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Yourself – Your picture of how you want God to work in your life. Your will. What is comfortable to you? Your “intelligence.” your ego, your pride. (see GrowingMeDaily.com for articles that are helpful in exposing hidden areas of pride.)
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Man – (Not in the literal sense like divorcing your husband or wife) Are there people who you put on a pedestal? It may be a man or woman of God, or it may just be a person in your life who you are constantly seeking to please. If pleasing this person or meeting their expectations is burdensome, heavy on you, or causes you to go against the Word or will of God, I want to suggest that you pray intensely about how to “divorce” them spiritually. If there is a person whose counsel, including their prophetic counseling or “words of knowledge” that you trust more than you trust what the Holy Spirit is showing you, (does this persons advise cause you to doubt what God is trying to show you?) it could be and probably is an idol in your life. It may in reality mean that you are trying to enter into destiny and promises through “man” not Jesus. It usually is stemmed from a lack of self-confidence, or a history of making poor decisions. You have to realize that the same Christ is in you that is in others. We all have to honor spiritual leaders, but we should never esteem them above God. Always remember to test the spirits (1 John 4:1).
- Money – Money is not evil. Loving it is. Do you measure your walk with God in terms of how financially prosperous you are? Do you measure success primarily in terms of money? When you set goals, even those having to do with God given visions, do you set them in terms of how much money you can make for God? Be honest with yourself – are you more excited about making money so you can have things or making money to give it away to those who are in need? This is a tricky one for those of us who have been called to marketplace ministry, and to be financial funders of the Kingdom. Do not ask yourself ‘how much money can I make doing ______? But instead ask yourself, “how many lives can I change doing ______?” I am all for living in abundance, but we have to make sure that we do not view money as our source, but rather Jesus as our source.
- Rituals & Man Made Systems – This is especially important for those who oversee a body of believers. We have to follow Jesus and Paul by example – they never once read a church planting or marketing book. They loved people, sought God’s direction on all things, and preached the gospel in its entirety (not seeking their own agendas but rather Gods agenda). Treating God’s church like it is a business in the aspect of planning and operations is wrong. It gives no room for the Holy Spirit to guide you, because you are looking to man’s explanation & “wisdom” of how to run your ministry instead of God’s wisdom, the Word and the Holy Spirit’s revelation to you on how to run it. Doing these things can cause you to be led by your flesh, and can lead to stagnation. These systems often cater to ego, pride, man-made standards, and greed. They often cause leaders to want to choose “qualified candidates” for ministry positions rather than be led by the Holy Spirit. They can also cause them to choose locations based on criteria instead of where God wants them to be. Remember we all reach one main goal, with many different types of testimonies. So don’t seek for yours to unfold the way another man’s has. Religious rituals also can turn into idols, and will do no good if you do not have a love relationship with God.
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Sin issues – Regardless of what is being taught today, sin holds consequences, and it is not acceptable for believers who to continue to sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
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