REPOST: #PURSUE IN PURITY CHALLENGE- REFLECTION
Aug 31, 2015
If the challenge is over for you or not I hope that we can always go back and use it as a guide to help us tame our flesh. It doesn't stop from here the goal is to pursue God in purity despite the struggles we may face. I didn't anticipate to be so busy this month. This caused me to drift from writing my reflections on the blog, however I was able to complete the challenge during my own quiet time. I just wanted to share a reflection from my friend Jackie on the things she learned through out the challenge.
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Hey Guys, So its been a while since I've actually sat down and wrote. Within the past two and a half weeks, I have decided to join a purity challenge that was organized by one of my friends, Nana. This challenge was held for 20 days which it requires one to meditate on scripture, pray about pursuing purity and overcoming the struggle of the flesh. I just wanted to recap and share what I've learned from this challenge on a general basis. First off, I would like to say that this challenge has humbled me and has pushed me to be eager for the LORD. Eager in the sense of having the desire to be obedient to Him and Only Him, disregarding the opinions of people. This challenge has reminded me that my body is not only a temple, but it is God's temple and therefore it should not be taken for granted. Furthermore, this challenged has also reminded me not to settle for less, or compromise with sin in a relationship. ALWAYS take the high road and keep the standards of the Lord close to your heart. It is important to remain pure because we are His Bride "For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called"- Isaiah 54:5. We are so precious to Christ, he does not want us to abuse ourselves; "An excellent wife, who can find? She is far more precious than jewels"- Proverbs 31:10.
As mentioned above, this challenge highlights the struggle of the flesh and desiring impure actions. This bible teaches us that God does not stray away from us during our struggle, rather He is a helping hand, He provides an escape route. Temptation, in its very own essence does not have power over us there is always a way out. We have to understand how deadly sin is for us, to turn the other way. We have to understand that we are better than sin, we have to understand that sin is not our friend, it is not the way of life. Whenever you are in an uncomfortable situation where you could be lead to sexual impurity, remind yourself you are better than that. The bible tells us to literally flee from sin. In 2 Corinthian 10:3-5 we are instructed on how to over come the struggle of the thought of that sin, we are instructed on how to let it go, this is a way of mentally fleeing from sin.
I love how this challenged acknowledged this idea of guilt, in which we all suffer with this as Christians. Its funny how I tend to let guilt take over my mind. I listen to the lies of the enemy saying that the Lord will never be pleased with me, I will never be good enough to be Christ- like. In Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us that we should not let guilt consume our minds. God's love and compassion is greater than our sin. What really struck out at me from this scripture was that it says that Gods mercies is renewed every morning. God is faithful even when we are not, He knows we are trying to overcome the sins of this world. God knows that the flesh is weak and He knows that we as Christians are trying. So why do I break a sweat about it? This is a scripture I'm definitely going to use as a reminder, because as humans it is inevitable for us to fall short. Therefore I learned not to be so hard on myself. Also in Lamentations 3:40 reminds me that God does not force anything onto anyone and thats what I love about Him. He makes you learn for yourself before you come to Him. "Let us search our and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord"- Lamentations 3:40. I remember I wanted to control everything in my life and I kept running into walls. Thats when I decided to give everything to the Lord.
This challenge also recognized the idea of encouragement, Hebrews 12:1-2 talks about the " The Race of Faith". Hebrews encourages us to be strong, and continue to fight this spiritual fight in faith. Give everything to God, the things that bother us, Sin that haunts us. Most importantly give your heart to God and let him change you, and your struggle. God is the author and finisher of our faith. The joy that we have now came because Christ has endured the cross.
My words of encouragement/ Next Steps: Keep fighting and remain pure. Pray heavily about it, meditate. Also to those who suffer with guilt, you have to learn to forgive yourself in order to move forward and just remember that if you confess to the LORD He will forgive you. Do not forget that the blood shed on the cross is for our past and present sins. God loves us too much! Let the spirit lead your life! Go against the flesh and live according to the Spirit. Live to please God and only Him. Do not submit yourself to the opinions of humans. Remember that God is the final judge, if it requires to be the " ugly duckling" from all the other ducks then so be it because there is a greater reward than these temporal things on earth.
Please check out Jackie's Blog : http://robexrighteousness.blogspot.ca/
If you're still interested in the #pursueinpurity challenge or have no Idea what it is. You can click here for more information on the challenge.
for the sake of his love,
NanaOhh.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hey Guys, So its been a while since I've actually sat down and wrote. Within the past two and a half weeks, I have decided to join a purity challenge that was organized by one of my friends, Nana. This challenge was held for 20 days which it requires one to meditate on scripture, pray about pursuing purity and overcoming the struggle of the flesh. I just wanted to recap and share what I've learned from this challenge on a general basis. First off, I would like to say that this challenge has humbled me and has pushed me to be eager for the LORD. Eager in the sense of having the desire to be obedient to Him and Only Him, disregarding the opinions of people. This challenge has reminded me that my body is not only a temple, but it is God's temple and therefore it should not be taken for granted. Furthermore, this challenged has also reminded me not to settle for less, or compromise with sin in a relationship. ALWAYS take the high road and keep the standards of the Lord close to your heart. It is important to remain pure because we are His Bride "For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called"- Isaiah 54:5. We are so precious to Christ, he does not want us to abuse ourselves; "An excellent wife, who can find? She is far more precious than jewels"- Proverbs 31:10.
As mentioned above, this challenge highlights the struggle of the flesh and desiring impure actions. This bible teaches us that God does not stray away from us during our struggle, rather He is a helping hand, He provides an escape route. Temptation, in its very own essence does not have power over us there is always a way out. We have to understand how deadly sin is for us, to turn the other way. We have to understand that we are better than sin, we have to understand that sin is not our friend, it is not the way of life. Whenever you are in an uncomfortable situation where you could be lead to sexual impurity, remind yourself you are better than that. The bible tells us to literally flee from sin. In 2 Corinthian 10:3-5 we are instructed on how to over come the struggle of the thought of that sin, we are instructed on how to let it go, this is a way of mentally fleeing from sin.
I love how this challenged acknowledged this idea of guilt, in which we all suffer with this as Christians. Its funny how I tend to let guilt take over my mind. I listen to the lies of the enemy saying that the Lord will never be pleased with me, I will never be good enough to be Christ- like. In Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us that we should not let guilt consume our minds. God's love and compassion is greater than our sin. What really struck out at me from this scripture was that it says that Gods mercies is renewed every morning. God is faithful even when we are not, He knows we are trying to overcome the sins of this world. God knows that the flesh is weak and He knows that we as Christians are trying. So why do I break a sweat about it? This is a scripture I'm definitely going to use as a reminder, because as humans it is inevitable for us to fall short. Therefore I learned not to be so hard on myself. Also in Lamentations 3:40 reminds me that God does not force anything onto anyone and thats what I love about Him. He makes you learn for yourself before you come to Him. "Let us search our and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord"- Lamentations 3:40. I remember I wanted to control everything in my life and I kept running into walls. Thats when I decided to give everything to the Lord.
This challenge also recognized the idea of encouragement, Hebrews 12:1-2 talks about the " The Race of Faith". Hebrews encourages us to be strong, and continue to fight this spiritual fight in faith. Give everything to God, the things that bother us, Sin that haunts us. Most importantly give your heart to God and let him change you, and your struggle. God is the author and finisher of our faith. The joy that we have now came because Christ has endured the cross.
My words of encouragement/ Next Steps: Keep fighting and remain pure. Pray heavily about it, meditate. Also to those who suffer with guilt, you have to learn to forgive yourself in order to move forward and just remember that if you confess to the LORD He will forgive you. Do not forget that the blood shed on the cross is for our past and present sins. God loves us too much! Let the spirit lead your life! Go against the flesh and live according to the Spirit. Live to please God and only Him. Do not submit yourself to the opinions of humans. Remember that God is the final judge, if it requires to be the " ugly duckling" from all the other ducks then so be it because there is a greater reward than these temporal things on earth.
Please check out Jackie's Blog : http://robexrighteousness.blogspot.ca/
If you're still interested in the #pursueinpurity challenge or have no Idea what it is. You can click here for more information on the challenge.
for the sake of his love,
NanaOhh.
REBLOG: Day 12| #PURSUEINPURITY
Aug 21, 2015
For the last couple of days I have been thinking on all the good things that God says about us in His word. Just to mention a few:
Zephaniah 3:17- The LORD your God is with you, a mighty warrior who saves. He will take delight in you with gladness. In his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Romans 8:38- For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor either things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1- There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:28- And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
Jeremiah 1:5- "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."
Jeremiah 29:11- "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Psalms 34:7- The angels of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Psalms 34:10- The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
When I think about these verses I think about God's great love toward us. His life changing love that we do not deserve and have never had to seek after, it has always just been there for us to delight in. I love to believe what God has to say about me, but I would be lying if I said I believed it all the time. There are many times, like this week, where I felt like He didn't love me because of all my shortcomings. I have wondered many times why such a good God loves a messy me. I sometimes think that God will love a future more perfect version of myself, but that isn't the truth. Regardless of what my emotions and thoughts tell me from time to time it does not change all that God thinks about me. It does not change His love for me.
My prayer this morning was that I would believe all that God has to say about me. If I truly believed that then I would never succumb to my thoughts or believe what the world says that I am. I would never feel the need to live to this world's ever-changing standards, instead, I would cling to God's unchanging word. His word is life and has the power to mend my broken life, if I could only have just enough faith to believe what He says about me, I know my life will never be the same.
Inspired by: #pursueinpurity day 12 verse of the day, which is: Romans 12:2- Be not conformed to this world: But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Zephaniah 3:17- The LORD your God is with you, a mighty warrior who saves. He will take delight in you with gladness. In his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Romans 8:38- For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor either things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1- There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:28- And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
Jeremiah 1:5- "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."
Jeremiah 29:11- "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Psalms 34:7- The angels of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Psalms 34:10- The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
When I think about these verses I think about God's great love toward us. His life changing love that we do not deserve and have never had to seek after, it has always just been there for us to delight in. I love to believe what God has to say about me, but I would be lying if I said I believed it all the time. There are many times, like this week, where I felt like He didn't love me because of all my shortcomings. I have wondered many times why such a good God loves a messy me. I sometimes think that God will love a future more perfect version of myself, but that isn't the truth. Regardless of what my emotions and thoughts tell me from time to time it does not change all that God thinks about me. It does not change His love for me.
My prayer this morning was that I would believe all that God has to say about me. If I truly believed that then I would never succumb to my thoughts or believe what the world says that I am. I would never feel the need to live to this world's ever-changing standards, instead, I would cling to God's unchanging word. His word is life and has the power to mend my broken life, if I could only have just enough faith to believe what He says about me, I know my life will never be the same.
Inspired by: #pursueinpurity day 12 verse of the day, which is: Romans 12:2- Be not conformed to this world: But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Contact Avrielle:
Twitter: @avriellejohnson
Instagram: avriellejohnson
Blog: avrielleb.blogspot.ca
Twitter: @avriellejohnson
Instagram: avriellejohnson
Blog: avrielleb.blogspot.ca
for the sake of his love,
NanaOhh.
Day 2: #PURSUEINPURITY
Aug 11, 2015
Sin is so enticing, but let me tell you something: it's not your friend! I began my Christian walk a couple years ago and before I came to understand the saving knowledge of God, I was a broken girl looking for love in all the wrong places and actively participating in sex. Although I was not sleeping with the whole world I was giving my body to boys who didn't understand my value or even love me the way I deserved to be loved. Sexual sin is so powerful, it's a thrill! It feels good but it's so toxic for you, especially outside the confinement of marriage. But the world we live in tells us differently. It promotes those desires actively, especially now with social media being the forefront in our generation. The provocative nature of pictures and videos that are readily available awaken these sexual feelings and you are made to believe you should satiate your desires instantly; that your desires are not meant to be tucked away, and that it is healthy and human nature to act on them immediately.
______________________________I came to a point in my walk where that's all I could think about.
My heart, my mind and action went against everything God wanted. The root of these desires came from fact that I was exposed to sexual sin and also participating in it at a tender age.
I myself struggled with purity even after I was saved.
However, reading 1 Corinthians 10:13 really encouraged me today because it is straight biblical truth. It is clear that we will always face temptation (your struggle with sex, your thoughts or any form of impurity) but those temptations have not and will not over take us. So even if you are faced with the battle, remember that God will provide a way of escape because he is so faithful. Although this is truth we also have to actively walk in this, believing and using our faith and the word to fight those desires inside of us. We need to kill anything that rises against the true knowledge of God. Let's be realistic: After you read this post that thought may pop up, the urge to give in may come. You will probably get discouraged and you may not want to continue this challenge and that is OK. What is not OK is to give up, to let sin control who you are in Christ. So take your eyes off yourself and look to author and finisher of your faith and keep pursuing him. "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." | Hebrews 12:2|
for the sake of his love,
NanaOhh.
If you still have no idea about the #pursueinpurity challenge you can click here for more details :)
#PURSUEINPURITY
Aug 8, 2015
Purity/ˈpyo͝orədē/: the condition or quality of being pure; freedom from anything that debases, contaminates or pollutes.
My friend Avrielle and I challenged ourselves to start a social media/blog challenge between us called #pursueinpurity. So for this month, we will be reflecting, meditating and journaling on bible verses and questions that has to do with pursuit and purity for 20 days. You will be given specific questions to help you reflect/connect with the bible verse that will be related to the themes #pursuit & #purity. The purpose of this challenge will be to push us as Christians to relentlessly chase after Christ with a pure lifestyle, mind and heart. In our own personal walk this area has been a real challenge for us, so to encourage one another we started #pursueinpurity. When the word purity comes to mind one may often think about abstaining from sexual immorality, but we have realized that there is so much more to it than that. The Christian community really places an emphasis on this specific area and while this is good we have realized that it truly also begins in the heart, as well as in the mind. We want to challenge ourselves to truly dig deep into the word purity and find out exactly what that means in all areas of our lives. We welcome anyone who would be interested to start this challenge with us. You can decide to tweet, or Instagram pictures of your reflection notes with the hashtag #pursueinpurity. If you have a blog or even a journal we also encourage you to meditate on the bible verses and answer the questions during your own personal quiet time. This is just a way to build each other up as Christians, especially those who are struggling in the area of purity. We want to encourage you that you are not defeated!
1. Before you start the challenge we encourage you to ponder on these questions to give you your own perspective on purity. As you express your thoughts on this topic, allow yourself to understand the biblical perspective also. This is all very new to us but we're praying that as we dig deeper into the word together God's power will transform these areas in our lives that we struggle with.
1. Before you start the challenge we encourage you to ponder on these questions to give you your own perspective on purity. As you express your thoughts on this topic, allow yourself to understand the biblical perspective also. This is all very new to us but we're praying that as we dig deeper into the word together God's power will transform these areas in our lives that we struggle with.
2.Question to ponder on before you start the challenge: What does it mean to be pure? Why do you think It is so important to God that we live a life of purity ?What is causing you not to remain pure/ or what areas in your life that have you challenged not to live a pure lifestyle ?
3.Questions to base your reflections notes during the challenge: What message do you get from the verse/ verses ? How does it relate to pursuit and purity? What are the next steps you can take to overcome your struggle? Write down any additional thoughts you may have receive or want to note.
Day 1: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Day 2: 1 Corinthians 10:13
Day 3:1 John 3:3
Day 1: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Day 2: 1 Corinthians 10:13
Day 3:1 John 3:3
Day 4: Matthew 5:8
Day 5: Psalms 51:10
Day 6: 1 Thessalonians 4: 3-7 Day 7: Galatians 5:16-25
Day 8: Colossians 3:5-6
Day 9: John 8:11
Day 10:Psalms 119:9
Day 11:Proverbs 21:8
Day 12: Romans 12:2
Day 13: James 4:8
Day 14: Hebrews 12:1-2
Day 15: Romans 6:12
Day 16: Romans 6:6
Day 17:1 Peter 2:11
Day 18: 2 Peter 2:19-22
Day 19: Lamentations 3:22-23 , Lamentations 3:40
Day 20: Romans 8:5-8
4.You can email us if you want us to share your reflections on what you are learning from this challenge. I myself will be posting my reflections on this blog from time to time which will give me the opportunity to be transparent with those who will be doing the challenge.
Disclaimer: this is between you and God, you don't have to share anything that you do not want to.
I'm really excited and I'm praying that God will transform our hearts and free us from our sexual sins and desires so that we can pursue him in purity.
Please Share !!!! especially with anyone who is struggling in this area.
Contact Me:
email:okyerenana4@gmail.com
Twitter:_nanaohh
instagram:_nanaohhhh
Contact Avrielle:
Twitter: @avriellejohnson
Instagram: avriellejohnson
Blog: avrielleb.blogspot.ca
for the sake of his Love,
NanaOhh.
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