Tag: repent

God’s Hand In Repentance

~ doctorbutterfly ~ Leave a comment

I always thought we had to look at allllllll our sins and repent for each and everyone of them BEFORE God could change our hearts and put His Spirit within us and give us the strength to obey Him. Like we gotta clear our house before allowing Jesus in. I read Ezekiel today and v31 really blew my mind.

Ezekiel 36:25-32

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

Here Ezekiel is splitting up the relationship between God’s action and our action very clearly. v25-30, He will cleanse, He will change our hearts, He will help us walk in obedience, He will give us the inheritance and prosperity, He will make us successful in what we do, He will make us forget our shame. THEN and only then, will WE, v31, will realise our sins and hate our past sinful self.

It actually does kinda make sense.

Firstly, we are sinful and sin filled creatures. We only want the best for ourselves and to satisfy ourselves. We will never willingly repent until the Holy Spirit does some kind of work on our hearts and some kind of rewiring in our minds. The first step of repentance and humility requires a soft heart. v26 says God will put a spirit in us which would soften the heart of stone into the heart of flesh. God was labouring in us even before we said yes to Him.

Secondly, we can’t possibly know ALL God’s laws and repent of all the sins. I don’t think we could even know our heart attitudes or problems that well until after we’re dead. If we had to be super holy before Jesus could come into our hearts, no one would ever be Christian. God’s work in perfecting our lives is a step by step process. We realise and overcome one sin, then another. We learn one Godly attitude, then another. And this whole process can only be done with God’s strength and grace.

We need Him for us to be rid of sin. We even Him even for us to just repent for the first time.

Sex

~ doctorbutterfly ~ 1 Comment

So we had a teen forum about sex.

It was separated by gender though. Boys in one room and girls in the other.

Very interesting questions. Eye opening answers.

Questions by the participants will be italicized. Participants in this case are all teenage boys. Answers are not by me, but by married men. I wrote them down. =)

And now I will share it (take note that some of the answers and questions have been altered to be more specific or understandable by readers).

Let us begin.

Why sex?

– Sex is God’s command. It is mentioned in the first chapter of the first book in the bible.

If we have already had sex, and we are in regret. What next? How to reconcile?

– Come before God, repent. Turn Around. Total Breakoff. Don’t do it again. An act of sexual intercourse is a soul tie. There’s no such thing as a ‘One night stand’.

– For girls, there’s a second chance virginity. To be holy for marriage.

– Don’t feel condemned (The devil tells us we are not good enough). Talk to leaders and mentors. If you don’t have any, find one. Good spiritual mentors.

– God gives second chances.

Is it a sin to create babies without sexual intercourse? Sperm injection.

– Bringing babies into the world is a serious matter. Life. Soul. Not good. It is a selfish act. Better to just adopt a child.

“Don’t flirt with temptation. Because it opens up doors to sin.”

 

 

Making out, heavy petting. Sin?

– Yes. As long as we look at a girl lustfully, it is a sin. There is no way we can make out and do heavy petting with a girl without imagining things or arousing ourselves.

Masturbation?

– Sin. The sin is in what you think. To masturbate, we have to think of the action. That is sin. And we have to think of doing it with someone. That is also sin. Bible says “if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” And “if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” Why did it talk about the hand? Because he was referring to masturbation.

If I masturbate, am I still a virgin? What is a virgin?

– Definition of a virgin? For guys it doesn’t matter.

– Our priority. Who do we hurt when we masturbate? God or wife? or both?

Oral Sex?

– Wrong.

Wet Dreams?

– We can’t control our dreams. But we have to check ourselves. We are visual beings. Where did the visual ideas come from? Only if we’ve seen or imagined things, then we will dream it.

“We Struggle because we always Entertain the thoughts“

What is the physical problems with sex before marriage?

– Many times we hear that oh it’s okay to have sex since we will be getting married anyways. But there is NO GUARANTEE. Even the night before the wedding, you’re still not married yet. One of you can still run off or cheat on you.

– We violate a person.

– Condom safe sex is a myth.

– STDs. Herpes, HPV, AIDS. Some through touch, some through fluids, some through blood.

– Oral sex CAN transfer STDs.

Homosexuals. “I’m gay but I don’t practice it”. Do gays go to heaven? How to encourage a gay friend to change?

– No gays do not go to heaven. But God can forgive sins if repentant.

– These people usually have an absent father or father figure in their lives.

– Definition of gay: in an intimate relationship with someone of the same sex. Even if no intercourse.

– Accept gays as friend. DO NOT CONDEMN THEM. Gay has the same weight of sin as any sin, even stealing or lying. He is as much a sinner as you. Don’t condemn. If you cant be patient with them, DON’T try to help them with their problem. They need extra care and patience.

– If you are gay? God did not make you that way. It is a psychological problem and can be cured.

How to deny the thoughts? HOW TO STOP?!?!?!

– Two possibilities: 1. Supernatural power of God; a miracle! 2. Work super hard.

– “Bounce your eyes” The eyes will automatically detect a girl and bounce towards her. But you have to bounce it away right after that.

– Stop feeding the SUMO inside. We are fighting against a supernatural Sumo wrestler who is bigger and stronger than us. Every time we go head to head against it, we will lose. Instead, we need to starve it. Stop feeding the Sumo Wrestler the visual and the imagination it needs to grow. Slowly slowly, one day we will beat him.

“The best gift we can give our wife or husband is our virginity“

Corruption Of Sin

~ doctorbutterfly ~ Leave a comment

1 Samuel 18:5-17

 

Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike.

When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals. This was their song:

“Saul has killed his thousands,
    and David his ten thousands!”

This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!” So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand, and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David escaped him twice.

Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul. Finally, Saul sent him away and appointed him commander over 1,000 men, and David faithfully led his troops into battle.

David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him. When Saul recognized this, he became even more afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was so successful at leading his troops into battle.

One day Saul said to David, “I am ready to give you my older daughter, Merab, as your wife. But first you must prove yourself to be a real warrior by fighting the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “I’ll send him out against the Philistines and let them kill him rather than doing it myself.”

 

 

my focus was on the verse 12 

Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul.

hmmmm.

it got me thinking.

somehow, sin works like a snowball effect.

in Saul’s story before this chapter, he disobeyed God.

so he acknowledges that he is away from God’s will. but yet instead of coming back to God, he sins even more.

he turns away from God.

getting jealous. he even plotted to get rid of David.

 

if we don’t face God and repent, things will get worse.

we will grow deeper and deeper into our sin. 

it will snowball out of control.

oh. that was a reminder for myself.

 

here’s an example.

Ted Bundy, Interview by Dr. James Dobson in 1989 Before Execution

 

Ted Bundy is a seriel killer/rapist.

 

if u cant watch the vid,

here’s a link for the convo.

or… mostly the important parts.

 

 

 

my sins are snowballing for sure.

 

Lord help me. and help my readers and friends to overcome our failures and sins.

 

Lord i pray for breakthrough on everything we are facing.

Lord i pray for a willing heart to repent.

we love you.