"For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

John 3:17 

Happy Easter everybody!

I hope everybody has a blessed day and celebrates the day that our Saviour rose from the grave.

Today I want to speak about a topic that a lot of Christians don't seem to understand, or rather, don't apply to their lives. I too am among these Christians but God is currently teaching me this lesson, which I would like to share with you. 

We are under grace, not condemnation.

What does this mean? You may ask. To explain this I must firstly briefly talk about what Jesus did for  us. When Jesus Christ was on earth, he was a perfect human being. He never once sinned and he lived a life that pleased God. Us human beings, on the other hand, were full of sin. We were slaves to sin, whether we realised it or not, and lived a life of rebellion to God. Our sin prevented us from having a relationship with God. Why? Because what is pure (God) and what is impure (sin) cannot cooperate. However, God still loved us. Even in our sin and rebellion against him, he loved us. So he chose to give up his Son to save us from the penalty of our sins. If not for Christ's sacrifice, we would face the punishment for sinning - which is death and hell. (The Bible makes it clear that in order for sins to be forgiven by God, a sacrifice must be given). Jesus Christ was the only sacrifice that could make up for the sins of the world because he himself was God, and there is nothing better than God, therefore he was the perfect sacrifice. He was the greatest sacrifice that could have been given. But Jesus' death and shedding of his blood was a seal to a new covenant (promise) between human beings and God - a covenant of grace and not condemnation.

What is grace? Grace is when we don't deserve something but God gives it to us anyways - out of his great love and mercy. Christ Jesus died so that humans could now have a relationship with God again. This act was done out of the grace and love of God. We did nothing to deserve Christ dying for us. We deserved death, we deserved condemnation. But God decided to treat us otherwise. Our sins originally distanced us from God but his sacrifice caused a reconciliation and restoration.

"And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."

Romans 5:9-11

God wants us to embrace his new covenant of grace. Because of what Christ did for us, we no longer are condemned for our sins. ("So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1). Okay Sophie, but what does this actually mean..why is this important..you may be thinking. What this means is when you sin now, you are not condemned (given that you repent).  (Take note that this applies to those who are in Christ, who are genuinely saved). A lot of people misunderstand God for this person who is very strict and you must obey his laws or else you will die and no no no, that is not who God is. God is a God of love and patience and mercy. He WANTS to forgive you when you sin. He does not want to condemn you!

A lot of the time, when we sin, we feel extremely guilty. We feel like we have disappointed God. Well I do anyways. Sometimes when I mess up, I get so discouraged and angry at myself that I feel too embarrassed to approach God. I feel too ashamed of myself to even ask for mercy. I say to myself "Ugh, I keep saying I will stop with this sin, yet I keep finding myself doing it. God can't keep forgiving me because I am making a fool of him.". God has been showing me recently that this is wrong wrong wrong. This is the wrong mindset to have. God is a God who is FULL of forgiveness and mercy. When we mess up, he WANTS us to come to him. It is totally against human logic. In our minds, when we do something wrong to someone, it's better to leave them alone for a while. For example, if you steal money from your mum and she finds out, the chances are that you will not approach her for money for a while. The chances are that you will keep your distance from her for a while because you believe that she is still hurt and is not ready to forgive and accept you yet. But God is not like human beings. He behaves opposite in this sense. When we sin, God especially wants us to approach him. He wants to forgive us and help us deal with it. You must understand that God himself came as a human being and was tempted too. He understands what it is like to be tempted by sin (Hebrews 4:15). He knew how to overcome it therefore he wants to help you overcome it too.

When you sin, don't drown in a sea of guilt. Rather come to God and admit to him that you are helpless and unable to fight sin by yourself. Admit to him that you need him. Repent of the sin and BELIEVE that he has forgiven you. Many of us unnecessarily live in guilt because we don't think we are forgiven. We think that our sin is too bad for God to forgive us. We think that we have sinned so much that God has run out of patience and no longer wants to forgive us. All of this is wrong. God loves us and if we confess our sins to him, he will forgive us (1 John 1:9).  Although we deserve condemnation, his grace says "no condemnation, I want them to have eternal life through me". Do not live condemning yourself because you have done wrong. God still loves you and his love for you can never run out, no matter how much you sin (Romans 8:38-39). So believe that you are forgiven. However that does not mean you can continue to live in sin with the idea that God's mercy will always be available to you. Living in such a way proves that you don't love and fear God, and someone who doesn't love God cannot enter heaven.

The more you come to God in prayer and worship, and the more you spend time with him by meditating on his Word, you will find sin leaving you. Your desire for sin will start going away because your love for God is growing bigger. Being a believer does not mean you do not struggle with sin anymore. You are being transformed daily through Christ and he is helping you overcome sin because he lives inside of you and he himself has overcome sin. So be encouraged.

Thank you for your time reading this today, I hope you can apply this message to your life.

But remember, you must be saved in order to be under the covenant of grace. You must have accepted Jesus Christ into your life for these things to be a reality for you. If you have not, I have another blog post titled "I'm too broken for God" (http://okaysophie.blogspot.ie/2015/08/im-too-broken-for-god.html) I hope you can read this.

Have a lovely day everybody.

Jesus loves you.

"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

Hebrews 4:16 

"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

John 1:5

Many of us are going through depression, sorrow, pain, experiencing feelings of emptiness and are clueless to why. Why is it that I always feel sad for no reason? Why is it that I keep finding myself falling back to this person who is causing me pain? Why is it that this sin won't stop tormenting me? My friend, it is because you are sitting in darkness.

We live in an age of so much darkness that we no longer see it as darkness again. We have picked up "night time goggles" which disillusion us into believing that we can actually see in the dark. But we can't. "The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." (Proverbs 4:19) 

You see the thing about darkness is that it is so deceptive. Turn off the lights in a room you have never been in and try to make out what things are. You can guess. You can assume. But you can never know until the lights have been turned on. Many of us are living in this dark mentality and it is dangerous. We are living in so much darkness and have gotten used to it that, hilariously, we think we can see. Jesus warns us about this in Luke 11:35 where he says "Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness." The type of darkness described here is the one to which too many people fall victim to, maybe even you. I know I have myself before. It is when you think you are a "good person" - forgetting that ONLY God is good - and you don't need anything like Jesus because you're already fine. You think you're in the light. You can't relate to this at all. It's all a lie of the devil, please, don't fall into that trap. It could eventually cost you your life in hell.

But here's the catch..

You don't have to live in darkness anymore.

You must understand this. Jesus declares in John 9:5 that "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Read the book of John chapter 1 and you will learn that Jesus is the light of men. That's right, he is the light for both you and I. Here's the thing about light. It has so much power in it. In the beginning of the world "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2) BUT THEN, God said "Let there be light" and there was light.

See I don't think you get it yet. God said let there be light, AND THE DARKNESS FLED. It ran away! If you turn off the lights in your room now, the room will fill with darkness. But as soon as you turn the lights on, the darkness runs and lights fills the room. Why? Because, as we read in John 1:5, "the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Darkness cannot understand light so it runs away from it! What God is telling you today is that the darkness in your life can and will run once you let Jesus, the light of the world, in! 

This is the reason why I don't believe that 'religion' - that is, the custom of  simply 'following rules' - works when it comes to knowing  Jesus. Jesus doesn't simply desire you to follow a set of rules, he desires a relationship with you. And once you get into a relationship with Christ, you will find yourself obeying those commandments. It will not be a burden. It will not be boring. None of that. This is the mystery that people don't often tell you about Jesus Christ - HE CHANGES YOU. How? Because once you accept him and believe in him, he comes to live inside your heart. And if Jesus, the light of the world, is living inside of you, his light cannot BUT shine inside of you. And...drumroll..consequently, the darkness in you flees! 

Just like that.

I am a living testimony, as well are thousands of others. The darkness flees and the light reigns.

Darkness cannot stand light and that is why you can never see a place that is both dark and lighted at the same time. It's one or the other. The light may be dim in a room you may argue, but ultimately, there is light! And in the areas in which the light shines, darkness doesn't stay. 

But in order for Jesus to abide i.e stay inside of you, you must stay in his word, that is the Bible. 1 John 1:1 tells us that Jesus IS the "Word", therefore when we spend time meditating on God's word, we are allowing Jesus to come more and more into us. We are allowing Jesus to shine more and more of his light into our hearts. You may not see it initially but the more you spend time, trusssttt me - fruits will show, meaning you will start seeing a change. Psalm 119:105 says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." It is light. And the only way for the light to shine in you is by meditating on this his word as often as possible. It is food for your soul. You wouldn't go a day without eating a proper meal so why do you starve your spirit from it's food, the Word of God?

I used to walk in darkness. I used to be a victim of blindness. I used to live in total emptiness. But "whereas I was blind, now I see" as John 9:25 says. And you can too.

In order to understand God's word, however, you must ask him for the Holy Spirit. If you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to me on my social media or my email.

Love you all.

Jesus loves you more.

"For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."

Psalm 18:28

Happy New Year everyone!

It's crazy to think yet again one year has passed by and we have entered a new one. Firstly, glory be to God and to God alone that we made it into 2017 safe and sound. If not for his mercy and for his grace, none of us would be here to celebrate this wonderful start to the year.

I believe that 2017 is going to be a year of growth, love and giving.

Personally, I am going to work on myself in all of these areas so I decided to share just a few of the things that I plan to do this year and that I also encourage you to do also.

Forgive

I really believe that this year there should be a huge emphasis on forgiveness. We're currently living in a world where people see good as evil and evil as good. Being cold and cruel to others has become a fashion trend and many people are following it. Too many people. Too many people would rather hold anger and tension in their heart against a person, for the sake of being able to gossip about them, rather than to just forgive. 

You see the thing about forgiveness is that it doesn't only take the burden off the other person but the burden off you too. It's like a pin has been removed from your heart once you forgive someone of their offence. And, for me, the most powerful kind of forgiveness is the one given where no apology is made. I think we all need to work on this one this year. When someone doesn't say sorry, forgive them anyways. Forgive your dad for leaving you. Forgive your best friend for betraying you. Forgive those around you because it brings healing to you as a person and helps you to grow.

Love

Dedicate this year to loving God more and loving people more. Go deeper in your walk with God. Remind yourself everyday that your relationship with God is based on faith, not your feelings. It doesn't matter if you wake up feeling angry at the world, you have all the power to say no to those negative vibes and decide to show even more love than usual on that particular day. Praise God. Listen to music that glorifies him. Spend more time in his word. I promise you, because I am living proof, that if you spend valuable time in God's word, you will naturally begin to love more and you will find it so much easier.

Also, show love to your friends and family and strangers. Maybe think twice before insulting your friend as a joke. I know I need to work on that myself, but rather find other ways to make them laugh. Spread positivity and keep only good vibes around you. If you have friends who you know are not contributing to a successful future for you, or who are like dark clouds over you, let them go. 

Be joyful

Train your thoughts to think in such a way where they see the good in everything. It's not easy. It will take time. But gradually, if you work hard to do it, you will see outstanding results. When you go out, embrace everything you see around you and look for the beauty in it. Appreciate your friends and their uniqueness. Look in the mirror and tell yourself everyday that you are great, that you are wonderful, that you are beautiful. People don't realise how much power there is in the tongue and in the mind. So when you combine both of them together, amazing things happen. You will become more joyful if you work on focusing on the good. Stop looking for happiness because the more you look for it, the further away you will be from finding it. Just embrace everything by the heel and appreciate all that is around you and joy will find you.

Give

Give Give Give.

Give more. Give abundantly. Give like never before this year. Give your time, energy, love, commitment, faithfulness, kindness, character. Just give. Money is not the only thing that must be attached onto giving. Sometimes, the most powerful type of giving is when you give people things that hands cannot touch. When you give time and energy into making someone around you happier, by telling them something nice or performing an unexpected kind gesture, their happiness will bounce back to you. It has a mirror effect, trust me. 

More importantly, give yourself to God. Allow him to change your heart and mind. Allow him to give you a new beginning because here's the truth. I heard someone say the other day that "A new year doesn't put you on a clean slate, Jesus does," and this is so very true. Open your heart to him. Give your time and energy and dedication to him. If you have strayed away from him in the past, he is right here still waiting for you. Never forget the story of the prodigal son. Jesus says in John 6:37 "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." This means that Jesus will never say to you "Go away I don't want you." His arms are always open and he indeed is waiting for YOU to come into them.

Revelation 3:20

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Jesus is reminding us here that he is knocking on the door. On the door of your heart. He is waiting for you to open it and let him in. He will transform your life, but only if you allow him to.

I hope you all have an amazing year.

God bless.

Love you all.

If you love him, live for him.

I believe that this question was made for you. Yes, you reading this. Do you really love God?

The Bible calls us to examine ourselves in light of the scriptures and to see if we stand. I think that this is necessary for each of us to do today, and each and every day after that.

A lot of Christians assure themselves falsely. They say "I read my Bible, I pray every day, I go to church" but let me tell you something; that does not mean you love your God. Perhaps in the eyes of this world, it does, but may I remind you that the world's standards are far lower than God's standards. In fact, they are so low that they really should not be compared.

Loving God means sacrifice. Sacrifice means surrendering yourself to him and giving up some of the things that you once loved so much but are essentially harmful. If you are not willing to sacrifice all for him, then you don't really love him. There is a story in Matthew 19:16-22 where a rich man comes to Jesus and asks how he may make it to heaven. He informs Jesus that he keeps all the commandments and has done so since childhood. So Jesus asks him to sell all that he has and give it to the poor, then to come and follow him. However, the man walks away sorrowfully, because he had many possessions and was not willing to give them up.

Ask yourself, if that was you in that situation, would you do the same? Would you walk away, sad? The honest truth is, most of us would. Many of us are so attached to these worldly, temporary things that we cannot imagine life without it. You shouldn't feel guilty for this, however, because Jesus addresses this in the following verses of Matthew 19. Read it for yourself. He said that "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible". He acknowledges that our own strength is insufficient to bring us to heaven, or to cause us to sacrifice what we have. He realises that it is very hard and this is why he offered up himself to help us. Jesus died on that cross for our addictions, for our guilt, for our shame, so that we can let go of those things and come to God. When you truly accept Jesus into your life, he gives you this option to walk away from those things, but you first have to open your heart to him.

Many people will not understand what this means or why God requires us to sacrifice all for him. So allow me to tell you now. God wants you to sacrifice all for him, because he sacrificed all for you. It is as if people don't realise the amount of strength it takes to give up your ONE and ONLY child to death, for the sake of people who may not even care. Imagine it like this. Your worst enemies are brought to court. These people have lied to you, stolen from you, murdered the people you love and did the most inhumane things possible. They have hurt you to such an extent that no apology could ever make up for it. Now these people are given the death penalty, with one condition being the exception. The judge says to them "Unless anybody is willing to replace you in this death sentence, you are condemned". Now these people have been evil and wicked their whole lives. They have not been merciful, nor kind, nor have shown love. They deserve to die. Then all of a sudden, you stand up and tell the judge "I will take their place". Okay hold up, hold up, slow down you're probably thinking. "I could never do that," some of you will laugh. But that is exactly what God did. He stood up, and took the misery and pain and death that we were supposed to get and took it on himself. He took the death penalty, where we were supposed to have it. Jesus, the most pure man who has ever tread upon the earth, was punished as if he was the most impure. And he did it all out of love. He did it out of the infinite, unconditional love that he has for you. The love that still exists and remains and doesn't ever reduce, even when you curse at his name, even when you disobey him, even when you treat him like a stranger, he still loves you. So give him a break and start to show that love back.

How do I open my heart up to Christ? You must first realise the depth of sin that you are in. You must first acknowledge how you are not worthy of God, because of all the evil you have done against him (Remember, if you are doing evil against your fellow human beings, you are doing evil against God. Read Matthew 25:34-46). Once you realise this, you must repent of this. Repenting means being genuinely sorry for all that you have done and being ready to turn away from your sins and change. It is not a thing you do with your mouth alone, but with your heart. God is not mocked. You must be SERIOUS about wanting to change, and God will see that. Go to God in prayer and confess to him, in your own words, all that you have done and that you are sorry. You don't need a priest or pastor to do this for you, you can do it right now by yourself. Then as Romans 10:9 says, you must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved. After that, you have to be willing to live 100% for Christ. It won't be easy, it will be hard. You will not change overnight, unless that is how God wants it, but likely it will take time and this is normal. Being cleansed is a lifetime process but you must try and play your part too, while allowing Jesus to do the work. Opening your heart to him means talking to him as much as possible about everything going on in your mind and your life. It means reading his word, the Bible, and allowing this word to change you as a person by adjusting your life to what the Bible says. In John 14:15, Jesus says "If ye love me, keep my commandments." So if you really love him, do that.

And maybe you are being honest with yourself now and know that you don't love God. Don't fear, nor feel guilty. By doing the same outlined above, you can grow to love him. Read the book of John in the Bible, that will guide you. If you don't have a Bible, there are Bible websites online such as https://www.biblegateway.com If you need further advice, feel free to reach out to me on my social media or through a comment.

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

Matthew 16:24

This is really the secret to following Christ. You have to deny your body of the things which it loves so much; cursing, sex, lying, homosexuality, disobedience etc. You need to say no to it, every single day, and be ready to live for Christ. This is the sacrifice that I am talking about. When I first came to God, I had to sacrifice a lot. Certain relationships that I knew were not helping me grow in Christ. Certain groupchats. Some websites. Some music. Some movies. I had to sit myself down and say "Okay Sophie, if you really love God, prove it." And it was hard. It was difficult and it took time, but with God's strength and support, I did it and continue to do it to this day. This is what I mean when I say being cleansed is a lifetime process. Sometimes you pick up bad habits and have to sacrifice them in order to come back to God. He is willing to help you, but you have to be ready to help yourself. Remember this: "By strength shall no man prevail." 

You cannot do this by your own strength and willpower. You cannot give up what you love but know is not good, without God's help. So cry out to him today and pick up your Bible and grow. God will change you if you are willing to be changed. Sometimes, you may carry on doing the same sinful things, but because of your repented heart, you begin to lose those desires and eventually stop doing those things.

Have faith in God and he will see you through.

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:13

Have a lovely day and be blessed.

Xx

My deepest apologies to you all for my lack of posts over the last few months.

I can't even begin to explain how busy my schedule has been, I just haven't been able to find the time to update this blog, yet I have been receiving requests to post more regularly and I also want to remain committed to those of you who enjoy my posts.

So we are coming back with a BANG! (I hope).

As I previously mentioned, my Summer and re-entrance to school has been extremely busy. So allow me to update you on some things that have been going on in my life, if you will..

Okay, reflecting on it now, I am realising that perhaps I don't have that much to update you with. But I will still attempt to make my life sound interesting.

Last weekend, I took a trip down to the other side of the country, to a lovely city called Galway. I would be lying if I say I wasn't surprised. The city is actually very lively and busy, much like Dublin, however, it is a lot more calm than here. I feel like many of us who live in the more populated side of the country tend to ignore that other big cities actually do exist in this small country. Unfortunately not everywhere outside our boundaries can be seen as "the countryside" ahaha.

Something funny occurred while I was there however. My friends and I were in the middle of one of the main streets, talking to one another, when one of my friends noticed two women pointing their phone cameras at us. It was very confusing, to say the least! They were giggling and waved to us and continued walking onwards again, when they suddenly stopped and ran back to us. The two women asked for a picture. A picture with us ordinary people. It was as if we had travelled to another side of the country and suddenly became celebrities. Not gonna lie, I wasn't complaining. The woman posed with her thumps up and seemed very excited. To this moment, I'm still not aware of who she thought we were. But, again, I am not complaining.

Also, during the Summer, I took a trip down to Belfast. I didn't know to expect going there, granted though, as I haven't been there before. There is such a British vibe to the place. The streets are filled with flags upon flags of the Union Jack, and I got the air of fish and chips there. The Nandos there is also so affordable, I'm not sure what influenced Ireland's prices. Still love them anyways.

My friend and I stayed within the main streets yet somehow we managed to get lost at one time. We thank God for Google Maps though, I'm not sure where I would be today without it. Literally.

My cousins from England and America were able to pay us a visit during August and I had such a fun time with them. I had to explain to them what a 'spice box' is, which was quite funny, I wasn't aware that it was only an Irish thing. During the time they stayed, we were able to take a tour around Dublin on a tour bus. It's crazy how you can live in a place for so long and yet never have seen so many things. I realised this while on the tour bus. I also never realised how historical the town is. It was quite interesting to see. As well as that, we went to the famous amusement park, Tayto Park, which contains Europe's largest wooden roller coaster. I am not exaggerating when I say that whilst on that roller coaster, I thought I would die. It is without a doubt the faster roller coaster that I have ever been on. I would definitely go again though, and I strongly recommend it too. The park has glo'd up since the last time I went, when it was simply a farm with kiddy rides. But now, it has the most exciting attractions. We went to a 5-D cinema, have you ever heard of that before? The water literally splashes you, in fact it is as if you are also in the movie. That was certainly an experience.

Mental Health Awareness Day was this week and so I use this platform to encourage all of you who are suffering from a state of mental unwellness to keep pushing on. Today I was presented with an interesting illustration. On a well-known online dating app called Tinder, they have a "swipe" system. People you are interested in you swipe right when they see your name and these show up as a list on your account (Forgive me if I am slightly wrong or if the app has updated, I don't use it but this is what I heard). When you see these requests, you have the ability to look at this person and decide if they are attractive to you. Many people are highly critical and once they find something that they don't like about the person, they swipe left which deletes the request. If they are happy with the person, they will swipe right. 

Now think of it like this: Your mind consists of this list. However, it does not consist of people requesting to date you but rather your thoughts. Many of us are prone to swiping right (accepting) the negative thoughts that go through our head. "I'm useless" Yup let's swipe right. "Nobody loves me" So true, swipe right again! "I have no purpose" YASSSS, RIGHT! No. Wrong. You are loved, you have a purpose and you are indispensable to this world. Why don't we instead train our minds to swipe left (reject) to these things? If we can be so easily reject things that we don't like that we see, why can't we learn to reject the things that we don't see? Your mind is a place that you forever live in yet you never once see what it looks like inside. So redecorate that place. Learn to store all the good that you see around you, the positivity, the optimism and swipe right to them all. Watch how your life changes when you are determined to see the good in life. And if you cannot see it in your own life, look harder. That day where you feel extremely happy, write about it somewhere. That day that somebody compliments you, note it. Fill your mind with the positive. Let the light in your life shine and outshine the darkness.

You are not, and you never will be alone. People around you love and care about you, and if you don't believe this, feel free to reach out to me on my social media platforms. As well as this, I can assure you that God is there to listen to you and as the bible says in 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." I know that mental health is a touchy subject because it's never easy for anybody to "just learn how to be happy" but it is a journey. It is a journey of progress. It could take weeks, months, years, but with determination, you can do it. I believe you can.

That's just to name a few of the fun things/experiences that have happened to me over the past few months, there may be more, but they can be stories for another day. I hope to continue to post as often as I possibly can, yet I will be honest in saying that that may be once or twice a month. Hopefully, you don't mind. I am currently preparing for my biggest examinations so far, so I hope you can understand how busy I am and will be.

I hope you all have a lovely week and decide to treat yourself to something nice. Whether that be food, or cake, or just simply giving yourself a break. Be blessed.

"And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

John 1:5

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

Proverbs 4:23

Do you ever wonder why your mind is constantly cluttered with so many things? You constantly find the most random of thoughts popping into your head and you don't know where they came from? Well, let me tell you something, these things all flow from your heart. I'm not talking about your physical heart. I'm talking about the heart that supposedly gets broken, the heart that people advise you to choose "head over heart", the heart that the Bible says is wicked; who can know it?

Here's another truth, we decide what we put in our hearts. We decide what we fill it with. Granted, we are born with some of its chambers, such as love, sin, doubt, yet the majority of others things, we introduce ourselves. The condition of our heart determines our standing before God. Meaning that, however our heart is affects our relationship with God. This is why it it utterly important that we guard our hearts and try to keep it as clean as possible. And not only that, but allow God to clean it. (John 17:17)

A lot of us are guilty of polluting this heart with many things, without even realising it. One thing about our heart is that it is deceitful. It can make you believe that you are perfectly clean and perfect and holy when in fact you are rotten and dead (Revelation 3:17). This is why we must constantly be examining it and examining ourselves to see what we hold in our hearts. Ask yourself right now, What do I hold in my heart? Love? Unforgiveness? Anger? Pride? Hatred? Doubt? Make sure that you identify these things and commit them to God and also put in effort to fix them today.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Jeremiah 17:9

Everything that we do, every word, every action, every thought, affects the condition of our heart. Nothing is ever neutral. Never. It is always either getting better, or getting worse. We live in such a generation where it is extremely easy to pollute your heart daily, through abusive use of the Internet and many other things. Usually, we are not even aware of when we are worsening our hearts, but it is an urge, especially today, to address these unknown things. Being Christians, we must be more careful than others in anything and everything that we do.

Things that can significantly influence your heart include movies, TV shows, friends, books, pictures, videos, songs, dances, and whatever else we spend a lot of time doing. Many of us are not aware of the danger that lies in many of the TV Shows that are available to watch today, and yet we indulge in these shows. The Vampire Diaries, Orange is the New Black, Pretty Little Liars, Empire, Game of Thrones, you name it. I often wonder why people, most especially Christians, enjoy watching the things that God hates. How can you feel comfortable spending your time watching shows that glorify fornication and being petty and killing others and the lust for money and so on? How is it that you claim to love God on Sunday morning yet Sunday night you are indulging in porn? There is no justification for these things. Being a Christian means taking up your cross daily. It means crucifying the desires of your flesh daily. It means saying NO to the things that your flesh loves. It is this self-control that allows us to grow and the Christians in the 21st century are in desperate need of it.

Music tends to be a hard one for people because it just sounds so good, right? You can't help dancing to a good beat or picking up a new rap because it's just too good to ignore. But let me alert you of something, before Satan fell he was the chief musician amongst the angels. He knows how to use music to destroy peoples lives. Some of these popular songs that are listened to, grime music, trap music, R&B, pop songs, rock music - they have a common theme. They tend to praise what God hates. The hearts of the musicians create songs that glorify the same sins that nailed Christ to the cross. It isn't right that we listen to this music because the lyrics of such, whether you realise it or not, they affect us. We need to train ourselves on how to reject the things of this world. 1 John 2:15 says "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

I am not saying that any show or movie or song that doesn't say Jesus Jesus Jesus all over it is bad. Don't get me wrong. I'm just trying to tell you that we should avoid things that God hates. God loves positivity and encouragement and the right kind of love, so it's okay to listen to things that edify us or make us better in this way. But when we listen to things that encourage us to hate each other, or be sly to one another, or be hostile towards your ex, or cause harm to other people, when we listen to these things whether you like it or not we take them to heart. Whether it be subconsciously or not, we slowly start to look at things with that mindset or attitude and this is not what God calls us to do.

When I gave my life to Christ, being honest, it was very hard. It was hard because I loved the very things that God hated. I remember going through my music playlists and deleting and deleting and deleting. It was painful, I won't lie. But in the end, today, I look back and I am glad I got rid of those toxic things. I am happy that the music I now listen to brings joy to my ears and helps me to thank God even more for providing music that lifts my spirits, for providing music that makes me happy that I am a Christian. When you want to get serious about God, it requires sacrifice and a lot of it. Jesus said count the cost before you enter this race. "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." (Matthew 11:38)

Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to guard our hearts with all DILIGENCE. That is to say that we must put in hard work to protect our hearts. It's not going to be an easy thing to give up so much or abstain from worldly pleasures but it is certainly worth it. Fill your heart with the word of God by studying, not just reading, it as often as possible and see if your life, perspective and everything about you isn't transformed. The Word of God is not just a book, it is life, it is spirit. This is why it transforms us when we study it, when we not only hear what it says, but obey.

It is not easy to do all of this, I know that and God knows that. The Bible says "for by strength shall no man prevail" (1 Samuel 2:9). Our own strength will never be enough to keep up going. This is why we have to learn to totally rely and depend on God. When we are faced with the challenge of yielding to these harmful things or saying no, we must learn to commit it to God. I dare you today that whenever you are tempted, you pray immediately and commit the issue to God, then get on your feet and walk away from it. That TV show will survive without you. BE TRIUMPHANT. Allow Christ to reign in you today.

I pray now that God will give you the strength and the grace to walk away from the things that he hates. I pray that he will help you to identify the wrong things in your heart and start working with you to fix them today. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

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I hope you have a lovely day.
God bless.

"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."
Proverbs 16:3

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Luke 12: 6-7

I've noticed that there is a common trend amongst many people that they don't even realise. You and me being a part of them. Many of us are guilty of treating ourselves like we are of less value than we actually are. Now some will argue and say that that's not true because you love yourself, but even that category of people can be guilty of this. If you love yourself so much, why do you let other people treat you so badly? Not only that, but, why do you treat yourself even worse?

God created every single one of us with care and love and spent time working on every little detail of our person. He created us in his image (Genesis 1:27). The Bible tells us in Psalms 82:6 "Ye are gods". Don't misinterpret this and claim you are God or you deserve to be treated like a god or goddess with people bowing down to you. No. That is not what this verse means. If you are truly a child of God, which is to say you have accepted Jesus in your life and love God in faith, God is your father and therefore you are a god being his child. If a dog reproduces, surely the product will be a dog too. No human being gives birth to an animal for example. If he is your father, why wouldn't you be like him too?

Knowing this, we ought to treat ourselves like that. If everyone knew that you were, for example, a king, people would expect your person to reflect that of a king. This is done by respecting yourself. Why do you pollute your mouth with filthy, inappropriate words? Why is it that because you love your body, everyone must know by revealing it at every opportunity that comes? Why do you hang out with people that only deposit dirt in your mind? If you really respected yourself, this would not be so.

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:"

1 Peter 1:18-19

Don't you know that you are worth more than silver and gold? What people pay thousands for, you are worth so much more than. God could have paid the price of your sins with these mere things that are here today and gone tomorrow but no, he didn't. I beg you, people of God, start acting like you know who you are! Young girls need to learn that sexiness isn't about being naked. If you were truly confident about your body, you wouldn't seek the acceptance or flattery of people around you by showcasing it. I dare you to go to a party wearing clothes that don't draw attention to your body and see how differently people will treat you. Can't we learn how to express ourselves with our personalities and our characters rather than our looks?

God knows the exact number of hairs on your head. He knows the amount of cells in your body. He knows your DNA off by heart, without having to think twice. Ordinary flowers that are there for our admiration today and thrown into the fire tomorrow are cared for by God so of course he would care more for you. We have a very bad habit of sometimes thinking that nobody cares about us when the creator of everything cares for us more than anything. Your body is the temple of God. Don't pollute it.

There are certain people that will tempt you to stain that temple by doing things you know you should not be doing. Imagine your body is like a piece of paper. Every time you allow someone to see or get involved with a certain part of your body, a piece of that paper is being torn away. Now, you continue to let different people do this same thing, more and more girls or more and more boys, and eventually what was once a piece of paper now resembles pieces of thread. You then want to get married and what do you have to offer? Threads? Who wants thread? You expect the person you marry will be perfect and pure and clean and yet you yourself are doing the opposite? Don't be a fool.

Every time you allow yourself to get involved with somebody, it's like you're giving away a part of yourself. Tell me why you would give away parts of yourself so much that you're left empty in the end. Don't you realize who you are?! You shouldn't be so cheap but rather keep yourself. Make yourself special, like some sort of prize. What you do today will without a doubt affect your tomorrow, be that positively or negatively. One day you will either thank yourself or hate yourself for what you did in the past. Have you ever seen people that have been in so many relationships that it causes problems in every future one to come? If that's you, stop today and be honest with yourself. The truth is whoever you get with, there are two options. You're going to get married or you're going to get your heart broken. Tell me why anyone would willingly get into a relationship with someone you know you could never marry? Or why you get into relationships for "fun"? When did getting your heart broken a little bit more ever become classified as "fun"?

People will then use the excuse that, okay, whoever I'm going to get with, as long as they're wifey material it's okay. Alright, so they are like that, but are you? Are you ready yourself to commit seriously emotionally, mentally, financially and spiritually? Make sure you can trust yourself before you allow somebody else to trust you. You were brought to this world to help others, not to destroy them. If you respect others, they will respect you. Similarly, if you respect yourself, others will respect you too.

Jesus did not die so that you can live a life for pleasure or for the acceptance of others. Learn to be accepted by God by doing his commandments and learn to accept your person as you do this. That doesn't mean do what you want or act how you want and deal with it because that is how you are. Don't get me wrong. Just learn to treat yourself like you are a child of God. We don't see children of the royal family in Britain stumbling on a bus at 2am because they drank too much. God is so much higher than any royal person on earth so we ought to behave even better than such.

If you realise that you are guilty of some of these things, repent and change today. Let people start loving you for who you are and not what you do or what you wear. You are worth more than gold. Start seeing yourself in that light. It's not easy to learn to love and respect yourself like that but gradual steps make it much easier. You will thank yourself one day, trust me.

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
1 Corinthians 6:20

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day and bless those around you.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below.