Do you struggle with a sin or something that still controls your life? You know what the Bible says but the cultural influences on your heart are stronger. For example, maybe you are constantly driven by success and this affects your family and your time with God. Or maybe you spend a lot of time on the internet and checking stuff on your mobile phone, such that there is little time or desire for prayer.

1.Receive Jesus as Lord in this area

Rom 10:9 speaks about this. Why was confessing with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believing in your heart that Jesus was raised, sufficient to be saved? Where is the repentance etc? Because declaring Jesus is Lord means a change in allegiance, so that there are no other idols or competition. We will still struggle in this area if we don’t invite Jesus to be Lord.

This is a commitment to follow Jesus and not this sin, idol or wrong cultural influence.

2.Believe the Bible first not the cultural idol

Rom 12:1-3 says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

We need the thoughts of God first to renew our minds. This means studying and meditating on what the Bible says about this area.

3.You need heart change not just a head change

The heart is the control centre of our lives. So what is in our heart controls our lives, not what we say that we believe. What we truly love is what we really are!! The heart is the seat of what we trust the most (Mt 6:21, Prov 3:5). That’s why we are told to trust God with our whole hearts.

Lloyd Jones said, “Preaching is through the mind, to the heart, to activate the will”. That is just knowledge and learning won’t change us. So when we hear preaching or read the Bible, we must allow it to affect our heart or transformation will not happen.

4.Stop listening to the lies in our culture

What are the false prophets of today? Although there is much of good in films, media and music, there are many things contrary to the Bible worldview and we imbibe all this through watching or listening to these things. If we watch 2 hours of TV every day but read Bible for just 15 minutes who will win? So the key is to begin to fast these things and fill our lives with Jesus and the truth. Not feed our sin or cultural idol instead!

5.Make a permanent exchange

When Blind Bartimaeus heard Jesus calling him he immediately threw off his cloak. This was the most important worldly possession he had, because without it he would freeze to death at night. So why did he throw it away before meeting Jesus? Because he understood that life with Jesus was far superior to the life he had on the road. He believed that Jesus would not just give him his sight back but a new and better life. So he had already made this exchange in his heart.

So let’s swap the idol or sin for what Jesus has to offer instead. And like Bartimaeus let’s not take back the idol or sin.

Conclusion

With these 5 steps we can be truly free from any sin, cultural idol or wrong influence on our lives.