Abstain

This is one of the most controversial subjects probably in the world. The church as a whole has become the poster child of “abstinence, guilt and strict confinement” to the world. Unfortunately because of this it quickly became an insult to “accuse” someone of being a virgin or abstaining until marriage, especially if the person claiming to be doing so is male.

Being abstinent is not a punishment or unthinkable task to do. I believe that if society hadn’t automatically deemed abstinence as moronic or old school thinking, more people would be abstaining from many things, not just sexual activities.

To the ladies:

Just because all of your friends have participated in various sexual activities doesn’t mean YOU have to. What will YOU gain when YOU follow your friend’s patterns? How does it make you any better of a person if you have sex “just because” you thought you needed to. You dictate what you do with your body, but let the Holy Spirit operate it-meaning yes you can do whatever you want with your body because of our free will, but don’t be reckless and know that the Holy Spirit will guide you to not just any cute boy/man but instead will lead you to your husband. If you want this path of abstinence until marriage give your life over to Jesus, accept Him as your Lord and Saviour and then ask for your sins to be forgiven and ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

To the men:

Just like what the women go through, the peer pressure to hook up with a girl right away starting at a young age is almost impossible to escape. A great start is choosing quality friends, not just friends that you grew up with friends that have a similar mindset, professionally and relationship wise. But you can always start where you are, just let them know that you’re looking for a quality woman, one that will be your wife, not just any random girl that happens to be attractive. Of course there’s going to be one or two guys that are going to laugh or try to push you even more to hook up with someone, but you must stand your ground-if they’re your friend they’ll drop it and let you be you, but if they never let it go then you know to drop them!

Be Abundantly Supplied

No matter how many times a Pastor has brought up anything having to do with money, people around them get really uncomfortable and sometimes very dismissive because they feel that finances and faith are unrelated.

I cannot stress enough that God wants ALL His people to be abundantly supplied. Don’t get rich and abundant confused-because ‘rich’ has such an arrogant connotation, we have the ability to become abundantly supplied, meaning ALL of our needs are met.

Most people think Christians should be simple people living with the bare minimum and little money. This is not what God had in mind for us, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that if you are in that state that you are not a Christian or that God is mad at you, He wants you to move up. We all have to want more for ourselves and others and in order to be effective. You have to have something in order to help someone else, to provide shelter, gas, help with bills, food, clothes, traveling to get to somewhere/someone and so on. All the basic things in this world needs money at some point and this is why we have to be abundantly supplied. This also includes the connections you make with other people who have things that can help you help another, such as because you had the extra finances to travel to the next town to meet a friend who is stuck on the side of the road, you meet a man at a rest stop that has a towing service and is willing to tow your friend’s truck back to their home for half the price!

These things don’t happen by chance they happen because you had the finances and the favor of the Lord to help someone else and gave you a lower price to help that friend.

Being abundantly supplied means you and your family have all their needs met and have extra to do what you please (hopefully you choose wisely as to what to do).

Don’t be living on the cusp of financial downfall, be at a state of having more than enough!

Be Prepared

 This is not some doomsday preppers take on being prepared for an emergency, but being wise as to how to properly prepare for the world’s events.

Matthew 24:6

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all^[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

We are now at the point where almost all of God’s word has come to pass. We are in the stage of ‘wars and rumors of wars’ and gearing up for the end.

Luke 21:11

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹¹ And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

These events are already taking place now and will continue to develop over a short period of time. This is why we have to be wise and diligent to what the word has ALREADY warned us. He told us there things so that we can be prepared and not fumbling around in fear or complacency during these times.

Regardless if you believe we are in the end times, everyone should be prepared for any type of emergency.

Yes the Lord will protect His people, however protection doesn’t always come in the form of an invisible shield around you, sometimes it’s a knowledge that He gives us in His word. If we’re told, there will be earthquakes in diverse places, wouldn’t you make sure to have preparations for in case of an earthquake? These are common occurrences any, so why not be prepared! This also includes places that don’t have or usually have seismic activity.

Have a family plan to meet somewhere if something happens. Be prepared with food, water and protection (whatever that may be) and money if there are power outages or system crashes-which is not uncommon and will happen in the last days. Just be prepared regardless of what your local church believes. Be safe and pray when you read scriptures about the end times and ask for the Holy Spirit to clarify and give you wisdom about His word.