By Andrew Williams
Series: The Year of the Prophet- Month 5: The Prophet’s Mandate: To Root Out and To Plant
Week 19: Pulling Down Strongholds (Spiritual Warfare)
Anchor Scripture: “Then Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image [Asherah pole] that was beside it was cut down…” — Judges 6:27–28 (NKJV)
The Teaching
The third destructive verb in the mandate is to “throw down.” Throughout the history of Israel, this almost always referred to the destruction of idols—specifically the altars of Baal and the Asherah poles. An Asherah pole was a wooden image representing a fertility goddess, but spiritually, it represented a “second source” of security. People worshiped God, but they also kept an Asherah pole “just in case.”
In the modern world, we don’t usually bow to wooden poles, but we have plenty of Modern Idols. An idol is anything we rely on more than God—our bank account, our reputation, our “prophetic gift,” our political leaders, or our technological systems. Idols are “altars of comfort” that we build to give us a sense of control.
The Prophet is called to be an Iconoclast—someone who “breaks the images.” Like Gideon, you are authorized to “throw down” the altars of false security. You see the idols that people have hidden in the “groves” of their hearts. Your mandate is to expose these second sources and reveal that they are “powerless wood.” This work is dangerous and often sparks “city-wide” anger (as it did for Gideon), but it is the only way to restore the “Altars of the Lord.”
Prophetic Insight
An idol always promises what only God can provide. If you sense a “grip” on a particular area of people’s lives—where they are obsessed with a certain celebrity, a certain financial strategy, or a certain religious figure—you are looking at an Asherah pole. The Prophet’s “Throw Down” is a word of De-masking. You show the people that their idol is just a “lifeless stick.” You aren’t being “disrespectful” or “cynical”; you are being “jealous for God’s honor” (Day 17). Once the idol is thrown down, the people are forced to confront their own emptiness and turn back to the Living God.
The Activation
Identify a “Modern Idol” in your own life or your community—something that people are “leaning on” for security instead of the Lord. Today, in your heart and in your prayer, “throw it down.” Say to the Lord: “I cut down the Asherah pole of [Name the idol]. I refuse to find my joy or my safety in anything but You. I declare that the Altar of Baal is torn down in my heart.” If God gives you the boldness, speak a word that exposes a common idol to someone else today.
Daily Prayer: Lord God, I thank You that You are a Jealous God. I repent for the idols I have allowed to grow in the ‘groves’ of my heart. Give me the courage of Gideon to throw down the altars of Baal and to cut down every Asherah pole in my life and my city. Forgive me for finding my security in ‘second sources.’ I declare that You alone are my God and my King. Amen.
