Breaking the Stumbling Blocks of Iniquity: Hearing God’s Voice in a World of Idols

The silence in my house can be a beautiful thing, but after seventy-two hours without sleep, the silence starts to play tricks on you. I was sitting in my usual spot, the weight of the world and the demands of ministry pressing down on me, when the spiritual atmosphere shifted. If you’ve ever pushed your body to the limit, you know that blurry edge where the physical world starts to bleed into the supernatural. I’ve seen some crazy things in those moments—sometimes it’s the enemy trying to get a foothold, even demons whispering your name just to rattle your cage—but this was different. This wasn't a distraction. It was a piercing, holy clarity that cut through my exhaustion like a hot knife through butter.

I heard a phrase in my spirit that stopped my heart: "Shall I be inquired of at all by you?"

It wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn't a "how are you doing, Conrad?" It was a double-barrel shotgun word from the Lord that struck me to the core of my being. Fear, a clean and holy fear, gripped me. I knew that voice. His sheep know His voice, and when the Shepherd speaks with that kind of gravity, you don't just listen—you tremble. I realized in that moment that I had hit a road bump, one that many of us in the church are hitting right now without even realizing it. We want the benefits of the vine without the discipline of the pruning. We want to hear from God, but we’ve filled our "chambers of imagery" with things that provoke Him to jealousy.

This is the pain point for so many believers today. We pray, we fast, we cry out for direction, and yet it feels like our prayers are hitting a ceiling of brass. We feel estranged, distant, and we wonder why the heavens are silent. The solution isn’t more "spiritual techniques" or better worship music. The solution is found in a hard look at what we’ve set before our faces. We have to deal with the stumbling blocks of our iniquity if we want to maintain the proximity to Jesus that our souls were created for. In this post, I want to break down what it means to be inquired of by God and how we can clear the way for a true, supernatural relationship with Him.

To understand why God would ask such a terrifying question, we have to look at the state of our own hearts. For years, I’ve been on what I call an "anti-TV crusade." It isn't because I'm a legalist or because I think I'm "all that and a bag of chips." Trust me, I make a fool of myself quite often, and I share my shortcomings so you can avoid the same traps I’ve fallen into. I quit television because I noticed a pattern: I was being conformed to the world rather than transformed by the renewing of my mind, exactly as we are warned in Romans 12:2.

But it goes deeper than just the "idiot box" in the living room. We live in an age of constant imagery. Whether it’s Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, or the billboards we pass on the way to the store, there is a constant war for our attention. These images aren't just passing through; they are redirection tools. Think about how a song from high school can immediately trigger a memory and a feeling. Images do the same thing. They interrupt our thought patterns and plant seeds.

Jesus was very specific about this in the Gospels. He told us that looking at a woman to lust after her is already committing adultery in the heart. Why? Because the sequence is always the same: you look, you think, and then that thought drops into the heart. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7 KJV). If we allow iniquitous thoughts to take up residence in our hearts, we eventually sin with our hands. This is why Jesus said if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. He wasn't advocating for self-mutilation; He was teaching us about the absolute necessity of breaking the pattern of sin at the entry point—the eye gate.

In Ezekiel chapter 8, the Lord took the prophet in a vision to the temple in Jerusalem. It’s a sobering scene. God showed him a hole in the wall and told him to dig. Behind that wall, in the secret places of the temple, the leaders of Israel—the "ancients"—were worshipping every form of creeping thing and abominable beast portrayed on the walls. God asked Ezekiel: Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? (Ezekiel 8:12 KJV).

Think about that phrase: "the chambers of his imagery." That is our imagination. It is the mental gallery where we hang the pictures of what we love, what we fear, and what we desire. The elders of Israel thought they were safe because they were in the dark. They said, "The Lord seeth us not." But their secret idolatry was driving the presence of God far from His sanctuary. They had their faces toward the east, worshipping the sun—the creation—while their backs were turned to the temple of the Creator.

When we willfully put "stumbling blocks of iniquity" before our faces—be it entertainment that glorifies what God hates or worldviews that contradict His Word—we are building those same secret chambers. We are telling God that our desire for the world's imagery is greater than our desire for His presence. And when we do that, we shouldn't be surprised when the Lord says, "Shall I be inquired of at all by you?"

In Ezekiel 14, these same elders came to sit before the prophet. They wanted a word from God. They wanted the "supernatural" experience of hearing from a prophet, but they hadn't dealt with the idols in their hearts. God told Ezekiel that He would answer those men not with the word they wanted, but according to the multitude of their idols. He said, I the Lord will answer him by myself: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people (Ezekiel 14:7-8 KJV).

This is why proximity is everything. In my books, like OPEN YOUR EYES MY SUPERNATURAL JOURNEY, I talk about the reality of walking with God in a way that is tangible and real. But that proximity requires a certain kind of holiness. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14 KJV). Holiness isn't about following a list of rules; it’s a byproduct of being so in love with Jesus that you don't want anything—no image, no thought, no idol—to come between you and Him.

Personal Reflections

I’ve had to learn this the hard way. There have been times in my life where I felt like I was talking to a wall. I’d be on my knees, crying out, and it felt like the heavens were shut. It’s an embarrassing thing to admit for someone who teaches about hearing from God, but it’s the truth. We often think we’re getting away with something because God is patient. We’re like a driver doing 70 in a 55; we get comfortable because we haven't seen the flashing lights yet. But eventually, the ticket comes.

During that period of sleep deprivation, I realized that I had to do a deep dive into my own "chambers of imagery." I had to ask myself: "Conrad, are you reinforcing the idols of your heart by what you're choosing to look at?" It’s a question of core values. Do I love the Lord more than I love my entertainment? Do I love Him more than my comfort?

I’ve spent a lot of time helping people through dark spiritual battles, which I detailed in Overcoming Night Terror: Making the Demons Leave. One thing I’ve noticed is that the enemy loves to use the imagery we’ve allowed into our minds to anchor us in fear or lust. Even after you stop the behavior, those "drug dreams" or "sin dreams" can persist because the imagery is still etched into the heart. Delivering ourselves from these stumbling blocks is a process of walking out our repentance until our "man thinks in his heart" differently.

I’m not saying I’ve arrived. Even the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3 that he hadn't apprehended yet. He had to forget the things that were behind—both his successes and his failures—and reach forward to the upward call. That’s where I am. I’m making changes. I’m clearing the walls of my own secret chambers because I refuse to live a life where I can’t hear the voice of my Shepherd.

Biblical References

The theme of proximity to God runs like a golden thread from Genesis to Revelation. When Adam sinned, he was banished from the Presence. That was the real tragedy—not just losing a garden, but losing the walk in the cool of the day with the Creator. Throughout the Old Testament, we see that iniquity causes a separation. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear (Isaiah 59:2 KJV).

Jesus came to bridge that gap, but He also set a high standard for those who would follow Him. He spoke about the "overcomers." To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my father in his throne (Revelation 3:21 KJV). This isn't just about getting into heaven by the skin of your teeth; it’s about the reward of intimacy and authority that comes from enduring to the end and refusing to be polluted by the world.

The contrast is found in the final chapter of the Bible. There are those who have the right to the Tree of Life and enter through the gates, and then there is the "without" crowd. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie (Revelation 22:15 KJV). We often think of "idolaters" as people bowing to stone statues, but Ezekiel makes it clear: an idol is anything you set before your face that causes you to stumble into iniquity.

Even Job, in the oldest book of the Bible, understood the power of the eye gate. He said, I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? (Job 31:1 KJV). He knew that if he didn't control the look, he couldn't control the thought. And if he couldn't control the thought, he would lose his standing with God.

Key Takeaways

• The Eye Gate is the Entry Point: What you choose to look at purposely will eventually drop into your heart and dictate who you are.
• Iniquity Silences the Voice of God: Willful persistence in setting stumbling blocks before your face creates a "brass ceiling" for your prayers.
• God Sees the "Chambers of Imagery": There are no secret sins. God sees what we cultivate in our imaginations and will answer us according to our idols.
• Repentance is the Only Way Back: Turning the face away from the abomination and back toward the Temple is the requirement for restored hearing.
• Proximity is the Goal: We don't pursue holiness to follow rules; we pursue it because we want to be close to Jesus.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ costs something. He told us to count the cost, to take up our cross daily, and to follow Him. Sometimes that cost is as simple—and as difficult—as turning off the screen and picking up the Word. It’s about making a covenant with our eyes so that our hearts can stay pure enough to see the Lord.

If you feel like you’ve been "inquiring of the Lord" and getting nothing but silence, I want to encourage you to do what I did. Ask Him to shine a light on your own chambers of imagery. Are there things you're looking at that are provoking Him to jealousy? Are you reinforcing the idols in your heart by what you put before your face?

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6 KJV). He wants to speak to you. He wants to co-labor with you in His field. But He won't share His glory with an idol.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you ever felt that "brass ceiling" in your prayer life? What changes have you made to clear the way to hear His voice? Leave a comment below or reach out to me at ConradRocks.net. If this message resonated with you, please share it with someone who might be struggling to hear from God right now.

Until we meet again, dig deeper and go higher.

Action Items

• Conduct an "Imagery Audit": Spend the next 24 hours being hyper-aware of everything you put before your eyes. Note how it makes you feel and if it aligns with the character of Jesus.
• Make a Covenant with Your Eyes: Like Job, make a conscious decision to look away from things that trigger iniquity. This might mean deleting an app or changing your evening routine.
• Clean the "Chambers": Spend time in prayer specifically asking the Holy Spirit to "purge" your imagination from the images of the past and replace them with the Word of God.
• Practice Diligent Seeking: Set aside 15-30 minutes of intentional silence each day—no phone, no music—just you and the Lord, inquiring of Him with a clean heart.
• Read Ezekiel 8 and 14: Meditate on these passages this week. Ask God to show you if there is a "hole in the wall" in your own spiritual life that needs to be addressed.