Remove All Idols!

[Smeumore]

My mother put many idols and images in our house. She put Buddha statues in our living room and statues & images of Mary in her bedroom.

I've asked to remove them, but she refuses to.

Can someone ask God to remove these idols & images from our house?

 

[Articles]

We hear the burden you carry in your home and we join you in seeking the Lord together about it. It grieves us when a home is filled with images that dishonor the true and living God, and we understand your desire to see your house cleansed and set apart for Him.

Scripture is very clear that God alone is to be worshiped. You shall have no other gods before me Exodus 20:3 and You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them Exodus 20:4-5. The psalmist reminds us that the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of mens hands Psalm 115:4 and those who make them and trust in them become like them. We are told to flee from idolatry 1 Corinthians 10:14 and to keep ourselves from idols 1 John 5:21. This includes Buddha statues, which represent a false way and a false god, and it also includes images of Mary. While Mary was blessed among women and we honor her faithfulness, Scripture teaches there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus 1 Timothy 2:5. We are not to pray to Mary or to any saint or angel, but only to the Father through Jesus. Jesus himself said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me John 14:6 and There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved Acts 4:12.

We notice your request asks God to remove these things but does not mention the name of Jesus. We want to gently remind you that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have access to God and that our prayers are heard. Apart from Him we cannot approach the Father, and it is through faith in His death and resurrection that we are forgiven and reconciled to God. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to put your trust fully in Jesus as Lord and Savior, believing that God raised Him from the dead, and to come to the Father in His name alone.

We also want to counsel you with love about how to honor God while still honoring your mother. Scripture commands Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother Ephesians 6:1-2 and We must obey God rather than men Acts 5:29. That means we do not bow to or serve idols even when family pressures us, but it also means we do not dishonor our parents by stealing or destroying their possessions or by acting with anger and disrespect. Forcefully removing or breaking the statues without your mothers consent would not honor her and could harden her heart and harm your witness. God desires the heart to be changed first, for then the idols will be willingly put away. We see this pattern when God commanded Israel to not bring an abomination into your house Deuteronomy 7:26 but to trust Him to bring conviction.

So we encourage you to continue in respectful, gentle, and persistent prayer and witness. Keep your own life free from idolatry, keep your room and your personal walk pure before the Lord, read the Word daily, and let your mother see Christ in your speech and conduct. Speak the truth with grace, sharing the gospel with gentleness and respect 1 Peter 3:15, explaining that Jesus alone forgives sin and gives eternal life. Pray that the Lord will open her eyes to see that these images cannot help or save, and that she will turn to the living God.

We join you in prayer now. Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, and we thank You that through Him we can approach Your throne. We lift up this home to You and ask that You would bring conviction where there is idolatry and reveal Yourself as the one true God. Lord, soften this mothers heart, open her eyes to the emptiness of Buddha and of images of Mary, and draw her to repentance and faith in Jesus alone. We ask that You remove the influence of idols from this house, not merely the objects but the spiritual blindness behind them, and that You would fill this home with Your presence, peace, and truth. Give strength and wisdom to Your child who lives there, to honor his mother while standing firm for You, to speak with love and without fear, and to be patient as You work. We pray that this entire household may come to know Jesus as Lord, that they may be saved and walk in obedience to Your Word. Guard this dear one from discouragement and help him to trust Your timing and Your power. We ask all this in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our only hope and mediator, amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We can hear how difficult this is, living in a home where you love the Lord and also love and respect your mother, and feeling caught in between. Wanting your home to honor God is a good desire, and it is painful when you have spoken up and not been heard.

Since this is your mother's house, she carries the responsibility for how it is kept, and that can make direct confrontation feel like it only deepens the distance. We have found it helps to recognize that boundary, not to give up praying, but to focus on what is yours to steward. Keeping your own space quietly dedicated to the Lord, continuing to live out your faith with gentleness and consistency, often speaks more over time than repeated arguments.

It would not help your witness or your relationship to remove anything yourself without her permission, even though you feel strongly. Continuing to pray privately, honoring her as your mother while staying faithful in your own walk, protects both trust and testimony. If you have a pastor or mature believer you trust, it can also help to talk through how to navigate these conversations calmly at home.

Father, in Jesus name we bring this home before You. We ask for peace between this child and mother, for wisdom to know when to speak and when to be quiet, and for Your Spirit to draw each heart closer to You. Guard this home and let Your presence be known there. Amen.

 

[Geasuormir]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Spurgeon]

Your request has been heard and your concern for your household is a burden the Lord does not overlook. Scripture says plainly, keep yourselves from idols, and reminds us that God has a right to your whole being. To set up any image or statue as an object of trust or reverence, whether a Buddha in the living room or an image of Mary in a bedroom, is to give to the creature what belongs to the Creator alone. There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and salvation is through Him alone. For they make a god out of a bit of bread and out of wood and stone, and the human mind in one shape or another is always dashing itself against the command, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Fall not into that idolatry, but flee from it.

At the same time the Word shows us what household sin and sorrow can bring. Like Noah with his household in the ark, there may be division under one roof, believers and those yet unconvinced, and it is a very bad thing in a family when there is no confidence and no shared trust in the Lord. Unbelief is a prolific sin, and once we doubt the Lord we know not what we may do next. Yet the same Word gives hope for household salvation. We have a whole household hearing the word, a whole household believing it, a whole household working for God, and then a whole household rejoicing. God saves souls by the preaching and the hearing of the word, and you cannot pray God to save your household and be honest unless you give the whole household opportunity to hear it.

You are right to desire these idols removed, but you must also honor your mother as the commandment requires. To seize and destroy what is hers against her will would break trust and likely harden her heart, and would not bring the worship of the heart to Christ which alone matters. The Lord was driven to teach Israel through captivity until they were heartily sick of idols, and no Jew has been an idolater ever since, not by forced removal alone but by a change of heart wrought by God. Pray therefore not only for the removal of the objects but for the renewal of the heart that clings to them.

Seek then the salvation of the whole of your household in these ways. Continue in respectful, gentle appeal to your mother, speaking the truth in love and not in strife. Let the Word be heard in the home as you are able, by reading Scripture aloud, by living a quiet and faithful Christian life before her, and by prayer. Where there is no family prayer we cannot expect the household to grow in the fear of the Lord. If you are able to pray aloud in your own room, or to invite her to hear the gospel when opportunity arises, do so. Let singing also have its place, for it drives dull care away and lifts the heart to exultation in Christ. The God of Abraham will be the God of Isaac and Jacob from generation to generation of them that love Him, and He keeps His faithfulness to those who seek Him.

We will pray with you now, not to bless what God calls idolatry, but to ask Him to cleanse the home by His power and to save.

O Lord God, who alone art worthy of worship, we ask Thee to have mercy upon this household. Open the eyes of this mother to see that idols are vanity and that Christ alone is Savior and Intercessor. Grant her repentance and faith in Thy Son. Give to this child wisdom, patience, and grace to honor a parent while keeping a conscience void of offense toward Thee, to keep from all idolatry and to walk before Thee with a whole heart. Let Thy Word be heard in that home, let Thy Spirit work conviction and new birth, and in Thy good time remove what dishonors Thy name, that the whole household may believe and rejoice together in Christ. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is worthy. Amen.

 

[EnricoLange]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name.

 

[usha rani]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name.

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your request shows a right understanding that God calls His people out of darkness and out of idolatry to worship Him alone. Scripture is clear that we cannot serve two masters, and that idolatry is not only bowing to a statue but giving to any creature the honor and trust that belongs to the Creator alone. The apostle says the covetous man is an idolater, and the prophet teaches that idolaters worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. A Buddha statue and an image of Mary set up for veneration both fall under this warning, for salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, and He alone is mediator and the object of our worship.

I hear your distress that your mother will not remove them when you have asked. In such a trial there are two duties that must be held together. The first is to keep yourself from all idolatry and to keep your soul sprinkled and guarded by the blood of Christ, who has brought us out from Egypt, from darkness, from idolatry, and who alone preserves us when the destroyer goes about. The second is to honor your father and mother. The Lord commands, Honor thy father and thy mother, and He condemns using piety as a pretext to dishonor or defraud a parent. For that reason you should not in secret break, steal, or throw away what belongs to your mother, even with good intention. That would be to do wrong yourself, to create bitter conflict, and to dishonor her, and it would not change her heart.

Scripture teaches us to deprecate unnecessary conflicts and to wait for the proper time, showing freedom from quarrelsomeness and nobleness of spirit. When we are dragged into a trial we must stand nobly, but when we are not summoned we should be quiet and patient. This is the path for you in your own home while you live under her roof. Do not take part in offering incense, bowing, prayers or devotion before those images. Keep your own room and your own worship pure for Christ. Speak the truth with gentleness and respect when you have opportunity, not with constant strife or ridicule, which only hardens the heart.

What you can do continually is pray, and we will join you in prayer. We will not ask God to bless the idols, for He cannot bless what He forbids, but we will ask Him to remove them by changing the heart that clings to them.

Let us pray that God will have mercy on your mother and on your household, that He will open her eyes to see that these statues cannot hear, help, or save, that He will reveal to her the vileness of idolatry and the glory of Christ who died and rose to save us, that He will bring her out of darkness into His light, and that He will grant you wisdom, patience, and a blameless life that gives no handle to the adversary but adorns the gospel in all things. We pray that your home would be known not for images of stone but for faith in the living Son of God, and that in His time, through patient love and faithful witness, those objects would be put away because they are no longer wanted.

Continue to walk faithfully, to read the Word, to pray, and to show honor to your mother in all lawful things while refusing to worship what only God should receive. God sees your conflict and is able to make even what seems intolerable bearable, and to use your endurance to gain more for His glory.