Hurt The Power Idolatry

The Elect Lady: Hurt The Power Idolatry

I have seen the power of evil work in the lives of the people of God. In all my years of counseling the Body of Christ, I don’t think I ever really understood the hard-heartedness of some of the saints; especially in light of the word we have received over the years. But then the faithfulness of the Lord responded to my ignorance. Oftentimes, in my training of the female leaders I tend to remind them of the weapon satan will most likely use against them; their emotions. We have often heard women are very emotional in comparison to men. Well, that may be true, but I would rather say women reveal their emotions more than men.The principles I am about to speak of can be applied to marriages or any relationship.

Example: John and Jane Doe have been married for several years. However, there are some hurts due to John’s character that he has inflicted upon Jane. Now this might have spanned over a period of years in which Jane becomes hard-hearted and unloving in the marriage. But then they come to a ministry that challenges all the negatives and demands righteousness. They try to conform to the call of holiness. John apologizes for his behavior over the years. Jane said she accepts his apology, but her attitude towards him does not change. She continues to be mean and unloving in the relationship.

Colossians 3:5

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

On the face of this situation we can certainly identify non-forgiveness. But I think it would serve us well to understand why Jane is so hard-hearted towards John but seems to get along with others. Well, the truth is, the hurt Jane experienced from John was never forgiven of course. But, because of the non-forgiveness, the hurt became anger and the anger festered in her heart until it became resentment or hatred. She hates him for what he did or is doing to her. Therefore, regardless of the word God sends to free her, Jane cannot bring herself to give John the love he desires from her. Nevertheless, one would have a hard time trying to convince Jane she actually hates John. I mean, there are times when she seems to be quite benevolent to him. However, to not forgive, is to hate. There are no gray areas in God.

She is driven by the fact that he does not deserve her love and kindness. The hurt has become an idol. She worships it daily. Jane’s refusal to allow herself to be vulnerable to John is a manifested act of idolatry. She worships herself and her negative feelings. But it doesn’t stop there. Their relationship worsens because she takes every opportunity to belittle or challenge him. She seizes every opportunity to make sure those who love him know all his ugliness. She needs allies and in order to guarantee their loyalty to her, she has to make sure they see him through her eyes. The intent here is to get others to worship her hurt as well. This is true in any type of relationship. When friends offend one another, the breach is never allowed to be repaired. Instead, it becomes mandatory to justify one’s position of pride by constantly rehearsing the faults of the offender. Again it is necessary that others, (even those who are innocent of any knowledge of the offense), see the offender as they do. This is also a form of payback; though she would never think of it as such. She prefers to think of herself as damaged by her offender. But at the same time, she rejects the healing power of God’s love. To walk in the love of God could make her too vulnerable; so she chooses to succumb to the darkness of iniquity. As I said before these facts could be true in any relationship.

Here we see the most telling attribute of satan; pride. Jane’s pride is so strong until she cannot even imagine herself living a life free of contention with John. The same is true of one-time friends; one or both cannot even imagine that they would ever be friends again. The sad thing is that there is a total disregard for how God sees all of this. The guilty would never tell you they do not care about the way God feels about their behavior, but the truth is, they don’t. When you are confronted year after year about the same disposition without change, then it is manifest to do the will of God is not your true heart. No matter how many times you may dispute this, your actions prove it to be so. There is no way God would agree to us withholding His love from one another. If you are truly born again, then you must simply stop rebelling against who and what you are. ...But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work (James 3:14-16).

Pride selects and directs emotions. Some women are great adversaries at home with their spouse, but they don’t seem to be that way with anyone else. Pride hardens the heart and in doing so it does not allow compassion to thrive freely. Instead, any acts of kindness are selected and limited to those who are not in opposition to the will of the women. Don’t try to deceive yourself any longer. If you are not walking in the Spirit, then you are not happy with yourself. If you do not love the people of God, then you are at odds with the Christ in you. Again, you are miserable. Your pride will land you in hell. Stop telling yourself you will get it right before you die. That is not true. The real truth is you don’t love God enough to get it right at this time. Scripture says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). If you would repent of your pride, and submit to the Christ in you, then all would be well with your soul.