As I continue to prepare for my fast for my future wife, I have decided to focus on four key areas of our marriage
1) Grace-The foundation of our marriage will be to lead each other into a deeper relationship with Christ. Through doing this, we will seek to lead others (in particular our children), into a living relationship with Christ that will save them from the Lake of Fire and allow them to live with Him forever in paradise. Our marriage only has value if it accomplishes this goal.
2) Love-I will pray that my future wife and I will experience "The Sexual Force Unleashed" and "Romantic World Peace" well into our elderly years. No reason to let all the young whippersnappers have all of the fun, haha!
3) Justice-I will ask God to allow us to properly raise our children with DISCIPLINE (so that they don't turn into the delinquents my nation's schools are churning out). I will also pray for the strength to protect and LEAD my family so that God's Will is done in it. In addition, I will pray that me and my wife deal justly with others and properly manage the resources God will give us.
4) Truth-I will pray that my wife and I each get a "Navy SEAL" team of same-gender, Christian best friends to keep us accountable (i.e. make sure we don't watch/read porn, masturbate, or cheat on each other with bodacious college babes/totally-ripped college studs). I will also pray that we are open and honest with each other and communicate the truth IN LOVE (i.e. no swearing, hitting, or breaking stuff). I will also pray that we get older couples to mentor us so that we stay focused on serving Christ and loving our family and others. Mentors who are willing to put us in our place if we get out of line...
Please pray that I successfully do this, because it's going to be REALLY difficult!
Monday, December 22, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Hell In The Cell Of My Mind: A Prayer Request For My Four-Day Fast
Next week, I will be undertaking a four-day fast for my future wife. I have done a three-day fast before and it was hell. Many people only think of the hunger pangs when they think of going days without food. To be honest, that was the easy part for me after Day 2. The worst part was Day 3, when the Holy Spirit forced me to deal with many wicked things which others have done to me and which I have done to others. I was literally losing my mind as all of the pent up bitterness, shame, and guilt from my past assailed me like the demonic inmates of a mental prison cell. At the same time, through forgiveness and repentance, Christ completely transformed me and strengthened my faith.
At the same time, I was convicted by the experience. I was fasting for a woman whom I thought was a close friend/sister figure, but the reality is that she was just an acquaintance from church. I had moved to a new area and she was the first person my age who had shown me genuine kindness, so I prematurely promoted her to "close friend" before we truly got to know each other. Suffice it to say that I have reason to believe that, as far as she was concerned, I was just the "cute, new guy at church", so to speak and we eventually grew apart. I realized that I had gone above and beyond to help someone who was practically a stranger and was neglecting to pray for my own future wife (whom I have yet to meet).
So next week, I will pray and fast for four days for the woman who will help me be a better man and Christian for a lifetime. A woman who will still want to be with me long after I cease to be the "cute, new guy at church." This will be extremely difficult, so I would really appreciate your prayers for this fast.
At the same time, I was convicted by the experience. I was fasting for a woman whom I thought was a close friend/sister figure, but the reality is that she was just an acquaintance from church. I had moved to a new area and she was the first person my age who had shown me genuine kindness, so I prematurely promoted her to "close friend" before we truly got to know each other. Suffice it to say that I have reason to believe that, as far as she was concerned, I was just the "cute, new guy at church", so to speak and we eventually grew apart. I realized that I had gone above and beyond to help someone who was practically a stranger and was neglecting to pray for my own future wife (whom I have yet to meet).
So next week, I will pray and fast for four days for the woman who will help me be a better man and Christian for a lifetime. A woman who will still want to be with me long after I cease to be the "cute, new guy at church." This will be extremely difficult, so I would really appreciate your prayers for this fast.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Becoming Christ's Mockingjay: Rebelling Against "The Capitol" Of Sexual Immorality
I am a diehard fan of "The Hunger Games" film and its two sequels. The actors (Jennifer Lawrence in particular) are so great that they make me wish that their characters were real so that I could hang out with them. In particular, "Mockingjay - Part 1" inspired me to continue my own war against "The Capitol" of sexual immorality, which has destroyed many of my friends and former classmates before they could even get married to begin with.
A lot of Christians don't understand that living for sexual purity is GOING TO WAR. Once you decide to save yourself for your spouse, your friends (and sometimes even your family members) will turn on you. The world will do whatever it takes to make you fall into sin so that your Christian witness is destroyed. On top of that, Satan and his demons will do whatever it takes to destroy you for exposing what they promote as "sexual liberation" for what it really is : a tool of torture, slavery, and death.
Even worse, your own sinful, decadent desires will actually get WORSE when you first go to war. After all, your "inner terrorist" (i.e. your flesh) craves forbidden sex like a drug addict craves cocaine. Not to mention that you will become disillusioned by the fact that many activities which the world considers harmless (such as massaging your girlfriend's melons, or, if you're a girl, letting your boyfriend massage your melons) are actually very toxic and dangerous to you. You may even get to the point where you are so discouraged that you just want to quit.
However, as impossible as it seems, victory can be achieved! You CAN use a pure life to lead others to Christ as His Mockingjay!
Being pure so that you can experience "The Sexual Force Unleashed" and "Romantic World Peace" is like committing your life to Christ: it will instantly put you at war with everyone around you, and especially against your own heart. But through faith in what He did for you on the "hanging tree" known as the cross, not only will you be saved, but you can also experience the mindblowing, sexually-romantic hurricane of ecstasy that He wants you to have with your one-and-only, opposite gender spouse within marriage!
Matthew 10: 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (NIV)
A lot of Christians don't understand that living for sexual purity is GOING TO WAR. Once you decide to save yourself for your spouse, your friends (and sometimes even your family members) will turn on you. The world will do whatever it takes to make you fall into sin so that your Christian witness is destroyed. On top of that, Satan and his demons will do whatever it takes to destroy you for exposing what they promote as "sexual liberation" for what it really is : a tool of torture, slavery, and death.
Even worse, your own sinful, decadent desires will actually get WORSE when you first go to war. After all, your "inner terrorist" (i.e. your flesh) craves forbidden sex like a drug addict craves cocaine. Not to mention that you will become disillusioned by the fact that many activities which the world considers harmless (such as massaging your girlfriend's melons, or, if you're a girl, letting your boyfriend massage your melons) are actually very toxic and dangerous to you. You may even get to the point where you are so discouraged that you just want to quit.
However, as impossible as it seems, victory can be achieved! You CAN use a pure life to lead others to Christ as His Mockingjay!
Being pure so that you can experience "The Sexual Force Unleashed" and "Romantic World Peace" is like committing your life to Christ: it will instantly put you at war with everyone around you, and especially against your own heart. But through faith in what He did for you on the "hanging tree" known as the cross, not only will you be saved, but you can also experience the mindblowing, sexually-romantic hurricane of ecstasy that He wants you to have with your one-and-only, opposite gender spouse within marriage!
Matthew 10: 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (NIV)
Monday, December 1, 2014
Underdog Is Here! My Quest For Inner Purity
"I consider myself the underdog in every fight."-Ronda Rousey
"Everybody has a chance. It's my job to make that chance as low as possible."-Jon Jones
These quotes show why the pound-for-pound best male and female fighters alive are currently UFC champions: THEY KNOW THAT THEY CAN LOSE.
This kind of underdog mentality is also what separates the winners from the losers in the battle for sexual purity. Those who are humble enough to acknowledge their weaknesses, take their opponents seriously, and fight with all of their heart to honor Christ with a pure marriage are the ones who become and remain Romantic MMA champions. The self-righteous and the arrogant who think that they are invincible are the ones who get turned out by a crafty member of the opposite (or same) gender, get trapped by pornography, literotica and masturbation, or wind up having affairs which torch their marriage like a flamethrower.
Regardless of how these people fall sexually, the answer is clear: those who do not defeat sin in the power of Christ will become sin's prison harlot!
I do not want to be sin's prison harlot. I do not want to have even a hint of sexual immorality in my life nor anything that would cause me to wound the wonderful, god-fearing wife that the Lord will give me in the future. I want to overcome sin through faith in the death and resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ and be a living sacrifice to Him. That is why I am taking the next 6 months to undertake a quest for inner purity. Setting boundaries with the opposite gender, accountability groups and locking down electronic devices with filters and tracking software are all excellent tools for maintaining purity. That being said, our greatest enemy will always be our own heart. Even though I am a virgin, I'll be the first to admit that I still get tempted. I've considered entering relationships with certain women (all of whom I've met through church circles) who were willing to "go all the way" if we wouldn't get caught. To put it politely, one if these women (whom I found very attractive) wouldn't even require the smokescreen of a dating relationship. This is why I stay away from these women: I know that they can beat me! There are certain shows I've wanted to watch because I know they show things which I shouldn't be seeing (or doing) before marriage, which is why I stay away from TV. And I am fully aware that there are loopholes around any filter a computer, tablet, or smartphone can have, which is why I limit my use of these devices to an "as needed" basis (i.e. checking email and blogging) to avoid the obvious temptations of the internet.
In other words, even though I still have my V-card, I am definitely the underdog in my fight to honor Christ with a pure marriage. I KNOW THAT I CAN LOSE. This is why I would appreciate your prayers as I take six months of daily devotionals and prayers to allow God to purify my heart.
Matthew 23:26 "Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (NIV)
"Everybody has a chance. It's my job to make that chance as low as possible."-Jon Jones
These quotes show why the pound-for-pound best male and female fighters alive are currently UFC champions: THEY KNOW THAT THEY CAN LOSE.
This kind of underdog mentality is also what separates the winners from the losers in the battle for sexual purity. Those who are humble enough to acknowledge their weaknesses, take their opponents seriously, and fight with all of their heart to honor Christ with a pure marriage are the ones who become and remain Romantic MMA champions. The self-righteous and the arrogant who think that they are invincible are the ones who get turned out by a crafty member of the opposite (or same) gender, get trapped by pornography, literotica and masturbation, or wind up having affairs which torch their marriage like a flamethrower.
Regardless of how these people fall sexually, the answer is clear: those who do not defeat sin in the power of Christ will become sin's prison harlot!
I do not want to be sin's prison harlot. I do not want to have even a hint of sexual immorality in my life nor anything that would cause me to wound the wonderful, god-fearing wife that the Lord will give me in the future. I want to overcome sin through faith in the death and resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ and be a living sacrifice to Him. That is why I am taking the next 6 months to undertake a quest for inner purity. Setting boundaries with the opposite gender, accountability groups and locking down electronic devices with filters and tracking software are all excellent tools for maintaining purity. That being said, our greatest enemy will always be our own heart. Even though I am a virgin, I'll be the first to admit that I still get tempted. I've considered entering relationships with certain women (all of whom I've met through church circles) who were willing to "go all the way" if we wouldn't get caught. To put it politely, one if these women (whom I found very attractive) wouldn't even require the smokescreen of a dating relationship. This is why I stay away from these women: I know that they can beat me! There are certain shows I've wanted to watch because I know they show things which I shouldn't be seeing (or doing) before marriage, which is why I stay away from TV. And I am fully aware that there are loopholes around any filter a computer, tablet, or smartphone can have, which is why I limit my use of these devices to an "as needed" basis (i.e. checking email and blogging) to avoid the obvious temptations of the internet.
In other words, even though I still have my V-card, I am definitely the underdog in my fight to honor Christ with a pure marriage. I KNOW THAT I CAN LOSE. This is why I would appreciate your prayers as I take six months of daily devotionals and prayers to allow God to purify my heart.
Matthew 23:26 "Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (NIV)
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