Where does your strength come from?

Friday May 16, 2014

In the summer of  2011, I hit rock bottom in my own personal life. This one sin I had kept hidden from the world finally caught up to me. If that wasn't worse enough, it seemed the devil wasn't done with his attacks and hit me again even stronger, leaving me in a state of confusion, and making me wonder if my life was really over. The plans I had set were completely wiped away. So..to cope with these events I went to who I had always used to cope since the age of 14; my boyfriends, boo things, whatever guy I was talking to or dating. They were my god, my idols.

These "friendships" were my drugs.

Naturally as we grow older we find different things to latch onto and to help us cope in life. Once it was your parents, then you out grow them and it may have been a stuffed animal, neighbor etc. The key point is as you grow up you found DIFFERENT things to help you cope. It's never just ONE constant thing. You see, as you mature you acquire different needs and so different coping personalities are needed to speak into these changes you continue to experience as you grow older. 

(Where does your strength come from?)

For me when I became off age to date by society standards, my strength came from my boyfriends. That was my escape, my drug, my oasis. They were in and out of my life, no one bf stayed too long. The reason why these men were constantly being overturned and going through a revolving door was because they didn't give me permanent satisfaction.  In making them my coping mechanism I received TEMPORARY relief, TEMPORARY comfort, nothing they gave me ever lasted.

So, as I look at society, people in my age group, older and younger, I hear things like, "I can't wait to get off work, I am going to hit up happy hour then I gotta go, sleep and the cycle starts again tomorrow", or "Gosh, we ain't married yet but sis that sex is all I need right now", or "If I don't hit this blunt I don't know how else I will survive." Many of my sister and brothers are receiving their strength from temporary pleasures in this world. 

It's evident they are temporary because one, with alcohol, you drink it, you feel a buzz, it passes through your system and your problems still remain. 

When you engulf any type of substance and or drug you get a high, it passes through your system and your problems still remain. 

When you put your hope, trust, and all you have in humans, your unsaved boyfriend, girlfriend, wife or husband,the day they hurt you, cheat on you, abuse you, or even leave this earth you see the frail manner in their existence. You become aware ones life can be taken away at any moment.

The Lord tells us, humans in general and even thinking of ourselves, we are frail, to not put our trust in our strength that will one day cease and fail.  God tells us to not lean on our own thoughts that continuously think evil things:

1 Peter 1:24

King James Version (KJV)

24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

Isaiah 2:22

Don’t put your trust in mere humans.
    They are as frail as breath.
    What good are they?

finally...

Jeremiah 17:9

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?

So no human being can be an effective coping mechanism as many of us choose to think.

You see for many years I took my strength and had my fix from things of this world. Then a a little under two years I encountered the greatest love of all. A person, God that truly when I run to him, trust in him, ask questions to him, and cry out to him he answers, holds, and comforts me. That strength, I found in Jesus. Jesus became and is truly a constant. A friend, lover, redeemer that has never changed and will never fail.

Then one would ask "Janet! How does God comfort and hold you, he is not even real!"Well sis, brother, God is real. Although not physically in front of me,  when you accept him he inputs the holy spirit in you to help you feel his presence and understand him. Spiritually he is all around too, his beauty and grace is all around us in his creations of this world.

1 John 4:12

12 No one has ever seen God. God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

If you've said ok, my current coping mechanism isn't really working and I think I want to try something different.  In  Isaiah 64:6 it lets us know:

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. SO you aren't the only one who has dabbled in the worlds ways of things. I have, all Christians have. 

I am inviting you to try Jesus. He is real, he still saves, and he is still in the business of transforming and saving lives today. With God you don't have to worry about gossip from humans, failing health/organs due to substance abuse, overdose, and heartbreak. His words when read and believed will assure you and will comfort you. Jesus is ready to truly take you by the hand and guide you once you say Yes to him, and no to everything in this world.

Psalm 23:1-6

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

It works for me and I know it will work for you! I love you and I am praying for you.

Lets Connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram 

From your Sister in Christ ,

Janet Adeola Songonuga

Your Purity is so Important

As I write this blog I am thinking about my 15 year old sister, who like me is growing up in a world where the culture of WHOREDOM (please click and watch) has taken supreme. What is whoredom? Whoredom is a cultural phenomenon where females young and old are having pre-marital sex left and right not only because they can't consume themselves to lust to one guy they may marry, but also because we have single and married females where sexual partners exceed more than one; a culture where the dressing of women is intentionally made to exude outright sex appeal not to cover our bodies up to God's glory; a culture were every avenue of media is saturated with sexual content. Even though it is socially accepted to kiss many toads before you find your prince this was never what God intended. 

Let's look at the female anatomy. Every female is born with a foreskin over her vaginal area. This was no accident and this was created by God. This identifies to us that sexual intercourse for a female is very personal, intimate, and chaste. When she chooses to engage in sexual intercourse that foreskin is broken forever. Why is purity an issue God cares very much about? He cares because he understands things like soul ties that can happen when sex is done pre-maturely. What is a soul tie? A soul tie is two souls tied together by the spirit. So if you don't end up staying with the person you've given your body to, then emotional you are bound to that person.  

When sex is done based on feelings, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases can happen. 

Keeping your purity up until marriage goes against everything our culture teaches, I understand. In public schools we are told having sex is our innate nature so to not experience the consequences that come with it, they teach us to masturbate and or have sex with condoms. But we must understand the best way to understand the importance of PURITY, the best way to enjoy sexual relations is to consult the maker of us all, God. In the word of God it helps us understand how we are able to stay sexually pure and why we are to stay pure.

Psalm 119:9 

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 

To keep your purity in a culture like this you must read and meditate on the Bible, the only book full of wisdom upon wisdom on purity, sex, and much more. It reveals the truth about you and helps you navigate through this life. 

Our lives were made to show reverence to God. In 1st Thessalonians 4:3-5 it reads

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

What is sexual immorality? It's having sex outside of marriage and when married cheating on your spouse. 

Nowhere in the bible, which is the guide book to my life and should be of yours does it say it's ok to have sex with multiple people before you get married, which is often the case in society today. It actually says in 

Hebrews 13:4

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

God will judge the females and males who choose to not listen and decided to be sexual immoral. This means your eternal destiny is in hell.

So when is your purity able to be broken? In marriage. What is marriage? 
It is between a male and a female.  

In 1st Corinthians 7:3-5 it reads

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

To the GOOD NEWS finally! You need to know you are not alone in this purity walk. *RAISES HAND* I am with you, but most importantly God is with you. When you choose to remain pure till your wedding day God will surly reward you for not following the culture or your flesh. In Galatians it reads..

Galatians 6:5

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Some practical tips on helping you not fall into sexual immorality, which of course is all birthed from God via the bible and prayer:

Watch what you watch and the music you listen to. Fill your ears with things of God, not of lust and sex. (Psalm 119:37;Proverbs 4:23)

Watch who you are around. If you have friends who only talk about having boyfriends, girlfriends, and sexual immorality you will fall into this lifestyle too (1st Corinthian 15:33). 

Pray for guidance from God! (Jeremiah 33:3)

Watch what you wear. I will be blogging more about modesty. But we humans get turned on with the eye. You want your future spouse to be most attracted to your heart not your body before marriage. (Matthew 5:38)

Lastly, if you have already fallen into sexual immorality you are not alone and it's never too late to make yourself pure and whole again in God's eyes. Your physical purity can never be given back but spiritually you can become born again. I invite you to repent receive Jesus into your life as I have and develop a relationship with him so you can reverence God in body and spirit. For my males and females who still have their purity, do NOT get weary and tired, your reward is coming!!

(Me after an Interview)

Lets Connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram 

From your Sister in Christ with a Servants Heart,

Janet Adeola Songonuga

*Please "Like", comment, and share this post if this spoke to you. Subscribe to the right for more.*

You were not made to be Alone

Friday, July 12th, 2013

In Genesis 2:18 it reads:

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

It is not good for a man or woman to be alone. I pray many come to understand. Despite the leval of education, wealth, or independence you gain, the desires to be with someone and recieve companionship may still be there. As woman we may try to suppress the desire but the estrogen injected in us is not a mistake. We can't run from the desire, we can only channel it to not let it over burden us to sin, and or enter destructive relationships.  :( . The best way to channel this desire is serving our creator God, and through him the man he created for you to be with will come. Yes a woman's match according to scripture is only a man and not a woman. God made no mistake in creating your love match. 

Men, no matter how much God is blessing you, as he increases your wealth and wisdom you  should still endeavor to find a wife. It was in the beginning of time after God increased Adam in work and wealth he brought to him his help meet and beautiful wife Eve. If Adam the richest man on earth, living in the garden of Eden needed a wife well brother you were called to have one too. 

So you may then be wondering if you are a guy, “why doesn't God just bring my wife to me Janet?” Or if you are a woman you may ask why doesn't God just place me in front of my husband? Since the fall of man, after Eve ate the forbidden fruit and corrupted a sin free world, God gave us free will. It's our choice who we choose to pursue. This is why it says in the bible:

Key word FIND. A man of God will find you ladies. Rest in God. (I will def blog more about ways to be content in your single season) 

Men you must pursue to find your wife!

You see, strong man of God and even man whom are pastors are married. They understand God's commandment and that because God created a woman out of a man they are both ultimately made to be one and work as a team. I pray this doesn't offend anyone but the pope in the Roman Catholic church is really for show. Many go to him for prayers and leave with their souls still empty. The Roman Catholics really zero in on Paul from the bible and mandate anyone whom aspires to be a high ranking officer in the church to abstain from marriage. Paul, a great disciple abstained from marriage. We must not make this mistake! Paul was separated and set apart and given a task to travel great amounts of distances to preach the gospel. Many Nuns and Priests barely travel.  Please if you feel you are to follow in Paul's footsteps make sure you are hearing it from God not from man-made rules. If the bible is read correctly it actually states some requirements of a pastor:

1st Timothy 3:2 

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, 

Take some time for this to sink in.

(2nd Corinthians 5:13)

Lastly DO NOT make this mistake and not pray for marriage due to past mistakes and hurts. I will be blogging on keeping your purity; but if you are no longer a virgin, have overcame the sin of masturbation or have children, you are not excluded from marriage if you are now living for Christ and are now Born Again. When you give your life to Jesus you become a new creature in Christ. The old has passed away and your slate of mistakes has been wiped clean.  If you haven't given your life, or need to rededicate your life to Christ, it's never too late. Do it today. Now you are living for God sis keep praying, God will bring you a God-Fearing Spouse.

(Me praying at the GCEN Christian Resource Expo)

Lets Connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram 

From your Sister in Christ with a Servants Heart,

Janet Adeola Songonuga

*Please "Like", comment, and share this post if this spoke to you. Subscribe to the right for more.*