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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.

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