Faith Focused Prayers
Join me as we embark a journey of vulnerability, growth, and increase! In this space we allow God to change and transform us into who he created and called us to be, curated by Justice Mosley
Faith Focused Prayers
Modern Distractions vs. Devotion: Identifying and Removing Life's Idols
Could an app become an idol in your life, taking priority over your spiritual commitments? We unravel this unexpected possibility by examining the recent TikTok ban, using it as a lens to explore how modern distractions can sometimes overshadow our devotion to God. By drawing connections to biblical teachings, we discuss how everyday elements like money, relationships, and careers might be unintentionally idolized. Through self-examination and scripture from Exodus, we guide listeners to recognize and remove these idols, fostering a deeper spiritual alignment and greater devotion to God.
As we navigate this transformative journey, gratitude becomes our compass. We express heartfelt thanks for the patience, grace, and mercy that faith provides, and highlight the power of applying biblical teachings to cultivate positive change. Our message is one of encouragement, reminding listeners of God's unwavering love while inviting them to reflect and grow. We appreciate your engagement and hope you find inspiration and insight in our conversation, eagerly anticipating our next gathering with love and blessings. If our insights resonate, we would love to hear your thoughts and invite you to rate the episode.
Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to Faith Focused Prayers. In today's episode I wanted to ask you guys, what are the idols in your life With this whole TikTok thing going on, where it got banned and then everybody flipped out. People were crying, people were angry, people were upset, people just felt so lost and disconnected and hopeless and it occupied so much of their day and their time and their habit. It made me question and wonder was TikTok an idol? I know for a lot of people it was, without a doubt. This whole thing showed how much people idolized this app. But is it idol in your life? Is it an idol in my life?
Speaker 0:And this whole thing really reminded me of the Bible and the children of Israel, where they wanted something so bad. God was like okay, here you can have it. Fine, they wanted a king. So bad. God gave him a king. You know they wanted to worship false gods and other things, so bad that eventually God allowed it to happen. And I was wondering was this TikTok situation the same way? Yes, people can say it was Donald Trump, it was this, it was that, but ultimately everything boils down to God and what God says and how God feels. And just because God allowed it to happen doesn't mean he was pleased with what happened. Does that make sense? So then I started to think okay, I need to see do I have any idols in my life? Do you have any idols in your life?
Speaker 0:The definition of an idol is an object of extreme devotion. The Bible defines idols as objects or people that are not God but are worshiped as if they were. And when you think about it, especially for TikTok, all the money people made on TikTok how many people made TikTok their source and forgot that it was God who allowed them to have that success? How many people made TikTok their Bible? Instead of opening the Bible, they went on TikTok and found somebody who posted a video about whatever topic they were trying to search up or when they needed a word. They would go on TikTok and get words from prophets and even people doing divination and witchcraft. People were so thirsty for a word and instead of going to God, they ran to TikTok, spent their money, were paying these profits and stuff to prophesy to them instead of going to God. How many times did we depend on TikTok as being our answer and being our source? It got to the point where we use TikTok more than we use Google. We just TikTok it and then, whatever somebody said on TikTok, we trusted what they said, we believed what they said. I really believe that TikTok was an idol for many people and God just allowed this whole thing to happen to reveal and show us where we were.
Speaker 0:And I don't want to just focus on TikTok today, because we have a lot of idols in our life. It can be people, it can be our spouses, it can be our parents, it could be our children, it could be our life. It can be people, it can be our spouses, it can be our parents, it could be our children, it could be our job, it can be ourselves, our identity, our profession, games, entertainment, books, anything can be an idol, anything that you're worshiping, giving your time and your devotion to as if it were a God, and it's not God. So I want to talk about, like, how do we remove idols from our life? Money money is a really big issue for people, kind of for me, like, at some points I do feel like I can idolize money and I need to get my life together, because that is not God's will for me, and I want to read a scripture that lets you know how God feels about idols.
Speaker 0:Exodus 20 and 4,. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them nor serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations. To those who hate me showing and these are in the Ten Commandments God is talking about you shall not have any idols. Nothing can take the place of God, nothing can be your source, nothing can be more important, and you can't be devoted to anything else more than you are devoted to God. So once you identify the idols in your life, be honest.
Speaker 0:Of course, every Christian wants to say I don't have no idol. Every person wants to say I don't have idols, I don't idolize anything but God. Yes, mrs Perfect. Mr Perfect, good for you. But for the rest of us, there's some areas we need to grow and change and do better on. And for me, I'm not afraid to say yeah, you know what I've been. I've been going down the wrong path. Let me get myself together. Thank you, holy Spirit, for the revelation. Thank you, god, for showing me my flaws. I asked for forgiveness, I repent and now I'm gonna get myself in order.
Speaker 0:How to remove idols from your heart. Number one acknowledge something is an idol. Acknowledge where you went wrong at. Reflect on how that person or that thing became an idol. What caused you? What void was that idol filling? What emotion were you getting? What benefit were you gaining from this idol that you have in your life? Like I said, it can be a person, somebody who gave you comfort, they gave you motivation, they made you feel good about yourself. Fear can cause you to worship and idolize people.
Speaker 0:A lot of times I feel like in the Christian community we see this with pastors and prophets and apostles, where people will idolize them and not understand and blur the lines between honor and idolization, reverence and idolization. And then you also see with the pastors who don't want to be idolized, and they make such a point to not be idolized that sometimes they end up being the ones who get disrespected. It's a blurry line for a lot of people who attend church. I feel like to not know the difference between idol and honor and I can say that I've been guilty of that of idolizing a man or woman of God and putting them on a pedestal they never belong to be on and having to then change the navigation of that to. I honor them. I'm going to respect their position in Christ. I'm not going to put them on a pedestal and then be the only reason I come to church and be the only reason I read my word and be the only reason I show up is because I'm more afraid of this pastor or this preacher or this prophet than I am of God. I'm here to know that they see me instead of knowing that God sees me. That's what happens for a lot of Christians. But okay, like I said, acknowledge something is an idol.
Speaker 0:Does it relieve stress for a lot of men? Video games, a lot of video games become an idol in men's lives. Why? Because it's relieving stress. It's tuning them out from the world. It's giving them something that they were lacking. But instead of running to God, you run to the game. You could spend all these hours on the game instead of spending time in prayer with God. You know it's becoming an idol. You're devoted to that thing Money.
Speaker 0:People who spend their whole life chasing money, working overtime, neglecting their family, neglecting their responsibilities for the sake of money. That money has become an idol. If money is the only reason why you're doing something, money is your source. Your job is your source. These are all idol relationships. You look for people to fill voids that are only meant to be filled by God. They have become an idol. Every time something goes wrong, you need to talk to this person. You need to call this person instead of going as a prayer. Maybe they have become an idol. Oh, I know they can fix it. You run to them to fix it instead of running to God to fix it. They have become an idol. Your identity.
Speaker 0:You're so focused on how you look. Your appearance can be an idol. You're devoted to making sure this is right and that is right and my hair is done and my nails are done and my toes are done and my outfit is cute and this. I spend all my time making sure that I look good on the outside. Maybe your appearance has become your idol. Food, oh my goodness. Food was an idol in my life. Yes, all day I'm thinking about what I'm going to eat. What's for dinner? What dessert am I going to have? What's for lunch? You're finishing one meal already thinking about the next meal, that's gluttony and that's idolization Food.
Speaker 0:All I'm doing is watching these mukbangs and people who do all those mukbangs and stuff causing people to idolize food possessions, feeling like you're gaining status from all the things you have. Oh, I have to have this, I have to have that, showing off all the fancy things that you have. You're devoted to finding the next thing and you got to have it and you got to buy it. Shoes, shoes are idols. Entertainment, certain shows. I got to watch baddies every week. It don't matter what I'm doing. It don't matter what's going on. It don't matter who needs me. Don't talk to me Sunday night, because baddies is on On the Lord's day, sunday. Come on now. Baddies have become an idol for a lot of people. Different shows it doesn't have to be that. That was just an example, but different shows can become idols and anything can be an idol.
Speaker 0:It's what you're devoted to, what you're giving your time to, what you worship and, as the scripture said, your children will be punished for what you idolize or they can be blessed for what you don't. Your priorities and the things that you give your time and your worship and your devotion to does not just affect you, but it affects the generations and your bloodline that come after you. Women, when you're pregnant, be very careful what idols you have in your life. Note to self, because you very well might be passing that idolization right down to your bloodline. Okay, we got off track here. Back to the steps of how to remove idols from your heart.
Speaker 0:Number one acknowledge something is an idol. Acknowledge where you went wrong. Reflect on how that thing or that person became an idol. Why did you hold it as such high regard? What were you trying to achieve or offer or gain from the place that idol held in your life?
Speaker 0:Number two repent. Once you realize you messed up and your mind was wrong, your thinking was wrong, apologize to God, ask for forgiveness, repent. Repenting means not just asking for forgiveness, but turning away from that thing and turning to God. So okay, god, money was my idol. I repent for making money my idol, making my job my source, making this my source. I repent. I ask that you forgive me. And God, I understand that you are my source, you are my provider, you are my way maker. So repent, ask God for forgiveness.
Speaker 0:And step three put Jesus in his rightful place. Whatever place that idol took you now, remove it and put Jesus in his rightful place, at the center of your heart, the center offul place, at the center of your heart, the center of your mind, the center of your life, and remember that there is only one true and living God we are to worship. We're not supposed to worship anything else. And then number four constantly check in with yourself every once in a while just to make sure your stuff is in order, making sure you didn't just replace one thing with another. So many times we can remove one idol and just fill that void with something completely different instead of filling it with Jesus. So don't remove one idol and replace it for another.
Speaker 0:So I ask you today, really reflect. What do you idolize? Be honest, I'm not here checking you. It doesn't make you any less Christian, any less of a person. Once you know better, we do better, we adjust, we repent and we press forward. It's okay. People make mistakes. Sometimes we don't know. We're still fleshly. None of us are perfect. We fall short many times.
Speaker 0:Now that you know better and you have done the work and you've done the reflection many times, and now that you know better and you have done the work and you've done the reflection, make the adjustment and thank God that he revealed it to you and allowed you to do better and change. And so, god, I just thank you that you are so patient and so forgiving and so merciful. God, we just ask for forgiveness for everything that we have put in your place. We ask for forgiveness for every idol that we have exalted, god and the things in our life and the people in our life that we had full devotion to, more than our devotion to you, god. God, you are not a God who should have to split your worship or split your devotion, but that we would be fully and 100% devoted and committed to you.
Speaker 0:Holy Spirit, I ask that you would reveal every idol in our life and give us the necessary tools and steps to change it, to repent and turn back to you and to put Jesus in his rightful place in our life. God, we love you and we adore you, and we bless you and we exalt you, god, we put you on the pedestal, you and you alone, father. We don't want to be like the children of the Bible, worshiping calves and false gods. We worship you, the one and true and living God. We acknowledge that we're no better than anybody else, father, and that we do fall short and we're not perfect and we make mistakes, and that's why it was so important for us to have a Savior, jesus Christ.
Speaker 0:God, thank you for your patience, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your grace, thank you for your mercy. Let this message change and transform us. In Jesus' mighty name, we apply the word to our lives. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you made it this far, I love you, god loves you. Give this episode a five star If you enjoyed it, leave a comment or a review down low, and until next time, I love you, god loves you. Bye.