{"id":1296,"date":"2011-01-10T14:02:28","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T20:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2013-12-07T11:59:40","modified_gmt":"2013-12-07T17:59:40","slug":"twrap-023-11011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrap-023-11011","title":{"rendered":"TWRAC 023: What and Who do I Worship?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>This Week&#8217;s Recovery Application Challenge<\/h2>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #2a3918;\">Please be sure to complete this week&#8217;s <a class=\"wp-oembed\" title=\"Open TWIRL 023\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/twirl\/twirl-023-11011\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #003366;\">TWIRL 023<\/span><\/a> prior to moving on to TWRAC 023.<\/span><\/h5>\n<h3><strong>What and Who do I Worship?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Isaiah 57:1-13:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><sup>5<\/sup> You worship your idols with great passion<br \/>\nbeneath the oaks and under every green tree.<br \/>\nYou sacrifice your children down in the valleys,<br \/>\namong the jagged rocks in the cliffs.<br \/>\n<sup>6<\/sup> Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys.<br \/>\nYou worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings.<br \/>\nThey, not I, are your inheritance.<br \/>\nDo you think all this makes me happy?<br \/>\n<sup>7<\/sup> You have committed adultery on every high mountain.<br \/>\nThere you have worshiped idols<br \/>\nand have been unfaithful to me.<br \/>\n<sup>8<\/sup> You have put pagan symbols<br \/>\non your doorposts and behind your doors.<br \/>\nYou have left me<br \/>\nand climbed into bed with these detestable gods.<br \/>\nYou have committed yourselves to them.<br \/>\nYou love to look at their naked bodies.<br \/>\n<sup>9<\/sup> You have given olive oil to Molech<br \/>\nwith many gifts of perfume.<br \/>\nYou have traveled far,<br \/>\neven into the world of the dead,<br \/>\nto find new gods to love.<br \/>\n<sup>10<\/sup> You grew weary in your search,<br \/>\nbut you never gave up.<br \/>\nDesire gave you renewed strength,<br \/>\nand you did not grow weary.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><sup>11<\/sup> \u201cAre you afraid of these idols?<br \/>\nDo they terrify you?<br \/>\nIs that why you have lied to me<br \/>\nand forgotten me and my words?<br \/>\nIs it because of my long silence<br \/>\nthat you no longer fear me?<br \/>\n<sup>12<\/sup> Now I will expose your so-called good deeds.<br \/>\nNone of them will help you.<br \/>\n<sup>13<\/sup> Let\u2019s see if your idols can save you<br \/>\nwhen you cry to them for help.<br \/>\nWhy, a puff of wind can knock them down!<br \/>\nIf you just breathe on them, they fall over!<br \/>\nBut whoever trusts in me will inherit the land<br \/>\nand possess my holy mountain.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Isaiah wrote,\u00a0&#8220;You worship your idols with great passion.&#8221;<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Idol defined\u00a0by Mirriam-Webster:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1\u00a0:\u00a0a representation or symbol of an object of worship;\u00a0broadly\u00a0:\u00a0a false god<br \/>\n2 a\u00a0:\u00a0a likeness of something\u00a0b\u00a0obsolete\u00a0:\u00a0pretender, impostor<br \/>\n3\u00a0:\u00a0a form or appearance visible but without substance &lt;an enchanted phantom, a lifeless idol<br \/>\n4\u00a0:\u00a0an object of extreme devotion<br \/>\n5\u00a0:\u00a0a false conception\u00a0:\u00a0fallacy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Look again at the definition of worship: &#8220;extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem&#8230; a person of importance.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What in your life have you given highest importance and esteem?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Think this question through:\u00a0In what ways might you find that you worship your marriage, or dating relationship, and\/or important friendships and\/family relationships?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For parents: How might you worship your children?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For mature children: How might you worship your parents?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Generally speaking, what kinds of people, places, events, and things\u00a0might be considered &#8220;idols&#8221; in a person&#8217;s life? Write down everything you can think of.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Of course that was a set up question. Which of those things, if you are completely honest with yourself, might be an idol in your life; that in one\u00a0way or another you might admit you worship?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In Isaiah 57, verses 5-8: What were the objects identified to be idols for the people of Israel?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lifestyle activities:\u00a0Of the activities in your life\u00a0to which\u00a0you give high importance and priority (in that you invest meaningful time and energy), which\u00a0would you be willing to admit might be objects of worship to you&#8212;idols in your life? (By the way, this can even include church activities, religious rituals and traditions, and other things deemed spiritual that might be a bit out of balance)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>&#8220;You worship your idols with great passion\u00a0beneath the oaks and under every green tree.\u00a0You sacrifice your children down in the valleys,\u00a0among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.&#8221; <\/strong>Isaiah 57:5<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From verse 5, what is the consequence of idol worship? While addicted people might not in a literal murderous sense, sacrifice their children, but how do addicted people sacrifice their children as a consequence of their addiction?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What in your life would you be willing to admit is addictive behavior? (Keep in mind that we&#8217;re not merely talking about alcohol and drug related behavior)\u00a0How is\u00a0your addictive behavior\u00a0similar or the same as what you identified previously is idolatrous?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What would you say you are often thinking about?\u00a0What would you admit you obsess about or have a preoccupation with?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How might these preoccupations and\u00a0obsessions, generally borne out of dissatisfaction, be addictive thinking?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How might addictive thinking be idolatrous?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How has addictive and idolatrous thinking and behavior affected your relationship with God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Looking back at Isaiah 57:11-13, what truth does God speak through the prophet Isaiah about the things we worship apart from God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Please honestly reflect on this before responding: In what ways might you have greater fear and reverence for your idols of addiction than your fear and reverence considering the position of strength, authority, power, and control of Almighty God of the universe? (You might as well be honest with yourself about this because God already knows)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you were behaving in certain ways behind the back of your mate, such hidden activities would be considered lies of ommision. How have you lied to God, and perhaps to yourself about your idols of addiction?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you believe in your heart and mind that what you deem of highest importance apart from God can truly help you? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What might you be willing to admit is out of your control and authority?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What might you be willing to admit to God that you need help with? Make a list.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What might you be willing to admit to God that you need Him to help you recover from?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Please take the time now to pray and ask God to respond to your needs in recovery from your worship of self.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=TWRAC+023%3A+What+and+Who+do+I+Worship%3F\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrap-023-11011\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Week&#8217;s Recovery Application Challenge Please be sure to complete this week&#8217;s TWIRL 023 prior to moving on to TWRAC 023. What and Who do I Worship?\u00a0 Isaiah 57:1-13: 5 You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrap-023-11011\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-applications","category-twrac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4160,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions\/4160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}