Idols of the Heart Quotes

“If you wonder why you choose to worship other gods rather than wholeheartedly devote yourself to the Lord you love, examine the thought and desires that captivate your heart. That’s where you’ll fin the answer to every sin and failure in your life. Don’t be deceived into thinking that you need to develop more willpower. We need to develop godly thoughts and desires.”
― Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“Let us be so taken up with the knowledge of God's goodness and the desire to fellowship with Him that our emotions are warmed and our outer man reflects great love. Although we must not seek emotional experiences for their own sake, we must not shun them merely because others misuse them or ignore God's instructions on worship.”
― Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“The only way that we can avoid the sin of idolatry is by immersing ourselves in Spirit-enlightened study of God through the Scripture.”
― Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“Idols aren't just stone statues. No, idols are the thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that we worship in the place of the true God. Idols cause us to ignore the true God in search of what we think we need.
Covenantal Gods”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“in my heart is rooted in lovelessness and thanklessness.... By contrast, every truly holy act, including even the inner desire to be holy, springs out of the love and worship that He has placed in my heart.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“Do you love me with an all-consuming devotion that rules out all other loves?”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“When we fail to believe the truth about who Jesus is and miss the impact of His astounding work in suffering and dying for our sin, it will be impossible to resist the allurement of the gods of this earth as they whisper their promised pleasures to us.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“If you’re willing to sin to obtain your goal or if you sin when you don’t get what you want, then your desire has taken God’s place and you’re functioning as an idolater.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“Delighting to do God's will means turning from the deception that joy lies outside obedient fellowship with Him. We need to consistently disbelieve the imaginations that appear sweeter than God's lovingkindness. In order to do this, we'll have to be convinced that presence is the loveliest treasure there is. We must believe that 1101 lavish our lives with joy. "Is there not enough in heaven, in a life of endless joys with God, to make obedience lovely to you?" Only the Spirit can make Him look that good.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“The law shows how much I desperately need Christ's perfect record applied to mine.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“True repentance involves a hatred for sin and a turning from it and from all self-salvation projects … It’s only as I hate my sin that I’ll have the desire to fight it.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“En vez de apartarse de nosotros o rehusarse a escuchar nuestros débiles sollozos, Dios envía Su Espíritu para ayudarnos.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Ídolos del Corazón: Aprendiendo a anhelar solo a Dios

“Atráeme, por poco dispuesto que esté, para hacer que esté dispuesto; atráeme, lento de pies, para hacerme correr.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Ídolos del Corazón: Aprendiendo a anhelar solo a Dios

“couldn’t stand to look at. In time, God graciously gave Rachel a son. Don’t miss the kindness of God’s act of grace here. God wasn’t responding to her pure heart or holy desires. He blessed her despite her unbelief. Then, although she was temporarily filled with joy at his birth, she still wasn’t content. Her heart was revealed by her naming of him, “May the LORD give me another son” (Gen. 30:24). Rachel wasn’t satisfied with the blessing that God had given her in Joseph. She wanted more. And that, dear friends, is always and ever the outcome of idolatry: it always ends in dissatisfaction.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone

“Calvin wrote, “The Word is the instrument by which the Lord dispenses the illumination of His Spirit to believers.”
― Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone