The Priority of Purity
We live in a highly sexualized society. It is amazing the number of people, even pastors, who fall to sexual temptation.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 we are told straight out,
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.
God expects for you and me to live in sexual purity. You need to know how to possess your body in sanctification and honor; otherwise your body will possess you.
God has created a strong sexual drive that is an awesome blessing in marriage! But, you know, it is so strong that sometimes it just wants to flow out of the banks and go somewhere it shouldn't go.
We must learn how to possess our bodies in sanctification and honor, and live morally pure lives that bring pleasure to God. Here are three practical ways:
- Avoid temptation. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, Flee youthful lusts. Avoid the very scenes of temptation. Stay away when you know you might get in trouble.
- Feed your spirit, not your flesh. In Romans, we are told of the great war every Christian experiences, the war between our spirit and our flesh. Whatever you feed is going to be stronger, so make sure to feed your spirit.
- Rely on the Holy Spirit and His power. If you will acknowledge Him and look to Him for strength, you will find He is a very present help in your time of need.
Make a commitment today to practice these three principles for purity. If you do, you will live in the sexual purity God desires.
~Bayless Conley~
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Perfect and Complete
Your faith in God has incredible potential to make your life complete. To take you from the place of deficiency, to the place of being perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
James puts it this way in James 1:2-4,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Faith in God can make you complete, but your faith will be contested. It will be opposed, even as we read here. Your faith will go through the fire of trial.
If you lack spiritually in your life, you can get to the place of holiness. If you are lacking materially, you can get to a place where your needs are met. Whatever your lack, your faith in God has the potential to take you from where you are, and where you are lacking, to this place that the Bible speaks of…being perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
But, the path to that completeness is one of trial. Your faith will not get you there until it first goes through testing. You do have an adversary. You will be opposed. The Bible says, Your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
The devil knows what is at stake, and he will do all he can to keep you from trusting God. So as your faith encounters the turbulence of trials, do what James says, and count it all joy. You are on your way to becoming perfect and complete in Christ.
~Bayless Conley~
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A Woman's War
"The LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman" (Judges 4:9).
Rather an unusual text, but there may be souls in the world that may have faith enough to grasp it. Barak, the man, though called to the war, had little stomach for the fight unless Deborah would go with him, and so the LORD determined to make it a woman's war. By this means He rebuked the slackness of the man, gained for Himself the more renown, and cast the more shame upon the enemies of His people.
The LORD can still use feeble instrumentalities. Why not me? He may use persons who are not commonly called to great public engagements. Why not you? The woman who slew the enemy ofIsrael was no Amazon but a wife who tarried in her tent. She was no orator but a woman who milked the cows and made butter. May not the LORD use any one of us to accomplish His purpose? Somebody may come to the house today, even as Sisera came to Jael's tent. Be it ours not to slay him, but to save him. Let us receive him with great kindness and then bring forth the blessed truth of salvation by the LORD Jesus, our great Substitute, and press home the command "Believe and live." Who knoweth but some stout-hearted sinner may be slain by the gospel today!
~Charles Spurgeon~
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The Lord will show who is holy; and will cause him to came near unto Him. - Numbers 16:5
It was on these, words that the Psalmist founded his exclamation, "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee." This is what we all need. We often endeavor to approach unto God, but meet with many disappointments. Thomas Welsh said, on one occasion, that he had been wrestling to obtain access from six in the morning until nine! There is something better. If you are His, you may humbly count on God to cause you to come near; believing His promise: "Draw nigh to God, and God will draw nigh to you."
In your morning prayer, or at any other time which you set apart for devotion, let this be the cry of your soul: "My God, cause me to come near." When for long you have been dwelling afar off, and the distance threatens to become chronic or permanent, let this again be your petition: "Cause me to come near." And throughout the rush of daily life, let your dependence be on Him who alone can cause you to come near so that you may dwell in His courts.
But God cannot do this unless the soul is utterly surrendered to be His; for "if we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." We must be un-anchored and unbeached if the tide is to bear us on its bosom. We must be free from the touch of other hands if we are to respond to His. We must sit loosely by the things of the earth to feel the drawing of heaven. This is, in part, the meaning of holiness. "Who are His, and who is holy?" Those who have experienced separation to God and sin. Give us this, O Lord; then draw us near to Thyself, and we will run after Thee!
It was on these, words that the Psalmist founded his exclamation, "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee." This is what we all need. We often endeavor to approach unto God, but meet with many disappointments. Thomas Welsh said, on one occasion, that he had been wrestling to obtain access from six in the morning until nine! There is something better. If you are His, you may humbly count on God to cause you to come near; believing His promise: "Draw nigh to God, and God will draw nigh to you."
In your morning prayer, or at any other time which you set apart for devotion, let this be the cry of your soul: "My God, cause me to come near." When for long you have been dwelling afar off, and the distance threatens to become chronic or permanent, let this again be your petition: "Cause me to come near." And throughout the rush of daily life, let your dependence be on Him who alone can cause you to come near so that you may dwell in His courts.
But God cannot do this unless the soul is utterly surrendered to be His; for "if we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." We must be un-anchored and unbeached if the tide is to bear us on its bosom. We must be free from the touch of other hands if we are to respond to His. We must sit loosely by the things of the earth to feel the drawing of heaven. This is, in part, the meaning of holiness. "Who are His, and who is holy?" Those who have experienced separation to God and sin. Give us this, O Lord; then draw us near to Thyself, and we will run after Thee!
~F. B. Meyer~
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