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Get Up. The Time Is Now. Crush Your Idols. 

“And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” 1 Kings 18:41 KJV

The rain is coming. Opportunity is coming. But first, you must kill your idols. In 1 Kings 18:41 after years of drought, Elijah spoke to King Ahab and declared that rain was coming back to the land. The drought was about to end. However, before rain came to the land, Elijah did something critical in the prior verse. 

In 1 Kings 18:40, Elijah challenged and killed all of the false prophets that served the false god Baal. Elijah redirected the hearts of the people back to God by killing every stumbling block that was in their way. Rain comes after you crush your idols. Submit to God and redirect your heart back to Him. 

What idols are you worshipping? Maybe, you’re not worshipping a physical statue, or paying homage to a stone pagan god. Maybe, you’re worshipping something that reaches much deeper than what you can see. An idol can appear in many forms in your life. Sometimes they (idols) are hidden deep within the walls of your heart and you’re unknowingly worshipping a false god. 

An idol is something, or someone, that you hold in the same weight class or the same “worship class” as God Himself. Idols compete for and conflict with your worship to the True and Living God. Idols are “worship blockers”. You hold these things, people or ideals in such high esteem that you overvalue their weight and purpose in your life. 

Maybe, you’re holding your career, a business, your gifts, talents, wealth or even your ministry in such high esteem that you’re idolizing its weight and value. Maybe you’re idolizing your wealth and perverting the role that it plays in your life — wealth is a tool and it is not a god. Maybe you’re idolizing your family or the idea of starting a family. Maybe you’re idolizing your marriage or the idea of getting married. While there is nothing wrong with getting married, starting a family, being wealthy, or having other “good things”, when you overvalue a “good thing” or even a God-given blessing, you may find that your heart teeters on the cusp of idolatry. 

When you misdirect your worship towards that gift or acquiring that “good thing”, it then becomes an idol and blocks your view of worshipping God. Maybe you’ve exalted your hopes, dreams, and aspirations to a god-like level and these things compete for and conflict with your worship to God. These idols can creep into your life sometimes unknowingly. God wants you to identify every idol, expose them and crush every thing that competes with Him. Whatever that “thing” may be, it feeds your need to be viewed as successful, loved, important, needed or even relevant. Idols weigh on your heart and pull you away from worshipping the True and Living God. 

Here’s an idol test. A simple check to see if there’s an idol that’s hiding within the walls of your heart: Ask yourself, if God did not give you the “thing” that you desire, whether it‘s a house, business, ministry, book deal, vision, wealth, health, wife, husband, children or family, would you still serve God with all of your heart? In Exodus 20:3, God said, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Are you serving God because of the gifts or are you serving Him because He is God? Don’t allow your “good things” to become gods. Decide to crush every idol that blocks your view of worshipping the True and Living God. 

Here’s another idol test: Examine how much time you spend meditating, focusing on or worrying about a particular matter. If you spend more time focusing on the “thing” that you desire, rather than worshipping God, you may have uncovered an idol. Why would God give you something that will compete with His Love? Worship God and not the gift. Decide to crush your idols.