Desires, lust and stuff!

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

1 Peter 2:11

The other day I was reading this verse and it just occurred to me how bad sinful desires can be. In this day and age sinful desires like lust are being promoted and are just seen as innocent. But notice it says in this passage that it wages war against our souls!

I think of all these things and its true the more I engage in sinful desires here and there the more distant I feel from God no matter how innocent the world calls it it wages war against my soul and yours too, especially desire for sinful things. So how can we protect our souls? the verses that comes to mind are Ephesians 6:11-18.

We need to be serious about prayer and I need to too because prayer is our communication with God it is what keeps us going and provides us with what we need to stay focused and continue the journey its our ammo. If we pray according to God's will our prayers will be given what we ask for --- yes that's true read it here in 1 John 5:14-15. Our will needs to become God's will else we cannot fully commit to Him or be sure of our salvation.

Jesus loves you and He will be delighted for you to intentionally spend time with Him and give all that you have.

Don't worry trust God he has a plan for you not just everyone else!

Be encouraged

In Christ 

Jaleen :)

In Christ alone

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Phillipians 4:13

13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

From the verses above, highlighted in bold are the things which show how we owe all of our glory for doing good to God. It is a false idea to think that any of our works are our own doing. As much a you think you are capable of doing good without God you cannot. Yes thats right, it is God who enables us to do good we can do no good without him. You may be thinking I know many people who do good without God but that is not right because the good we do without God is not really good but it has a catch to it or some condition. Likewise we can't truly love without God because God is the only true love. The world's idea of doing good and true love is most distorted. So we need to know God's great works and love and reconnect with Him by his Holy Spirit or else the world's ways will influence us. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and making use of our most powerful tool we have which is prayer. People may disagree with what we tell them but they cannot dampen our prayers.

Don't get distracted but endure

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12

As believers we must be continuing in our faith so that we may grow and mature in it (see my blog on maturing here). To continue in our faith we must endure temptation which means we may suffer and it may be long suffering but whatever it is we must endure, we must not get distracted by the temptation, we must not give into the temptation but we must endure it. It may be hard but there is a reward for enduring the temptation which surpasses the hardship of the endurance. This reward is the crown of life and it is promised to those who love him.

As believers who love Christ this verse can be helpful in times of suffering which requires endurance - just imagine receiving the crown of life promised by the Lord to you because you love him and endured temptation for His name's sake. Let us pray the to the Lord that we will not fall into temptation but rather we would endure it for His name's sake. Take time out to understand this prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and then when you're ready pray it to God who will hear you in Heaven do not pray it as a repetition but pray it out of a genuine heart to do His will.

God bless you,

Jaleen :)

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Day 6: Make use of God's Armour

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:14-17

Every day we need to pray to be clothed with the armor of God so that we can resist any spiritual attack and so we can stand when the day of evil comes. Eph 6:11-13 

But something God was showing me the other day was that when a soldier prepares for battle he clothes himself with armor and he is prepared to fight. However what good is it if he stands against his opposition clothed with all his armor (his shield his sword and the rest) but doesn't use it? We need to use our armor which we have been given. 

Our sword which is our attacking weapon is the word of God which we need to be reading and living by and it is the sharpest sword there is! (see Hebrews 12:4)

Our helmet of salvation and salvation is found in none other except Jesus (see Acts 4:12)

Our belt of truth, we live by the Spirit of truth (see John 3:20-21)

Our feet fitted with the readiness to spread the gospel (see Matt 24:14)

Our shield of faith which is in Christ Jesus (what He has done and is yet going to do in our lives) (see Hebrews 12:2)

Our breastplate of righteousness which is the righteousness we have in Jesus Christ (see Psalm 106:3)

Let us pray,

Lord Almighty, I pray that you would clothe us with your armor, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the belt of truth and our feet with the readiness to spread your Gospel and that you would help us to use your armour to bring Glory to your most Holy name. Please help those of us who are are saved to continue in you and for those who are not saved to come into the knowledge of the savior Jesus and to know that salvation is found in His name only. Help us in our weaknesses to come to you and to remove any hindrances and let us devote ourselves to you. Bind Satan I pray. In Jesus name I pray this prayer, Amen

Be encouraged, 

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more