February in Love – Who has Your Heart?

As we celebrate love this month ask yourself who has your heart.

The Lord told us to have no idols above Him or before Him. An idol is something that you worship. To worship is to give your loyalty to another and prefer it/them above others, even to the point of putting it/them above important things.

This month while you are celebrating love check your heart see where you’ve placed God. Is He really above all other things in your heart or is there something/someone who you’re more loyal too?

I did a heart check myself and found that I had to dethrone some things and some people.

It’s not that they don’t have a place in my heart but the chief-place belongs to the Lord. And honestly, as much as I love Him I had allowed some of my desires to creep their way to a status with Him and some had even started to come before Him. Selah.

The Bible tells us no one can serve two masters, she will hate the first master and love the second, or she will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth,” (see Luke 16:13).

My desire was not for wealth (though I can always accept more money if it comes) but for certain things.

I could never hate the Lord but my devotion had changed, to the point of almost despising the Lord. Before you look at me differently let me define despise. It’s not the same as hate, that’s why the scriptures make a difference and take the time to address each. It means to dis-esteem which of course is the opposite of esteem which means to look highly upon. Another definition is to think against. Romans 8 says a carnal mind is hostile toward God and cannot submit to Him (Romans 8:7).

The Lord told me to sanctify my desires and my habits, bringing them under subjection Him.

When we make other things our main focus we cannot love the Lord like He desires nor can we submit to Him like we should because other things have our attention which is to have our heart.

It might seem silly but when I gave too much attention and thought toward other things as small as watching TV, too much social media, a desire for a mate, a new job, or doing ministry they became idols. As small as they were, they were idols just the same. In fact they were so small they went unnoticed until I realized that I wanted to be married again so much that the thought burned in my heart. I realized I had a social media problem when I tried to put it down. I used to grab for my phone before my Bible in the mornings and at times I read my daily devotion in between commercials while watching HGTV.

Fears can turn into idols.

It wasn’t just desires but I also allowed my fears to control space in my heart. Fear of the future, fear that something might happen to my children, foreboding thoughts that something bad was going to happen to me. The reality is that we are told to cast down imaginations and every high thing that tries to exalt itself above the knowledge of God and those lies fit the description.

When I took the time to really inventory my heart I had to kick some idols out.  

TV had to go life, something I’ve wanted to get rid of for a while but was too hooked to do it. That after being a person who used to do TV fasts almost quarterly.  I also made a rule not to go on social media until at mid-day unless I’m posting for my blog or a book and then still I don’t constantly check all day anymore. I had to get a grip on fear and learn to choose faith when foreboding thoughts come.  As much as I want to experience love again I don’t want it enough to compromise. The man who God has for me wants a godly woman. I know I will have to compromise for love but not my relationship with God.

Beloved, maybe it’s time for you to do a heart check.