How could Gideon set up an idol at the end of his life? You can read about it in Judges 8:22-35. He had won a great victory. I want to jump to the account of Paul’s thorn. 2 Corinthians 12:7 in the ESV says, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”

I was used to the way I memorized this verse as a child. I was startled when it was brought to my attention. Ask yourself this question: Could my trial be a purposeful thorn to keep me from being conceited? It puts another spin on it for me. It helped me offer a sacrifice of genuine praise.

Our victories are from God. They honor Him and lift His name up through praise and thanksgiving. We can only imagine how much satan hates our victories. He will do whatever he can to derail us through them ~ through conceit.

After Gideon’s death, one son said this about him. Abimelech had killed all of Gideon’s sons except one who escaped. In Judges 9:17 he said, “For my father  fought for you, risked his life,  and delivered you out of the hand of Midian.”

Here is our instruction. When the Lord gives us a great victory, we need to humble ourselves. A humble heart will be empowered through grace to resist the pull from satan’s snares to entrap us through conceit.

Think of Gideon. When the Angel of the Lord appeared, He said in Judges 6:12, “…The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Then in verse 14 He said, “…Go in this might of  yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

I want to backtrack. Where was Gideon when the Lord found him? Verse 11 says that he was threshing wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. Notice that the Lord called him the opposite of what he believed he was.

His view of himself was stated in verse 15. He said, “…O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” God chose one who saw himself differently than the Lord did. Isn’t that true of us?

When what we believe about ourselves does not line up with Scripture, then we have believed a lie. I recently had a mentee write, “What makes you so sure that I’ve adopted wrong beliefs about myself? To me they are true. And I think that if you get to know me more then you will start to agree.”

Could you hear her lie? The Lord knows everything about us and He loves us unconditionally. The lies we have believed come from one who hates everyone that follows Jesus. We need to refute the lies and affirm the truth of what the Lord says, and not go by how we feel towards ourselves.

God inhabits the praises of His people. Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” The Hebrew word for inhabit means to sit down, to remain, to settle, or to marry.

When we enthrone God in the center of our heart, anything unholy flees from the Holy. Psalm 68:1-2 says, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of the Lord.”

Like Daniel, when we purpose in our heart to walk in our holy calling, it will keep us from setting up heart idols. I like 1 Peter 1:15. It says, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” The Greek for conduct means behavior, and manner of life.

If you have fleshly outbursts, it is a telltale sign that there is a heart idol. I heard one preacher describe it as someone blocking your goal. Ever get frustrated? Years ago the Holy Spirit gave me this working definition. God intercepting my way to redirect me into His way.

Dethrone means to disown. We have allowed our heart idols to have ownership. We need to disown them. First by confessing them as sin against God. Next to ask Him to forgive us for allowing them to usurp His rightful place. Then affirm the truth. There are so many Scriptures to do this with. Here is one. Psalm 97:9 says, “For You, Lord, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.” Little gods are heart idols.

Before the Holy Spirit spoke this into my heart, I had never thought of it before. Have you? Fear usurps God’s rightful place in the center of our heart. 2 Timothy 1:7 defined fear as a spirit. A heart idol of fear is a ruling spirit that seeks to dethrone our trust.

The opposite of fear is peace. Isaiah 26:3-4 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord is everlasting strength.”

What did Paul say about peace? Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

What a great promise! Peace that guards our heart so that the Prince of Peace rules. Notice that it is conditional on not allowing fear to usurp His place. Do not let anything make you anxious, fearful, worried, and filled with dread. Why? Matthew 6:25-34 clearly states that our heavenly Father knows our needs and is well able to meet them. Giving into fear is simply lack of trust in the moment ~ sidetracked.

Consider this: God is so great He had to swear by Himself when He made the promise to Abraham. Hebrews 6:13. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do  exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” Luke 1:37 says, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Paul said that he had to fight the good fight of faith. 2 Timothy 4:7. Heart idols usurp God’s place in our heart. I wonder, as I type this, if heart idols keep us from memorizing Scripture. I can plead age and brain injuries, but I need to take this before the Lord and see what He says.

Heart idols keep us ‘me focused’ rather than fixing our gaze on the Lord. Therefore, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, they would block our inner transformation as well. Our metamorphosis comes in two ways: gazing at the Lord, and renewing our mind through Scripture. Romans 12:2.

Back to Judges 6. It is the account of the Lord calling Gideon to specific tasks. In verses 25-27 he was instructed to take two of his father’s bulls. Tear down his father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the wooden idol beside it. That idol was a Canaanite goddess. What? 

Then Gideon was to take the wood from the idol and offer a burnt offering. Now follow me on this. What are we to offer? Hebrews 13:15 says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

We take our fleshly heart idol, tear it down by confessing our sin against Him, and turn it into a sacrifice of praise. We thank the Lord for Who He is to us in that moment ~ glorifying Him as we fix our heart on Him.

Anything that takes the place of the Lord being first in our life is a heart idol. Matthew  6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” His righteousness is conforming our thoughts, purpose, and actions to His will and ways.

You can see how a heart idol is unrighteousness ~ it conforms to our fleshly desires. Anything that we turn to before we turn to the Lord is a heart idol. Our flesh operates from there.

A heart idol is a deceiver. Ezekiel 14 says that when we have an idol in our heart, the Lord will allow it to speak to us instead of Him. Wow! We do not want that! A heart idol will block His still small voice because they are always clamoring to be heeded.

Let’s go back to Israel’s disobedience. They served other gods because they didn’t fulfill what God had called them to do. He told them to destroy all of the enemy that was in the land. They had to fight for the land that was their inheritance.

Our inheritance is settled in the heavens. 1 Peter 1:4-5. However, our heritage is the righteousness that He gave us. Isiah 54:17 says, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage  of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord.”

1 John 5:4 says, “…This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Romans 1:17 says about the cross, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

How do we apply the fruit of Israel’s disobedience to our own lives? As I read the word “plunderers” I thought of Matthew 18:34-35. God’s word says that we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. Ephesians 4:32. Colossians 3:13.

However, when we don’t it says that He will send torturers. Matthew 18:35 is our instruction. It says, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

The things that we do not shake off ~ negatively influence our thought processes. When we bury offenses, leave past emotional issues unresolved, or carry a grudge ~ we have not completely driven out the enemy. His inner strongholds remain to distract and derail us. If a train leaves the track disaster ensues.

Verse 15 says, “Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.” Distressed means: suffer from anxiety, sorrow, or pain.

Are you distressed? I recently had a new mentee write that she was going deeper and deeper into misery. Luke 4:18 Amplified says that Jesus came, “…to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity).”

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Our captive heart will be released when we turn from our sin to the Lord. Israel didn’t, and entered into one calamity after another. 

Right off in the book of Judges, calamity was described as the fruit of their disobedience. It gave me pause as I read this. Several times in Judges 1, it says that the children of Israel did not completely drive the enemy out. 

Judges 1:27 says, “However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants…for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.” In verse 28 it says that when Israel became strong, they put them under tribute, “…but did not completely drive them out.”

In Judges 2:1 the Angel of the Lord spoke, “…I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land…But you have not obeyed My voice…”

Verse 3 says, “…I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”  Verse 11 says that after Joshua’s death, “…the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals.”

They forsook the Lord and served the gods of their enemy. Do you see the enemy’s influence? How could they bow down to a god, and forsake the One Who led them through the wilderness?

The Lord’s anger was hot against them. Calamity hit. Verse 14 says, “…So He delivered them into the hands of the plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.”

Years ago I was the accounting manager for a company with 13 corporations. When I came on board, the CPA helped me whittle it down to five. I knew everything about the money end of the company. I was a voice of truth that the enemy tried desperately to quench.

One day I was at work when I suddenly had a severe sore throat. It kept getting worse. Every swallow felt like knives. I finally took off early and went to my Christian doctor. He checked my throat really well. Sat down and said: Marilyn. There is nothing wrong with your throat. There is no redness or swelling. You have a lying symptom. I stared at him. My throat really hurt!

I learned a great lesson that day about how to shake off lying symptoms. Back to yesterday. According to what the Holy Spirit showed me, my friend’s apathy is a lying symptom. Apathy means: lack of interest, enthusiasm, concern; disinterest. 

John 10:10 explained lying symptoms as, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” What is our heritage? The verse says, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The Strong’s definition for abundantly is: superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, above the ordinary, more than sufficient. 2 Peter 1:4 says, “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be  partakers of the divine nature…”

Our faith is constantly under attack ~ barraged with fiery dart lies. We are to stand steadfast behind our door shield of faith ~ believing God’s word. When His truth gets into our heart it will set us free and keep us free!

As I was praying for a friend, these words came out of my mouth ~ Help them to shake off their apathy like Paul shook off the viper. As soon as the words were out of my mouth the Holy Spirit helped me connect something.

Let me undergird this with God-breathed Scripture that instructs us in righteousness, according to 1 Timothy 3:16. First of all, in Genesis 3, satan showed up as a snake in the garden. Verse 1 says, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field…” The first thing he did was to counter what God had said.

Deception is connected with the snake. What did Paul do when the viper fastened onto his hand? Acts 28:5 says, “But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.” John 8:44 says that there is no truth in the devil. Every fiery dart he sends against our faith is a lie! According to Paul’s example, what do we do with lies? Shake them off!

Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Wiles are schemes. 2 Peter 1:16 says, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured right before their eyes. We see Him through His word. He reveals Himself to us from Genesis to Revelation. The more we bring His word into our heart, the more we will discern how the enemy is seeking to defeat our faith through his deceptions.