HOW SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE DESTROYS YOU AND YOUR GENERATION

Bible passage: Genesis 34

    Shecham the son of Hamor had sex with Dinah the daughter of Jacob and his soul was drawn to Dinah for he loved her.  The act done by Shecham and Dinah is very common in the world today. Most youths during courtship engage in premarital sex. Premarital sex is now seen as a normal thing that occurs between couples during courtship.

      

        Her brothers heard of what Shecham did to their sister, so they were very angry for he had defiled their sister. They kept quiet and pretended as if nothing had happen. This is exactly how God feels whenever you engage in premarital sex. Don’t you know that you simply defile His temple and His property whenever you engage in premarital sex?  You are God’s own and your body is His temple.1 Cor 3:16: 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Cor 6:18-20 (KJV): Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. God is angry whenever you defile your body, which is His temple and property and keeps watching you as if nothing had happened, for He is a God that keeps quiet while executing His judgment.

    

     Shechem decided to marry Dinah because of the love he had for her, so he did all he was told to do by Dinah’s family. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. This is a typical example of how the punishment for premarital sex hunts us down unexpectedly while we are moving on with our normal lives and had forgotten about the immoral act.  We can all see how premarital sex led to the destruction of shechem and his household. For it is written that whoever destroys the body shall be destroyed. Whenever you engage in premarital sex, you are destroying God’s temple, and the bible says that such people shall be destroyed.

There are different ways in which premarital sex can destroy a person:

1.  Death:  For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23 (KJV). God did not condemn Simeon and Levi for killing Shechem, He allowed it to happen because of what shechem did. This is the more reason why we need to stay away from sin, for the moment you engage yourself in sin, God will distance Himself from you and the devil or your enemy would use that as any opportunity to attack or harm you.

2. Failure: Premarital sex reduces or destroys one’s glory and it also hinders one from getting to his/her promised land provided by God. Moses was the only man that ever saw the back view of God, this is to tell you how close he was to God, but he was unable to get to the promised land because of anger and disobedience. If anger could hinder Moses from prospering, can you imagine what premarital sex would cost you?

3.  Premarital sex delays ones blessings and destiny: Premarital sex can make you jobless for years after graduating from the higher institution with good grades, it can make you single for years finding it difficult to have a good man or woman to marry. It can also make you barren for many years after marriage and also make you experience poverty for a very long time, for if you are destined to become a millionaire at the age of 25, premarital sex can delay such blessing until you are 50years old. Remember the Israelites, their trip to the promised land should have taken them just 11 days; instead, it took them 40 years! What’s astounding is that out of the 1.5 million people who left Egypt, only two from the original group made it to the Promised Land. Today, it seems there are many believers who have escaped “Egypt,” which represents their former life of slavery to sin. They are always looking towards the Promised Land but seems to end up wandering around the same mountains of their lives, dealing with the same problems, having the same issues.

    

      4. Illness and Diseases  : Sin is one of the main causes of illness and diseases such as cancer, leukemia, diabetes etc .In the end of the book of Deuteronomy, God gave the people of Israel a list of blessings and curses, depending if they listened or not to His Commandment and He says this:

If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you until you are destroyed. Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 28:58-62)(NASB) 

But not all diseases are the result of our personal sin.

          Dear reader, have you ever engaged in premarital sex and are feeling bad right now? The good news is that, Christ came to world because of people like you. Matt 9:13 (KJV) For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ is ready to forgive, restore and accept you the way you are as long as you are ready and willing to repent and never go back to your old ways.

      

      Written by Adebayo Tosin

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Bible Study: Making God Your Strength in Weakness

Read Genesis 14:1–24

As followers of Christ, we strive to live in a way that visibly attests to the work of God in our lives. Yet it’s easy to feel timid or reluctant about displaying our faith—especially if we've failed before. Abram knew what it was like to fail in trusting God fully. In Genesis 12, he acted out of fear and self-preservation in the face of danger instead of trusting in God’s promise (Gen 12:10–20). Yet God remained faithful to him. In Genesis 14, when Abram learned that his nephew was in danger, he didn't hesitate to act. Emboldened by God’s promise, Abram confidently set his eyes on the armies of the Mesopotamian kings, and with his band of trained men, he took down an army of giants.

Our past failures or lapses of faith do not prevent God from using us to accomplish great things, whether in witnessing to His work in our lives or defeating armies of giants (see Psa 118:6; Rom 8:31). Abram’s life shows us that God can and will use us despite our weaknesses and failures (see 1 Cor 1:26–31). This encourages us, like the Apostle Paul, to recognize that God’s grace is sufficient and that His power is made evident through our weakness (2 Cor 12:9).

In Colossians 3:17, Paul wrote, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (ESV). Paul recognized that when we live out our faith, others notice—and they benefit from our efforts. This was true in Abram’s life: The Canaanite priest-king Melchizedek recognized Abram’s courage and, more importantly, God’s hand in Abram’s victory. Our faith should not only affect us, it should affect those around us as we respond to God’s call to live as disciples of Christ (see Col 3:12–15).

1. Read 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 and 2 Cor 12:9–10. How does Paul describe our weakness compared to God’s strength? How does this encourage you to rely on the Lord?

2. How can you show God’s love to others by living faithfully? How does putting to death “what is
earthly” and putting on a new being affect how you relate to others (see Col 3:5–17)?

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12 Tips to Guard Against Sexual Sin

   It only takes a small pin to burst a balloon. When trust is gone and when there is a leak in
the integrity and character of a person, the explosion is quick and even startling. What has
taken a lifetime of hard work to build disintegrates swiftly with an act of immorality, an act of
indiscretion. You sacrifice your integrity, lose your credibility, and forfeit the right to lead.

I often speak to men about the sin of adultery and perversion because of the seemingly tolerant
attitude in society toward this sexual misbehavior. And once you cross that line, once you go
over the boundaries into sexual sin and engage in immorality, it becomes easier and easier to
justify it.

There are 12 points I share on how to maintain moral purity.

1) Recognize your potential for moral failure. Don’t say, “It can’t happen to me.” Don’t
say, “I’m immune to this” because you’re not. And if you’re not careful, if you don’t
watch and pray, if you don’t develop spiritual disciplines in your life, you’re more than
vulnerable.
2) Realize you don’t have to give in. Don’t say, “The living Christ is in me and yet I
couldn’t help myself.” You have the power of God’s Spirit; the Spirit of the living God
lives in you and will enable you and empower you.
3) Resolve to be pure; purpose in your heart not to defile yourself. And if you have fallen,
you can start over again. And you can say, “From this day forward, God, make me pure
and make me clean.”
4) Remove all bitterness from your life. Often, when a person becomes bitter, he’s upset
about something that becomes an excuse or a rationalization to say, “Well, I deserve this
pleasure.”
5) Restrain the flesh in all areas. Paul said in Romans 13:4: “Make no provision for the
flesh.” That speaks for itself.
6) Refuse to give in even for a moment. Fight this all the days of your life. I’ve known men
who have lived in moral purity all their days and then at the end of their life made some
foolish mistake.
7) Run from every form of evil. The Bible says to abstain from every appearance of evil.
8) Resist the devil. He’s the author of these lies. He’s the ultimate enemy. And in the name
of Jesus Christ you can resist the enemy.
9) Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.”
10) Renew your mind in the Word of God. Saturate your heart and your mind. Renew your
mind in the washing of the water of the Word of God.
11) Rejoice in the goodness and the grace and the forgiveness and the love of God. When
you praise God, you are empowered to be pure. Worship Him! Praise Him! Because in
the praise … the act of praise itself, we are enabled to overcome the work of the enemy.
12) Remember that you will give an account before a holy God and that’s a sobering
thought. Paul said, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? You
were bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus.”

It takes time to restore trust and credibility and integrity. It takes time, it takes counsel, it
takes the Word of God working in your life and cleansing your heart and your soul and
your mind and your will, and standing you back up again so that you can make a comeback
in your life by the grace of God. And we’re forever grateful for that grace that covers and
cleanses all sin.

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Reaching your promised land

Is your attitude causing you to journey in the wilderness longer than you should?

   If you are facing a struggle in your life, perhaps the problem isn't what you think it is. Many times, we focus on another person or a situation and we think that’s what is causing us to be unhappy. But the real issue might be that you have a bad attitude.

It may seem like your problem is your spouse, your children, a co-worker, the traffic, the economy, your church ... but actually, you might be wandering around in the wilderness, unable to find your promised land because your attitude stinks.

I can relate to this. There was a time when, just like the Israelites, I used to blame the things that were wrong in my life on my outward circumstances instead of looking at what was in my heart. I remember when God taught me this as I studied Scriptures about the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness.

What’s Keeping You From Your Promised Land?

We can learn a lot about the importance of a good attitude by looking at the Israelite  Consider this: The Bible says there was an estimated 1.5 million people who came out of Egypt. God delivered them from slavery and led them on the journey to their Promised Land, a place described as flowing with milk and honey. The trip should have taken just 11 days; instead it took them 40 years!

Why did that happen? In Numbers 14, we see the people were continuously grumbling and complaining about everything. They even complained about the bread that God miraculously provided for them. Anytime something difficult crossed their path, they were ready to give up and go back to Egypt—back to slavery.

What’s astounding is that out of the 1.5 million people who left Egypt, only two from the original group made it to the Promised Land. It seems even today there are many believers who have escaped “Egypt,” which represents their former life of slavery to sin. They are always looking toward the Promised Land but seem to end up wandering around the same mountains their entire life, dealing with the same problems, having the same issues.

Are you one of these people? Do you feel like you've been going around the same mountain long enough?

Early in my walk with the Lord, I was wandering around in a wilderness of carnality. That’s what the wilderness is—fleshly living that lets your soul (mind, will and emotions) be in control. This leads to a lousy attitude, because when our soul is in control, we aren't submitting our thoughts to Christ, thinking and acting like Him. Let the Lord work in your soul. He wants to change your attitude by changing the way you think.

Get a New Attitude

Ephesians 4:22-24 says: “Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; and be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness” (AMP).

In these verses, God lovingly asks us to stop acting like we used to. This takes effort on our part, but by God’s grace and with His help, we can change. The key is to constantly renew our mind each day with God’s Word.

Although I’ve been teaching from the Bible all these years, I still have to make a daily decision to renew my mind with God’s Word. God has brought me a long way and some things are easier now than before, but I haven’t “arrived.” There are still times when I need to take off the old nature and put on the new nature of Christ. It is part of the lifelong journey we all have in our walk with the Lord.

As you become more like Christ, you’ll get closer to the promised land God has for you. Renew your mind with God’s Word every day and enjoy the journey!

By Joyce Meyer

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How to shine

Philippians 2:12-18

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputing: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me”.

To shine, our personal faith must have a public presence. You must hold out the word of life. By guiding people into Righteousness

Daniel 12:3. Those who are wise [Or who impart wisdom] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

 2. We shine by allowing God to do his full work in us and through us.

 3. By working out our salvation with fear and trembling. God works in us before working through us.

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed —not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence— continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

4. We shine by reflecting the light of God in a dark world by illuminating others. Matthew 5:15-16. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

5. We shine by doing good works without complaining.

Philippians 2:14-16. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out [Or hold on to] the word of life — in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

6. By doing what pleases the Lord. Ephesians 5:8-10

Ephesians 5:8-15. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the

Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise,

7. We shine through our deeds and our creeds.  Deeds are our good works, while creeds are your belief, message and your witness about Jesus Christ. Those around you must not just hear your good message. They must see your good works. If your deeds are important, your creed is equally important. That is why those who are born to shine must avoid sinful deeds and evil creed that don’t give glory to God.

8. We shine by remaining connected to the source of light. If light is cut off from the source, no matter the voltage it carries, it cannot shine.

9. We shine eternally by surrendering all our victories and success at the feet of the master, it all belongs to God.

                                          

                                           Written by Dada Samson  

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