Your Identity in Christ

Recently I have been working on ridding myself of shyness and insecurity, it has been in my life for far too long, I finally had enough and have began praying day and night for God to remove it and for him to show me who I am. Once we find out who we are, we won't be afraid, Satan is the one who WILL be. Through this process He has shown me quite a few things.One being that, this world is over flowing with insecure people. Insecurity is a form of fear that Satan has quietly squeezed into people. Everyone goes about their daily lives with it inside of them thinking that it is normal to have insecurities, well I guess it is now, but it definitely should not be. Satan does this to steal our identity so that we will not know who we are, so we cannot function in power. If you are terrified of looking stupid or failing and if you do not know the power and authority God has given you then how can you possibly walk in power and authority? Jesus knew who he was and he knew who His Father was, He was not fearful.

Also another thing I noticed was this, people have completely mixed up what humility and arrogance are. 

They think people who put themselves down, and never acknowledge their attributes to be humble, and they call people who know what they have to offer and who are secure in themselves arrogant.

First, let me say this, putting yourself down, insulting yourself or believing yourself to be lower than you are is false humility. Look at Jesus, he never once said he was more or less than he was. Paul did the same. He acknowledged his faults, attributes and position. 

We are a deceived generation. The truth has been distorted to the utmost level. 

This is what true humility is: 

Knowing who you are and not thinking more or less of yourself

Think of this, if we know who Christ is, then we can see who we are, then we can compare and see that we are nothing next to Him. We are saved, and blessed by God, all things come from Him. So, if we understand this, it puts who we are into perspective. 

Now, false humility is bad, it is taking what God has done for us, for granted. He sent his only son to die on the cross for us, he has redeemed us, he has made us beautiful and we are part of God's family. When we look down on ourselves we give into the lies of the devil and we allow fear free reign in our lives. 

Arrogance is:

Thinking of yourself as more than you are. When you put yourself on a pedestal, God is the only one who is good, Jesus said so Himself in Luke 18. So if you think yourself to be "good" that is arrogance.

It's time to bring light to things that seem innocent, or unimportant. Not everything is in black in white, the most damage is done behind the scenes.

Love

Honestly, I don't think I could ever write enough posts on love. 

There is a difference between listening to what you are taught and hearing it. 
You can listen to a person speak a hundred times over and still not hear (understand) them.
People speak about love all the time but do you really understand it? It is one of those things that you have to experience before you can truly understand. I don't mean between you and a woman or man, because to be honest I have never experienced that, so I won't pretend to know how that works. What I mean is the love of God, this love I am beginning to have a deeper understanding of everyday, because He is showing me, and might I say, it is intoxicating! 

Lets just establish this first, the whole Bible is a love letter, you have to know, if God didn't care about you he would never have had the Bible written, if he didn't care about us he wouldn't have given us instructions on how to live a higher life and to come to him. When I read the bible I see LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! That was Jesus' message.

Here is an example, and when I read this it cracked me open, I realized how much he truly loves us.

John 11:33-36

33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.34“Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.35 Jesus wept.36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

He is a good God! 
Now, we "know" that God loves us so incredibly much, it is our job to imitate his love. 

Mark 12:28-31
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

One thing that really upsets me, is how Christians just over look things in the Bible, there are so many commands that we just skip over! It really makes me angry. Just look at the above scripture;  ' Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  It is black and white, there is no mistaking it for something else. Just go to a church and you will see the lack of obeying this scripture. If we loved the Lord like this scripture says, we would not have the problems we have now, we would be loving others as ourselves. As we grow close to God and seek him out, we begin to desire what he desires. He teaches us and commands us and we obey John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent m.

That is why this is the greatest commandment, because with it comes everything else!

The other night I was going to bed and I got a topic to write on, something he put in my heart; He does that a lot just as I am going to bed. I went to sleep and the next day my Mom had a Dr. Appointment so I sat in the car while she was inside and I pulled my journal out and began writing out what God gave me and when I did he gave me more and more. It was extremely exciting, but here it is:

We need to grasp the simple truth that we as the Bride of Christ are not competing against each other; rather,  we are to be unified in everything, encouraging and uplifting one another at all times. No more slanderous talk, don't you know that when you against a brother you speak against Christ? He loves everyone just as he loves you. Grasp that. We are His family, competing against the enemy, not each other.

Keep your denominations and doctrines, God never intended for the church to be separated by belief, but to be unified by it. 

 I am so tired of seeing people talking about each other, and trying to be greater than one another! We are all working towards the same goal! Stop waiting for your friend to fail so you can say told you so, you should be encouraging him because it is God's Kingdom we are working for. Get over your insecurities, get rid of your sin, take off your blind fold! We are not supposed to be against each other. When your "neighbor" has a victory rejoice with them for they have just beaten a wicked attempt of the enemy to bring yet another Christian down.

Where is the love of God? That is the most important command yet the most ignored, I don't understand it and I am sick of it. 

Philippians 3:8

Today I learned something about myself, I found that I hold myself in such a high regard, I thought I was such a great Christian I thought I had things figured out, well obviously, I'm not and I know for a fact I haven't even began to understand things, I was blind to the fact that I don't do hard things. Any Christian can rid themselves of things they want to be gone, things that most Christians can see as wrong, lust, hate, pride things of that sort. But, the real challenge is taking things you hold close to your heart, that don't seem "bad".
As Christians we are supposed to fight against the "bad" but, those are just the first steps, baby steps. If you want to be a mature Christian, well then, you have to take big mature steps. 
These  'big mature' steps that I am talking about are, steps of removing the world from your life, removing anything that comes between you and God; your view of the things of this world shouldn't be excitement or awe, rather, you should look at everything as pointless or "consider everything a loss" Philippians 3:8 our thoughts should be "that's nothing compared to what I have seen." Because we should be going to see Jesus frequently. We should be so in tune with God, that we are in his presence more than we are here on earth.
You have to come to the realization that earth is not your home, that heaven is more real than anything you see before you. Our eyes and ears have been closed so that Satan can drag down into the world without us even know that we are doing anything wrong. You have to ask God to take the blind fold from your eyes and to remove the ear plugs from your ears so that you can see and hear. 

You have to understand that nothing in this world is important, let it go. 
Let go of every worldly thing that you worship, if you don't know that you committing Idolatry  ask God to show you the places you might be. 
Let go of the desire to be famous, the only one who should be magnified is God. Let go of your desire to be rich, educated, smart, anything of this world and replace it with the will of God, ask him what he wants for you. Until you remove idols, that place that God should be filling is going to be filled by the thing that you love more than him, and God can't and wont try to fit there. 
This should be a joyous act, try and understand, ask God for the revelation of it, when you give away the things you love and exchange  it for the gifts of God, you aren't getting back worse than you gave, you are getting back things that are 1 million times better!

We Have Not Been Given A Spirit of Fear

I have learned that Gods word NEVER fails( Luke 1:37  For no word from God will ever fail."). When he says "Ask and it shall be given" (  Matthew 7:7  "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.) He absolutely means it. For some reason we just can't wrap our heads around the things that God says, we can't seem to look at it as a promise. Well, it certainly is true, every word of it.
 I have been asking God to remove fear from my life, every way, shape and form of it. Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, fear of man, fear of the works of the devil, fear of stepping out, fear of letting go, fear of anything and everything! My God is so incredibly faithful, he has answered my prayers, I can say with confidence that the Lord is taking my fears. He loves to answer prayers, especially when they are to take junk out of your life so that you can become closer to Him. 
It makes me just bubble up with joy when I pray for something and then my Father gives me what I ask for! 
One night, I was writing all my thoughts and cries into my journal, (talking to Jesus) my heart was really hurting that night, I then began playing my guitar trying to get to the secret place even though I felt terrible. Let me just add this bit, once you decide to push through and ignore your flesh, it is extremely rewarding; praise him in the storm. (I learned that through reading a friends book, which was great!) As I pushed forward, I found myself with Jesus, He was comforting me and answering questions that I had just asked, he was holding me and watching me as I closed my eyes and rested in him. I was overjoyed after that, my Father makes everything better.
He is just so wonderful.


2 Timothy 1:7  


( Isaiah 63:7  I will tell of the kindnesses of the lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the lord has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.)


We have nothing to fear, for our God is going before us roaring like a lion. For He fears nothing and everything fears Him!

North Carolina Conference

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I last posted, so here I am about to fill you in on the action that has been going on in my life.

Last week my dad, brother and I went up to North Carolina for a conference, let me just say, it was a life changer! You don't really realize how little you know, until you understand how much God does.
I learned so much in just four days it was fantastic! My favorite part of the whole conference was the overwhelming love that was overflowing from everyone. To be surrounded by people who genuinely love God is just amazing, that love, that peace seeking, unity loving, love is so contagious, it makes you so full of joy, and you want to go love and hug everyone! It certainly makes you laugh a whole lot!



I do hope that in reading this post you will not think I am some weirdo, (But, if you do, I really can't help that) I want you to gain understanding, and I desire to have you experience some of these things. Also, I want to tell you of my God's kindness just like it says in Isaiah 63:7 (Isaiah 63:7 (NIV)
I will tell of the kindnesses of the lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the lord has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.)



During the conference, people were having visions and dreams left and right, healing was happening everywhere, it was great, the fire of God was there, He was very gracious to everyone.

The first thing that happened to me was this, one of the speakers (Kevin Basconi) said that he felt that we all needed to repent for everything that would hinder us from being with our Father. As I was doing this, I saw a golden bowl filled with clear water being poured over my head, then splashed in my face. At first when I saw this, I didn't think anything of it; it was later on that night when I was in our hotel room that I realized it was significant and what it meant, it symbolized the cleansing, and renewal of my mind. Ever since that moment of renewal, I have had a different outlook, things that I would be easily angered over do not seem to have the same aggravating effect anymore. It's such a wonderful feeling to look at everything with a positive view rather than negative.
One thing a different speaker said was this, "we are supposed to judge one another, BUT, we are not to condemn, yes, God may show us a particular persons sin, but he doesn't show it to us so that we will look down on them, our job is to overlook the sin and to love them." Maybe God shows us someone's sin so that we can help them through it. Or to pray against it, and pray that they realize their sin, so that they will deal with it. I will be the first to admit that I am 100% guilty of Judging someone, then condemning them for their sins; that is not our job! Our job is to love unconditionally and pray for them.

The third day that we were there, a man (James Durham) that has been to heaven many times, almost every day at one point, was going to take us with him, because Jesus had told him to. So, we all lined up against the wall there was about 300 people there, so as you can imagine it was quite a long wait, I was closer to the end. As I stood there my anticipation grew stronger and stronger, I so many butterflies in my stomach; when he finally came to me I was overwhelmed with excitement, first his wife prayed for me, then he anointed me with oil, after that he said just relax, at that point so much was going through my mind! I was scared now that I wouldn't get to see Jesus, then he said relax again, and it hit me, I just needed to relax and let go. So, as I closed my eyes I relaxed and let go of my worries, once I did I went limp, and I can't really find the words to describe this experience, other than it was the peace that SURPASSES ALL understanding, (Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.) it was the most amazing thing I have ever felt. Then I looked into the blackness and I saw Jesus' face. I just want to say, my Jesus is not some weakling, his very face shows strength, authority, and so, so, so much love! Just talking about Him makes me bubble up with joy! He is fantastic. 

That same night after the meeting, at about 12:00 a.m. we went up to prayer mountain. I can't exactly remember what they were praying for, but it was named Prayer Mountain because, Morningstar (A church) prayed on that mountain for seven years (I think) and ever since they prayed there, people have gone up there and prayed and meditated on the word, and they see angels all the time.
So, we were invited by some friends to go up there, I am terribly afraid of heights, and we were driving right on the edge of the mountain, it was freaky, but anyway, we made it there alive ha ha. So, when we got to the top my brother Beniah and I went off on this trail, and after we walked a little ways he spots is wider area in the trail and says that he feels the Presence right there, so we go walk over there it was definitely there, and by that time my dad and our friends Elisabeth and Jerry, come walking up; we all walk down the trail a little bit further and then we all stand in silence for a few moments, then Jerry suggested to Beniah to start singing, so we all start worshiping Jesus. Shortly after I smelled something amazing, so I turn to Elisabeth and ask her if she was wearing perfume, she said no and that she was about to ask me the same thing; a wave of the scent came again and I recognized it to be frankincense, by the second wave everyone smelled it! After that, we continued to sing and then we all heard something down the mountain, so we stopped singing and listened, and sure enough, it was an angel singing!  It was beautiful!
As if that wasn't enough, we all decided we would walk back alone, my dad and I didn't see anything, but Beniah looked down the mountain and he saw an angel! He said it was blue. Elisabeth saw one walking behind Jerry too! When we got back to the tent where the rest of our friends were sitting they were laughing, they were drunk on the Holy Spirit! 
  It was so funny listening to them. So we all sat down and I closed my eyes, and a few moments later I heard footsteps behind me. Elisabeth later, told me that she had heard foot steps behind her as well. It was an incredibly blessed night!

One of the biggest things that I realized was, this is how the church should be, the church should be full of love. Not only love, but it should also be full of these experiences. The problem is, nobody is seeking God in there own personal time, so the result is, selfish, groaning baby Christians, who do not strive to go deeper, "So
one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole Church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and higher life." - A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Love comes from Christ, we do not know love until we know Him, and when we seek the Lord, we find true, pure Godly love. This is what the church is missing, this is what the world needs.


John 14:21 (NIV84)
(Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”)

What Does the Bible Say About Gluttony and Slothfulness?

A few days ago I joined into a conversation with my Dad, two of the topics were gluttony and slothfulness, 

after a few minutes of discussing this we both came to the same conclusion, both gluttony and slothfulness are mentioned quite a bit in the bible, but they both are thoroughly ignored. (Proverbs 23:21

for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags)

I myself lacked conviction for both of these things, of course I had been taught over eating was wrong, but I never really understood it. As for laziness, I was also taught that its wrong, work first then play, was instilled in me, but still, I lacked the conviction. I knew that in the bible it said to work, and gluttony is sin, but never knew the seriousness of it.

So, after our little discussion I went and looked up verses referring to gluttony and slothfulness and it astonished me how often it talks about gluttony and laziness, how is it that we just over look it so easily?

I suppose that living in habits such as these for so long would take away the conviction. After looking at several scriptures on these topics, I asked God for the conviction, I asked Him to let me see it as it is, sin. 

Now, gluttony comes when there is no self control, which is also sin. (Proverbs 25:28, Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self control.  Titus 1:8, Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. Galations 5:23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law) I could go on for ages with scripture, the list is endless. And where slothfulness and gluttony are there will be fatness, which brings about unhealthiness and illness that destroy the body, which is also sin, if your lack of control and laziness cause fatness then you are destroying the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.) That is of course, just one way to destroy the body. 

We need to understand that our body is important, we can't just do whatever we want with it,  we are not our own. If you are walking side by side with God then you must have Him in everything, have him in every decision, we make. 

I hope in reading this, it will motivate you to look at your body in a different way, you ARE a TEMPLE, treat yourself as such. Back in the Old Testament when they would create the temples for God to dwell in, they made it so intricate and beautiful, they took the time to make it a place where God would want to stay. In the same way, we should treat ourselves, for the glory of God.

I believe that we should be challenging our minds at all times, we shouldn't waste our free time on television, or games on the computer, those things are all well in good, but before you do, think of someway you can expand your knowledge, how you can better yourself. Our brain was not made to sit all day long and rot while you play video games. I don't believe it's wrong to do those things, I just think if that consumes your time more than productive things do, then it's probably wrong. That again, I think, would be lack of self control, and slothfulness. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my post. Please leave a comment with your opinion on the subject!

-Alyssia

The Chain of Mediocre Christianity

So recently I have been getting a little restless, I guess you could say, I am ready to do something. I want to start changing lives, I want to speak the truth. I want to show people God's love for them. I know my time to do something is coming soon though, and it's getting me excited. I can't wait to know what God has planned for me, I can't wait to see the opportunities that are going to present themselves to me.

Something else that has been on my heart recently is the complacent state that this world is in.
I don't think that Christians realize (Or perhaps they do, but do not care) that when walking out your life in Christ, there is no end, what I mean by that is, there is no point by which you can quit moving forward. Not until death. You cannot get to a place in your life and decide that you are good enough where you are at. That is the definition of complacency. As Christians we are to work hard each and every day to work through our flaws, footholds, and sins, anything that is not of God must go! Yes, of course, it will take time but the exciting part is that as you loose these things, you become closer to God, you lose sight of the world and your gaze turns to Him.

I won't pretend that it's easy, but anyone knows, things that are fought for are far more precious to you. People these days refuse to challenge themselves, they don't want to work for anything anymore, we have become such a lazy society. If we could keep sight of our goals, refuse to give up, and go on, then things would be much different. (Proverbs 10:4, Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 13:4, The sluggard craves and nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. James 5:11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.)

I just hate seeing people stuck in the same spot that they have been in for years. Of course Christianity is going to be boring if you don't keep moving! We must destroy the chain of mediocre Christianity, do not allow it in your life.

-Alyssia

C.S. Lewis and The Magician's Nephew

Okay, so yesterday I finally decided to read the Chronicles of Narnia.The Magicians Nephew being the first of those books was the first I read. I must say, no description of mine will do it justice!

Before reading this book I had heard such great things about it, most people say it isn't their favorite of his work, but I absolutely loved it, it gives such a wonderful view of God and his love for us.  you will not find an allegory such as his.
Apart from his prominent ability to write, and suck you into his fantastic world, his perception of Christ is the best part! He shows you just how He truly is, strong, full of authority, compassionate, loving, powerful, beautiful and everything good!
Once I finished the book I was eager to go onto the next one, The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe but being that it was really late at night I had to stop reading.
In reading this first book it has added to the excitement that I have for going to heaven.

The Wedding!

Okay so, todays subject is...drum roll please! My sisters wedding! So, my sister arrived in Florida last weekend and ever since she got here we were planning her wedding. Which was a week long process, can you say exhausting! Well anyway, it was a blast despite all the hard work. So, she got married last Saturday and it was absolutely beautiful!
I was actually worried about how it would turn out, thinking it might be cheesy or something, but actually, it looked fantastic!
She had a country themed wedding, all the grooms men wore jeans, and the bridesmaids wore boots with our dresses. It was lovely! Everyone looked so wonderful. I was blessed by my sister by being asked to be the maid of honor, and of course I said yes! I was so ecstatic! All in all it was an amazing time!

At the wedding we danced like dorks, it was hilarious. It was mainly the bridesmaids and the bride dancing, the guys just couldn't keep up with us, lol.

Let me describe the venue to the best of my ability. First off I will just say it was gorgeous! She had an outdoor wedding, on a big piece of property owned by our friend. In his back yard he has a large pond, right on the pond is a little pavilion/gazebo with a dock over the water, which was all lit up. We set a tent up on the other side of the pond (Opposite of the gazebo/pavilion) that was were the reception took place. the bonus to all of this was that our friend that owns this property has at least fifteen horses along with, 3 donkeys, a couple peacocks, a bunch of exotic birds and a bunch of other beautiful pets which made the wedding even more special.

Everything was perfect, except for one little thing, the weather... It was so hot and humid! Oh my gosh! I have never sweat so much in my entire life! I wont go into much detail on that subject, because it is rather annoying lol.
I gave a toast, which I was slightly nervous about... okay I was really nervous, haha, but I did it anyway!
Here it is:

"I won’t lie, today is a bittersweet day for me more sweet than bitter of course. Bitter in the sense of my best friend and sister is being taken away from me. It’s crazy, It feels like just yesterday we were playing polly dolls and sword fighting, and of course you planned your dream wedding out. At that age your intentions were far from marriage, but now, here we are, you are married and grown, you have become this beautiful and mature women of God. When I see you, I find a kooky, confident, loyal, God loving person who fervently and diligently seeks out the Lord. For that I can’t help but look up to you, my big sister and my best friend.


Now, for the sweet part of it all, yes, my sister is no longer just mine and my families, but I know with confidence that the man she married today is the perfect man of God for her. A man that will take care of her, love her with all of his heart, a man that protects her, a man that seeks and relies on God in faith.  I wouldn’t choose anyone else for her! 


I am so happy and excited for these two people that are here before me, because I know that the plans God has for both of them are going to be insane!"

Okay, I guess that is enough writing, so I will post a few of the pictures that I have so far, we haven't gotten the professional ones yet, these are just a few from some friends.

James 1:5

Recently God has given me a heart for the foolish, don't get me wrong, I do not believe I am some wise person that is above immaturity. It's just recently, He has given me a different view on people. Usually I just saw teens and adults as what they are, teens and adults; now he is showing me how childish we are. 
We do not think upon things that we should, we wast our time on lowly things. It has almost brought me to the point of tears before, I watch teenagers get worked up about things such as, what they will wear to the prom or how Timmy from school broke their heart after a week of dating, it breaks my heart because I know that over half of these kids will never grow out of their foolish concerns. The same goes for adults, yes, they are definitely more mature than kids, but they are still stuck on immature pointless affairs. 
Think about it, if it says we are just a little lower than God, (Psalm  8:5-5 For thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory and honor) we need to start acting like it, God has given us the mind of Christ, if we would just use it! 
It says that if we ask for wisdom God will give it to us freely!(James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ) So why not ask? It's ridiculous, we have been given every tool that we could possibly ever need and we don't want it, we want the easy shmeesy way out; we want to continue on worrying about absolutely pointless things that in the end will only wear you down and make you even more foolish. 


The more you chase God, the farther you will be from this world; you will start to realize just how petty everything in this world really is. 




We must change our mind set, we must stop living as children, concern yourself with what God concerns himself, love what God loves, do what God does, speak what God speaks!  


Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

What is Love?

I will repeat myself in the post in accordance with my last entry, so please try and excuse it. I hardly scratched the surface of love, so I would like to go deeper in this post.

As I established in my last post, love is not twitterpation.
Love is not selfish.
Love does not envy
Love is not sex
Love is not proud
Love is not they way you look

The world does not know what love is. The world does not know what commitment is.
The world does not know what restraint is. The world does not know what "Until death do us part" means. This world knows nothing about good.
It disgusts me to no end, I have been seeing it on T.V. and people actually write books that are considered great books that help your marriage, women have become so insecure that their philosophy has become "oh just let them stare at other women, and cheat on me. It’s in their nature, they are men they can’t help but be lustful." This is what our society is today, a society of compromise and settling for less. What happened to strong men? I do not believe for a second that men are programmed to cheat and lust no matter what you do. As I am sure those women do not either, they are just so insecure and messed up from society that they have to rationalize their husbands staring at other women.
That right there is obviously not a relationship based on love. That describes a selfish, lustful relationship that does not practice self-control.
A real man or woman practices restraint 24/7! 1 Corinthians 6:12
God clearly states that Self-control is important, if you do not practice it, you are in sin. It’s the same principle with drinking. I have no problem with people drinking here and there but if you get drunk that’s when you sin, because you are losing control over yourself.

Now on to the question of                 
Love is Jesus
Love is Patient
Love us Kind

Love is about being selfless and sacrificing your pride everyday. It’s about being patient and listening. Love is about being kind in everything you do. This doesn’t only mean marriages but also friendships.

The thing about people is we are selfish, we always want to have the last word in, we always want to talk about us, and we never want to listen to our friends or spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend.
Jesus was selfless, he never thought of himself. This is how we should be! That is "True Love."
I hate how we say that, There is only one kind of love! Any other kind is not love!
People mistake twitterpation for love. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to distinguish between the two. Relying on gooshy little feelings will only break your heart. Also, another thing, I hear people say this all the time, "Love stinks, I hate it!" No, love does not stink. Selfishness, pride, and envy stink! Don’t mistake selfish twitterpation with love.
We as Christians are never to stop growing in the Lord, meaning, we are to constantly be shedding the gunk of this world off of us. We are to constantly be ridding ourself of impurities and renew our minds into the likeness of Christ. The more that we do that the more we will mature and become selfless, humble, patient, kind and everything God wants us to be!
If you have trouble getting an image of selfless love read Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus himself was perfect love!

1 Corinthians 13:4 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

My View on Marriage and Dating

I believe in courtship, it sounds a bit old fashioned, but hey, it works. Back when that was the only concept, there was less, cheating, less sleeping around, and marriage was stronger, because they waited until after their wedding to do the stuff everyone sees no reason to wait for.

My belief on what Dating and Marriage should be:

1. It should be based on looking for a husband/wife, not a temporary gap filler

I do not believe you have to go through 25 or even 3 relationships to find your spouse. I fervently believe you can find the one god has planned for you, by waiting and getting it right the first time. There is no point to dating if you are not looking for a possible husband or wife. It is a wast of time, you could be spending that time with God.
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
 ⁸ Now to the unmarried^[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. ⁹ But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.


   2.    God should be the center.
Your Boyfriend/Girlfriend or Husband/Wife should NEVER be put before God!
 
 3.    It should be a relationship of encouragement, and of accountability.
Your relationship should be constant encouragement, and accountability. Relationships are not all about the feeling. It’s a friendship aswell.


4. It should not be based on twitterpation (Twitterpation: butterflies in your stomach and you can’t stop thinking about that person) or touchy feel-y.

Don’t get me wrong on the twitterpation part, it is fine to date someone because of that, it is natural; I am only saying don’t let it blind you, because it will, don’t marry someone because of it. There is a difference between "like" and "love," liking someone is an emotion; that is where the attraction comes from; what gets the relationship going. Love is not an emotion. I am so tired of hearing people say "Oh we were in love, but now we aren’t." They say that because they do not know what love is! They are confusing it with that warm gushy feeling they get when they like the person, (Twitterpation) and when it wears off in six months they don’t know what to do and they end up breaking up or divorcing! Love is a choice. NOT an emotion, when you say I love you, it’s because you chose to, and because you have learned to. Love takes time. Also, the whole "I fell in love" saying is so stupid, you fell into like! Not love. Love is much more special than that, think about it, if you have ever been in like/twitterpation with someone, you should know that it’s involuntary. Love is the opposite, you choose to love that person. Just like God did. I would not want God to "Fall in love" with me because that is not something you decide on it just happens, I want him to Love me, like he does because he chose to!
1 Corinthians 13:2-6
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

5.  Ultimately your relationship should mirror the relationship you have with God.

Talking to Jesus

Hi everyone! It's been a while since my last post, I did try writing things out, but nothing really felt right to post, until now. I found that when reading my bible and spending time with God, I become inspired, a passion begins to stir in me. So I can't help but share it with you!
First, I want to lay something out. When we are speaking to God, we need to speak as though he is right in front of our face, because he is. The wonderful thing about our friend/God/father is that all we have to do is say 'hey' to hang out with him. He doesn't have to check his schedule, or drive across the world to come. He is just waiting for the words, the words that say, "hey Lord, lets hang out today!" It's sad though, that our God who is so mighty, and majestic so much so, that I don't even have enough words to describe him, would drop everything for us in a heartbeat; and yet we won't turn the t.v. off for 15 minutes to say something as simple as, "hello!"
　
Now for my second point, when coming before God, we need to come expecting to hear from him. Not selfishly, but we need to speak with confidence to our Lord knowing that he has all the answers and he will not withhold them from those who ask. (Matthew 7:7)