John 4:23-24 (MEV) Yet the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.

As I was writing the prayer for last week’s blog, this verse came to mind. Then I pondered, how many people worship God and love the spirit part, but lack the truth part. So many worship their problems and circumstances, their identities outside of Christ, their feelings and emotions, their thoughts, etc. When is Jesus going to be enough for us? We need to stop defending our flesh with “we are enough” and replace it with “Jesus, You are more than enough.”

I recently read the book The Fight for Female by Lisa Bevere. There was a section in it about the “Fight against idols.” I am forty-five years old and in the throngs of perimenopause. Hot flashes get all the attention but that is not all a woman goes through. We have brain fog, feeling tired even when we sleep at night, frozen shoulder, times of sadness, just the don’t want to’s, then being sensitive about things we really do not care about. We can get all up in our thoughts. My identity is not in what I am going through. I can spiral and skid into the crazy that is perimenopause or I can combat it with truth.

Let me show you some areas that can be a sign of idolatry in our lives then we are going to combat it with truth. What we determine to be rest. Sometimes we are striving so much in our day to day lives that we choose what we think is rest instead of receiving the gift of community that He gave us. Separation is not to do within the body but the body as a whole is separate and light into darkness. Isolation can be a form of idolatry. Idols can be found in our homes, and I am not talking about the decorations. Here is how Lisa defined an idol: “an object of extreme devotion; a representation or symbol of an object of worship; a false god; a false conception; fallacy; a form or appearance visible but without substance.“

Idols are created when we turn to that which is less and treat it as more; as a source of identity instead of the God Most High. Idolatry is often the practice of engaging with the right thing in the wrong way. For example, marriage, children, a career, friends, a spouse, food, sports, and even exercise are all good things, but if we attach too much importance to any of these, they can potentially become an idol. This happens when we give our strength to or draw our strength or comfort from sources outside of our Creator. This could mean we the wrong focus and are looking for the right thing in the wrong place or we’ve made ourselves the source. Addiction can be a form or idolatry. Entertainment can become idolatry. – Lisa Bevere

When I look inward and start to make decision that is best for me, then I have made an idol of myself. This is not about being healthy or healing emotionally. This is about becoming whole in Christ. How do I know? I have been there. I wanted to do the selfish thing years ago, when I claimed to be a broken woman living for Christ. I was so hurt with the church that we are serving now. I felt so unappreciated and still have to fight those things. I have feeling of sacrificing so much for people that, in my thoughts, would never consider me. I felt so used and taken for granted. The thoughts of giving all of me and nobody would care if I was not there. Can you see the idol of myself? What had to happen? I had to get back in the truth of His Word. Here is the lie that I believed, I was an orphan because no one was like me.

Ephesians 1:5 (AMP) He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will

When Paul wrote this, He was thinking of the current Roman law that stated that adopted had their debts erased and transferred to the adoptive father. This is not talking about the adoption of children, they were adopting adults, with new rights and responsibilities. They were adopting heirs. Their past had nothing to do with their adoption. An adopted son could not be disowned, they could not be disinherited, and they could no longer be identified as an orphan. I have stated before that the orphan spirit is not of God, so therefore it must be antichrist, which makes it demonic. Yes, Christians can be oppressed by demonic spirits. Is deliverance needed? A heart of repentance and surrender is needed. Do these thoughts try to creep up? Yes, but now I have a weapon to cast them down.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (AMP) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [outsiders without rights of citizenship], but you are fellow citizens with the saints (God’s people), and are [members] of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the [chief] Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together, and it continues [to increase] growing into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, set apart, and sacred to the presence of the Lord]. In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are to worship God in Spirit and Truth. The truth is that we cannot reason away with what Christ gave us as a gift. I am not an orphan. I have been adopted into a family that has Christ as the head. I do not have to keep striving, because He is my rest. I am not alone and He adopted me into a family that includes all of those that have received Him as Lord and Savior. We may have our differences and things we don’t like about each other, but if we direct one another toward Christ, He can transform us to reflect His image. We can love like He loves. We can stop telling each other that “you are enough” and tell the truth that “He is more than enough.”