Idolatry

 The teaching I put together today was motivated by an idolatry sermon and is tied to addictions and the unloving spirit.  I hope you are impacted by this teaching as I was impacted.  I included a previous teaching I put together preciously on the unloving spirit. 

Your body is a responder to who you are in thought. It’s referred to as the mind-body connection. God already told us this, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.” Proverbs 23:7 NKJV. It is a biological truth that the things we think about and dwell on actually become part of who we are. We will never get to the spiritual roots of disease if we don’t first understand the biology of how our minds affect our bodies. 

 

Idolatry – Idolatry is the excessive devotion, reverence, or worship of any person, idea, or object over God.  It acts as a spiritual, emotional, or physical replacement for God, commonly manifesting as worship of money, power, fame, objects, or self. Consequences include spiritual emptiness, mental and physical illnesses, broken relationships.  Overcoming idolatry requires refocusing on God and His Word.

Different Forms of Idolatry

• Physical Idols:  Ancient Israelites often worshipped idols made of wood, gold, or stone, such as the Golden Calf (Exodus 32) or figures representing Canaanite gods like Baal and Asherah.  Exodus 20:3-5 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.

Interesting how worshiping physical idols are tied to iniquities leading to generational sin all the way down to the present.  Carved images include crosses we wear.  Jesus died on the cross as an atonement for our sins. Would we do the same? Our spiritual connection to God is not through carved images. 

• Modern/Internal Idols: Anything that absorbs the heart, mind, and imagination more than God, such as career success, wealth, reputation, credentials, education/degrees, or hobbies. God want us to seek Him first!

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for you…

• Relational Idols: Making family or romantic partners more important than God. 

When we make family or romantic partners more important than God, we are out of order says 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.  When we make God first in everything we do and follow His Word, it makes God more important and makes our relationships better.

• Self-Idolatry: Placing one's own desires, pride, or intellect above God and His Word.  It is especially prevalent with addictions. Addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.  It includes psychology, addictions.  Psychology addictions are defined as a chronic relapsing brain issues characterized by compulsive substance use or behavior despite harmful consequences. It involves functional changes to brain circuits related to reward, stress, and self-control, leading to intense cravings, loss of control, and neglect of daily responsibilities.

Common Addictions – Nicotine/caping, alcohol, drugs (illegal and prescription), caffeine (coffee and power drinks), gambling), social media, food, shopping, work, video games, television, sports, and apps like U-Tube, Netflix, HBO, Prime, and Apple TV to name a few.  These take us away from God.

To understand the addiction concept, we must understand the primary causes of the addictions. From a biblical perspective, addictions are understood as a form of idolatry, defined as "idols of the heart." In this view, addictions are more than just a physical or psychological dependency; it is a spiritual issue where a substance or behavior replaces God as the primary source of comfort, security, and peace.

The Primary Spiritual Root of Addictions

The primary cause of addictions is the unloving spirit.  The unloving spirit is contrary to God’s love.  God’s love is the greatest gift, 1 Corinthians 13: 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Where Does the Unloving Spirit Come From?

We have been so tragically victimized in the family.  The failure in all family problems begins with the man.  The salvation of the entire family should begin with the salvation of the father/husband in the home.  God did not create woman to be the spiritual leader of the home; He created the man to be the leader.  The Bible says the head of the woman is the man, 1 Corinthians 11:3.  Fathers have a great responsibility to declare love to his self, the family, God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.  How often do you declare your love?

When ministering to people my first questions are: 1. what is your relationship with your earthy father and 2. Has your father ever said these words to you “I love you” or if he did, you did not believe him because of the way he treated you?  Another question to ask is “Was your father engaged in your life?”

An Unloving spirit enters you when you have been rejected most often by your earthly father. The dad whose responsibility is to shower the children and mother with God’s love.  Specifically, declaring these words “I love you” over and over throughout their lives.  When someone who is supposed to represent God to you treats you badly, it creates a breach that only God can heal.  Many times, an Unloving spirit enters you because you have been a victim of abuse from others.  The people victimizing you will tell you it is all your fault. This happens in marriages, in families, and in any relationship.  God intended the father/husband to be in charge and represent himself as Godly figure to the family, as Christ is to the church.  Any violation of that produces an Unloving spirit.

The Unloving spirit and fear are linked together.  Both are antichrist.  An Unloving spirit is deeply rooted in fear.  Fear you do not like yourself, you are afraid of yourself, and fearful of what others may think about you. All of this is fearing into the future every hour day and even when we are sleeping.  Satan knows this and will continue to keep you in captivity with fear and the unloving spirit.  Fear will only go away by praying fear away.

The Progression of the Unloving Spirit

1. Feeling unloved or not worthy to be loved – This brings fear of not being loved.  The parents and especially the head of the family (father) failed to say “I love you.”
2. Rejection – Rejection from not being loved.
3. Anger – Angry because of not being loved or worth to be loved, and rejection.
4. Bitterness – Bitterness comes from anger built up over the years and even decades.
5. Unforgiveness – Not able to forgive those who hurt you because of the bitterness and anger.
6. Hatred – Extreme dislike at those who refuses to love them.
7. Depression – This is from fear, Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. NKJV.
8. Addictions – Turning to addictions to fill the unloving void that will not fill the void.

Addictions have become their idols.  When you find an addiction in ministry, you will find multiple addictions.  This holds true for all ages.  Can you imagine how many sicknesses and diseases come from not being unloved and especially as we get into our sixties, seventies, and eighties?

Ministry For the Unloving Spirit

The ministry for the unloving spirit is not rocket science.  We teach people the causes of the unloving spirit and how to be delivered through scripture, prayer and our declarations.

Prayer: We confess unloving, rejection, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, and depression as sin to God. We ask forgiveness of our sins, and cast away all these sins in the name of Jesus. This must be done throughout the day every time Satan reminds us that we are not loved. 

Understand, that the unloving spirit has been tormenting us since Adam and Eve.  We must consider that the previous generations passed down the unloving spirit and to our current generations as well.  There is a prayer for canceling the unloving spirit from the previous generations because God give us power and authority as disciples, Luke 9:1 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 

Prayer: Father God, in the name of Jesus, I cancel the unloving spirit from the previous generations.  I cancel the unloving spirit as a partaker of the generational unloving spirit.  I cancel the unloving spirit in my children as a partaker of this generational unloving spirit that came down from me.  Amen!

What are the weapons against the unloving spirit? Using scripture as a basis of our declaration of prayer and prayer from us as the Holy Spirt leads us. 

Let us pray:  I receive God’s perfect love that casts out all fears that led to an unloving spirit.  I declare 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. Amen!  Fear attacks us 24/7.  We must counter fear with 1 John 4:18. This scripture works only if you believe what God tells us in the Bible.  If fear is the biggest issue in the Bible, fear should be our biggest issue we must confront with our prayers to bring out of captivity.

Healing is a process.  The illnesses we have had for decades requires ongoing prayer until the illnesses are not an issue anymore.  We can’t afford to bring back the sin that caused the illnesses.  If we do, we will have to start the prayers over again to be healed.

We cannot continue to ignore what Jesus showed us to do in His ministry.  We must teach people how to come out of captivity thorough teaching and prayer in the church.  We must continue to pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17 before, during, and after every church function.  Key to healing in today’s world is making yourself available for prayer so that you may be healed.  James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.