Tearing Down The Statues | The Worshipper's Thought of the Day

Ironically enough, this blog post started out as Facebook status update:

"Elton Taylor is thankful for the power to tear down every statue I've allowed the enemy to erect in the garden of my heart. «More Below»"  

But when the «More Below» became too much to post on FB, I thought it best to share this on my blog so I could really expound upon this thought like I so felt.  So here goes... Most times, statues symbolize victories.  They commemorate events and memorialize those responsible for the achievements gained.  In the Bible, we see how statues even became the objects of idolatrous worship, by which way GOD's people strayed away from what He stood for and consequently held in higher esteem that which the statues represented.

Although Satan is not GOD's equal on the opposite side, this truth doesn't stop him from trying to portray himself as such.  Even though the devil is ALREADY a defeated foe, thanks to Jesus' resurrection from the dead, WE ALLOW the evil one to be victorious over us when we don't enforce the victory that's already been secured for us.  Each victory we grant him is symbolized by a statue he erects in the gardens of our hearts as a reminder of the sinful things we've done, the ungodly behaviors that have been part of us most--if not all--of our lives, and the dominance the Kingdom of Darkness exerts over those areas of weakness.

Our hearts' gardens become cluttered with all these constant reminders of our inconsistencies, weaknesses, vulnerabilities and sins.  As we walk through our gardens searching our hearts, seeing these statues evokes the spirits of heaviness, guilt and condemnation.  These spirits serve to encourage our own self-imprisonment, which leads to self-imposed exile from our support system of people who comprise the Body of Christ.  It's the enemy's intent to make us feel like we're all alone and that no one understands what's going on inside of us, but that's a lie.  (Sidenote: ANYTIME you feel like this, IMMEDIATELY recognize that this feeling is from the enemy and is designed to destroy you.)

We need our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ to stand with us in our times of weakness and not be on standby as the enemy has his way with us when we're overcome with the grief of our guilt.  That's when the love of GOD needs to be shed abroad in our hearts most.  That's when we need to be found encouraging each other and being a physical extension of our Father's loving embrace.  That's when we need to be reminded that our condition IS NOT our conclusion and that WE HAVE POWER OVER ALL THE ABILITY OF THE ENEMY.

GOD has equipped us to tear down the statues in our gardens, just as He did kings and prophets of old who tore down the idols the Israelites allowed to be erected in the groves.  No longer do we need to esteem higher than our GOD the powers represented by our own garden's statues.  We don't have to live our lives so vulnerable to our weaknesses that we settle for existing in a state of helplessness and hopelessness concerning any chance of experiencing the more abundant life, free of the towering influence of our statues.   The power to demolish what we've allowed the devil to erect dwells within us in the person of the Holy Spirit.  While we've had the wrecking ball the whole time, we've not always trusted Him to rid our hearts and minds of Satan's influence because we've believed the enemy's lies that we'll always be this way and will never know life apart from our imperfections.

So it's my prayer that we all arise from the ashes of our guilt and wax bold in the strength of our GOD, as we begin to wreck every reminder the devil has erected in our hearts of everything contrary to who GOD says we are.  We have been given the power and the authority to enforce Satan's defeat in EVERY area of our lives, so let's exercise it together.  Let's encourage others in the faith who are caught up in bad situations to do the same, instead of speaking negatively about them.  We are already victorious in Jesus' name!  And that's worth shouting about!