What on your Television

The Holy Spirit has been convicting me and I feel like I need to share what has been placed on my heart…

James 1:14-15

“…but each one is tempted by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown gives birth to death.”

We live in a world; I believe is so VERY ungodly. Actually I believe a lot of what we watch on TV intentionally represents things on shows to throw it in the face of the religious. I think of shows like, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck…I mean let’s face it, just about every show on nowadays.

Here is my problem beloved ones; just about every show endorses homosexuality, pre-marital sex, couples living together, homosexual couples adopting children, people getting drunk, women dressing/flaunting everything their momma gave them, and use foul language that would make a sailor blush. Let me tell you precious ones, at the heart of these shows is sin and when a Christian watches shows that endorse this ungodly behavior, we become desensitized to it.

I speaking from experience here; I’d watch Friends or Will and Grace, I mean heck they are funny shows, but look at the lifestyle of the people acting. After a while, homosexuality became “not that big of a deal” to me and pre-marital sex is just so common now, who “waits” anymore, I began to think. I loved, I MEAN LOVED soap operas, but holy cow batman, they don’t get more ungodly than that; adulteries left and right, scandals, bribes ect; it was like the 7 deadly sins wrapped up in one show.

The verses listed above are exactly what the Holy Scriptures warned against.  When we watch shows on television, we become accepting of the “world” and suddenly the Word of God is an old ancient book that doesn’t apply to our times. As I was struggling with watching reality shows (Real Housewives) particularly, the Lord showed me a verse that confirmed it for me, that I need to knock off watching shows that supports actions God condemns as sin.

 James 4:4 “You adulterous people don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

I read the verse from James and it hit; whoa, I don’t want to be enemy of God and a friend to the world. As a Christian woman, I don’t need to be watching trash and sinning. To me it is sin; you see Christians we are to live a lifestyle of worship and when we watch trash on TV we are breeding sin. Be cautious friends what you watch, if it is not honoring of God…STAY AWAY from it! God will honor your faithfulness to Him, when you begin to watch something and turn the channel because you know it is something you shouldn’t be watching. Remember the heart of every one of the dirty shows is sin; don’t take time away from the Holy God who longs to spend time with you to watch filth. CHristians if you are not convicted watching these shows, I have to say there is a reason why; ask God to reveal to you if you should be watching certain shows. Read the Scriptures if you are unsure; the more you dive into God's word, the easier it is to recognize sin. 

James 1:21 says, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the Word planted in which can save you.”

Oh and a little friendly neighborhood reminder; the same applies to music as well. Nothing drives me crazier then when I hear a Christian saying they love Lady Gaga. Friends, she is an immoral ungodly woman. Turn off the filthy music that endorses sin. Trust me, it is much better to please the Lord Almighty than the world. 

Just a lack of faith

Life. . . I’m almost sick of it. 

Why is there time for a high and time for a low?

James says there will be trials of many kinds, but persevere and I’ll be made whole

Lord, sometimes perseverance can feel too tough

But I read in 1 Corinthians, you won’t give me too much

You said you’ll give me a way out, but am I too blind to go

Lord, I’m trying to girdle up, but I gave the devil a foothold

In Ephesians, you tell me to put on all your armor to stand against the devil and his wars

I think I’m in such a hurry I grabbed a shovel instead of your sword

I’m digging my own grave as a slave to sin

Like you’re boy on the water, my faith is thin

I feel like Peter in the ocean, I’m sinking fast

But at the last second, I look up and your hand I grasp

You start pulling me up, but my faith I lack

The devil’s got my foot. God, help me hold back

Make me be still and know your timing’s not late

Like Paul, I don’t understand myself and I do what I hate

Lord, give me a heart that hates demonic ways, a shield a faith, so I can finish the race

You’re the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end.  You called me your friend.   So why do I sin?

I know you do no wrong and will never tempt me

But the devil’s on my back and I’m running on empty

Please fill me up, because he’s pulling like crazy 

I need you to intervene and help me not be lazy

Help me remember scripture, like James 4:7

Lord, the only thing I long to hear, is well done when I get to heaven

All this I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Written by my bro Nate

Sin’s deceitfulness. Have you been deceived?

Sin’s deceitfulness. Have you been deceived?

Hebrews 3:13-14

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.”

Has your sin taken you much further than you wanted to go? Speaking from personal experience, it has me…I wanted only to go to the next town and it took me across country.  But that is the goal of Satan; to distract with something that appears to be beautiful, sweet, no harm ect. He is like the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.; dressed to impress but wants to devour you once you have entered the home. Some sins have greater consequences than others and will cost you so much more than you want to pay…the problem is this, once the sin is committed we usually have a problem taking responsibility for our actions. Then when our life spirals out of control because of our choices, we get bitter instead of better. The longer you stay on the path of bitterness, the more work it is going to take to straighten out your life.

Let me give you some example of what I mean. A girl goes out drinking, clubbing, like most people do nowadays; she has a little too much to drink and goes home with a man and sleeps with him. A few weeks later she finds out she is pregnant and the man wants nothing to do with her or the child. She has an abortion and soon experiences an insurmountable amount of guilt and shame. She then goes into a deep depression and never fulfills the dreams she once had for herself.

Extreme but does happen; see how one sin…drinking alcohol, led to another sin- premarital sex, then led to murder of a baby, then onto guilt and shame.

But here is best part- no matter how far down the path of bitterness or shame you have gone, Jesus is right there waiting for you to grab His hand to take you down a path of righteousness. Trust me, I have been down the “valley of the shadow of death”, I blamed God for my circumstances, but He forgave me of my sins, restored my life! He is the blessed redeemer!

I don’t know what people know about the Bible, but it is not full of stories of men and women who were perfect people, who lived perfect lives, but were sinners, who God restored; because they made a choice to follow Jesus.  The Devil is deceptive and conniving, he wants to see you fail and suffer; Jesus wants you to love Him; prosper, and smile. Jesus loves you dearly; you truly are precious in His sight. I love what Beth Moore said; there is not a moment where you can say to God, “I love you” where He hasn’t already said, “I love you” first. He is the God of love. Don’t be deceived by sin, if you have, I pray you recognize the sin and turn from it. An easy way to recognize sin is this; stay in God’s Word and in prayer with Him. The more you do, the easier you will recognize the Devil’s schemes. He’s sneaky, that is why you pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead me out of temptation and deliver me from the evil one.” To the ones who don’t know Jesus and have never accepted Him as their personal Savior, I ask; what do you have to lose by trusting in Him? Life is hard; don’t make it more difficult by going through it alone. Besides no one will ever love you more than the One who came to die specifically for you!

And one last note; Christians be on guard. We are going to sin, but as a Christian, remember who you are representing; Jesus Christ, the Majestic Savior. Hebrews 6:6 says we crucify Christ over and over and subject Him to public disgrace when we sin and claim to be a child of God. He forgives us when we sin, but be on guard precious ones and let's encourage others to come to know Jesus. Remember believers need encouragement too; let's be there for each other.  

(This image was done by my brother)