Beautiful Surrender

2 Corinthians 5:15 (KJV) “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

Sexuality is a sensitive aspect of many people’s lives and can be a difficult space to surrender to God. It may be due to various reasons -shame, hurt, abuse, betrayal or even mental models. My focus today is on “mental models”. Mental models are thought processes, reasonings and perceptions that can affect a person’s behavior. These models may have been formed from the person’s upbringing, society, people or experiences. Unfortunately, if the thoughts and perceptions aren’t consistent with God’s word, they will be a limiting factor from seeing God’s perspective. Romans12:2 (AMP) states;

“ Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].”

James 1:17 (KJV) states that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

God is a good father and wants to guide you in your sexuality. He wants to lift you out of any deep place of shame and bring wholeness to your life. However, it’s necessary for a renewing of your mind to take place in order to prove true his good, perfect will for your life.

As believers, our mental models about sexuality are to be consistent with the scriptures say. Our faith should be evident in the way we express our sexuality because God designed our bodies for his glory. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (MSG) says: “Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.”

This surrender would first start from within and not without. We will need to surrender our hearts to the one who created sexuality in the first place. Then, we would be able to see the beauty of his design and walk accordingly.

Do you feel God Is pulling you in deeper understanding about his design in the way you express your sexuality?Are you willing to trust him and let him lead you? Remember, God is not condemning you if you have questions or are struggling in this area. Pause. Let’s take a moment and say this short prayer: Father God, my heart is open to you to guide me in my sexuality, heal every wound or pain that may have been caused in past/present, from now on I surrender My mind to the guidance of your Spirit. Amen

On the other side of surrender with God is always something better than what we could have ever dreamed of. In my next post, we’ll look at practical steps in renewing our minds in the area of sexuality. Stay tuned ✨

God-given Desire

In my last post, I wrote about how sexual desire is a God-given gift to mankind, both male and female. Today, I’ll like to elaborate on this. Let’s take a cue from one of the wisdom books of the Bible.

Proverbs 6:20-25,27 KJVS
“My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids…Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?”

Here we see a picture of a Father guiding his Son in how he should navigate sexuality. In the same vein, our Heavenly Father wants to guide us too. One of the things that was addressed in the verses above was the deception and effect of lust when not curtailed. God created our sexual desire to be fulfilled within the boundaries of a loving relationship of husband and wife but He also wants us to walk in sexual integrity whether we are married or single. This is a call to “all” believers.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (MSG)- “There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another.”

However, we must renew our minds in the way we see sexual desire. We need to know that the same God who gave the desire wants to help us navigate it by his wisdom & Spirit in us. He is aware and interested about our sexual needs . I love this quote by Philip Yancey – “When I experience desire, I need not flinch in guilt, as if something unnatural has happened. Rather, I should follow the desire to its source, to learn God’s original intent.” So, sexual desire is nothing to be ashamed about and it has a good purpose.

God gave us sexual desire for the purpose of love & intimacy with one another but it’s also a shadow that points to the greater story of Christ & the Church. “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32 KJV) .

When sex is put in the right perspective as God designed, then we can truly begin to enjoy it as He intended; not tainted with shades of lust but navigated as an act of Love.

Rev. 21: 2-3 (MSG) : “I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.
I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God.”

Another thing we need to understand is this-sex is temporal. Understanding this will help us honor it as the gift it is whilst looking ahead to a greater hope & satisfaction that only God can give. Simply put, “Sex is good but it’s not ultimate.” – Pst. Paul Cartex

Thank you for reading, we’ll be talking more about pursuing sexual integrity and God’s design on the next blog post. I look forward to sharing and I hope this blessed your heart.

We are free indeed✨🌟

God’s Design

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24, KJV)

God designed our sexuality as part of our human makeup. This includes our design for sex and intimacy as highlighted in today’s opening text. It was all part of his design when he made mankind. He created both male and female with the desire for physical connection and sex in the context of marriage. Thus, sexuality is God’s design. As believers, the question to us will be –How are we to steward this God-given desire?

The world’s system has a different narrative from what scripture has to say, a lot of an “everything goes” mindset towards sexuality. It speaks of a “freedom” that inevitably leads to bondage, pain and addiction. Unfortunately, many people have fallen for its falsehood and others have even been misguided by wrong teaching/mindset about sexuality in church. Respected Author, Phillip Yancey stated this clearly- “I know of no greater failure among Christians than in presenting a persuasive approach to sexuality”.

Nonetheless, I believe that a better understanding of sexuality will begin first by knowing that it is God’s design and gift to mankind (Gen. 2:24). He wants to guide us in the way we steward this gift for his glory and our ultimate fulfillment.

In 1 Corinthians 6:17 (MSG), Paul said “Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever – the kind of sex that can never “become one.”

Also, 1 Corinthians 6:20 (KJV) “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

In subsequent posts I’ll continue with more details concerning today’s topic but right now I’ll leave you with this quote about sexuality by Dr. Howard Hendricks;

“We should not be ashamed to discuss what God was not ashamed to create”.

RECKONING

According to the Oxford dictionary, To “reckon” means to estimate by calculation. Other words synonymous with reckon are: count, calculate, weigh, compute and even consider. It’s an accounting term.

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 6:11 (KJV)

We are to calculate, consider and estimate that we are dead to sin and alive to God. It is a continual consciousness we need to have when taking an inventory of Christ’s work on our behalf. On our new itemized list, the penalty for sin has been paid in full and we have no more debt to pay. Moreover, the old sinful nature we had was replaced with a new life (Ezek. 36:26). Look at the way this song puts it;

All my debt left for dead beneath the waters
I’m no longer a slave to my sin anymore
And should I fall in the space between
What remains of me and this reckoning
Either way I won’t bow to the things of this world (Another in the Fire, Song by Hillsong United)

Now, we can choose to yield ourselves to leading to God’s Spirit and not bow to the things of this world. We do this by going over and again our new inventory in Christ , doing this will give us a constant consciousness of who we are. Yes, there will be temptations in this life that would want to sway us but a continuous ‘reckoning’ of who we are in Christ will change the way we live our lives and the decisions we make daily.

From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day.
Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time – remember, you’ve been raised from the dead! – into God’s way of doing things- Romans 6:11-13 (MSG)

Have a great week!

We Are Free Indeed!

The redemptive work of Jesus on the cross did more than atone for sins, there was a divine exchange. For all who believe, his vicarious death has freed them from their old sinful “nature”.

Romans 6:6-7 says: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” (NIV)

Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life – no longer at sin’s every beck and call! (MSG)

When speaking to the Jews of his day, Jesus spoke with certainty about a freedom that He only could give. He said he could make them free indeed! (John 8:36) and through his death and resurrection this promise has been fulfilled. We are no longer under the obligation to live according the sinful nature when we believe in Jesus, because through the power of the Holy Spirit we can consistently choose to live in the new way of love.

A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. Romans 8:2 (MSG)

This is what Jesus wanted to do for us all along; and He did! He changed us from the inside out so we could live freely for God, not in our might but in the might of his Spirit in us.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” – Jesus (Matt. 11:28-30, MSG)

Made for Love

Man was created for Love from the very beginning, from the moment the Creator formed the first man in the garden—this, became the identity for all men. The Bible says in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” God created mankind; both male and female were made by Him and for Him. God is Love (1 Jn. 4:16) and if we were made for God, we were made for Love. hope you get my drift

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11

Sadly, Man’s story is not all roses as the biblical creation story clearly states something virulent happened in the garden. Adam turned his back on God and willingly disobeyed love’s command that was for his good. Thus, resulting in death and this death passed across all men. Genesis 2:17 states “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Sin and the propensity to do wrong replaced love and the natural propensity to do right. Man became a “slave of sin”, to its dictates and pursuits.

But, the Good news is that the same Creator that made man, redeemed man by Jesus’ sacrificial death on a cross almost 2000 years ago (Rom. 5:15). He did this to bring mankind back to God’s intended design. A creation for his purpose, in his love and freedom. Made for God; made for Love.

What does it mean to be truly free?

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The word “freedom” resonates with many people in different ways especially in this day and age. I want to talk about freedom from another perspective, a biblical one.

Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. (John 8:32). There’s a certain knowledge that makes free. The people Jesus spoke to in his day didn’t know how much of bondage there were in because they were servants of sin, they thought their freedom came from an outward identity whereas all the time it was an inward focus that would bring about the change . They were slaves of sin and Christ came to make them free! The same applies to us today. Why did I use the term “slaves of sin” ?, I’ll talk about that in my next post.

However, the bible says in Romans 8:2-3: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”

The certain knowledge that makes free comes through the power of God’s love displayed by Christ Jesus in his life and death. It may surprise you to know that True Freedom is being overcome by the greatest love of all. To be truly free is to be truly loved, and this comes from God alone.