IDOLATRY OR FREE IN CHRIST

 -BASED ON 1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTERS  9-10-

When you are free in Jesus Christ you are really free. Really free to do as you want. Why? Because when you believe in Jesus Christ & what He did on the cross dying for the sins of the world, that belief in Jesus sets you free and you are forgiven for all your sins. You truly are free. This is what grace is. Receiving the gift God gave through His Son Jesus by having faith in Him. But even though you are free to do as you choose, because your sins are forgiven, Paul did not preach that all things were good for you. There are spiritual complications that are detrimental to your walk as a Christian that can harm you.The greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength and then love your neighbor as yourself..meaning love yourselves and treat yourselves well and do the same to your neighbors and first and foremost to God by honoring Him and putting Him first...it's the golden rule,"Do on to others as you would have them do on to you!" So as human beings, Christians especially we begin to think everything is ok for us. But as we grow older and wiser and see the snares of sin we begin to realize that things are not as they appear and there are things that are traps, deceptions that cross our path to take us off the narrow path of eternal life with Christ. I wasn't fully aware of this until after I fasted and the Lord opened up deliverance & healing to me and the mind of Christ in these matters.

So what is so wrong with the things of life? Well first off, if anything we do causes there to be a division between us & God we have just fallen for the trap of idolatry. When we watch TV, listen to the radio, hang with people, go to events or get involved with things we have not prayed to God to find out if it is safe or is His will we can invite the beginning of sin without knowing it. Sin begins to cause spiritual blindness. In deliverance I was taught that when I come across something I should pray about whatever it is that is about to gain access into my life and make sure with God if it's safe and where does the source of the thing come from or even the spirit behind a person by seeing if they are truly of God or not. If we don't live life with these precautions we can set ourselves up for huge traps that deceive us because only God knows what is behind a trap and can see into things we can not see that can harm our future. So if when you pray you find out that the history or beginning of where that thing is rooted is evil and not something the Bible approves of or is not of the nature or character of God, do we have any business being involved in it? What would Jesus do? Something as simple as that question can begin to change the direction in which you make choices in order to be in the will of God and let Him direct your paths in life as in Proverbs 3:5-6. 

If you open yourselves up to idols that come in between you and God you can open yourself up to worshipping demons without knowing it because when you are worshipping idols you really are worshipping demons look in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 and pray and meditate on whether you do worship idols or demons and don't know it. I know that in that scripture its in a different context but in reality is it so far from what I am talking about with recognizing what idolatry & worshipping demons can be and where else we can do this in our own lives? I assure you God will show you the truth. The defining line is does the idol come between you & God. Does it have all your attention, love, honor, loyalty & time? Idols require a part of you that takes from God and you usually don't see that at first. It comes as something that looks pleasing or "appears" to be the will of God and really isn't if you didn't apply what I first told you and pray about whether a thing, person or place, etc is the will of God or not. Sadly, by ignorance we do fall into these deceptive traps that come to kill, steal & destroy. Hosea 4:6 & John 10:10. 

We must always be studying the Word of God, the Christian Bible & researching to find out the truth and history of things to look for the red flags and warnings. If we don't we can easily fall for these traps. Satan doesn't make traps look easy to find, but tempting to take! If you allow idolatry to form in your heart then eventually they can become strongholds which are sins that have a strong hold on you! You become compulsively addicted to such people or things and you can't stop unless you break your connections with them and break the soul ties you have with them which is another topic and you must repent of your sins and do deliverance of all these issues and get rid of whatever is trapping you to sin, separating yourself more from God. God's love will never separate from us no matter what good or bad we do but sin separates us more and more from God and the good He wants to do in us through our spiritual gifts and callings. It's all about integrity. The devil hates integrity. 

Holiness & integrity is what makes the Christian believer have light in their lives and makes them different from everyone else. When people see that you as a Christian have integrity, peace & love that surpasses understanding they will want to know why are you so different or how can I have that same peace. How do I get there & God will allow you to show them that peace. But you show that peace clearly when you are free. I am not saying God won't use us where we are. But how much better when we are fully free can we speak about a thing and help others in prayer & leading the way that Christ teaches in His Word. This is the freedom Paul wants us to have. The freedom to truly be free from the traps and lusts of this world and be totally centered on Jesus Christ & His will for us. The only things that matter in this life above our families and friends is God's Son Jesus & the call of God on your life to fulfill His will & purposes & for us to be in alignment with that to reach whomever we are suppose to reach. When we put God first and keep Him as our first love then everyone else and everything else must come second place and God can teach us how to appropriate His love & care to others & things in balance. So that they don't become idols to us and take the place of God. Be careful not to have idols whether with people, things or places because what if one day God requires that very thing to be laid down for Him. He did it with Abraham & Isaac so why can't He do that with you?

So Paul shows He became all things unto all people to save some and that freedom allowed him to preach to all types of people to get them saved. But Paul never risked not following the law of Christ. He adapted to each believer to bring them closer to Jesus because he knew those things don't apply anymore under the New Covenant of being saved by God's grace. In the case of bringing others to Christ in this way you just have to be very careful about how you do this because you never want to lead anyone to idolatry by doing this. He said idols don't mean anything and you are free, but if someone believes they are an idol then for their conscience sake don't do something that could harm their walk with God. We are suppose to be free and no one is to judge us from that freedom. But at the same time if that freedom can cause us to be bound to idols that is not using wisdom either. So many people are very unsure even myself as times as what are the fine lines. I usually study things and see where they come from. Their historical background and I research the truth online to get as much information as possible. 

If i find they are connected to witchcraft or evil sources God's Word doesn't approve of that is my general guideline to stay away. But remember with everything, pray and ask God if something is ok or bad and He will reveal it to you if your unsure and I wouldn't do it until you are sure because your not suppose to do anything in doubt which is a sin. If He shows you its from a bad source or the person is bad then let it go. If the Holy Spirit doesn't disapprove you won't get checks in your spirit that He thinks its bad and it should be in agreement with the Word of God. For example, if a movie or song promotes greed & lust for things of this world & money then you know that is not of God because life is not about those things and coveting. Yes God will bless us with things but we are suppose to have our hearts right about putting God first or those things can lie to us and without us knowing it they become first place and we spend more time doing those things and desiring those things or people more than God and our walk falls apart. You see there is a division that happens between you and God with all idols. You must be balanced in life and put God first and then manage people and things with the way God would have you do it in the Bible or they can easily trick us and take God's place. Balance & truth about things is huge in the Christian walk.

So know you have a freedom from your sins because of the grace given to you by believing in Jesus Christ and the price He paid on the cross and asking forgiveness. But God still requires holiness and obedience to be a focus in our lives. Never let the way you minister ever get to a place where something that your doing can be attached to an idol that can cost you your whole walk and you fall and you can mislead others to fall or they cause you to fall by pulling you towards their own sins. Holiness & obedience eventually will lead all true believers to the truth that what they are doing is not as good as they thought and to eventually let it go and if they can't then begin the process of repentance with deliverance to begin turning away from the idols. Don't let your freedom to do all you want, blind you if and idol can take the place of God.