Skip to main content

Remove the High Places

“The high places, however, were not removed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.” 1 Kings 22:43

I am convinced that most of us don’t understand the power of the actions we take and the patterns we establish. This passage in 1 Kings 22 is about King Jehoshaphat, a good king of Judah by all accounts, but despite his desire to follow the Lord he did not remove the high places. These high places were places of worship to idols, not to the Lord God. I wonder if most people would have probably rationalized away that they were serving God, but just had the high places as a backup or in addition to their worship of God.

Unfortunately, the very action of having high places there and having a continual pattern of returning to these high places shaped them. We are shaped by what we think and do, and we are mostly shaped by what we think and do continually. If our thoughts and actions are divided between loyalties, we will be confused and unhealthy.

This is part of the reason that Paul in the book of Ephesians encourages us in one baptism. Baptism is one of the actions we take to declare ourselves as a believer in God. It is not just something we do; it is something that we are shaped by. And Paul is declaring that there is only one baptism that we can participate if we are following Jesus – baptism through His death and resurrection into salvation. If we take this action in faith, we also receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit coming to dwell in our lives. The Holy Spirit will convict of where those “high places” are in our life, give us the strength to deny actions that will shape us away from God, and increase actions that will shape our life toward God.

I encourage you that if you have not been baptized yet, take that step of faith. If you already have been baptized, receive the lesson of one baptism – your actions shape you so you must remove the “high places” in your life and replace it with actions that will lead you to God.

Prayer Focus: Lord, I thank You that You have given us certain actions that can shape our life. Today, I ask that You would lead me to the actions that would shape my life toward You.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Storyteller

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” Acts 1:8-9 These are the last words Jesus speaks to his Apostles just before ascending into heaven. Not what they were expecting. They were wondering when Jesus was going to set up His Kingdom on earth. As He was ascending into heaven He reveals we are the ones to accomplish the task. Jesus’ departure is not desertion; it is a commission to be the storytellers of truth to the rest of the world. Frequently, we look at this scripture in relationship to our life. We perceive Jerusalem as our own community, Judea as our city, Samaria as our country and the ends of the earth as the world. Christ informed the apostles they will have the power of the Holy Spirit to reach these people. Notice the word “and...” Jesus didn’t say
1 comment
Read more

Baffled

“The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’” Genesis 11:6-7 I will confess I’ve been baffled by this passage. It appears that as men rejected God’s command to spread out and replenish the earth after the flood and began to build a tower for their own glory, that God gets scared of them. He seems to say that it will be impossible to stop what men want to do. As I’ve studied it more, I don’t believe God was scared at all. I believe He had loving concern that men would quickly return right back to the depth of sin that precipitated God’s judgement through the flood. When men and women work in a common cause, it is powerful. If that is true with human effort, how much more can we do if we seek and wait on the power that comes from God’s Spirit? We tend to rely so much on ourselves, and God gets
Post a Comment
Read more

No Matter Who’s Speaking

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” Galatians 1:8 We seem to be a culture that is swayed by personality. Through the years, I have had the privilege of meeting some very prominent people. There is a picture in my office of Pam and me standing beside Billy Graham. We felt very blessed. Even though Dr. Graham is in ill health now, it is amazing to think of how the Lord has used him. Like others, I have talked to a few famous golfers and got their autographs, and even met a few politicians. Even though each of these are people, human beings not significantly different than us, we feel different in their presence as if they are something more. And when they speak, we tend to listen. I have watched people who get caught up listening to people that inspire them, move their emotions, or get them excited, and they seem drawn into their wake. It is easy to do. But if they listened closely to
Post a Comment
Read more