Food For Thought: What Do You Listen To?

So, I am the biggest music fan and have enjoyed everything from classical to country to (really)hard rock over the years, but God completely convicted me over this past year about what I/we were listening to in the truck and at home so I started listening to what is called "prophetic worship" music. Such great music like Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Hillsong United, Bethel Music, Gateway Worship, Jesus Culture and others.

The most interesting thing has happened since starting this in my house just a short few months ago - playing those artists/music in the house even at night while we sleep.

*Nightmares with the kids...gone.
*Bad tempers...reduced greatly.
*Attitudes...improved.
*Responding instead of reacting...has changed the entire atmosphere of my home.

In listening to a friend who encouraged me to take that challenge in my house I realized why that is. Lucifer was the worship leader in heaven, along with his other lofty positions. Worship music is like daggers to his and his demon's ears. I have noticed when we DON'T play it in our house, is when tempers seem to erupt, attitudes grow sour, etc.

What are you playing at home? What are you listening to? What are your kids listening to? I challenge you to take a month - 30 days - to listen to nothing but Christian worship music wherever you are, including at night and have your kids do the same (an experiment of sorts) and see if the atmosphere in your house changes.

I know I used to hate to listen to worship music and the old time hymns that play on such great stations as KHCB out of Houston. It would make me angry and I would get up to turn it off. I had no reason why. But when I started changing the music in my life, and stuck with it, those attacks on my attitude really changed, the way I responded instead of reacted to my children changed my relationship with them for the better, etc. It has completely changed our house and that is a GOOD thing!

Full disclosure, I still listen to country, Celtic (Irish/Scottish) and classic rock/80's every now and then, but now it's about 1% instead of 99%.

You become what you listen to, read, watch, who you hang around, say, think, etc. Your life goes in the direction of your mindset. Make sure what you put into your life is positive, Godly and life affirming.

Pure Is Not Just For Ivory Soap

TRUTHBOMB

This is what I'm teaching my 11 year old daughter. For most of my adult life I have willfully disobeyed God when it came to sex and I admit it. In the movie, "The Devil's Advocate", the devil, played by a couple of actors - Al Pachino most notably, at the very end of the movie looks right into the camera and says, "Vanity, definitely my favorite sin." Well, for me it's always been lust that I've struggled with almost all my life.

In the movie "Oklahoma" there's the song, "I Can't Say No" with the line in it that goes, "...kissin's my favorite food...with or without the mistletoe, I'm in the holiday mood". Yup. Kissing and everything else that follows. But here's the thing. Yes, lust has historically been my favorite sin, so to speak. Somewhere along the way, I started to believe that in order to get a man's attention or keep it, that I had to offer up my body. Cheapen the act of intimacy and turn it into something crude and rude and vulgar. Sometimes it was so that I wouldn't feel lonely. Sometimes it was to prove to myself that I was desirable to others because I had extremely low self-esteem, regardless of my looks. Sometimes it was just because I wanted to feel close to someone. Sometimes it was just because I wanted to.

Maybe it had to do with the childhood trauma of being molested, not raped, thank God, but by more than one person as a child. One, a single adult in the neighborhood who'd been friendly to all the kids. I suspect I wasn't the only one, but I could never prove it. Two others, one girl when I was very young who was much older than me, one boy my age when I was older... All of these years apart from each other, but all under the age of 10 for me. My mom only knew of the one at the time, and only because my best friend back then forced me to tell her. Back in the late 70's through mid-80's, you just didn't discuss stuff like this and I didn't know what to say or do about it. The one was dealt with quietly and she protected me as best as she knew how and I love her even more for it. But you don't experience stuff like that and not have it leave some sort of damage to your soul.

Regardless of the reason, I KNEW it was wrong. As I got into my late teens, I finally caved to the pressures of the world that said, "if it feels good...DO IT" and continued to do so for many years. Growing up in a strong Christian household and having accepted Christ at an early age, I was definitely not ignorant of God's Word and what it said about intimacy and sex outside of marriage. I was just willfully disobedient about it. Like so many Christians I know today. People who claim to know and love and follow Jesus, but think that living with someone or having sex before marriage is perfectly fine because purity is old fashioned and...everybody's doing it.

I'm woefully guilty of this myself. I KNEW it was wrong but did it anyway. I desensitized myself to God and what His guidance is.

There are reasons why God says that we are to save ourselves for the person we marry. GOOD reasons. There's so much heartache to be brought into a marriage if you've contracted an STD or have "tried somebody else on for size". Too many people to compare your spouse with and what if they fall short of your prior experiences? What disappointments are you bringing to them? To yourself?

There's a REASON God says we are to remain pure and chaste for the one He has chosen for us.

Casual sex is rampant in many societies. There is, in truth, no such thing as “casual” sex, because of the depth of intimacy involved in the sexual relationship. The following analogy helps you to understand just what casual sex and multiple partners does to us. If we take a sticky note and attach it to a piece of paper, it will adhere. If we remove it, it will leave behind a small amount of residue; the longer it remains, the more residue is left. If we take that note and stick it to several places repeatedly, it will leave residue everywhere we stick it, and it will eventually lose its ability to adhere to anything. This is much like what happens to us when we engage in “casual” sex. Each time we leave a sexual relationship, we leave a part of ourselves behind. The longer the relationship has gone on, the more we leave behind, and the more we lose of ourselves. As we go from partner to partner, we continue to lose a tiny bit of ourselves each time, and eventually we may lose our ability to form a lasting sexual relationship at all.

Yes, I have a rather colorful past. God, in His grace and mercy, has forgiven me for the sins of my past. It has been 2 years since my divorce and I have not been intimate with anyone since then. Not even when I was seriously dating someone a year ago. I know now WHY God says these things. I am so thankful that God did not allow me to reap the punishments I deserved for my sins. I don't have to explain to someone that I contracted something that can't be gotten rid of because I gave myself away to someone who was just as reckless with their bodies as I had been with mine. But I have friends...family in Christ, who have had to deal with the fallout from their sin of lust and sex before marriage and it's hard. It is difficult for them. It's a whole different world to have to deal with. A permanent reminder. Even if it is an STD that has gone away through surgery or medication, the fact is that they still had one. It is just one result of not honoring our bodies and the gift that God has given us to give ONLY to our spouse that He has chosen for us. Of not respecting ourselves...or God.

Do you not think that God doesn't love you and that He wouldn't have chosen the best person for you? Perfect for you? Why ruin something wonderful by being unwilling to wait for God's best?

If this the lifestyles in this world are what's considered "normal", I'm glad to no longer be "normal". I'd much rather be considered "different" as I finally follow what God says about sex. Yeah, it might be "old fashioned", but so what? At least I know that the one who is worthy of the person I've become loves me for me, and not because I'm an "easy" catch. Someone who's an "easy" catch is just as easily thrown back while they search for someone who is worth keeping...someone who isn't so easy to catch.

So, here are some other truths for you if you're single, whether you've never been married or are married and divorced - once or more than once, like myself.

1. God desires us to be pure, maybe the reason you are single is that He is removing that temptation from your life until you are ready for the one He has chosen for you.

2. God is still writing your love story so don't mess up the ending by trying to write your own.

3. God wants your focus to be Him first. Keep your eyes on HIM and delight yourself in Him and He has promised to give you the desires of your heart.

4. You should be so hidden in God that someone needs to seek Him in order to find you, and when they do find you both of you should keep seeking Him together because, as the Bible says "a cord of 3 strands is not easily broken".

5. Trust in God means trust in HIS timing. We can't force God to move and if we try to do it on our own, how can He bless us with His best?

6. The RIGHT one will respect you and your decision to remain pure and will want to honor what it is that God has given to the two of you by not pressuring you to have premarital sex.

7. Ladies...yes, it is a man's job to respect you...but it is your job, as a woman, to give him something to respect.

Do You Live Out In Your Life What Your Lips Proclaim?

There it is in BLACK and WHITE...I have been the biggest of these. Saturday night sinner. Sunday morning saint. Though, to be honest, that has been a while, nevertheless, I can remember in my teens through mid-20s going to church still drunk from the night before and pulling it off. But since my life has started the process of transformation in Christ, what used to not bother me in other's posts of being drunk and hungover now greatly saddens and disappoints me as in the next breath they post about how great God is and how much they love Him and are thankful.

 

That was ME. To a TEE. I sit here ashamed to have to admit...that was me. And it was amusing to me too.

 

At the time.

 

Though, I can no longer recall just why. Why is it amusing to comment publically, as an adult, how drunk/hammered/smashed/wasted/hungover you are and then post about how much you have to thank God for? How you love Him. How awesome He is.

Really?!?! Do you think people are buying what you’re trying to sell?

 

Because you’re sure not acting like you believe the words you’re posting. Neither did I. One post about God does not negate everything else that you’ve said about living anything but a Godly life. James 1:8 in the New Testament says, “A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” You cannot serve two masters. You can’t live for the world on Saturday night and then try and claim you live for Jesus Sunday morning. It just doesn’t work that way. Sorry folks. Who would believe you mean it? Who would want to follow YOU if you don’t present the spiritual walk consistent with your talk. All it seems to be is hot air and empty words when compared with your life and what pictures and comments you post about your wild weekend/party time.

 

Yes, God’s grace IS greater than all of our sins. But grace doesn’t give us license to sin.

Too busy for God?

This hit me upside the noggin like a TON of bricks. I do both of those, but neither as often as I should or need to be. How in the world do we let ourselves get too busy for God?! I wanna know. I'm guilty of it. How do we let little trivial, meaningless things take the place of time with our Creator? I'm ashamed to say that I have. Yes, life as a single mother of an 11 year old daughter and 3 year old son gets busy. I barely can grab 3 minutes of peace to potty, but that's life. So what about those 30 minutes online or extra sleep? Shouldn't God be more important?

Do you REALLY know God?

Pretty sobering words, aren’t they? I’m equally as guilty of Titus 1:16 as most everyone. In fact, even recently, up until a couple months before I had probably the most profound, life-changing experience of my life at the New Year | New Marriage/Mindset(singles) conference with Oneand2 Ministries at the beginning of January. It was nothing for me to love God and profess Him...when it was convenient for ME. 

I meant it, every word, every feeling. 

But when I was out? Especially prior to two years ago I got really good at shushing that quiet voice in my head that said, “You don’t use that language at home, church, or around your kids, why use it when you’re out?” or “Maybe you shouldn't have another drink, you think?” Drowning my Jiminy Cricket (AKA my conscience) was an easy thing to do...uncomfortable though. I knew I was living a separate life often when I went out. The flesh wants what the world has to offer. Who wants to be different from everyone else? 

But that’s what we were called to be...those of us who profess to claim Jesus as our savior. Matthew 7:21-23 goes on to say that there will be many who say, “but Lord, I did all of these things in Your name, for You, to bring You glory”, when in fact it was to bring glory and popularity to themselves and they lived double lives instead of truly living life as God requires us to. And those people were never truly saved in the first place, therefore they will not be recognized by God as His own and will not be permitted into heaven.  James 2:19 says that even the demons believe in God and tremble at the name of Jesus...just b/c you believe, doesn't mean you are saved. Think about that one.

I’m not here to judge anyone just because they sin differently than I do...or even the same way. We all sin. ALL of us. I have my own sins to deal with and that, along with single parenting, is a full time job. Do I think that life from here on out will be perfect and without stumbles and steps backward for me? Goodness no! I am not that naïve. I have been the perfect foil for the other side for so long. I know that this road is going to be a long one. But it is so much better to be FREE in Christ than to be a slave to the world.  

STOP IT!

Can I get an AMEN on this? This is one of my biggest pet peeves and a HUGE stick in my craw. Even pastors living in the GRAY and leading their congregation into the gray shades use this line to excuse the sin in others..."It's ok...God knows your heart".

IT'S NOT OK! So just STOP IT!

If you claim to know Jesus then you need to live like it. Plain and simple. God is a BLACK and WHITE God. He does not allow room for shades of gray. He died for you. It it too much for you to live for Him?

YOLO is incorrect

I think this is another reason why I absolutely HATE the term YOLO with a passion b/c we DON'T only live once.

In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31)...have you noticed that the rich man has no name? That's b/c where he ended up...there was no need for a name b/c he will be forever aware of everything that goes on but forever separated from everything and everyone for eternity. Where he's at...he will never be known by anyone ever again. He has his memories, he has his awareness of his surroundings, he knows the hopelessness of the situation and the only thing he wants more than a drink of water is to save his five brothers. But HE HAS NO NAME! Why is that so important?

Because he doesn't need one.

Nobody will ever speak it again. There is no reprieve, no visitors, no hope and no need for a name. To all intents and purposes, he is dead, although eternally aware of it. Eternal, conscious, perpetual, lonely torment, dead forever, yet alive, remembering that one time when he could have escaped the torment. W.O.W.
That is what awaits the mailman, or the guy next to you, or your friends or relatives of whom we say, "I'll talk to him when the time is right" or when he says, "I'll think about it. Maybe tomorrow."
Then God says, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." (Luke 12:20)

I know many people who don't believe in heaven, hell, an afterlife or eternity. Just b/c you don't believe doesn't mean it's not true. I would rather believe in God and find out that He doesn't exist than not believe in Him and find out that that He does...

Put the paper down

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."- Jeremiah 29:11 ...

We may not know what tomorrow holds but we know who holds tomorrow. The purpose of a horoscope is to gain insight into a person's character and foretell the future. The basic belief of astrology is that planets and stars exert an influence upon our lives. Those with special knowledge, "astrologers", can predict events in a person's life.

It is distressing that most major newspapers have a horoscope column, and even more distressing that many Christians read their horoscopes. I've been guilty of this. Seriously guilty of it. But God has done such a profound change in my life, the thought of bringing the occult into my life anymore, and yes, horoscopes are of the occult, brings cold chills to the back of my neck. When you dabble with the occult, you open doorways by which demons can creep into your life.

The Bible expressly forbids divination, sorcery, and hidden arts (Deuteronomy 18:10-14). God's people are to heed God only (Deuteronomy 18:15). Any other source of guidance, information, or revelation is to be rejected outright. (See also Acts 16:16-18.) The Bible points to Jesus Christ as the only proper focus of faith (Acts 4:12; Hebrews 12:2). Our trust is in God alone, and we know that He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Faith in anything besides God is misplaced.

Astrology, then, opposes biblical teaching in at least two ways: it advocates faith in something other than God, and it is a form of divination. We cannot determine God's will for our lives through horoscopes. As Christians, we are to read the Bible and pray to God in order to gain wisdom and guidance. Consulting a horoscope is a violation of God's means of communicating with His children. As a Christian, I strongly believe that horoscopes should be rejected by Christians.