Satisfaction.

FOR MEN. ...and I guess for women also if you really want to read it?

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Recently, one of my buddies enlightened me regarding his struggle with lust and pornography.  I gave it some thought as to how I could support him by tackling one of the biggest root problems (in my opinion) that causes it.  So in essence, this is an article for him. ...and I guess all the guys out there too!

I believe that our struggles with lust and pornography stem from the fact that we lose sight of the hope and satisfaction that we have in Christ and so we turn away and trade it for a very temporary satisfaction.  Yes, there are many temptations as guys due to the way we are hard-wired but if we're so satisfied with GOD, why do we need other things to fill our lives?  It's common knowledge that where this is sin, there cannot be holiness and where there is holiness, there is no sin at all.  Indulging in this sin is a tradeoff between a temporary satisfaction and an eternal satisfaction.  I'll liken it to the analogy where a child is presented with two options from which to choose from: 1) One piece of candy right now or 2) Five pieces of candy tomorrow.  So often we are like the child that will choose the one piece of candy right now because we fail to see the rewards we will reap in waiting.  In the same way, we should wait upon the LORD and find satisfaction in Him alone.

"But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." -John 4:14

1) Seek to be satisfied in everything GOD has to offer.  Sex is a beautiful thing that has been corrupted not just by the media and the world around us but by ourselves and our own choosing.  As a single man, I may fall and have urges to be satisfied outside of Christ but sexually speaking, the time when the need is to be fulfilled is when I'm married to a woman of GOD.  What more do we need than Christ and knowing that His will is perfect?
2) Spiritual discipline.  In the same way that we approach GOD in prayer and read our Bibles daily, us guys must avoid these types of temptation when possible and keep our minds ever focused on whatever is pure, lovely, noble, etc.  As much as GOD is willing to help us fight these battles, we must initiate the fight!
3) Flee from sin.  In James 4:7, it talks about how the devil himself will flee from you if you flee from him.  In the same way, draw near to GOD and He will draw near to you.  If you don't actively run away from it, it will chase you and eat you up.

Reorientation.

"Repentance requires a fundamental reorientation toward GOD."

I was listening to a sermon about biblical manhood by Dr. Tony Evans.  He was trying to illustrate the fact that a wrong orientation leads to other problems with the following short story.

Essentially, he took his car in to the auto repair shop one day and he was told that his tires had been worn out unevenly.  The mechanic proceeded to tell him that it was because his tires weren't aligned properly.  He could continue to replace his tires very often but they would still erode at a different rate.  No matter how many times he replaced the tires, the problem would still be there.  So what does this mean?

It means that if our orientation is wrong, no matter how many times we try to run away from our sins/problems our "conquer" our sins/problems, they'll still keep on appearing.

Our orientation should be towards GOD and in pursuit of Him fully.  In our initial repentance, we should have fully tuned in to GOD and tuned out to the rest of the things in this world.  I grudgingly must admit that I have turned away and orientated myself to the world (an exact 180 degree opposite to the ways of my Father) and, as a Christian, if that has occurred in your life also, I URGE you to repent and turn back to the way of life and not of death.

When I first believed, I was given a new life and a second chance.  I made the vow to change my old habits and to surrender ALL to Christ at the foot of the cross.  With this new life, I don't want to model it after my old one because I know that this new life is much better than any life I can live.

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Father,


I give thanks for awakening me from this slumber of DEATH.  You have called me from the grave and now I have risen with you from it!  Oh, PRAISE YOU!  Would I turn my eyes upon you so that all the things of this world will be a blur to me for all I will ever need is you for you satisfy me fully.  I pray that you help me orient myself towards you and that I would only walk on the narrow path and never stray from it!  Yes, this world has SO much to offer but it pales in comparison to the glory that is to be revealed in Jesus Christ.  Would I only chase after what matters and what is important.  Would you come and meet me!  For you said that if I seek you, you will come.  Father, would you bless me and strengthen me for you ARE the Rock on which I stand and you ARE my foundation.


I praise you and in his name I pray,


Amen.

Surrender.

Father,


I will praise you through all the storms life can throw at me.  OH, there is so much freedom in surrender!  Though I don't know the future, you hold it and it's in this that freedom is gained.  My surrender is full and complete.  I wish to lay it all down and throw it all at your feet so that there isn't a worry in my heart.  For just as you watch over the birds of the air, I know that you care for me also.  GOD, in my temptations I will run to you.  As I flee from these temptations, I know that they in turn will run away from me.  Through your strength will I no longer be mired in my sin.  This is another part of the freedom that you give to me!  Daddy, come and rescue me.  Save me and reveal your hand for I trust in you.


In Jesus Christ's name I pray,


Amen.

Patience.

Father,

I'm running out of patience. I've waited for a year already and I just can't take it anymore. I know that I'm normally very patient but I'm just running out of it right now. I need you to grant me patience and I need you to capture my heart. In the same way Jacob passed his 7 years by enraptured by his love for Rachel, I want to be so madly and deeply in love with you so that it doesn't even matter how long I wait. Grant me patience and love, Father, for it truly is hard.

In Christ's name I pray,

Amen.

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"So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her." -Gen. 29: 20

I realize that my patience isn't enough. I pride myself on my ability to wait for things and my ability to be patient but my patience just isn't enough. I don't know how many more years I'll have to wait until I meet or find my "Rachel" but I want these next few years to be spent in love with my future spouse and more importantly, GOD. I want to be so captured by my love for GOD that I'm reluctant to get married and give myself over to someone. I just don't believe in my own patience anymore 'cause clearly it isn't enough and I need more of GOD's.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens... A time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend." -Ecclesiastes 3: 6,7

There is a time. Maybe it's the time for me to throw it all away or maybe it's a time for me to hold onto it. Maybe it's time for me to RIP it out and to tear it to pieces or maybe it's time for me to remake it. I don't know. All I know is that GOD has His timing and that His will is going to be done. The future is uncertain but I definitely know who holds it.

Identity + Love.

"If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." -Romans 6: 5-7

I've been sitting in front of my laptop thinking about how to start this little blurb for a while. The overall thought came to me in the shower (yes, I begin the majority of my large thoughts in the shower) but I really don't know how to start it so I'm just going to state it plainly and simply at a specific level.

I don't want my wife to be attracted to me because she thinks I'm good looking, athletic, talented, smart or anything else. I want her to be attracted to me because I'm a GODLY man. In the same way, I want to be known first and foremost as a GODLY man. As it says in the passage from Romans, I've died with Christ. My old self and it's sins are gone. Along with that, my old nature and my old identity. This new identity that I have is in Christ and that's why I want to be known as a GODLY man who follows after his Saviour and Friend. My priority is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and to live on this earth like he did. Though I cannot possibly live up that high of a standard for I am man and not man and GOD, it's by his example that I live.

Because of my changed nature, I want to be known through my changed nature. I want to be known as a man of GOD who SEEKS after His heart. It's not my will that I seek anymore but it's His will. I'm not forced to hand over my will but I WILLINGLY hand over my will. Sometimes it's hard to but when I get a glimpse of the glory of GOD in His plans for me, it becomes easy to hand it over. There will be times where I have to hand it over in faith for I know that He loves me but those are the times where GOD's glory is revealed.

If you know me well, one of my favourite passages in the Bible is Psalm 23. It's a very comforting passage but I've recently learned a whole new meaning to it within this year.

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul." -Psalm 23: 2,3

The part that gets to me all the time is that GOD has to MAKE us lie down sometimes in things that are good for us. We don't recognize the green pastures and so he has to MAKE us. The beauty lies in the fact that GOD loves us and has the best for us EVEN in our foolishness. We don't want to go for His will, we don't want to settle for His will and yet He still makes us lie down in those green pastures. It's only when we lie down do we seen the "green-ness" of it and the peace and calming of the waters leading to the restoration of our souls.

It's beautiful. The unconditional love of GOD is beautiful.

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Note: I totally just changed topics as I flowed from one to another. I really didn't intend to do it but I'm glad I got to share it. It's been something that I've been being reassured of for the past little while and I do hope it benefits whomever is reading this! Praying before writing this led to the moving of the Spirit.

Woman of GOD.

Disclaimer: The title is indeed what I'm going to be writing about but I have in no way, shape or form become a woman. JUST SAYIN'.

Reading from Genesis 24, we see the story of Isaac and Rebekah. As a young man, these love stories in the Bible are kinda exciting, I guess but there's more to LEARN from this than to be excited about this. I'm going to start off with the sharing of GOD's promise. GOD initially promised Abraham (Isaac's father) that he would be the father of many nations and that promise, by the very nature of it, extended to Isaac.

"He replied, 'The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family." -Gen. 24:40

In this context, this is the reassurance of GOD that He had already paved a way for Isaac and had prepared a woman for him already. In the same way, GOD reassures us that, somewhere on this earth, He has prepared a spouse for us already. Though he/she may be distant and unknown to us at the moment (like Isaac in Hebron and Rebekah in Canaan) or someone that we know right now, GOD has someone set aside for us so we need not worry!

The next couple of things I want to go through has to do with the qualities/traits that a guy must seek in a woman and that a woman of GOD must seek to gain. Before reading through Genesis 24, I must admit that I thought the only instructions for a woman was located in Proverbs 31 but I was surprised that the details of a fitting woman would be found here too!

"Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful." -Gen. 24:21

When I first read this verse, GOD humored me a little by saying how creeper-like this is. BUT it's true. As a young man, I have to examine a "potential" very carefully and see if this is the one who GOD has brought into my life to stay. I have to examine a woman, watch how she interacts and get to know her better in order to know whether or not she is "the one". Just by watching how she interacts with her friends, family, acquaintances, etc., you can get a pretty good idea of the person she is.

"The girl was very beautiful, A VIRGIN; no man had ever lain with her." -Gen. 24:16

"'He is my master,' the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself." -Gen. 24:64

These two passages deal with purity. As a Christian young man, I do very well hope that I marry someone who has kept themselves pure and a virgin for me. BUT in doing so, I have to keep myself like that for her also. In the 2nd passage given about purity, Rebekah knew that she was going to marry Isaac but yet she veiled her face just as she was about to meet him. I do believe that we can apply this to dating. Though we (should) date for marriage, that doesn't mean that we let our purity slip away. It means that even though we might have been dating someone for years, engaged or about to get married, the purity HAS TO remain there 'til the marriage occurs. This purity isn't just sexual purity but also an emotional purity. For all the men out there, once girls get emotionally attached, they PHYSICALLY become attached as well and that's a necessary danger that we need to avoid.

"After she had given him a drink, she said, 'I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.'" -Gen. 24:19

Very simply, this displays the kindhearted character that the woman must have. She must be willing to serve and to go BEYOND that. Obviously, in a marriage, the man and the woman both serve each other but this extends to outsiders too. I don't just want my spouse to be kind and nice towards me, I want her to be kindhearted overall! Speaking as an individual, it's really attractive when a girl is kindhearted even to people whom others may despise or those who might not be seen as easily befriendable.

"And she added, 'We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.'" -Gen. 24:25

This refers to her hospitable and generous traits. In this, Rebekah demonstrates it by inviting a complete stranger into her house (she lived with her family) because he needed a place to stay the night. In this, you should understand that they had a very different culture from the culture we have today so this is more acceptable than it seems to be right now. Back to the topic, this relates to the kindness and caring mentioned before.

"The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things." -Gen. 24:28

You might not see what's the importance in this but the woman has to have strong family support/ties. She needs to get along well with her family and hold them in a position of importance. Rebekah, upon the proposal of marriage, immediately ran to consult and tell her mother's WHOLE FAMILY. She didn't run to tell her friends first or whatnot but told her support first. If the woman doesn't get along well with her family or even respect them, how then can she run a family herself in the future?

"So she became his wife, and he loved her' and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." -Gen. 24:67

She needs to be able to comfort. Just as the neck supports the head, the woman supports the man in a marriage. Once Isaac and Rebekah said their vows to each other, she replaced his mother Sarah as the most important woman in his life. Obviously when Sarah died, there was a lot of grief but Rebekah, being the woman that GOD had placed in Isaac's life, was able to comfort him and SHARE this time of sadness with him.

"Laban and Bethuel answered, 'This is from the LORD.'" -Gen. 24:50

When you find that woman, GODLY people will approve of this as they see that it's from GOD. It's not just something that you realize GOD has put into your life but something that others realize that GOD has put into your life. As a part of the body of Christ, people are going to realize that there's something special that GOD has blessed the two of you with and that it is truly from GOD. The fact that other people can see it too is a reassurance but not the primary indicator. Two people shouldn't get married because people can see them together but they should get married because it is GOD's will. Like I said before, this approval is ONLY the reassurance.

Going back in a full circle to the beginning, GOD has someone prepared for each and every one of us (with exceptions of those who GOD knows have the ability to stay single for the rest of their lives) and we need not worry. All these traits are going to be found in my future wife and GOD has assured me of that. Where she is and what she's doing at this moment, I don't know but I trust that GOD is taking care of what will be mine.

"LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You GUARD all that is mine." -Psalm 16:5

Satisfaction guaranteed.

"And I - in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness" -Psalm 17: 15

In wanting GOD to satisfy us means that we no longer need to be satisfied by the things of this world or by anything that we can do for ourselves. There are so many times where I yearn for something that frankly won't matter eternally. In a personal sense, ASKING GOD to satisfy me means that I want Him to fill me up completely so that I won't want anything from this world. More specifically, I want my intimacy with Him to be so great that I will no longer fall into a lust for the flesh. Where there is light, there cannot be darkness.

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Father, I want you to satisfy me in all ways, shapes and forms. I want you to satisfy EVERY aspect of my life. To have you is to have something that is greater and BETTER than the world. Not just what the world has to offer BUT the whole world itself. I know that you alone are the only one that can truly satisfy me. GOD, I put you first and I want you to stay first. Convict me and deliver me from temptation, Father. When I am truly satisfied, I will no longer struggle with these things. It's just that I'm still working on handing over the keys to every door in my heart. I want you to take these keys from me, Daddy. Just take them. It's hard for I'm giving up ALL control even in the darkest regions of my life but I know that you'll make those places brighter and better. I pray this in with the assurance that you're listening to my prayers. In Jesus Christ's most Holy and precious name, Amen.