Heart idols are like a mirage of water in a desert. They cannot deliver anything. They are a stronghold that exists only in our mind. In order to cast them down, we have to change our mindset.

Years ago I had a dream. I saw a city with huge concrete citadels, each with a name in capital letters. They looked strangely familiar. As I observed this one, I noticed it said SELF-PITY. The Lord showed me it was a citadel of ‘poor me’ thoughts that I entertained from time to time. I had no clue. That revelation became chapter seven in my first book, “Freedom! From Past Hurts.”

I remember in 1975 when the Lord revealed my heart idol of noise. I had my radio plugged into the front light switch. When I walked into the door I would flip it on. Why? I did not want to think.

I’ve disclosed two of mine from my past. I hope that it has helped you identify some of yours. Anything or anyone that we turn to instead of the Lord first, would bear the classification of a heart idol. Ezekiel 14:4 says that our heart idols cause us to, “…stumble into iniquity…” Iniquity is doing anything independent of the Lord. 

Oh, yes that was another of my heart idols—independence. How do we cast them down? 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” Heart idols are inner strongholds that war against the Holy Spirit’s instruction.

Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Romans 12:2 says that when we renew our mind it is a metamorphosis experience. The butterfly could not be created until the caterpillar died to its old life.

The Greek word for casting down is demolition. It means: taking down, razing, destroying, and figuratively means extinction. Jeremiah 1:10 says, “…to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down…”

Here is what king Josiah did to the idols. 2 Kings 23:4-15. Let me recap. He had them all taken out of the temple (our body is the temple of the Lord). He burned them. Verse 6 says that he burned them and ground them to ashes.. In verse 15 he broke down an idolatrous altar, he burned it, and crushed it to powder.

We do this by first confessing our heart idol usurped the Lord’s place in our heart. Then we renounce it, and all the lies we believed that were attached to it. It is an enactment of Psalm 18:42 which says, “Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind; I cast them out like dirt in the streets.”

Isaiah 30:14 says this is what the Lord does right afterwards. “And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.” Hallelujah!

I want to take you to the throne room. It is the scene that John took in as he was caught up in the Spirit. Revelation 4 is a glorious chapter. In 1997 I bought an old mobile. I had the 70’s wall to wall shag carpet replaced with emerald green. I wanted to remember His throne room each time I vacuumed. 

Can you picture verse 3? It says, “And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.” Verse 5 described what was happening.

It says, “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Verses 6-8 was the description of the four living creatures.

Here is what they were saying day and night. Verse 8 says, “…Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” They had eyes all around. They beheld His holiness through all dimensions.

We are called with a holy calling according to 2 Timothy 1:9. Peter reminds us that we are to be holy and He is holy. 2 Peter 1:15 says, “…be holy in all your conduct.” Hmm. I can tell you exactly what blocks us—heart idols.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

We don’t intentionally set up our heart idols. How do they get there then? They are figments of our fleshly imaginations—thoughts based in pride. I can honestly tell you that I believed that my independent spirit was my asset. I learned to take care of myself. I was single and on my own before I was 20. It seemed natural. 

That summer I had a rude awakening. I was a counselor at our youth camp. In our quiet time the Lord spoke this into my heart: you have not esteemed My words more than your necessary food. It shook me. At the time I didn’t know what I know today.

Heart idols usurp God’s place. Here is a graphic illustration of pagan idols, yet we can make personal applications. Psalm 135:15-18 says that man made idols cannot do anything. Verse 18 says, “Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.” More tomorrow.

Rejection is universal. It doesn’t seem to matter where you live, how you were raised, or any other factor. Rejection often happens daily in some form. It seems that no one is exempt from this emotionally painful assault. 

Yet there is an essential truth that all believers can stand in. We have God’s stamp of approval. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected by men…” He was rejected for us. His death changed our identity designations. Chosen. Predestined to adoption. Accepted in the Beloved. Redeemed. Forgiven. Predestined to God’s will. Sealed.

Let me backup these descriptions with the Scriptures. Ephesians 1:4 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

Verse 5 says, “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

Verse 6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

Verse 7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Verse 11 says, “…being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

Verse 13 says, “In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

The ideology of our times wants to negate the values that God set His stamp of approval on each one of us. Scripture is full of truth that will keep us from falling into error. Our part is to read His word for understanding, observe it so that we can apply it personally, memorize it so that it is hidden in our heart, and speak truth to ourselves when faced with our enemy’s tantalizing temptations to own our rejections.

Instead of receiving the lying fiery darts, we need to resist them by proclaiming who we are IN Christ. Colossians 3:3 says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Genesis 1:26 says that we are made in the image of God. 2 Peter 1:3 says that we have received ALL things that pertain to life and godliness. We must brand these truths in our heart to give us inner strength in the face of any kind of rejection. We are accepted  by the only One that matters!

Ephesians 4:23 Amplified says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).” We cannot be idle, letting our mind wander into fleshly indulgences.

We must stay our thoughts on the Lord. Inner peace is the opposite of inner distress, turmoil, anguish of spirit, doubt, fear, and unbelief. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

This verse has two conditions. We must keep our focus on the Lord instead of our circumstances. It requires trust or relying totally on Him and no other fleshly means which cannot profit.

1 Samuel 12:21 says, “And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.” Hosea 10:13 says, “…You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way…”

The enemy will use our distress to plunder us through his lies. The Lord uses our distress to increase His real estate in our heart. Psalm 118:5 says, “I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.”

Psalm 18:18-20 anchored my heart when I had another brain injury in January 2017. It says of the enemy, “They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.”

Dwelling in His Presence in the midst of the storm is the broadest place we can be—emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Intimate communion knows no barriers. Read this first verse from a new song called Extravagant Oil Of Joy.

I lift my unveiled face to gaze into Your face. Face to face I behold You as You behold me. No veil separates us. No fear of being known. We have intimate communion. Our hearts are knit as one.

Here is verse from a new song called Song of the Altar. In the midst of adversity when trouble surrounds me. I come into Your presence and I build an altar. I remember how You met me time and time again and I bow in worship.

Lifting our heart up in worship sets us in a broad place. We rise above the distress into His glory. Nothing limits us. There are no barriers that can keep us from Him. He is Present within us. We are breathing in His Presence every second. We praise Him with His breath within us because He is worthy.

Distress Default

I had read Exodus 6 and 7. The Holy Spirit took me back to camp on Exodus 6:9. Moses had just told the children of Israel that God was going to bring them out of their distress-filled circumstances. In verse 6 he reiterated God’s words, “…I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”

Why couldn’t they grasp hold of God’s promises when Moses told them? Verse 9 says, “…but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.” The Hebrew for anguish meant impatience, or shortness. It conveyed several meanings for spirit. One is the mind, another is the seat of emotions such as anger, or dispositions such as troubled, bitter, and discontented.

Let me take you back to what had happened. Before Moses came they had Egyptian taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. Exodus 1:13 says, “…all their service in which they made them serve was in rigor..” Exodus 2:23 says, “…the children of Israel groaned because of their bondage…” God heard their cry and sent Moses.

After Moses came, Pharaoh gave a harsh command. He deduced that because they wanted to go into the wilderness and worship their God, they were resting from their labors and idle. He gave the edict that they were no longer to be given straw. They had to go out and gather stubble. Yet, the quota of bricks was not reduced.

When we are distressed in our heart, we are tempted to default to unbelief. Our flesh rises up to protest through self-pity, self-focus, impatience, or any number of emotional fillers to deflect the pain.

The pain is present, but the promises seem too far away. When we are emotionally hurting, spoken truth hits the inner heart barriers of unbelief. The desire for immediate relief kicks in. I call it the dark night of the soul.

Think of the caterpillar inside the cocoon. It is dark. There is no relief from the transformation that is taking place. The caterpillar had to die to ‘self’ to make room for the butterfly. The caterpillar melts, and God forms the butterfly from its liquid.

The Lord uses our hard trials as His tool to transform our character. Ephesians 4:22-23 says, “That you put off, concerning your former conduct…” That is what the caterpillar has to do.. Its cocoon days abruptly stop the enjoyment of fresh leaves.  Ah, but the butterfly drinks life-giving nectar“…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

In my book, “Victorious Living: more than a conqueror,” chapter seven is entitled, “Observing Your Life.” What do folks see when they observe your life? All that we do visually and behind doors is observed by others. 

What we think and what we do are intricately connected. They spill out like water being poured from a pitcher. All words come from thoughts. Though our thoughts are private, the fruit of those thoughts can be observed through our actions.

I was grocery shopping this morning. There was a customer two ahead of me waiting for the bagger to finish. The words coming out of their mouth, and the expressions on their face revealed the fruit of an angry inner dialogue.

David had a wise prayer that needs to be hidden in our hearts  as well. Psalm 19:14 says,  “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O  Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”

Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy…” Verse  20 says, “He sent His word and healed  them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

Is your life a testimony of being redeemed? David said in Psalm 40:2-3 that, “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay…He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

Psalm 104:33-34 says, ”I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.” I want to draw our attention to the three ‘I will’s’ because that is key.

Saying, ‘I will’ sets our heart in the right direction. Two words that declare purpose and intention. We can take our example from a man’s words in the midst of a deep trial. Habakkuk 3:18 says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

What do others observe as you go through your hard trials? Here is our mandate for giving preference to our intent with ‘I will’ from Hebrews 13:15. It 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.”

When I first woke up I just laid in bed and worshiped the Lord in my heart. I was thanking Him for how He has created our bodies to function. I have been watching a video about our circadian rhythm. I was standing in awe of His indescribable brilliance.

Each of you reading this can say the same thing. Though our circumstances are multi varied, there is a common denominator. God is truly in the center of our lives. I wrote in my journal.

‘Every aspect of my life has You as the center. My conception, womb time, all my growing up years to the present. All under Your protective hand. No one knows the details except You. I only know what You have told me or I remember. I stand in awe of You ~ expressionless ~ I am so Yours.’

I am aghast to think of the years I have wasted entertaining idols in my heart. Oh, they were not consciously set in place. They set themselves up as soon as I turned to my flesh in place of the Lord. Doing things in my own strength, or relying on something or someone, all equated to unbelief. Isaiah 5:13 says,  “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge…”

We are created to worship. Worship is built into our heart. The enemy will seek myriad ways to distract us, derail us, and keep us too busy to spend time with the Lord in intimate communion.

There is a righteous principle for worship found in John 4:23-24. It says, “…when  true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

One way we do this is to glorify Him through our words. After meditating on yesterday’s verses I came to a conclusion. All of His creation glorifies Him. Half Dome in Yosemite is a tribute of its Creator. Does it have breath like you and I do? 

Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory  of God; and the firmament shows His  handiwork.” Ephesians  2:10 says that we are His workmanship. Psalm 8:3 says that the heavens are the work of His fingers.

He is glorified through testimony. The Grand Canyon testifies of a Creator. The rocks cry out ‘glory’ as they stand where He placed them. Let our lives cry out ‘glory’ as we serve Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I’ve been meditating on this for several days. Isaiah 43:7 says, “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” The name of Jesus is a representation of all that He is at all times.

John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

Lets couple Isaiah 43:7 with Psalm 150:6  which says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 148:5 was referencing verses 2-4 which declared who was to praise Him: all His angels, all His hosts, sun, moon, stars, heavens of heavens, waters above the heavens. Verses 7-12 have more. Here are a few: great sea creatures, all the depths, fire, hail, snow, clouds, and fruitful trees.

Verse 5 says, “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.” Verse 13 says, “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory  is above the earth and heaven.”

Moses asked to see God’s glory. He was denied. Read this with me. In Exodus 14:4 God’s declaration regarding Pharaoh was, “…I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord…” The Amplified says, “…I  will gain honor and glory…”

All these verses have been percolating in my heart. What does it all mean when we add Luke 19:40? Jesus declared that if His disciples didn’t praise Him the rocks would. Many years ago a friend gave me a small painted rock with the words, ‘I will praise You.’ It was a great reminder for me.

Everything that has breath is created to worship. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

In verse 21 it says that those who did not glorify Him became futile in their thoughts. Verse 23 says, “And changed  the glory of the incorruptible God into an image…” We are created  to worship, and we will worship our heart idols IF we don’t worship the Lord.

That is a sobering thought. Ezekiel 14:1-7 was a discourse about heart idols. Fleshly heart idols usurp His place of worship. He alone is worthy. Anything that gains priority in our lives above Him has to be confessed as sin. More tomorrow.

Years ago I read Watchman Nee’s book, “The Release Of The Spirit.” It was about our outer man (soul) and our inner man (spirit). I vividly remember the illustration of a kernel of grain. I marveled at how intricately God made seeds to reproduce.

Genesis 1:29 says, “…I have given you every herb that yields seed…and every tree whose fruit yields seed…” There is a seed within the seed. Mark 4:27-28 says, “…the seed should sprout and grow…For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the fruit in the head.”

What we sow we reap. We don’t reap it in the same season that it is sown in. We sow one seed, but we reap exponentially. Genesis 8:22 says, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest…shall not cease.”

Let’s apply this now as sowing to our flesh. Galatians 6:8 says, “…will of the flesh reap corruption…” The husk of our flesh is corrupt. Here is the truth of a believer. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of faith.”

Newness of faith is speaking about our inner man. We are given a charge in Ephesians 4:22 23 says, “That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

Here is what happened to that old man at salvation. Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away  with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

We do not have to sin!! Sin is a choice, because we are no longer enslaved to it. Verse 1 asks us this question, “…Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound?” I love Paul’s empathic statement in verse 2, “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

When we read these verses, they reveal the hidden chaff. It is believing satan’s deception! He works through lies. He cannot tell the truth. When we are tempted to go away from Scripture’s commands and truth that keeps us free, we will fall into sin—pure and simple.

The one who is deceived does not know that they are deceived. They are hardened and their heart became calloused when they ignored the promptings of the Holy Spirit’s warnings. Hebrews 3:12 says, “Beware, brethren…” The writer is addressing everyone who has believed for salvation.

Verse 13 says, “…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” James 1:16 says, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

What is chaff? I like Job’s picturesque words in Job 21:18. It was speaking of the wicked and said, “They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away.” Psalm 1:3 was written about those who meditate on God’s word. Verse 4 was the contrast. It says, “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”

In Ruth 3:2 the word winnowing was used. It said of Boaz, “…he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.” Winnowing was the practice in those days of extracting  grain from the surrounding husk. 

The grain was tread upon by animals until the outer shell was broken. Then it was put into large tray-like baskets. It was tossed into the air where a breeze would catch the chaff and blow it away.

Chaff is lightweight and has no substance, yet it will keep planted grain from sprouting, It has to be broken first through death. Jesus was speaking about His own upcoming death in John 12:24. He said, “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Let’s tie this into His words regarding what it means to be an authentic follower of Jesus. Matthew 16:24-25 says, “…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” 

I want to describe our flesh as chaff. Anything fleshly is without substance, yet it can keep us from bearing harvest fruit that will glorify the Lord. Flesh exalts rather than denies.  John 6:63 says that our flesh profits nothing.

Anything that we do in our flesh is chaff and fits into the category of wood, hay, and stubble from 1 Corinthians 3:12. Verse 13 says that our works will be tested by fire. Matthew 3:12 says, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the bar; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Cull means to select and remove. I sort my dry beans before I soak them. I cull the ones that are shriveled or blighted. As we systematically read God’s word, it powerfully culls our fleshly attitudes that blight our character. More on this tomorrow.