Lust

This post is a part 2 of the previous post Why Do You Dress Like That? This post is directed to both girls and to guys. The first section will be to girls and the second to guys. I will explain just what it is that lust really is. This will be a PG-13 post.

Girls, from all I have seen and experienced I can say one thing with full confidence, most of you do not know the meaning of lust form a guy's point of view. Because if you did, you would not wear many of the things you do.
Matthew 5:27-28 says,

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

But what does it mean to lust in his heart? Clearly not what you all think it means. I'm not a girl, so I don't have any idea what it means to lust after someone in a girl's mind, but it is not the same in a guy's. When a guy lusts after a girl, he mentally strips off her clothes, and imagines himself having sex with her. That is lust in a guy's mind. And when you dress in skimpy swim suits, belly shirts, mini skirts, and so on, you make it just that much easier to do it. The more we see of you, the less we have to imagine, and the harder it gets for us.
Yes, I did just say that you wearing less makes our lives harder. Because it is a Christian's goal to stop sinning, and the sin we have the hardest time with is Lust. If that does not make sense, remember, you all think on an emotional scale, while we guys think on a physical scale.
I myself have struggled and fought against this sin for years! I am still fighting, every single day! Because wherever I look it's there. School, public, TV and internet, and sadly even at church; you find women wearing near to nothing. You girls are not making it any easier for us guys to fight this sin! I'm not persecuting you right now, for it is not my place to do so. But I want you to realize that you are not helping us with this.
We hate the way this sin makes us feel with a passion! When we commit this sin, we feel like the lowest scum of the earth. Because when we have committed it we realize 2 things of what we just did. We realize that the person we just thought about like that was someone's daughter, probably someone's sibling, had a life of her own. And, that we just dissed God in a major way. When we think about those 2 things, we feel destroyed on the inside. We feel like crawling into a deep hole and dying there. We hate feeling that way, and that is why we fight it as hard as we can! And if you think there are people who do enjoy it, they don't! They just turn it into a major addiction by doing it non-stop to prolong that feeling. Or they use other addictions to hide it as well. But they all do it unsuccessfully.
When you all dress like you do, you make it that much harder to fight it off. And especially at church! The last thing we want is to be picturing our friends from church like that! If there is anything that I can say that will stress this point more it's this. When you dress like that, you are literally helping Satan! Because when you wear less, you make it easier to picture you in our heads, and harder to fight our sin. And if you make it harder to fight the sin, then you are helping cause it. Therefore, you help Satan spread his evil influence. So I ask you for myself, my friends from my church, and for all the guys of this world, dress modestly. Because this sin never goes away for guys. It haunts us from our teens till we're dead. It never goes away! It just gets easier to fight over time. So please help us fight it! Help us with destroying this sin in our lives!

Guys, now it's your turn. Stop looking! That is the best advice I could give you. Not all girls in the world are suddenly going to see this post or other things and dress better. So if you see a girl walk by who makes you feel that certain way, keep looking forward! Do not turn your head!
Remember, there is a difference between apreciating the beauty of God's creation, and having perverse thoughts of it. It's a fine line between the two, so try your hardest to stay away from the line. Don't even go near it! If you feel the urge coming, do whatever you can to take your mind off it. The best thing you can do is read your Bible and pray to God about it. You might have slip ups down the road, but you will get there! I still struggle with it now! But keep praying to God for strength to fight it, and He will grant it! Keep fighting the Lust as hard as you can! If there is something in your life that is making it that much harder to fight it, cut it out of your life. Matthew 5:29-30 says,

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

You should remember this from a couple posts ago. It means that if anything causes you to sin, remove it from your life. Fight as hard as you can! And remember that you are not the only one in the world who struggles with this sin, it just feels like you are. There are others, including myself, who deal with this sin. If your struggling, ask you pastor, the other guys from your church, you can even ask me. My e-mail is in a previous post. Just know that you are not the only one fighting this fight, and that there are many others who can help you with it. God gave you an army of help around you, you just have to ask for help!

I pray that my words did not offend, but brought awareness of the situation that plagues this world. So I ask: Girls, help us by dressing modestly, because that is all it takes to help us, a change of clothes. And guys, keep fighting as hard as you can and remember that you are not alone.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Discipleship

The past week I've been at Hume Lake Christian Camp in California. It was there that I was humbled and showed that I haven't even come close to doing what I have suppose to have been doing. I heard the call to discipleship that week, and I learned that it calls out to everyone.
We studied Matthew 5:13-16 that week. It says,

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

We Christians are the salt and the light. Do not lose your saltiness. Do not lose your passion and your want of God. You need to want more of Him, more than water and life. You can't share what you do not have. You need to have a love of God that is so great and prevalent in your life that it shows in the way you live to the people around you. The people around need to see that your a Christian in the way you live, that they can see what God has done for you. They need to see that you love God, and that you love them. If they don't and you try to tell them how great and awesome God is, they'll ask "What makes Him so great and special? You're no different than me." No. That is not how it is supposed to be.
So, ask yourself. When the people around you look at you, do they say, "What makes them so different? How could I have the joy they have?" Do they say that when they look at you? Do they? If they don't, then you are doing something wrong! There is no way around it, you are not doing something right! I know I haven't. Because if you asked my neighbors if I was Christian, they would say no. In fact, they would ask who you were talking about, because I haven't even begun to reach out to them. That's not even close to what should be by now.
It says not to hide the light under a bowl, but put it on a stand to shine light on all in the house. I thought that reading my Bible a few hours a day and writing on this blog was enough. I was completely wrong! I've been hiding my light under a bowl when instead, I should be shining this light on my neighbors and the other people in my life. By showing them who God is and what He can do for them.
That is changing now. I am going to start ministering to my neighbors, and I call you to do the same with the people in your lives. Now here is probably where you think I'll give you an easy trick to make it easier. Sorry, it's not easy! You will have what-ifs, you will have worries and fears, you might be worried about ruining a relationship you've had for years, well there is no getting around them! The best thing you can do is pray to God to remove those things from your heart. God will do what needs to be done. There is a way that can make it go more smoothly than just going up to the person and saying, "You're going to hell unless you listen to me."
Begin making a relationship with that person, and remember to show in your life that you are a Christian. And everyone has a story. You have a story no matter who you are. Share your story with the person and what God has done for you in your life. The person will either want to know more and maybe begin chasing God, or they will flat out ignore everything you just said. If they come to God; show them God's word, take them to church, and love them as they grow. But if they don't accept God, just keep loving them. Because you need to remember that God is the one who changes the people, not you. And He will change them on His own time. The speaker at the camp told us about a guy he new who did not come to God for years, and then suddenly moved to Africa and now serves the people there in God's name. Just keep loving the person. We can only point the person in the right direction, it's up to God to change the person.

God wants us to share His saving Law of freedom with the world. It will be hard, and you will be persecuted, so give up your life to God, your physical things, the people in your life, your own body. Give it all to God and trust Him with it all, and share Him with the people around you. Ask God to take away your worries and fears and the what-ifs that cause them and all the distractions of this world. Pray that God shows you the sins you have committed and the He forgives you for them, and that He helps you forgive yourself for them. Pray with all your heart, and God will do so. James 5:16 says

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Pray with all you have and God will answer. For I can tell you with a promise on God that God has never left a prayer of mine unanswered. But, why do you have to forgive yourself? If you hold on to the sins, and pains they leave, your light won't be pure. How can impure light shine on those around it, likewise, how can someone who doesn't let go of their sin and pain help other people with theirs? You can't.

Now think about the person you love most, who does not know God. I tell you now that you do not love that person. Because if you did love that person, at all, then you would care if they went to hell or not! Would you not? If you truly love someone then you should do everything in your power to lead that person to Jesus Christ! Until they do accept Him!
But then God asks us to love our neighbor, who is everyone in this world. So if you want to truly love anyone in this world, you Need to share God with them! You need to show them what God can do for them! I am yelling these words to you! If you do not share Jesus Christ with someone then you do not love them, and you are not following one of the only things God wants us to do! If you are hiding this light then you are lying! You are lying to the people around you! You are lying to yourself! And you are lying to God! Do not be a liar of a Christian! Love the people around you and tell them about Jesus Christ. That He can save them! We know we are going to heaven, but them, they don't have that light! They don't have that hope and joy that we do! Show Them!! Show them God! It brings tears to my eyes to think of how empty my life would be if I didn't have God! That there are people who don't have Him in their lives! It needs to end! We need to stop lying! Go! Go and share this Light with the world! For in Romans 13:11-12 says,

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Share God's saving Law now, for the time of Christ's return grows closer with every passing day! So we must save as many people as we can before that time comes!

I cannot say these things enough to you! But, I have saved the first step for last. Spend more time with God! Pray, read His Word, ask Him to teach you and speak to you! People say you can't hear God's voice, but they just haven't truly trusted that God will answer them! Like I said in the last post, rid your life of what keeps you from God! Separate the things in your life that glorify God and what does not. Remove what does not and keep what does. Trust God with all aspects of your life, and then share Him with the people around you! Become a Disciple!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Idolatry Today

Idolatry is a direct sin towards God. It is mentioned in the Bible 666 times. But what is idolatry, and what does it have to do with today? When people think of idolatry, they think of people making wooden idols and performing ceremonies of worship to them. However, it is much more than that. Anything can become an idol. Work, TV, your computer, a game, work, sports, and even other people. An idol is anything that takes away time that should be spent on God, and usually become the focus of your life. In essence, it becomes your god.
The first time God warns against idolatry is in Exodus 20:4-6. It says,

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them of worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

In order to fully understand this, we must look at James4:4-5. It says,

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

The world can easily become an idol. I'm not saying we should not make time to have fun, but a lot of the time, we start making more and more time for that thing. Eventually we give all our free time over to it. I know this from experience.

In February, I began playing an on-line game I had downloaded. I played probably 4 to 8 hours a day. It began consuming my life. I neglected my chores. My school work suffered, and showed in my grades. I began acting disrespectful to my mother and father. I rarely spent time with my family, or even talking with them. And worst of all, I almost completely stopped reading my Bible, and if I did, it was maybe 20 minutes for the entire day. It was to a point where I had a form of battle going on inside of me. Every time I played, that little voice in my head kept telling me to pick up my Bible, which was always arms length from where I was sitting. But I kept ignoring it. I made the game an idol. I wasn't "spending" time I was "devoting" time to the game. In the Old Testament, it describes devoting objects and things as the irrevocable giving over of things to the Lord. But instead of the Lord, my time was being devoted to the game.
My mom and dad told me all of this a week ago. And I settled the battle within me. The game was deleted off of my computer, along with anything else that I felt was keeping me from spending time with God. And I'm glad I did. I have spent hours reading the Bible this past week. And I have learned so much! I'm so joyful, and yet I'm sad at the same time. I think of all the time I devoted to the game, and what I could have read and learned in that time.
I ask you now, "What is your idol?" Just think about that. Do you have it? If you do, Matthew 18:8-9 says,

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell.

Whatever causes you to sin must be cut off and thrown away. Whatever is your idol, it is taking away time that should be given over to God, and is therefore causing you to sin. Throw it away! Rid your life of it, and give the stolen time over to God to use to teach you, to have you pray, to have you serve, to use in what ever way His plan calls for!
And think before you begin starting a new hobby, or getting that new piece of technology, or signing up for unneeded overtime, or deciding your ready for that relationship. Think about whether you can still keep Most of the time of each day devoted to God. Think about whether God still has something to teach you about the new thing you're going to introduce to your life.
If it still seems fine to continue pursuing, Pray About It! And if it does start taking up that time, then it is not what God wants. So you must remove it from your life. It might not be easy to do so. Like I said, I had an inner battle within me that lasted for 6 months. It took the words out of my mother's mouth, that I was hurting her with the way I treated her, to make my decision.
Ask God to give you strength to remove it, and He will provide.

Idolatry has been and is a great problem in the world. It takes away what was meant to be devoted to God. Don't make the world an idol, and end up losing the time God gave you to use! Make God your world! Worship Him, and read His Word and serve Him! You'll be amazed at what He will do!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen