Put To Death Sinful, Earthy Things

^{Colossians 3:5} So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. ^NLT
  
  This verse starts off telling us to make sure our minds are pure. We need to get rid of anything in our minds that is sinful. If we don't doing what this next part of the verse talks about will be impossible.
 It is now talking about our actions. We need to make sure whatever we do is pure. Whether pure in motives, or just pure in how we act. 
 These sins are dangerous sins. Sin only bring us farther away from God. That is why it is so important to make sure these aren't in our lives.
 Honestly, this last part seems kind of random to me. In the first two parts of the verse it's talking about our thoughts and actions then all of a sudden it's now talking about being greedy. But I think that is part of the evil desires it's talking about in the second part. 
 Greed is never good. When we become greedy we start to actually put that before God. We make our selfish goals more important then God himself. We are worshiping the things of this world when we do that. Day Twelve Completed!


                                                                                                                                          107 Days Left!

God, Please Take From Me My Life

 I know this isn't one of my normal posts for this blog, but I just had to post it. It will be such a great reminder if I mess up... And I know I'll mess up, maybe not with this waiting thing, but there's so many areas in my life that I will mess up in. That's why I need Jesus though. Each and every time I mess up, He takes me back, and forgives me. I need Him to take away my life from me, because I don't have strength to give it to Him.

The Battle Begins In The Mind

^{Philippians 4:8} And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.^NLT 

 When Paul wrote this he knew that the mind is very powerful. He knew that the battle begins in the mind. Most of the time my actions come from my thoughts. My sinful desires comes from my thoughts.
 I need to learn how to think only on all these things, I know it will help with temptation. If I have a tempting thought, I just need to ask myself  "How is this thought honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable?" If I can't answer that question, I need to just focus on better thoughts that I know are those things. I need to start only focusing on thoughts that will bring me closer to God, not farther.
 I know thoughts can be hard to control sometimes, but what I have learned to do is just ask God to help get rid of whatever bad thoughts I am having. He gets rid of them, and replaces those thoughts with good thoughts. This battle will be way easier if my mind is pure. Day Eleven Completed!



                                                                                                                                          108 Days Left!

I Will Reap Whatever I Sow

^{Galatians 6:7-9} Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. ^NLT 
  
  It's easy to think sometimes that when we do something wrong, or even right that there won't be any consequences, but there is. God has a justice service of his own, some call it karma. Although it has the basic concept, it's still not quite the same. Whatever we do will somehow or another come back to us in this life. Whether it's something good, or bad. If you are to plan carrot seeds, it's pretty obvivos in harvest time you will harvest well, carrots. The same way does for how we live, whatever we do we will eventually harvest the exact same thing.
  Although I mess up, that doesn't mean I'm living to satisfy by sinful nature. This verse is talking about people who are not repenting of their sins, that continue to live in sin day by day without repentance. That is when you will harvest eternal life in hell. True Christians live in repentance. We live to satisfy the spiritual nature with will harvest everlasting life in heaven.
 This was really reminded me not to give up. Once these 118 days are over, Kevin and I will finally get those blessings we have been waiting for, we just need to make sure we don't give up.


 Grr. Today we messed up a little again, it wasn't as bad as we've done in the past again, but that sill doesn't make it right. I'm just so tired of it. We tried really hard to make sure we didn't put ourselves in the position to mess up, and it almost worked. Today was still a win though! I know we still messed up, but we're stopping each other more, we messed up for maybe five minutes. That's a million percent better than before. Maybe it's just gonna take a few times to help us get out of the habit of this sin. One thing I do know, when we see each other next Friday, we aren't gonna mess up at all. I don't care how hard it is, starting today I am literally not gonna leave any room for mess ups. Day Ten Completed!




                                                                                                                                          109 Days Left!

I Will Always Be His

 ^{1 John 3:1} See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. ^NLT 

  It's so awesome to know that we are still children of God's. It doesn't matter how much we mess up, God will always love us. We'll always be His. 
 We can't expect the people of this world to see us as God's children, because they don't know Him like we do. As far as they know we're just fools who believe in a fake God. Day Nine Completed!






                                                                                                                                           110 Days Left!

Yes, Satan. I Still Won Our Battle...

^{1 Peter 5:8-10} Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
¹⁰ In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.^NLT 
 Tonight I wasn't alert, I thought the danger had passed, but boy was I wrong. The devil new I had lost my guard, and he caught me. He knows when we are at our weakness moments and he uses those moments to catch us. Once I was caught I tired and tired to get away and eventually I did, with some battle scars, but I still won tonight's battle. I won it with God's help of course, He helped get away by standing firm in what I believe, He helped me be strong. I know part of the verse is talking about a way not to fall for the devil's trap, but I know what it says there can also be a way to get yourself out of that trap.
 It's helpful to know Kevin and I aren't the only people going through this. There are people we can go to for advice that have been through this situation that can help us. I know Kevin and I aren't really suffering at all for this, but I still think it's basically the same thing. 
 The suffering only lasts for a little while, but once the suffering is over, things will be way better then they were before. God uses suffering to help mold us into the person He wants us to be.

 I can't count how many times I said no tonight, and eventually I gave in. But what we did was bad, but it wasn't near as bad as what we have done in the past and what we did didn't last long at all. I still won the battle. Overall, I still said no. God really helped me tonight, there was no way I could have said no that many times if God wasn't there helping me.
 During this battle, I really wasn't in prayer much. That was a mistake. I really think if I would have been in prayer I wouldn't have gave in one bit. Now I just need to learn from my mistakes so that next time I will be able to say that I didn't mess up at all. Day Eight Completed!



                                                                                                                                           111 Days Left!

God Has Called Me To Be Different

^{Romans 12:1-2} And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. ^NLT  

   It talks in this verse like we owe it to God to give Him our bodies. That is a crazy statement in our society today. Everyone thinks that it's their body, and as this verse states it really is their body, but they don't want to give it up. They don't want to give up the "It's my body, my choice" statement, because once we wholeheartedly give our bodies to God it is no longer our choice. It's His. How we treat our bodies should reflect Him. Sexual sin, doesn't reflect Him. Abortion, doesn't reflect Him. Treating our bodies poorly, doesn't reflect Him. Not only did Jesus give up His life for us, but he has done so many other wonderful things for us, giving our bodies to Him really is the least we can do. We really do owe it to Him...

 This seems like an odd way to worship God, but really the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Any other worship for the most part only lasts for a little bit, but this type of worship is a day by day, 24/7 type of worship.

 There's been a few times I just wanted to give up with this waiting game. I wanted just to go ahead and have sex. It seems like everyone else is having premarital sex. I can't even turn on a television for a few minutes without seeing people justify sex outside of marriage. It is so sad to think that's how far away this world is getting from God, even Christians think sex outside of marriage is okay as long they're in "love". That breaks my heart even more. Christians are suppose to be different from this world, not copying their behaviors. Yet we do. We see the lost world and how they act, and we justify it in our minds so we can do it anyways. How sad. I'm so glad I didn't give up like I wanted to so many times. God has called me to be different... Being different from this world is a hard thing though. That's why we need to allow God to change our thoughts, then we'll become the person He has called us to be.

 This last part is pretty self-explanatory. "Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." I want to know His will for my life, so I am going to do my best to give Him by body, and just be different from this world. I know God's will is good, pleasing, and perfect, but this verse is such a great reminder.

 It's been a week since we've last messed up! Which is so freakin' awesome!! I know I've only seen Kevin once within this week, but before I started this that one day would be all it took. We were messing up every time we saw each other, so this is a great improvement. And not only that, but I feel like I'm actually getting closer to God with staying in His word and actually finding the meaning instead of just reading it. Thank you God for your help this past week!!! Day Seven Completed!!        

                                                                                                                                           112 Days Left!

  

 

 

Set Up For Success

^{Philippians 1:6} And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.^NLT 


 A lot of times I start to have pride with who I am. I know it sounds silly, but by the world's standards I am a good person. I follow all the rules, I love other people, I help out when I can. But there's a lot of I's in my way of thinking. I am only good because of what God has done in my life. God is working on me day by day making me into who he wants me to be.
 Once Jesus returns (or death) his work in me will finished in me. I will be  perfected. That is an amazing thought, having no flaws, becoming the person God has been making me into.
 As you know Kevin and I our having these struggles with staying pure (hence this entire blog), but that isn't to big for God. God shows us in this verse that we will have success in this, as long as we strive hard to let God do His work in us. Day Six Completed!



                                                                                                                                           113 Days Left!

Depend On Him

^{Lamentations 3:25} The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. ^NLT The KJV version actually says wait instead of depend. I know waiting and depending don't have the same meaning, but in this case I think they really think they correspond.
 If we are waiting on God, you are depending on God and his timing. If you are depending on God, you are waiting on God and his timing. Does that make sense?
 I know I hate waiting, I want it now. The thing is God knows now isn't the right time. I need to learn to fully depend on God while waiting and know his timing is the best. In doing so, God will be good to me.
 The same goes for searching for him. I know sometimes I don't feel like I'm able to search for him since I know where he's at, but what it means my searching for him is just spending time with him, getting know him as much as possible through prayer and his word. Day Five Completed!



                                                                                                                                           114 Days Left!

God Was Holding My Hand The Entire Way

^{Psalms 37:23-24} The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. ^NLT 

 This verse is an awesome reminder how God is always there with us helping us go the right way.

 I never really thought until I read this verse today that God actually takes pleasure in even the little details of our lives. I knew that he delights in the big details, like who we marry, where we live, what job we have, but now I know he also delights in the little details as well. 

 There are sometimes it feels like I messed up so bad that God doesn't want me anymore, but the thing is he still wants me through my mistakes. He delights in us so much that even when we stumble, he's there right beside us holding our hand so we can't ever fall away from him. That's how much he loves us... Day Four Completed!



                                                                                                                                           115 Days Left!

Be An Example

 ^{1 Timothy 4:12} Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.^NLT

 There's a lot of times when an older customer finds out I'm engaged their first question will be "how old are you?" 

Once I respond 20 they'll began to tell me how I'm to young for that. For some reason the older generation thinks that if you're young you shouldn't do certain things, or that you can't do them. I really need to learn not to let that discourage me. As long as I'm following God's will for my life it really doesn't matter what age I am, what matters is that I'm following God.
 This next part of the verse bought some guilty feelings. I know there's a lot of people who think I'm a great example, but I know I'm not. I have hidden sin in my life, that if they found out about they wouldn't think I'm a good example anymore. They would think I'm a hypocrite, even though they wouldn't know the whole story about how hard I've been trying to get rid of this sin, they would just see that I sinned. 

Although, nothing is to big for God. He''ll use my mistakes for his glory as well. I can still be an example. Even if it's just an example on what they need to make sure they don't do. He'll still use it. I just need to make sure I'm still striving as much as possible to be an example in every aspect of my life for those who not only believe, but those who don't believe as well. 

Those other two days were unbelievable easy to not fail with Kevin, but that was only because I didn't see him. I actually spent the entire day with him today, and we didn't mess up! Don't get me wrong, it was very tempting at times, but for the most part, we didn't even allow ourselves in a bad situation where we could have potentially sinned.

  I do have a confession though, I did let him rub my back and belly underneath my shirt for a little bit. That wasn't okay at all, I know. Until we're married, there is no reason whatsoever that his hand needs to ever go underneath my shirt. We need to work on that more, but still compared to what we have been doing, the fact that we did that little amazes me! I still count today as a victory for that reason. Of course, we couldn't have done it without God! He deserves all the credit for this victory! Day Three Completed!!



                                                                                                                                           116 Days Left!
 
 

Wait For The Lord, Patiently

  ^{Psalms 27:14} Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.^NLT

 Waiting is always hard as it is, but not only to wait, but to actually wait patiently seems impossible at times; Yet, it is so important. That is why the writer of this verse included "Be brave and courageous." He understood that patiently waiting is hard work. Without waiting patiently it ruins the entire point of waiting. God is trying to teach us that he knows what is best, although we want whatever we're waiting for now, God knows that His timing isn't right just yet. I like how the KJV words better. "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart." When it says be of good courage it's talking about not getting discouraged, and with not being discouraged God will strengthen us and help us wait. I like how it says He will strengthen your heart, it kind of goes along with yesterday's verse. God is where our help comes from.  
 When Mollie first suggested to use this verse it totally threw me off. Kevin and I aren't waiting for God, we're waiting for marriage, I thought. The thing is, we are waiting for God. We're waiting for his perfect timing, we're waiting for when he says it's okay to have sex, which is after marriage. 
 With that, I am going to start being brave and courageous when it comes to what I stand for, I'm going to let God strengthen my heart, so that I will start waiting patiently for Him. Day Two Completed!



                                                                                                                                           117 Days Left!

Day One!

 The first day of starting something new is always the easiest. Anyone can eat healthier, working out, being more productive, or in my case not mess up for one day. But 117 days is a completely different story. This isn't going to be an easy thing to do, especially if I do it on my own. That's why I began today's verse at Proverbs 16:3. I actually already have this verse memorized, but as soon as I came up with my idea to put verses on a calender for Kevin and I to read I knew that I needed to use this verse for day one.

 ^{Proverbs 16:3} Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.^NLT

 If I want to actually quit giving into temptation, I have to give it to God. I have to make I'm not relying on myself anymore. But I'm relying on God, and him only for my deliverance from the temptation, that's when I will succeed. So, that's exactly what I'm gonna do throughout this 118 Days Of Waiting. That's the only way this will work. Day One Completed! 






                                                                                                                                           118 Days Left!

 

*118 Days of Waiting* Intro

 Have you ever had to wait for something big? That's a silly question, all of us at one time or another have to wait for something, whether it's big or small, waiting is just a part of life. It's something that all of us go through.
 My fiance and I are waiting for marriage. I know premarital sex has become the norm in our society today, but that doesn't make it right. I don't care if I'm the only one on earth waiting, I know what the Bible says, and I'm gonna do my best to stick with it.
 Honestly, Kevin and I have been doing a horrible job waiting. Although we haven't actually had sex yet, we've gone way to freakin' far. I have been living this impure life, and I'm so tired of it, I want to please God, I can't just keep sinning against Him.
 My sister and I made a calender with Bible verses on it. Everyday Kevin and I will read the verse of day to be an encouragement to help us keep fighting the good fight. We only have 118 days left, we do it!
 You might be wondering why I made a blog about this, but to help me stay accountable, each day I will write more or less a journal about my struggles that day, and what each verse means to me. I really hope that somehow someone struggling to wait for marriage like I am, will read these blog posts and it will encourage them one way or another.


Kevin and I have 118 days left before our wedding.