Where Does Your Heart Lie?

I'm going through the Bible study by Kelly Minter called No Other Gods. I feel like what I am learning I need to share with you.

As you know, idols look very different today than they did in the first century. There are less and less golden calves and bronze lady statues and more and more celebrities, artists, books, ideas and products that have become our modern day idols.

Truth be told, an idol is simply something in our heart that takes the place of God. 

Do you know what your idol is? Is there anything other than God that you have set your heart on? 
What gets your heart pumping and excited? What consumes most of your thoughts? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? 
Something the Lord has shown me is that it doesn't even have to be a bad thing. It can be your love for another person, or even your desire to live out the dreams God has for you. But if you put more of your focus on THAT than God, then it has become an idol for you.

Kelly Minter posts this question, "Can you think of anything in your life that is inherently good and right, but that has become detrimental simply because you desire it too much?"

Something that can happen when we want something badly, maybe we pray for it everyday, is that when we don't get it we start to question God's goodness. This is where the enemy loves to get us. If he knows we've been praying for something, then he is ready and waiting for us to feel discouraged. As soon as we feel discouraged he whispers that lie, "See, God isn't answering your prayer. He doesn't care about you. If he did, He would've helped you. Don't bother praying anymore." Etc etc. Have you experienced that?

If we desire God more than the thing we are praying for, then we will recognize Satan's lie for exactly what it is and we can dismiss it in the name of Jesus immediately. I wish someone had told me this years ago. It took me 10 years to learn it, and I almost lost my marriage because I was believing the lie that God didn't care enough to "fix" my situation. Turns out all I needed to do was fix my eyes on Him, not my desires!

Another point she makes is that sometimes we may worship God, but we serve other gods. We allow other things to be our "functioning god." Example: We pray for God's safety, but if we put our hope in the strength of our military or our country to keep us safe, then that has become our functioning god, instead of the One True God in whom we should place our trust. Does that make sense? 
A functioning god is like the place we put our hopes. We might be worshipping God, but we are putting our trust in something else. 
Looking at your life, can you define your functioning gods? Maybe it's your spouse, your job, your money?

Bottom line, God needs to be your only God. He needs to be the one that gets our praise, worship and TRUST. 

Is there anything in your life that you desire more than God? Is there something you put your hope in instead of Him?

Pray with me now: "Lord we come to you today as broken people. We try to love and serve You but sometimes we fall short, in fact most of the time we fall short. Thank you for Your unconditional love for us. Thank you that no matter how many times we mess up, You are always there, waiting with open arms. Please help our idols to fall away. Help us to turn from them and turn our eyes onto You. God draw us to You everyday so that we desire to be in Your word and to abide in You. Give us strength when we need to say "No" to any temptations (idols) that are harmful to us. Thank you Lord for Your amazing grace and forgiveness. Go before us and prepare the way, thank you Lord, In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen!"