Lights in the darkness! That’s what we are called to be!
“ Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God…. once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! … Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Eph. 5:1-20 NLT
Paul admonishes us that the time has come for the church to step up its atmosphere of sexual purity. If we want to stand through the storms of life God insists we be sexually pure.
We live in an oversexed culture and God calls us to come away from it. It’s time to shut off the bedroom scenes on the television, it’s time to stop listening to and telling off-color jokes. It’s time to shut down the internet porn. It’s time to make a covenant with our eyes that we will stop looking with lust at other people. It’s time to leave off sex outside of marriage.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians “every other sin a man sins is done outside himself but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” I Cor. Chapter 6.
When we sin sexually we weaken ourselves and our ability to stand through the storms.
I will tell you, victory is not going to be had in resisting temptation; Victory will only come when we learn to flee it! Too many of us end up trapped by sin because we try to resist sinful urges. The Bible tells us the key to overcoming sexual temptation is not fight but flight into the arms of Jesus; So when tempted don’t resist Praise!
“Sing songs hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and make music in your heart to the Lord and give thanks for everything to God.” Eph.5:20
Praise is powerful! We’ve Gotta stand!
Reinventing the We'll 
May our light shine even brighter in the days to come that others will see that our strength to flee temptations only comes from Him.
And only from Him!…And only from Him! It bears repeating again and again. 🙂
Thanks, Pastor J
Wonderful truths that get covered up ‘lest we offend’ … thanks for shouting them!
Ephesians 6:12-13 ” Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world. That is why you need to put on God’s full armor. Then on the day of evil you will be able to stand strong. And when you have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing”
May we trust Him to teach us how to stand in His truth.
Blessings,
ann
Indeed Ann! We have such a fight on our hands as to need to be covered with Jesus as an armor. Yet we cast off the armor in favor of sparring with human contenders. Thanks for sharing! Hope all is well. 🙂
Sex today is seen as a right or entitlement for everyone. But in truth it is a gift that is given to those who marry. Not everyone gets this gift, only those who marry. Not a popular belief these days, but it is what it is. It’s like any of the gifts from God, given as He determines and purposes. No one receives all the gifts.
“No one receives all the gifts”! That is a powerful thought Patricia and I have never thought of that verse in this light before! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you, Pastor J. I’m thinking of a friend who was so astonished that her son was even thinking about living with his fiancee before they got married. She couldn’t believe it . . .hadn’t brought him up to believe that was okay. But our culture today says it is okay and the right thing to do and that there is something wrong with you if you don’t. It is almost just expected.
I appreciated you explaining about sinning against our bodies, how that weakens us so we can’t stand. And that we have to stand! Praising sounds like a wonderful alternative!
God bless you as you stand for Him and His truth.
Praise is indeed powerful. It is in fact the answer for by it we flee from the world and into the arms of Jesus for protection and shielding! 🙂
Not a popular teaching these days. I think there are more arguments to support casual sex than there are to support almost any other subject – but the truth remains, and people are in fact robbing themselves when they ignore or rebel at God’s teachings. He gave us a marvellous gift which can only be fully appreciated inside marriage.
I agree praise is a great way fight temptation of any kind. It weakens the devil and it strengthens us, turning our thoughts to where they belong.
I would like to develop the thoughts about praise a little bit more as we come to the personal response to Gotta Stand. When we stand in the place of praise the world’s arguments suddenyl become clear as the lies they are. Thanks for your sharing!