Do you ever find yourself thinking, “People really need to grow up”? Maybe you’ve even thought that about yourself at some point. Growing up never ends, we are only the age we are once a year, and each year we face the challenge of figuring out how to act accordingly
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Have you ever failed to catch your words before they fell out your mouth? Has anger ever consumed you to the point where you weren’t bothered about what you said? It’s difficult to barricade your anger, or frustration, when boils to its limit, isn’t it? I’ll admit, I sometimes allow impatience and agitation to get the better of me. There are times where I’ll snap, without any warning, because I’ve allowed it to dominate my impulses. It’s a challenging thing to prevent, but I’m slowly learning how to govern it. This Saturday, during my time in the Word, I read about our tongue and the authority we are supposed to have over it. Proverbs was the main book I studied, since it has over a dozen references on this subject. Most of these references explained how the wise man controls what he says, what the fool uses his tongue for, and the wisdom that given to a person who fears the Lord and holds his tongue. We are rewarded when we ask God for wisdom. Look at Solomon, he was greatly rewarded for choosing wisdom, after God gave him the chance to ask for his heart’s desire (1 Kings 3:1-14)! “For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” (Proverbs 2:6) For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asking the Lord to give me wisdom. I believe it’s one of the most important tools you can have, as it’s one of the keys for surviving in today’s society. There is so much persecution going on, that we need to stand up as warriors of God and be ready to fight when the battle comes onto our doorsteps. The Bible declares that, “Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city” (Ecclesiastes 7:19), so we don’t need to be afraid, because we have the wisdom of God in us. I want to be ready for the questions, threats, or insults that people may throw at me. I also want to know when I shouldn’t speak, as I can be very outspoken at times; well, most times, hehe. As I continue to grow up, I need the Spirit to guide me, because without Him, I know I’ll walk off the path again. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” A fool is someone I definitely don’t want to be. I’m sure many of you don’t want to be known as fools, I know I don’t; yet, people are not heeding to the warnings the Bible gives us about becoming fools. Some of these warnings tell us that, “A foolish son brings grief to his mother” (Proverbs 10:1), “The mouth of a fool invites ruin ” (Proverbs 10:13), “They are corrupt, their deeds are vile” (Psalm 14:1). I want to be a wise, not foolish, person. After reading all I have about the wise verses the fool, I’d much rather choose to be a God fearing person any day, wouldn't you? God is very giving and He will never fail you. Because I believe this with all of my heart, I am continuing to grow in my faith and asking Him to pour His wisdom into me so I can show others who He really is! What about you, what are you asking God for today? "Beyond our imperfections
Trying to cut through the noise I stand a broken man Who longs to be Your voice Cause I don't just want to fall in love with You No I don't just want to fall in love You I want to be an echo...of You" - Colton Dixon Read more: Colton Dixon - Echo Lyrics | MetroLyrics Can the heart be trusted? Should we really follow after what it desires, or take caution? I have read many books, and watched a lot of movies, where the protagonists are told to follow their hearts, listen to their hearts, and to trust their feelings; but, is that really a good idea? Many people believe that it is, but I'm here to tell you that it isn't.
The Bible states, more than once, that the heart is deceiving and should not be followed or trusted. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceiving above all things and beyond cure…" So, what are we supposed to do about it? How can we live godly lives if our heart’s desires are constantly getting in the way? The answer, turn from your fleshly desires and give yourself completely over to God. When we turn to Yeshua and follow Him, He gives us a new heart. Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Once we've given our hearts fully over to God, it'll be much easier to turn from the ways of this world and the temptations that Satan throws our way. But, just because we’ve been given a new heart, our selfish desires and sinful ways won’t completely disappear; it’s an on-going battle to follow after God, and not our hearts. Thankfully, God gives us the strength we need to continue our journey on His path. For the past three months, I have been struggling with the feelings, desires, and yearnings of my heart. I used to believe that everything my heart felt was good and godly, but I was wrong. As you might have read in my last blog post, I made the mistake of following my heart. This caused me to be completely out of God’s will; but, at the beginning of October, I made a vow. I declared that I would no longer follow after my heart and its worldly desires; instead, I am going to listen and follow God with all my heart. So, how do we learn what is of Him and what is of this world? First, we must seek God and His kingdom (Matthew 6:33). After that, we will be given discernment, which will help us point out what is of this world and what is of Him. If we continue to do what we think is best, or what others are telling us to do, then we are not following after God, but after man. If that is your case, you should repent and set your sights only on what God and godly council is telling you. I made the mistake of listening to the council of the ungodly, and it almost cost me my relationship with my parents, and with God. It's thanks to God's love for me and help from the godly people in my life, that I overcame. Just yesterday, I wrote a thank you note to a pastor who warned me about what was going on in my life. If I hadn't remembered what he had said when the biggest test of my life (so far) came, I could've caused major damage in my life, and my family's life. Another thing we must consider is what we're feeding ourselves. Now, I'm not talking about physical food, but spiritual food. What do we watch, read, speak, hear, love and believe in? All these things need to be considered because, "Whatever one sows, that he will also reap." (Galatians 6:7-8) So, we need to watch what we feed into our body because it will always come out. If we are putting things above God, then we are making idols. The biblical definition of idolatry includes ANY value, ANY idea, ANY relationship, and ANY thing that challenges the top priority, which belongs to God. Are you putting books, movies, friends, tv, or other things above God? I was, but have since repented for these idols and turned away from them. Something else to take into consideration is the feelings we develop for other people or things. Are they godly or sinful feelings? Some of you may be wondering how feelings can be sinful, well let me tell you. Feelings are created by us, no one else. We have the power over feelings, though many of us don't realize it. Our hearts and mind generate our thoughts and feelings. Mark 7:21-22 declares, ”For from within men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly." Have you ever let your feelings get the better of you? I have, and once I became aware that I was letting my feelings have control, I knew that I was not walking on God’s path. Temptations will always be sent to divert us from His path, but it is our responsibility to push them aside, and not give in to them. So many times people have gone after what their hearts have desired and given in to all the temptations that came their way. Once they'd given in, they may say that they had no other choice because there was no way out, but God says differently. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." God makes a way, even if there seems to be no way out! Trust in Him and lean on Him in all that you do. Life is a journey! It may seem amazing now, but by allowing God to take the wheel and becoming our driver, life becomes even more extraordinary. Don’t follow the desires of your heart; instead, follow God and His Word, because He is, “The way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Note: Another great scripture that talks about the heart is, Proverbs 7:25-27. When is the right time to talk to someone, after you’ve broken their heart? I think many people struggle with knowing when the right time is, no matter the situation. Sometimes, I find myself wondering if it will ever be the right time… It’s been two months since I last spoke to Jeremy. At the beginning, I believed we would talk as soon as our month of silence was over; but, now that an extra month has gone by, I’m wondering if he’ll ever talk to me again. In these two months, I have grown stronger in my relationship with God, taken another step towards the woman He has called me to be and turned my life completely around. It’s amazing to actually see how far I’ve come. Yet, in that time, I have not forgotten about Jeremy and always wonder if he’s growing in God like I am, or continuing to live his life the same way he was. I’m praying that he’s used this experience to seek God, because I know that God has extraordinary plans for Jeremy’s life, if he would just take that leap of faith. My parents and friends keep asking if I’ve reached out to him, but I haven’t. The truth is, I get scared about making the first move, because he could perceive it to mean that things are going to pick up where they left off, which they won’t. My dad still hasn’t spoken to Jeremy’s parents, who don’t even know the full story; so until then, I think I’m going to stay quiet, unless Jeremy contacts me. I am completely open to Jeremy reaching out to me, actually I welcome it; but, I don’t know if he will, I think he’s still confused and hurt by everything that happened. For all those nosey people out there, I’ll tell you some of the things that went wrong. To be honest, saying that it went wrong isn’t the correct terminology. From the very beginning, bad choices were made and it wasn’t until my parents made us stop, that I realised what those mistakes actually were. I remember going to the States, back in June, with the determination to figure out my feelings for Jeremy. After our first time together, I came to the conclusion that I thought of Jeremy only as a bother! This conclusion, however, only lasted until my heart started telling me that I wanted more. When I spent time with him again, I could hear my heart telling me that I wanted to hold his hand or lay my head on his chest, when it really wasn’t necessary. At the time, I didn’t see the danger in it; but, I would soon learn, too late, just what I had ignited. After I left America, we started to text and talk more. Feelings started to form, and we started to step over the line of friendship. At the time, everything felt so pure and real, that I would always push aside the deep down feeling that things weren’t as true as they seemed. I didn’t allow myself to believe that the feelings weren’t true. Everything had felt so perfect and meant to be that I didn’t think for a minute that they were all just a product of immature teenage emotions. I know now, that I was being deceived by my heart and not listening to my good judgement. All the texts we sent and video chats we had, were all run off feelings. I would react off of how Jeremy would talk or act, and my feelings had the freedom to do what they pleased. It was such an involuntary thing at the time, that I didn’t even realise I had no control. When the first ‘I love yous’ were said, it felt amazing, like my love tank was overflowing. However, the ‘good feelings’ were really my flesh devouring the attention and feeding off of the lust I had in my heart. This was the time when the danger was reaching its peak. We started saying that we loved each other and that we were the best thing that’s ever happened to us, all the time. The conversations had also expanded into subjects I am now ashamed we talked about. It was inappropriate and wrong to have talked and acted the way we did. We have already been promised to someone else, our future spouse, and the things we did, did not honor them. It says in Proverbs 31:12, “She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” This means that a woman is supposed to bring her husband honor and respect, all the days of her life, including the time before they are married! Now that I have had the revelation that I am to honor my future husband now, not just when we’re married, I am more cautious with what I do and say when I spend time with guys. I’m also careful with how I act around them. This is a time of preparation for me. I am in the process of maturing and striving toward living my life for God, and God alone. I never again want to let my heart have the power it had two months ago! I’m praying that when the right time come for me to communicate with Jeremy, that I’ll be able to explain these things to him in a loving manner, and show him the responsibilities we have to our future spouses. It’s actually a scary thought to think that I am preparing for my husband, but it also makes me want to work harder. I want to make God and my parents proud of the woman I’m becoming. I’m also praying that through His guidance, I can one day become a Proverbs 31 woman, and that Jeremy will become the godly man he is called to be, the one his future wife deserves. I was in love with the feeling.
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AuthorMy name is Tessa and I'm 19 years old. I hope you liked my blog and will subscribe to my weekly newsletter. Archives
August 2017
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