January 17 Care Group

After singing about the "10,000 Reasons" that we can find to worship God, we started discussing Chapter 4 of our book called "I worship my television."

Tony asked us "What is an idol in your life that steals the place God should have as Lord?" Some answers given were:
-unreal expectations of a spouse
-things, home improvements
-relationships
-respect and appreciation from others

Then we discussed how God delivers us from these idols?
-The Holy Spirit can speak to our hearts with a convicting word and break the power of the thing in our hearts and minds.
-The Holy Spirit can discipline us and redirect our thinking toward Him.
-God's word focuses our thoughts
-repentance and turning to God for washing
-humility

To keep things in perspective when you're craving something, it's good to remember people that have it worse than you. Biblical examples first and then others we know.

God's word and His ways are REAL and we need to trust and believe Him completely, living like His word is REAL.

"I want to think more and more of Him, and less and less of myself."

"I must decrease and He must increase" = True Contentment

Psalm 87:7 - "All my springs of joy are in You."

"Is this the time in our lives when we can finally realize that God is everything and that "stuff" won't satisfy us?"

"Can we, in this season of our 50s and 60s, trust Him completely and not be distracted?"
-not without each other's help
-We need to be reminded of truth so that we don't stray and take His gifts for granted.

Struggles die as we spend time in prayer and submit ourselves to Him in earnest.

Romans 8:13 - We need the Holy Spirit to break the power of idols in our lives - we need God!