The Flesh is a Beast!

Kim Brooks, author of, How To Date and Stay Saved, and, He's Fine...But is He Saved? www.kimontheweb.com

Kim Wins Promotion of Abstinence Award

Kim Brooks, author of, How To Date and Stay Saved, and, He's Fine...But is He Saved? www.kimontheweb.com

Charge It!

Today marks the last day of Black Friday Weekend Madness.

Starting the Friday after Thanksgiving including today, folks from all walks of life, some of whom even camped out in front of stores Thursday night, eagerly anticipated the opportunity to catch a deal at their favorite store so they can feel like they got the best bargain in town.  I’m sure a lot of them, in order to make their purchases, pulled out their credit cards and told the store clerk, “Charge it!”

Credit cards are so convenient, and credit card companies make them easily accessible and easy to use.  It’s not hard to fall into the trap of using them excessively or even get out of control.

I believe sometimes we, as single believers, use God’s grace like a credit card.  You know, instead of buy now, pay later it’s sin now, repent later.

Just like the shopper who knows beforehand what she plans to buy and what card she plans to use to pay for it, sin for some becomes a premeditated occurrence, with folks ready to pull out their “Repent” card even before the purchase of sin is made.

For instance, you KNOW if you call your ex he’s going to ask you to come over and if you do you’ll end up having sex.  Some even plan to have sex beforehand and say, “Lord, you know my heart, please forgive me for what’s about to go down later on tonight.”

Thank God we do serve a God who is full of grace, mercy, and compassion, but we also serve a God who’s smarter than the average bear and is fully aware of where your heart is when it comes to serving Him and doing what He says in regards to abstaining from sex until marriage.God will honor you once you make a premeditated, on purpose heart decision to serve and please Him and, from this day forward, not have sex again ’til marriage.

He will give you the wisdom and strength so that you will not place yourself in environments with the opposite sex where the opportunity for something to “just happen” becomes just too easy.

God is looking for a people who is ready to love Him like He wants to be loves and serve Him like He wants to be served so that He can get the glory from our lives and so we can be glorified as billboards for Christ through Him.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:1-3

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.  Psalm 119:11

Kim Brooks, author of, How To Date and Stay Saved, and, He's Fine...But is He Saved? www.kimontheweb.com

How To Express Love Without Sex

 

When in an dating relationship, as it progresses and
feelings grow stronger, the two involved eventually
express a desire to demonstrate, or prove their sincere
love for one another.  A lot of times it’s the man
who initiates this desire in wanting to take the relationship
to another level in the form of having sex.

However, as Christians, we are not to engage in sex before marriage,
but that doesn’t mean you can’t take your relationship to a deeper,
more intimate level in other ways.

There are many ways to express that you love someone without
having sex.  One of those ways is spending quality time with the
other person getting to know their dreams, goals, and desires and
taking and active role in helping make them come to pass.

As you spend time with the person, be sure you’re dating
to encourage dialogue and collecting data about them
(as I often say, date to collect data).  Find out where they are
now, and where they plan to be 3-5 and even 10 years from now.

If they have a certain aspiration that they’re working on right now
(for instance, if he’s starting a small business on the side) take
an active role in his vision by offering to assist in any way, even
if it’s assisting with assembling paperwork, making phone calls to
potential clients, or proofreading documents.  The more actively
involved you are not only in the other person’s life but also their
dreams (which is tied to who they are as a person) the closer
and more intimate you become with one another – without
having sex.

“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong…” Ecclesiastes 9:11a

Be sure and run your race together.

Kim Brooks, author of, How To Date and Stay Saved, and, He's Fine...But is He Saved? www.kimontheweb.com

Sex Outside of Marriage is No Big Deal for Christians?

Yesterday I was honored to be a guest on Sharvette Mitchell’s online radio show and a man asked the question which went along these lines (question paraphrased), “Sex doesn’t mean much for men and God forgives anyway so I have sex on the regular and don’t feel guilty about it afterwards so what’s the big deal?”

To be honest, when I first heard that question I thought to myself, “O-kay.  Wow!” So you purposely plan and pursue the booty, which is definitely outside of God’s will if you’re an unmarried Christian no matter which Bible translation you read, and not only are you seemingly unrepentant (as the  word repent does not just mean saying “I’m sorry, Lord” with every intention of continuing along the same path, but true repentance means to apologize and turn away with the heart intention of not making the same mistake again), but you’re convinced it’s not only not a big deal to you but also not a big deal to God, right?  Besides, Jesus died for our sins, so if I have sex, God is just going to forgive so I can keep having sex as much as I want and God’ll still forgive me, right?

One thing I always say to believers (which I also said in response to this question) is that you don’t want to use God’s grace like it’s a credit card – sin now, repent later.

Sure, Jesus paid the price, but not so you can continue like a dog in heat returning to his own vomit over and over again (Proverbs 26:11) but so you can walk in newness of life while pursuing righteous and holiness in Christ (oh no, not the “h” word).

When we get to a place in our so-called Christianity where we’re ‘alright’ with sin, then it only proves that we are now at a place where we really have to examine our hearts and our relationship with God.

Our relationship with God should be based on God’s expectations, God’s Word, and living to please Him out of our sheer love and admiration for Him – no, not because we feel forced to, but because we’re willing vessels – willing to love God the way He should be loved, and deserves to be loved.

One of the ways we demonstrate our love for Him is by keeping His commandments (John 14:15) which are not grievous – meaning it’s not burdensome or heavy (1 John 5:3).  So it’s not hard – God would not set an expectation that’s impossible to accomplish.  We can do all things through Christ according to His power and His grace (meaning might and ability).  God gives us the power to be kept by Him, if we want to be kept (Jude 24).

It’s at that place where we have hardened our hearts and have become, in a sense, our own ‘gods’ – making our own rules and choosing our own path that we then need to be worried.

I believe God places inside every Christian a ‘God-consciousness.’

As we cultivate our relationship with Him, spend time in His Word daily, remain underneath His Word in our local church, serve Him and others, and continue to feed our spirit man and grow spiritually on a daily basis do we become more Christ-like with each passing day.

The more Word you get in you, the more you become like Him and you begin to have His Heart and you begin to think like He thinks.  No, we’re not perfect, but we’re striving for perfection in Him every single day.  ( Matthew 5:48)

Which is why I believe when a Christian has sex outside of marriage the reason it oftentimes accompanies feelings of guilt is because that trigger on the inside, that “God in you” or God-consciousness in you has let you know that something went down last night that wasn’t right in His sight.

It’s when we don’t feel bad about the sin, think it’s no big deal and go about our merry way, while planning the next roll in the hay with Sally, Sue, Shaniqua or Sheila that we should become worried, because, as the other panelist mentioned on yesterday’s call, it could mean that we have given over to a reprobate mind, a mind which has rejected God’s Word and now deem it worthless.

So let’s all strive to be more like Him every day.

It’s the goodness of God that draws man to repentance – it’s because of His goodness that we’re all alive to breath, love, and live another day.  Let’s return His goodness for our loyalty to Him in our worship, in our praise, and in our lives.

___

I talk more about God-consciousness and have a chapter called Sex!  It’s complicated inside my new book, How To Date and Stay Saved, which is now available in bookstores nationwide, or you can get an autographed copy by ordering on my website www.DateAndStaySaved.com

I must admit, this book is NOT for everyone, but for single Christians or curious ones who want to learn how to glorify God in your relationships, and who have a heart  open and ready to receive life-changing instruction on How To Date AND Stay Saved…and live this thing out for real.

To listen to yesterday’s interview in its entirety as a replay, Click link below:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mitchell-productions/2010/04/20/how-to-date-and-stay-saved

Much love in Christ, and as always, be and STAY encouraged!

Kim Brooks, author of, How To Date and Stay Saved, and, He's Fine...But is He Saved? www.kimontheweb.com