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

Answers

“An angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ So he started out...” Acts 8:26 Philip is an example of how God calls us to step out in obedience even if it doesn’t make sense at the time. The angel of the Lord gave clear directions for Philip to go from Jerusalem to Gaza. He was asked to travel in the heat of the day through the desert, not the normal paved route to Gaza. Philip did not question God or try to figure out why God was asking him to go. He didn’t pause to wonder how he was going to deal with the physically draining aspects of the journey or who was going to fund his trip. He simply started on his way. As he went along, the Holy Spirit directed him to an Ethiopian eunuch. Philip struck up casual conversations which led to sharing the good news about Jesus. Many people have told me they desire to go on a mission trip but are not sure if they should go. They want to have all the answers ahead of time....
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Every Prayer

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.’” Luke 18:9-10 Prayers are not the same. Some are humble cries to the Lord; but some are self-righteous rants before God. The first declares our unworthiness in the presence of our King. The second tells God how good we are compared to those around us, as if God is blessed to have us on His side. When I used to provide coaching for churches, I would be in meetings that included prayer. Some of those times were corporate praying that was open to all. I can still remember one in which a person very awkwardly poured their heart out to the Lord while the next waxed eloquent with fine-sounding words. As I listened to the second person, I was not sure that God knew anything, especially how special the pray-er was. As in our passage today, I believe the first person went home justified by Go...
Post a Comment
Read more

Finding God in Adversity

“After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.” Acts 27:21-26 Our journey of faith does not happen without challenges. In fact, our greatest growth and greatest opportunities of giving a witness to the power of the Lord happen in the face of adversity. Paul had warned them not to sail, but the owners and captain of the ship craved their profits. And they w...
Post a Comment
Read more