Tearing Down the High Places

When you are going through the wilderness, you will progressively be shown all of the different areas of your character and behavior that need to change. Luckily, God usually only gives you a few things to work on at a time, so that you do not feel so overwhelmed. As you progress and cooperate, you will see these problems melt away, and your life and relationships will improve greatly.

When you are mostly done with this work of purification, you will likely be whittled down to just a few remaining problems, which can be some of the more harder things to let go of. This is not unlike the High Places in Israel, where they got rid of almost all the sinful idol worship shrines, but still left a few isolated places, called "High Places", that God was not happy about. You cannot get through these last problem areas by sheer will; this is a supernatural work of God that we must cooperate with. We can be completely free though, if we ask God for, and submit to His help. All good change that happens in our lives is a product of God’s work and our cooperation.

Sin can be easily traded off during your repentance work in the wilderness. You may give up porn, but start smoking. Or you may stop using profanity, but then start overeating. A lot of people just end up with overeating, television, or Internet addiction in the later stages. We substitute the more gross sins, for ones that are not so ugly, or detectable. Either way, God wants to root our all of our pleasure idols and High Places. He just wants us to see that He can truly meet all of our needs if we will trust Him, and let go of all our false gods. Replacing one idol with another is not freedom; it’s just substitution. True satisfaction comes only from the Living Water that He gives.

Remember, it is not that God doesn't want us enjoying ourselves, He has created many ways for us to enjoy ourselves spiritually legally. Giftings, jobs, ministry, relationships, sex (with your spouse), alcohol (in moderation), food, marriage, children, fellowship, friends, family, etc. You can even look at the variety of fruits and vegetables at the store and see that God took great care to give us a wide variety of beautiful and delicious foods. If He didn’t care about us that much, why would He bother? God wants us to live satisfied and happy. The problem is, Satan tries to pervert the normal healthy use of things, and to try to get people to overuse, get addicted to, or to make idols out of them, where the "thing" becomes what they use to turn to for comfort and security, rather than God. We tend to want pleasure idols we can control, but they can easily end up controlling us.

Do not be afraid to let go of these last remaining problem areas of your life. And remember 100% purified, prepared, and holy, is 100%. It is entirely possible to be much more happy without idols, than with them. Jesus Christ is our great and exceeding reward, and we are instructed to find happiness in life through God. God desires to do great things in your life and He just needs to be able to trust you to serve and worship Him alone, and to not be controlled by idols. The main areas Satan tried to get the Israelites to fail in the wilderness in were idolatry, sexual immorality, and grumbling and complaining (unbelief). And they needed to learn that only God alone can bring us true and lasting life gratification.

I would encourage you today to let go of these last few remaining idols in your life that you have been clinging to, and to not just replace them with another idol when you get free. But rather, turn to the Lord in a deeper way through prayer, worship, and reading His word to find true and lasting satisfaction in life. God wants to bring you into the realms of Heaven, and walk with you in the Garden as He did with Adam. God will give all to someone that He can trust. God cannot trust in Mans flesh, but He can trust in His Son that has been formed in that renovated person. God loves you dearly, and will do all that He can to help you to get free. Let Him purify you completely today.