American Idols: Introduction Cont'd

Today will complete the introduction to our study. I hope that you took the time to answer the questions from yesterday. This is an extremely important step in identifying idols in your life. Scripture says, “The one who covers her sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

There are only a few things I want you to really take away from the introduction to this study and the first is this: God’s revelation of our sin to us is ALWAYS a good and merciful thing. God never reveals our sin to condemn us. On the contrary, He reveals our sin that we might confess and become clean. Condemnation is not of the Lord. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)
The condemnation comes when:

The enemy goads us with guilt even after sin is confessed.

OR

We choose to ignore our sin, make friends with it or blame someone else for our shortcomings.


I don’t want any of us to fall into either one of these categories. I want us to see ourselves through the eyes of scripture, also called “scripture reading us”, and then repent, so that we might be vessels that are clean! Conviction never FEELS good but scripture says it is necessary that times of refreshing might come.

This concept of scripture reading us is best described as taking scripture and like a mirror, holding it up and gazing at our lives through it. This is not a means of using scripture to say what you want it to say but allowing scripture to search us and reveal our shortcomings in light of truth. James says that when we fail to do this we are like women who look at ourselves in the mirror, walk away and forget what we have seen (James 1:23-25). In other words, we must be hearers of the word and doers of the word as well.

So, my exhortation to you as we begin is to be honest and open allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work. But often times we stop half way. We feel the conviction but we never confess. Or if we confess then we fail to forsake. Repentance is confessing and forsaking..just as the verse in Proverbs just said. If we pray for the Lord to do a work in our lives and He reveals something to us it is complete and utter sin to ignore it and those who do WILL NOT PROSPER.

Do you feel like you aren’t prospering? I’m not talking about prosperity. I’m talking about prospering. Another word for this would be flourishing. To flourish is defined “to grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant.” In Psalm 1 the Lord talks about the righteous being like trees planted by rivers of water that bring forth fruit in due season, whose leaves do not wither or fade and...whatever they do shall prosper!

We want to be like firmly planted, flourishing trees but as scripture teaches - that is up to us! If we CHOOSE to conceal our sin then we will not prosper. Ladies, let’s be diligent to go the distance in confessing and forsaking our sin so that we might find mercy! Let’s be a forest of gorgeous, strong, thriving trees that clap our hands, raise our branches and reflect the majesty of our Savior, Jesus Christ!