thing. Some people actually continue to go to church, or to a different one, if the church they were not attending does not have the modern programs, the feel good message, the indifference to worship, true worship; you know the kind of place that doesn't make you feel like you should give the Lord 100% of yourself in worship, in praise. Nothing required of you at all. Some gods are those ministers to whom you begin to think has all the answers and you just don't think anyone else can tell you anything. You listen to everything they say and never check it out in the Word, or test anything they say. You are making yourself a god. Anything that takes the place, first place in your life besides our God, becomes your little god.
The Lord is a jealous God. He will put up with this for a short time, giving you some time to come back to Him on your own; but it will be shortlived. He will draw you back to Him, wooing you gently with His love; if you still refuse, He will cut you off from His Spirit, it will be a dark day when you realize upon calling out His Name in need, that He will not answer until He sees your heart completely turned back to Him. He will make you wait until He is all that you desire before He answers again. You will have to prove that our Lord is your only God.
Inanimate objects can become your gods also; people that spend all their time in front of the TV, in activities other than giving to the Lord their time; time reading the Word, time worshiping and praising Him, time devoted to witnessing of His great love and grace. I have seen people make their children their gods; completely engrossed in their children without a thought of the Lord until something happens and they need help. Be careful friends, what you worship.
Sadly, so many of us never think of these things as gods. But they can be if we are not careful. The enemy is so sly, he can have you engrossed in something that seems perfectly good, and yet if it takes the place of God in your heart, it is another god that you worship.
For those of us that choose to worship only the Creator of life, our God, the Great I Am, will have the reward that the Father has been desiring to give us. Only we will have the peace of the Lord, and the unmistakable joy that none other can give. We alone will have the blessings of the Lord rain down on us in abundance.
Father, forgive us all if we have let others, things, take the rightful place You should have in our hearts, in our lifes. Holy Spirit, check our hearts and show us, reveal to us those things that should not be in first place in our lives over our Heavenly Father. Convict us of anything there that is not of our Lord, keep us ever mindful of the One whose Name we bear. Let us always be worshiping You, my God, You alone. For You alone are worthy of all praise, You alone are the Holy One; You alone should be worshiped; for You alone are God.
02-09-12
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