Day 263: A Way Out

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

We all know what temptation feels like, and we know the struggle of resisting, but we also know the feeling of giving in. As Christians we are constantly tempted, there are always things calling us to sin, whether it be our past, someone asking to be told off or throat punched in a very non-christian way. We can only flip tables so many times when trying to go the, “What Would Jesus Do” method. Whether it be sins that we struggle with and people we are trying to let go of, or the big one, sex. Even those of us waiting for marriage know what the temptations of premarital sex look and feel like. However, I believe that in these moments, God is giving us a way out. Take a look that the scriptures above it literally tells us that God will show us a way out. He will not allow us to be tempted more than we can stand, even though it’s hard God knows we can stand it. I feel like He believes in us more than we do ourselves. He knows us more than we know ourselves, that’s why He’s God. While we’re battling with our flesh and going crazy, God is giving us a way out, looking at us a having faith that we will choose Him over our flesh. Many times we can choose Him because we are deeply rooted in Him and we know that He will always provide a way out, but for those moments of weakness. Those moments when we just decide to give in, when we let our fleshly desires, and urges take over. Those are the moments we tend to always be brought back to. We often find ourselves feeling like Paul when he said, in Romans 7:15, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” I have heard time and time again, “if God knows everything why does He allow us to sin?” I’ve even had that question before. Uhm, excuse me but God is not telling us to sin, nor is He leading us to sin, He has in fact provided a way out of it. When we sin it’s our own doing. We make a choice, not God, He gave us freewill so when we sin it is our choice. The same way it was Adam and Eve’s choice to eat the fruit from the tree. They made a choice on their own. God did not tempt them, He told them what not to do, they decided to go against what he said.

You ever try to blame your decision to sin on something or someone else? Like Adam and Eve, God deliberately told them not to eat from one specific tree, one tree they couldn’t eat from. Out of all the trees in the Garden of Eden there was one they were not allowed to eat of. The serpent came and tempted Eve, but the serpent did not force Eve to do anything, Eve decided to listen and decided to sin against God on her own, and so did Adam. But when God questioned them, they blamed everyone and everything but themselves, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the servant. I believe that even in the Garden of Eden God had a way out, there were countless other trees they could have eaten off of, why go to the forbidden one. Then blame anything or anyone else to take the heat off themselves.

*confession time* For a long time, since I was fifteen I have struggled with pornography. I was a seed that was planted at a very young age and took root around the age of fifteen and began to grow. It stopped when I became a Christian, but I always felt myself struggling with it, going back and forth with it. Wanting to let it go but sometimes finding myself going back whenever I had a moment of weakness, I tried to get help and the person I tried to confess to did nothing but judge me and throw it in my face every chance they got. However every time I found myself viewing pornography or something similar, I would find myself trying to justify it. ‘Well, I’m having a hard day’ or ‘I’m weak right now’. I realized that it was something that I never needed or had to do, it was something I chose to do. God always provided a way out, I just chose to ignore it. I had to learn to own up to my desire to please my flesh and when I learned to confess and be honest with myself that’s when things started to change. When I started being honest with God and saying, this is me, this is my flesh wanting to do the very thing I know I am not supposed to do. That’s when things started to change, because I began to realize that there is always a way out, no matter how hard it may be to take the road out, it’s so rewarding.

All this to say, there is always a way out. God will not allow us to be tempted pass what we can stand. I know it’s hard, this is something we can all agree on, but whatever you are struggling with, whatever is holding you back from God let it go. You are much stronger than you think, because your strength is found in the Lord. In those moments of weakness call on the Lord, stop and pray even when your flesh is telling you not to. Who you are in Christ is much stronger than you flesh and it’s worldly desires. Another thing, sometimes we fall, sometimes we are weak and we allow ourselves to fall into that temptation. But you get up, confess your sins to God, go to a brother or sister in Christ for prayer, trust that God has forgiven you and you move on. There’s no use of dwelling on it, or beating yourself up about it, move on. You can change the past but you can learn so you won’t make the same mistakes in the future. While you’re at it, make sure you forgive yourselves, A lot of times we condemn ourselves when God Himself doesn’t do it. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a just man falls seven times but he gets back up. So get back up and get walking, don’t dwell on your past or you shortcomings.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to anything that we discussed today?
2. Is there something that you have been struggling with that you need to confess to God and maybe a brother or sister in Christ?
3. Can you confess it to yourself first, meaning can you own up to it and be honest with yourself and God?
4. What is it? (this is not something you need to tell me, if you’d like to respond to me go ahead and I will pray with you, but confess to yourself, God, and someone you trust who can strengthen you spiritually).
5. This is very hard, I know it is, but if it is tugging on your heart and keeping you from fully giving yourself to God, release it, seek help, prayer and ask God to deliver you. This is serious.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers and responses to the above questions guide your prayer today. Just talk to God and confess everything to Him. Seek out someone to pray with and for you, if you’d like to reach out to me, please do not hesitate.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, b sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 264!

Day 97: Let's Talk About It- "Sex and Relationships"

Romance and love is a big part of many of our lives at the moment, rather we are dating, in a committed relationship, engaged to be married, or married already. I think the biggest questions we have when it comes to question is, what is a Godly relationship, and how do we have one. The first step to having a relationship with anyone else is having a relationship with God, and finding our worth and identity within Him. Same as yesterday, there are a few topics of discussion.

It’s about love

Song of Solomon 8:7

Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Love is known to be complicated, it’s one of the choices on facebook relationship status, but it does not have to be. When you love someone and are in love with someone and you know for sure it takes away all the complications. Complications arise when we are in a relationship trying to figure out if we really love the person we’re with. Often times we move too quick because we are lonely and just want someone to have when we want to feel less alone. That is not love, it’s selfish. Love is selfless, We see a true example of love in Genesis 29, when Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, verse twenty states, So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

He loved this woman so much that he was willing to give seven years of his life in order to be with her. His love was so great that seven years felt like a few days. That’s love.

Many of us have stories or testimonies where we find ourselves saying we were looking for love in all the wrong places. I know I do. If love is what we’re looking for the best place to search is in Christ, God has all the love we need.

A lot of times we get into relationships with people for what we can get out of it, and what we can benefit. I think the best lesson we can learn for having a relationship with God is that it’s a two way street, and we have to give to get sometimes. It’s not all about receiving, sometimes we have to be willing to put ourselves on the line for someone else, especially a potential spouse.

Seek Christ first.

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these thing will be added to you.

One thing to remember is that no matter where we are in life, or who is in our life, God should always be number one. Before we fall in love with anyone, we fell in love with God. Christ is our first love, and that should never change, He should be the one we love above any and everyone else. We find our worth in Christ, not in man or a relationship.

We won’t always get it right the first time.

I think many of us in our twenties have been in love before, I have and it ended terribly. We are wrapped up in love, and sometimes that person was only meant to be in our lives for a season, and that is probably the hardest thing to accept. We have to realize that not everyone will find their one true love in their first relationship, and it does happen for many people. But sometimes we have to go through some cycles of lessons before we reach the real thing. All that to say is that sometimes we won’t get it right and that is okay. The hard part is learning when to walk away and accept that, the person we were with is not the person we will spend our lives with.

Sometimes we hold on to relationships that are toxic for us because we want them to work so bad, and that could mean we are trying to hold together the very thing God Himself is trying to separate, and let me tell you it will lead to a world of misery and heartache.

At one point in my life I was engaged, too young, but I was engaged. I was in this relationship and I was eighteen and I was okay with just dating, and taking things slow. I loved this person very much and this stopped me from walking away when I needed to. I held on to it for as long as I could even though I knew that one this relationship was unhealthy for me, spiritually and mentally. I held on because I loved this person very much and did not want to hurt him. By doing so not only did I hurt myself but I hurt him, and we both came out of it bitter and angry. I regretted being in the relationship for a long time, but I realized that God had me in that position for a reason, and I learned and grew in so many ways. I just had to learn to walk away when it was time.

-Dyamond

2 Corinthians 6:14

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

• With that being said, there is also the other side, when we see red flags from the very beginning and choose to ignore them. Sometimes we have to put our hearts and feelings aside and listen to God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. We must be obedient or that will also lead to a world of trouble and heartache.

• We must not compromise or drop our morals for anyone. No relationship is that important. When we are planted in Christ it defeats the purpose to be in a relationship with someone who isn’t. If we cannot go to our significant other for prayer, or to have a bible study with them, or if they refuse to go to church with us, then they’re probably not the one. We have to be on the same page, lifting one another up and
• growing together in Christ. We should love God more than we love our significant other and they should love God more than they love us. That is the only way a relationship and marriage will last, is if Christ comes first in both of our lives.

It’s not about sex. (expanded passage 1 Corinthians 7:1-40)

Relationships are not about sex. I repeat, RELATIONSHIPS ARE NOT ABOUT SEX. Sex is for marriage, and marriages are not built on sex.

Sex is a pure gift from God, a gift between husband and wife as a means to bring life to this earth, to reproduce and populate the earth, As we see in Genesis 1:28, And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Sex is beautiful thing, and it has been corrupted because it has lost meaning and is now looked at as mostly a sin. But sex between a husband and wife is not,

1 Corinthians 6: 18-19

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

Prayer Time

We talked about a lot today, take this time to talk to God about whatever is on your heart. Pray about your relationship or marriage. Whatever it is talk to God, have a conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, Make sure you share this with someone and open up a discussion. Have an amazing day, and be sure to come back tomorrow for day 98!