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            God’s Truth is for any individual or group on earth—but after knowing it, they have to also know there is a goal and purpose—it is the removal of idols in our life.  Our repentance and surrender to God’s will is to achieve one goal—to give up our former way and be willing to accept God’s way.  Consecration is simply placing ourselves in God’s workshop for the purpose of allowing Him to deliver us from every idol we may have in our life.  God promises to do this.

            Ezekiel 36:25-27 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

            God promises to deliver us from sin and idolatry—and then to also give us a right knowledge of Him.  This enables a right relationship with Him, and enables us to love Him, so that we can trust Him in faith for all things in this life.  This right relationship with God enables our prayers to be answered.

            Job, Abraham, and Joseph—were just some who were led away from depending on human plans, and were led back to faith and trust on God alone.  If we will place ourselves in God’s workshop, He will train us every day—with every situation we have to deal with—and showing us how to trust Him alone; how to really know Him; how to enjoy our divine inheritance; how to be contented; and how to be sure of God’s kingdom.

            Eternal Life is involved in all of this; that is why Jesus said that genuine believers, who really knew God and really trusted Him for things in this life, would be as few today as they were in Noah’s day—a small fraction of a large population.  We want to praise God every day for the knowledge of His Truth that He has graciously given us.

            The foundation of all sin is idolatry—which is trusting in something, or on someone, other than trusting God.  When idolatry is taken out of our heart, other sins go with it, because all sins are just the fruits of idolatry.  When the idols are taken out of our life, we will be able to really trust God—that truth has been ignored by most of those professing religious beliefs.

            Many—who profess faith but do not possess faith—think that true believers are fanatics, but a true believer only wants to really trust God for all things in life—spiritually, physically, financially, and for everything else.  In reality, it is only commonsense to do that.  To have such an incredible Power at our side, and not make use of it—that would be fanaticism.

            Jesus said Matthew 28:18-20, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.”

            It would be foolish to pay a doctor to heal our body, when they cannot heal themselves, and when we have the Maker of the human body at our side to heal us without cost.  All too many people are preached into Heaven by ministers who have not trusted God in their own life.  The truth is, however, that no one can be preached into Heaven—we can only enter Heaven by a believing and trusting faith in the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ.

            All too many have a veil over their eyes, so they do not see God’s Truth on divine trust.  2 Corinthians 3:15 “Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.”  The teaching of most churches has hindered multitudes from seeing what faith in God really is.  The Truth God wants us to know, is the need to get rid of the idols of human trust, and to transfer that trust to Him alone.

            The seriousness of idolatry, and how quickly God’s power will work when our faith is in Him, is revealed in Hebrews 11:32 “For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

            Many individuals since that time have proven God’s love, mercy, and power in their own lives, when they trusted Him with that same faith.  Real faith cannot begin until the bridge of retreat is destroyed. 

            God is always seeking to lead us to a place of total trust on Him—to where no one else, and no other substitute power, will ever be our source of help, of healing, for finances, or for anything else—but God alone.

            There may be individuals somewhere who trust God in believing faith for things in this life, but the majority of religious organizations do not teach that Truth.  They think it is unnecessary, foolish, and even fanatical to trust God in the true Bible way.

            1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”  There is very little faith in the Christian church today.

            The children of Israel did evil in the sight of God, so Midian prevailed against them.  God did not want them to be oppressed, but His hands were tied.  The devil had deceived Israel, and they kept sinning by keeping idols.  This human trust, however, is not considered sin today.  The world considers it foolish not to do what they did then—trust in human things.

            Judges 6:8-10 “The Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites.  He said, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you.  I drove out your enemies and gave you their land.  I told you, ‘I am the Lord your God.  You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’  But you have not listened to me.’” 

            God is saying—do not trust in what Amorite did, and do not put faith in anything man has made.  Today God is saying—do not trust on medication, drugs, or doctor’s prescriptions for healing; Do not trust on a lawyer to right your wrongs; do not trust on insurance policies to give financial protection, etc.  What the world says is right—God says is wrong.  Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”

            God considers it a sin to trust in anything or anyone but Him.  The human heart is so idolatrous that it will put more confidence in something the size of a pill it can see, than it will in the living God of the universe it cannot see.  God is aware of that, and He knows that the only way we can really trust Him without seeing Him, is to get the idols out of our heart.

            The cause of Israel’s trouble was revealed—they were trusting in something besides God—therefore He could not protect them or help them while that idol was in the way.  An angel says Judges 6:12-13, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”  Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?  And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’  But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” 

            The average church minister thinks the Lord has forsaken them, so they do not trust Him for anything.  Gideon’s father had an idol they worshipped—it was blatant idolatry.  That caused the trouble—Gideon had to destroy it.  The Lord said Judges 6:25-26 “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.”

            Gideon had to remove the idols in his life, just as we have to destroy the idols of drugs, prescriptions, insurance policies, eye-glasses, government welfare payments, company pensions, and any other human sources of trust in our life.  Gideon’s army consisted of too many, so God reduced the number.  Judges 7:2 “The LORD said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.  In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her.’”

            If God allowed ten thousand Israelites to go against the vast host of Midian and the battle was won, they would say their own ability gave the victory—they would be worse idolaters than before.  Their number was reduced, and God enabled three hundred to defeat a huge army.  God used Gideon to deliver the entire nation of Israel, but it was only after they got the idol out of the way.

            The principle of truth in this story is this; when the cause of the trouble is revealed, and when action is taken to correct the problem, God’s power works effectively to give the victory.  If we are depending on something—and it can be hidden deep in our heart—it must be revealed and corrective measures taken to remove it.

            Anyone who gives their life totally to God, will be led to the place where they are truly trusting Him alone for everything—it will increase their knowledge of Him, and it will perfect their faith in His power to heal, deliver, and save.

            The most important aspect of it all is a real preparation for eternal life.  The spiritual blessings involved in getting rid of all idols, and receiving all our victories in God’s way, are of much more importance than the victories themselves—as valuable as they may be.

            If we will choose to trust God in faith, we will prove to ourselves that God has not changed; that He is no respecter of times or persons; and anything He did for anyone in the Bible, He will do for us today—when we meet the same conditions and place the same faith in Him—that is the Purpose and Intent of God’s Truth.