Leviticus 19:3-4

Leviticus 19:3-4 MKJV  You shall each man revere his mother and his father, and keep My sabbaths. I am Jehovah your God.  4  Do not turn to idols, nor make molten gods to yourselves. I am Jehovah your God.

"You shall be holy, for I, Jehovah your God, am holy" (see my notes on Leviticus 19:1) contains the primary command. Our motivation is to be like God. So we have our command and the motivation to fulfill that command. Following is a list of ways to act out this inner holiness. We are to be different from the World.

So the first two in the list is to honor our parents and to honor and reverence God. In the Ten Commandments, the one that says "Honor your father and your mother, that your days

We learn about relationship through our parents. They teach us how to relate to someone on a deep level. In the perfect family there is the Mother and Father who love each other and love their children. Their children should see this loving relationship between Mother and Father and between parents and children and among siblings. What we learn in our family is what helps us form relationships outside the family. But it also helps us learn how to have relationship with God because God is our Heavenly Father and our love relationship with Him can be learned from our parents. For instance, I saw my Father work hard and provide for his 3 girls. I saw my Mother take care of her 3 girls and live within their means. I saw my parents love each other and I saw them love us. I was raised in an exceptionally wonderful family. So I had good examples of what real love means. When it came to my relationship with God, I was able to base it upon what I had learned within my family. I don't think I've ever interpreted God as a mean, vengeful, punishing God because my earthly Father was not like that. I don't think I've ever interpreted God as a capricious, malicious, playing-with-my-head God because my earthly Mother was not like that.

If you are raised in a very dysfunctional family, you may have to overcome some of what you learned in order to have a healthy and loving relationship with God. You may shy away from God because you fear Him like you feared your earthly father. You may have trouble trusting God because you couldn't trust your earthly mother.

Right now, I have a little dog that I've adopted at the age of 6 yrs old. She's so skittish. Any sudden movement and she's jumping and running, tail tucked. It makes me wonder what environment did she grow up in. I mean, I can be working on my computer and reach for my coffee cup and she's up and dodging. Did someone mistreat her? Was she hit, kicked, thrown? Or was it because she had so little interaction with humans that she doesn't know what to expect? Or has she been shuttled from one place to another, never knowing any stability and so she's afraid of what's going to happen in the future? She has nothing to fear from me, but she doesn't know that. Over time, I pray she will get to that place of complete trust. It's going to take time and a lot of love.

Some people have been mistreated by their families. They've experienced trauma, instability, drama, abuse and it shows when it comes to their relationship, or non-relationship, with God.

In some cases, it may not be a traumatic family but the parents don't believe in God and have taught their children there is no God. Believe it or not, this is a type of verbal abuse. You have instilled a hatred for God, or a disdain for God, that could cost your children their eternal souls. You may not have meant it as abusive, but the end result could be their eternal souls. If you withhold any Christian teaching from your children, you have handicapped their spiritual lives. You may love your children, provide and protect them, be supportive and helpful throughout their lives. But if you have neglected their eternal souls and taught them that God is either not applicable to them, is unnecessary to them ,or doesn't exist... you've damaged the seed of faith within them. Thank God, the Holy Spirit will work in your heart and the hearts of your children, until death. He will, and has often, breathed life into a dead seed of faith and brought about salvation. But the harder the shell of the seed, the harder it is to give it life. Don't neglect, or deliberately damage, your child's eternal souls. That's a form of abuse.

If you've had bad examples of parents, you can still have a good relationship with God. He's got all the time in the world and He's a master at teaching and training through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, once you repent of your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you, then you are born again. That seed of faith has God's life breathed on it and it awakens and your spirit is born. The Holy Spirit immediately comes into you to stay with you and begin the sanctification process. He will be your guide, your teacher, you power, your help. If you have been damaged by bad parents or a toxic family, you may be like my little dog... scared, skittish, not able to understand, wondering if God is someone you can trust. It will take time and lots of love, but God can bring you to the place of trusting in His love for you. He does it for all of us! Every true believer has to learn how to trust in God. You will eventually learn you don't have to be afraid of the touch of His Hand in your life. You don't have to tuck your tail, shiver, dodge under the bed, hide in a corner. You will eventually learn to even accept His Hand of discipline because it's ALWAYS for your best interests. Just as a loving parent would discipline their child in order to save that child much heartache in the future.

Back to the verse, God doesn't say here that we are to revere and honor our parents IF they are/were good parents. If you had bad parents, dysfunctional parents, absent parents, dead parents, you are commanded to be holy, as God is holy, and show honor to your parents anyway. Why? Because God also needs to teach us that we should give honor and respect to our parents even when we don't understand the whats and whys. It's easy for me to love, honor and respect my parents because they loved me and did everything they could for me. They were good, godly examples and I so appreciate it. I miss them terribly. But what about those who had bad parents or their parents were missing, absent, even dead while growing up? There still is a blood relationship between parent and child. This relationship is deeper than you realize. This doesn't mean you should submit to parental abuse. This doesn't mean you keep falling into an abusive cycle, an unhealthy relationship. It doesn't mean maintaining a co-dependent, enabling, traumatic relationship. You can remove yourself from toxic relationships but still show respect. You can learn how to forgive and let go without continuing to be abused. Pray and let God bring healing to your heart. Pray and ask Him to reveal to you how a good Father/Child relationship should be in your relationship with your Heavenly Father. Pray and ask God to show you the balance you must walk in order to follow this command to honor your parents versus falling into the cycle of abuse again. It may be that the best way to retain any shred of respect and honor is to remain outside their toxic sphere. If your father is a drug dealer, keep your distance or you will get caught in his criminal activities. If you mother is a drug addict, cut off all communication or she will drain you dry. Enabling and being co-dependent on toxic family members is not showing honor and respect. It just drags you both down. You keep pulling yourself back out only to let them drag you down again and again. There is no honor and respect when you pay your father's bail or buy your mother's drugs for her. That's enabling sin which is dishonorable. You do your best to stay well away from them because it doesn't really help them in the long run and it sure hurts you and keeps you bound to their crazy world. In that case, it's best to step out of their satellite.

So how do you honor them? By praying for them. By keeping your attitude right about them. If you feel anger, unforgiveness, bitterness creeping in concerning them, get rid of it. You probably have every right to your anger and unforgiveness, but God says to let it go. In your own power, you can't. So pray and ask God to help you let it go. Given time, and constant attention in prayer, you will get healthier and healthier, stronger and stronger and the old anger and unforgiveness gets less and less. Show respect by not dwelling on their worst impulses. Don't let your mind wander there. In prayer, tell God exactly how you feel and ask His help, over and over again. Pray and ask Him to give you a right, balanced attitude when it comes to thinking about your parents and your raising. You CAN live above your raising and that would be the best way to honor your parents. By being the BEST you be, despite what they've done.

Never lie in order to save your parents from the consequences of their sins. Never be a false witness to try to protect your parents from the consequences of their sins. But don't rehearse their sins over and over again in your mind or to others. You may find a need within you to belittle them and disrespect them to others to make yourself look better. Coming from a bad family, you may suffer from insecurities and this is one way it comes out. You may be hypercritical of others as a way to make yourself feel better about yourself. It's understandable but it's not healthy for you, or anyone else. Pray and ask God to help you with that. He can heal those deep places that are causing you to exhibit unholy behavior. Let's face it, if God wants you to be holy (and this verse alone says He does) and you want to be holy, then the Holy Spirit can help you and there will be results. It's a given. If you want what God wants, it will happen. But it will happen in His Way and in His Timing. Just acknowledge your problem, your sins, and ask forgiveness and keep asking for His Help.

Eventually, if we all live long enough, we will go through cycles of life. When I was a baby, a child, my parents had to do everything for me. They had to change my diapers, feed me, provide for me, protect me, get me to school, drs appts, the dentist, etc. They paid the bills and made sure we ate. As I became an adult, I took on my own responsibilities. I began working in junior high school and through high school I got married almost as soon as I graduated high school. So I had to keep my own house clean, wash my own clothes, go to work, etc. My parents had done a good job raising me so I could do these things. Eventually, my parents began aging. They needed help and we would help them. Whether it was helping them fix something in their house, giving them some money when they didn't have enough, etc. As they got even older they needed help writing the checks to pay their bills, doing their taxes, taking them to drs appts, buying them some extra groceries, mowing their grass for them, etc. My Mother had Alzheimer's Disease so she especially needed help as the dementia took more and more of her. In the end, Daddy was having to do everything for her and we helped him. It might be giving her a bath, cutting her toenails, feeding her, etc. You see the roles had reversed. But they had done it for us and taught us how it's done and done well. They had loved us, and done everything for us in love so when they needed us, we knew how to do for them and do it in love. My Mother's Mother, my Grandmother, had Alzheimer's Disease and we had seen my Mother and Aunt take care of her. They gave us assigned tasks too so we learned how to give a bath, clothe an aging person with dementia. So, when it came time for them to need us, we were prepared. We tried to help and do it with respect and love just like they had done it for us. I pray, that if it comes to our time, our next generation will have the same sense of responsibility and will know how to honor us and help us. They will have, in turn, taught their children, who will take care of them when it's their time. It's the cycle of life and that is what God is teaching us.

Elder abuse, neglect and denial are not honoring your parents. If you do that, don't be surprised when you are elderly that your children treat you the same way. What goes around, comes around. Teach your children how to respect, love and honor the elderly and you will have taught them how to treat you when you are an elderly, helpless, vulnerable adult.

One last note, if your parents were, and still are, abusive, be discerning about how you show respect to them. You have to honor God first and then your parents. So you don't lie for them, enable them, or expose yourself and your children to abuse. Be holy as God is holy. If you were molested as a child, don't bring your children around your molesting parent. Forgiveness doesn't mean you throw out your God-given Use wisdom and ask God to give you balance and discernment. There is a place of balance and God can show you where that is and you can walk in it. God knows your parents and He knows you, so trust Him to show you how to be respectful but not exposed to abuse or exposing your children to abuse.

Next, God commands us to keep His Sabbath and not to fall into idolatry. We are to love God, and only Jehovah God. It is a love relationship that He wants with us. There are no other gods, so what would be the use of idolatry. Yet we sure do it.

To keep the Sabbath is the oldest institution.

Genesis 2:2-3 MKJV  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.  3  And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work which God created to make.

Isaiah 40:28-31 ERV  Surely you know the truth. Surely you have heard. The LORD is the God who lives forever! He created all the faraway places on earth. He does not get tired and weary. You cannot learn all he knows.  29  He helps tired people be strong. He gives power to those without it.  30  Young men get tired and need to rest. Even young boys stumble and fall.  31  But those who trust in the LORD will become strong again—like eagles that grow new feathers. They will run and not get weak. They will walk and not get tired.

God didn't create the Sabbath because He got tired and rested on that day.

"He rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had made: not as though weary of working, for the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, nor is weary, Isaiah 40:28 but as having done all his work, and brought it to such perfection, that he had no more to do; not that he ceased from making individuals, as the souls of men, and even all creatures that are brought into the world by generation, may be said to be made by him, but from making any new species of creatures; and much less did he cease from supporting and maintaining the creatures he had made in their beings, and providing everything agreeable for them, and governing them, and overruling all things in the world for ends of his own glory; in this sense he 'worketh hitherto', as Christ says, John 5:17." - John Gill's Exposition of the Bible on Genesis 2:2

"a. God did not need rest on the seventh day because He was tired. He rested to show His creating work was done, to give a pattern to man regarding the structure of time (in seven-day weeks), and to give an example of the blessing of rest to man on the seventh day.

"i. The seven-day week is permanently ingrained in man. Though some through history tried to change the seven-day week (a ten-day week was attempted during the French Revolution), those attempts have come to nothing. We are on a seven-day cycle because God is on a seven-day cycle.

"b. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: God sanctified the seventh day because it was a gift to man for rest and replenishment, and most of all because the Sabbath is a shadow of the rest available through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

"i. Colossians 2:16-17 and Galatians 4:9-11 make it clear that Christians are not under obligation to observe the Sabbath today, because Jesus fulfilled the purpose and plan of the Sabbath for us and in us (Hebrews 4:9-11). Yet Christians do not lose the Sabbath; every day is a day of rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Every day is specially set apart to God.

"ii. Though we are free from the legal obligation of the Sabbath, we dare not ignore the importance of a day of rest. God has built us so we need one. But we are also commanded to work six days. 'He who idles his time away in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh.' (Clarke) In our modern world of four or five day workweeks and generous vacation time, surely more “leisure time” can be given to the work of the LORD.

"c. In it He rested from all His work: Though God rested on the seventh day of creation, He did not institute the Sabbath or show us His rest for His own sake. God does not take the Sabbath off. Jesus Himself said, 'My Father has been working until now, and I have been working' (John 5:17). God does not need a day off, but man needs to see the rest of God and know he can enter into it by the finished work of Jesus.

"i. The description of each other day of creation ended with the phrase, 'so the evening and the morning were the . . . day.' However, this seventh day of creation does not have that phrase. This is because God’s rest for us isn’t confined to one literal day. In Jesus, God has an eternal Sabbath rest for His people (Hebrews 4:9-11).

"ii. 'God, having completed His work of creation, rests, as if to say, "This is the destiny of those who are My people; to rest as I rest, to rest in Me."’ (Boice)” - David Guzik's Enduring Word Commentary on Genesis 2:2

Isaiah 56:1-7 ERV  The LORD said these things, "Be fair to all people. Do what is right, because soon my salvation will come to you. My goodness will soon be shown to the whole world.  2  I will bless those who refuse to do wrong and who obey the law about the Sabbath."  3  Some foreigners will choose to follow the LORD. They should not say, "The LORD will not really accept me like the rest of his people." A eunuch should not say, "I am only a dry piece of wood. I cannot have any children."  4  They should not say that because the LORD says, "Some eunuchs obey the laws about the Sabbath. They choose to do what I want, and they follow my agreement.  5  So I will put a memorial stone in my Temple for them. Their name will be remembered in my city! Yes, I will give those eunuchs something better than sons and daughters. I will give them a name that will last forever! They will not be cut off from my people."  6  "Some foreigners have chosen to follow the LORD. They do this so that they can serve him and love his name and be his servants. They keep the Sabbath as a special day of worship, and they will continue to follow closely my agreement.  7  So I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them happy in my house of prayer. The offerings and sacrifices they give me will please me, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

"(Heb. verb shabbath, meaning 'to rest from labour'), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Genesis 2:2). 'The sabbath was made for man,' as a day of rest and refreshment for the body and of blessing to the soul.

"It is next referred to in connection with the gift of manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16:23); and afterwards, when the law was given from Sinai (Exodus 20:11), the people were solemnly charged to 'remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.' Thus it is spoken of as an institution already existing.

"In the Mosaic law strict regulations were laid down regarding its observance (Exodus 35:2, Exodus 35:3; Leviticus 23:3; Leviticus 26:34). These were peculiar to that dispensation.

"In the subsequent history of the Jews frequent references are made to the sanctity of the Sabbath (Isaiah 56:2, Isaiah 56:4, Isaiah 56:6, Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 58:13, Isaiah 58:14; Jeremiah 17:20-22; Nehemiah 13:19). In later times they perverted the Sabbath by their traditions. Our Lord rescued it from their perversions, and recalled to them its true nature and intent (Matthew 12:10-13; Mark 2:27; Luke 13:10-17).

"The Sabbath, originally instituted for man at his creation, is of permanent and universal obligation. The physical necessities of man require a Sabbath of rest. He is so constituted that his bodily welfare needs at least one day in seven for rest from ordinary labour." - Easton's Bible Dictionary

 

Next, He commands the Israelites not to make "molten gods to yourselves". The ESV says "gods of cast metal" and the BBE says "metal images of gods for yourselves".

"idols" - eliyl, elilim - H457
Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries
Apparently from H408 (noun for nothing); good for nothing, by analogy vain or vanity; specifically an idol: - idol, no value, thing of nought.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary
1) of nought, good for nothing, worthless
1a) of physicians, a shepherd, a divination
1b) of false gods
Part of Speech: adjective masculine

1 Corinthians 8:4-6 MKJV  Then concerning the eating of the things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one.  5  For though there are those who are called gods, whether in Heaven or in earth (as there are many gods and many lords),  6  but there is to us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we by Him.

"molten - massekah - H4541
Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries
From H5258; properly a pouring over, that is, fusion of metal (especially a cast image); by implication a libation, that is, league; concretely a coverlet (as if poured out): - covering, molten (image), vail.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary
1) a pouring, libation, molten metal, cast image, drink offering
1a) libation (with covenant sacrifice)
1b) molten metal, molten image, molten gods
2) web, covering, veil, woven stuff
Part of Speech: noun feminine

Idols are worthless, a "nothing". They have no value or consequence to us.

1 John 5:19-21 ESV  We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.  20  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  21  Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

1 Corinthians 10:7 ESV  Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”... 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

An idol is anything used as an object of worship in place of the true God. People have made idols out of stone (statues), carved wood, columns, pillars of wood (like an Indian totem pole), "sacred stones" (like Stonehenge), images (a representation of god), symbols. People will wear a St. Christopher pendant thinking it is a good luck charm of protection. People will go to Stonehenge to worship rocks. People will bring food offerings to stone statues. People will carry images of the Madonna on platforms decked out in fabulous doll clothes. But idolatry doesn't stop with what we typically recognize as an idol. ANYTHING that takes the place of God in your life is an idol. Money, job, family, spouse, education, house, hobby, sports team, actor/singer/musician, political figure, etc. We were made to worship but we tend to worship anything BUT God. That is idolatry. He should be our only object of worship. He alone is the only God and a true, living God with the power to do anything to help us. A piece of metal can do nothing to help us. A rock can do nothing to help us. A gold covered wooden statue can do nothing to help us. Money and a job might get us a few things but are worthless in the long run, especially when it gets to eternity. All of that burns up in the fire of judgment.

Exodus 20:1  And God spoke all these words, saying, 
2  I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
3  You shall have no other gods before Me. 
4  You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 
5  You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, 
6  and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments. 
7  You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain. For Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain. 
8  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
9  Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 
10  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates. 
11  For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it. 

"You shall have NO other gods before me."

"Have" is a verb.

"no" - lo,loh - H3808
Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries
a primitive particle; not (the simple or abstract negation); by implication no; often used with other particles: -    X before, + or else, ere, + except, ig [-norant], much, less, nay, neither, never, no ([-ne], -r, [-thing]), (X as though . . . , [can-], for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, + of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary
1) not, no
1a) not (with verb - absolute prohibition)
1b) not (with modifier - negation)
1c) nothing (substantive)
1d) without (with particle)
1e) before (of time)
Part of Speech: adverb

"have no" The Lord uses an emphatic word for no. God is clear that there is an "absolute prohibition" about having gods before Him.

Believers are called to live in complete loyalty to God. We are to love the one true God and Him only. It is an exclusive covenant of loyalty. God loves us and is loyal to us. So this command is a command that pertains to our exclusive loyalty to Him as Lord. We should have a single heart, single mind devotion to God alone. He, alone, is God. There are no other gods and we must recognize that. We must give our undivided loyalty and love to the One True, Living God. He should be above all else. If anything comes before Him in our loyalty, worship and focused attention, it is an idol.

If you think Donald Trump can save America, that is idolatry. If you believe Democrats can save the country, that is idolatry. If you believe the government is you protection and provider, that is idolatry. If you believe your love interest is the only one who can make you happy, that is idolatry. If you believe getting a good education is your insurance to a secure and happy life, that is idolatry. If you believe a certain job or career is your ticket to eternal happiness, that is idolatry. If you are crushed because your team didn't win the Super Bowl and you just can't get over it, it's a sign of idolatry. If your presidential candidate didn't win the election and you fall into a deep depression, that is a sign of idolatry. If you believe an organization is the answer to what's wrong in the world, that is idolatry. If you believe any certain person, or group of people, is the saving hope for you or the nation, it is idolatry.

How do you know if you have fallen into idolatry? Take a careful and honest inventory of yourself. Are you depressed or angry because something has happened that you don't like? That's a sign that you may have your hope in something besides God. Are you happy and euphoric because something has happened; you think it will save you? That could be a sign that you have your hopes on something other than God and it's idolatry. Are your thoughts focused on anything particular, it just keeps going around and around in your head? Could it be a sign of idolatry? Do you derive your security and sense of stability from the government, from your retirement savings, from paying off your house and debts, from your insurance (medical, life, property), from your doctors and medical technology? It is a sign of idolatry. Is there something that has you bound? You can't get rid of it. You are so focused on feeding that addiction that nothing else matters? It's a sign of idolatry. Addicts of any kind have made their drug of choice an idol. Their whole life, every thought and action, revolves around getting their next fix of their drug of choice whether it's narcotics, alcohol, sex, spending money, collecting, gambling, eating, etc.

How do you spend your time? Could that indicate idolatry? If all your time is spent working and you have nothing left for God and your family, then it's become an idol. If all your leisure time is spent on a certain hobby and you have nothing left for God, then it's an idol. Let's say you work all day and then spend a couple of hours at the gym or fishing or stamp collecting. At the end of the day, you have taken no time to read God's Word, meditate on it, pray and worship God. Then you have idols. You've put other things before God and given Him nothing.

Have you made an idol of yourself? Is all your time and money, focus, attention and action directed towards yourself? Have you put yourself above everything else in life, especially God? You've spent all your money on selfish desires and have nothing left to give God or to be generous to the other people in your life like your spouse and children, parents or siblings. Have you spent lavish amounts on your wardrobe or your body in order to look good? Manicures, pedicures, expensive hairstyling, makeup, paying for diets, paying for steroids or enhancements, paying for gyms and gym equipment, plastic surgeries and enhancements, hair plugs, vitamins/supplements, success seminars/books/retreats/programs... we could go on and on about how we focus on ourselves above God. After we buy all this stuff, we have no money to give to God or to be generous with others (which is a form of giving to God). After we've spent all this time and attention on ourselves, we can't manage to read the Bible and pray? We've made ourselves into idols because we are first in our lives.

We all get out of balance. It seems to be our natural bent. We were made by God to worship but our sin leads us to worship the wrong things. It's important to regularly check ourselves, do a spiritual inventory and be honest. Then repent and ask God to help you get back into balance. We must strive against our flesh and natural inclinations to follow God.

If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit resides in you. He will take your repentance (changing your mind and seeing something as God sees it), and Jesus' forgiveness, and strengthen your spirit. Every time you check yourself, submit to God, repent and strive to focus on God, the Holy Spirit uses it to strengthen your spirit so that it gets easier over time. The struggle with submission to God makes our spirit stronger. It's like exercise. It's necessary to struggle against our flesh and our selfishness. But we won't do it, if we aren't Christians. We will follow the flesh and do whatever we want without the checking of the Holy Spirit. It leads being totally bound in sin, to obsession with sin, to death and eternal judgment. But if we are saved, the Holy Spirit within us will try to get our attention, direct our spiritual eyes to see things as God sees them. To change our direction with repentance and to lead us in the everlasting way.

Psalm 81:7 (MKJV)  You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah. 8  Hear, O My people, and I will testify to you; O Israel, if you will listen to Me, 9  there shall be no strange god in you; nor shall you worship any strange god. 10  I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11  But My people would not listen to My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. 12  So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their own hearts; and they walked in their own conceits. 13  Oh that My people had listened to Me, and Israel had walked in My ways! 

1 John 5:20-21 ESV  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  21  Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

John 17:1-4 ESV  When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,  2  since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  3  And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  4  I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 ESV  For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,  10  and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.