LIFE FORUM BLOG
THAT'S LIFE
The blog for Real People Living Real Life by the Power of the Real God
By: Chandra White Cummings
Resisting Sexual Temptation
Whew!! If you were on this month’s Life Forum call, you know it was a stimulating discussion about how we as the people of God can resist sexual temptation. Both speakers- Elder Arthur Coppedge and Minister Markiya Collier—gave powerful testimonies about how the Lord has helped them deal with their sexuality over the years.
Sex is a universal issue, so even if you don’t feel you need the information, please consider passing the audio recording to someone you know who may be struggling in this area. It will be a blessing!
So much information was shared on the call, but I’d like to focus on a couple points I believe bear deeper reflection and prayer.
Let’s consider the role of deception and fantasy in keeping us from being fully obedient regarding our sexuality. If we’re honest, we all have to admit that our relationships, including the one we have with ourselves, are too often filled with untruths, half truths, white lies, and outright lies. Sometimes we deceive by not telling the whole truth; sometimes by embellishing the facts. However it manifests, deception is deadly because it causes people to rely on something that is not real. When we lie about our intentions, our emotions, our beliefs, and our desires, we draw people into our false reality and cause them to take actions they might not otherwise take. We also compromise our ability to withstand pressure that comes on us to stray from the standard God has set. Also, relying on what’s not real leads us into another dangerous arena—fantasy.
Min. Markiya mentioned fantasy, but we didn’t have time to fully develop the discussion. What do we mean when we say ‘fantasy’, and how is it dangerous when it comes to sexuality? Fantasy’s greatest danger lies in its ability to trick us into replacing what we are really facing with what we wish we had. So for example, let’s say we are in a relationship with someone whose feelings for us might not match our feelings for them. Of course that hurts, but rather than deal directly with the hurt and rejection we feel, we protect our emotions (and our pride) by imagining ourselves in the future with this person, living a great life, and experiencing none of the pain we are currently experiencing.
Rather than distant and emotionally unavailable, in our fantasy, this person is attentive, loving, and completely committed to us. We begin to see ourselves at different events, doing different activities together. We start to believe that maybe if we can duplicate in real life what happens in our daydreams, then we will receive the same kind of emotional response from that person in real life. Our lines between reality and fantasy have become blurred. We might figure, “hey, if I sleep with this person, then he/she is bound to feel about me the same way he/she does in my fantasy.” So now it’s harder to resist the temptation because we feel it will lead to an outcome that exists only in our minds.
God has SO much better for us! We can have his very best for us if we do some of the things our speakers suggested:
**Commit to living a lifestyle that honors God in our sexuality
**Ask for His help, acknowledging there’s no way we can do it on our own
**Open ourselves up to accountability; find someone who will remind us of our commitment and lovingly alert us when we are in danger of violating it
**Strengthen our relationship with God through study of the word and prayer
**Resist isolation by fellowshipping with other likeminded believers who also have committed themselves to live holy
I believe God wants to revolutionize our relationships by healing us of past sin in this area, and showing us the Way to relate, Kingdom style!!
Be sure to join us in March for a discussion of sexuality in relationships—tell everyone you know!
Till then
Encore Session on Fighting the FEAR Monster
Hello listeners to and supporters of the Life Forum conference calls! Our most recent call was an encore follow up presentation on the “Overcoming the Fear Monster” topic.
Make sure you listen to the recording of the session; it will change your life if you have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying, and if you commit to living out the principles discussed. After all, isn’t that the purpose of all this? If we have no intention of allowing God to change our lives through application of His truth, then let’s be honest---why bother? On the other hand, if you’re tired of not experiencing His abundant life because of overwhelming fear, then press in and press on!
We all need help actually taking the truth we know and integrating it into our everyday lives. I’d like to offer a couple suggestions on how we can slowly but surely see victory over debilitating fears.
First, consider using the acrostic we were given for fear.
F = Forgets God & His Greatness
E = Envisions & Expects the worse
A = Accepts defeat before the fight
R = Rejects God & His Truth
Take each concept one by one and work through it. For each letter, let’s try doing the following:
Ask the Lord to show us how the concept might be at work in our lives
Find at least three scriptures that apply to the concept, memorize them, and pray them
Also, since we learned that LOVE is an effective weapon against fear, let’s practice loving God, loving those around us, and loving ourselves.
Lastly, if you like to read, check out these books which might offer some helpful insights as we trust God to give us victory over fear:
Crazy Love, by Francis Chan
Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear, by Max Lucado
Fear Fighters: How to Live in a World Driven by Fear, by Franklin Jentzen
Let it Go: Breaking Free From Fear and Anxiety, by Tony Evans
Please, drop Evangelist Dot a line and let her know how the Lord is working in your life. I would love to feature your testimony here on the That’s Life! blog.
God bless you as you walk away from your fears and into Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Till next time.
Fighting the FEAR Monster
Welcome to That’s Life! the companion blog to Glory Unlimited’s Life Forum Conference Calls. Each installment will cover in some way the topic of the current month’s call. Be sure to check here after each call where you might find a summary of the testimony and teaching from the call, suggested resources related to the topic, and/or questions to stimulate further thinking as you process the information you’ve heard. Or, if you weren’t able to participate in the call, this should be your first stop to get the 4-1-1 on what you missed!
January’s Life Forum call was titled, “Overcoming the Fear Monster” and was led by none other than the founder of Glory Unlimited Ministries, Evangelist Dorothy White. It was truly a dynamic presentation from start to finish. We began with the provocative question, ”What are some of your fears?”
Can you relate to any of these responses cited by participants?:
Fear of rejection
Fear of failure
Fear of abandonment
Fear of not having enough money
Fear of getting married
Fear of remaining single
We all have fears at one time or another. No shame in that, but the problem comes when we don’t submit those fears to the Lord and allow Him to help us overcome them. One of the reasons fear is so deadly is that it robs us of precious inheritances promised to us by the Lord Himself: peace, joy, contentment, etc. In fact, I bet there are things we all are not doing because we’re afraid. How long have you delayed starting that business? How many years has it been since you decided you’re too old to finish your education? How many times have you started writing that book only to put it aside because of fear?
Evangelist Dot encouraged us that we don’t have to stay stuck in fear because there are at least two antidotes—hope and love. Hope gives us a positive expectation of God and what He will do; and love casts out fear as it is perfected in us (1 John 4:18). We are not left without help…isn’t that Good News!! Regarding love, we were taught that we must learn to receive the perfect love of God so that our love for Him can grow and mature. Try this: the next time fear tries to grip your heart and immobilize you, remind yourself how much God loves you, how He is for you and not against you,
and how He in you is greater than the one who tries to make you afraid. Practice remembering that, and see if it doesn’t begin to strengthen your heart against the fear monster.
We don’t have to take fear lying down, we can “attack back”! One way to do this is to remember this awesome acrostic—Fear…
Forgets who God is
Expects the worst
Accepts defeat before the fight
Rejects God’s truth
This is too good to forget! Put this on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, your car dashboard, in your wallet…anywhere you will see it often during the day. One more way we can put fear to flight.
Let’s get aggressive against fear. Don’t lose one more day, one more dream, one more Kingdom assignment to this masquerading menace. Be sure to use the link to the audio recording of the call to listen to this presentation again and again. Both faith and fear come by hearing, so make sure you’re hearing the right message.
God bless you friends, and remember, fight fear with everything He’s got!!
