Men of God / Abstain

Men of God, the war for your soul is real.

All around us are things that are eroding at society and bringing more and more moral decay.

It comes to us, we do not have to look very far.

This Screenshot is from my SPAM account on FB. Just one click opens a portal and our eyegate.

It is trying to bring a collapse to the integrity, holiness and perseverance of the House of God and men of God. The enemy knows if the men go so does the order of God.

We must understand, this is a trophy hunt for the adversary.

The Good News is men of God, you do not have to lose the battle.

We are admonished

Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us

Peter writes 

1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

Learning to abstain is the KEY.

To abstain means to hold oneself off from or refrain.

 In order to learn to abstain one must also learn how to ABIDE. 

Jesus said in John 15:4 unless you ABIDE in me you can do NOTHING. 

We cannot bear fruit unless we abide.

 How do we abide?

1. Pray

2. Fast

3. Communion

4. Read the Word / Study / Meditate 

5. Worship

6. Fellowship with Believers

7. Serve somewhere

8. Pray for others

9. Healthy Hobbies

I know that this sounds easier than it actually is, but it is a necessary practice that each one of us men must learn to do.

If the enemy gets you, it fragments the home.

Home is to be your paradise, your garden, oasis where you provide and protect your family.

No one is going to protect us if we do not want to be protected.

Single men, you must learn how to war against those things that pull on your flesh. Find some stronger men in the faith and get filled with faith, strength, wisdom and power.

Let them pray for you and don't deny the battle.

Instead realize what the battle is for and make a choice.

Submit yourself FIRST TO GOD

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.

Ask the Lord to give you singleness of mind and focus. Don't just have the knowledge of Heaven but desire the world.

Married men.  Change the way you see your wife. Years ago I knew my wife is not a ball and chain. She is an anchor that keeps me from being pulled out into dark and dangerous waters.

If you view your helpmate as unable to help you, you will despise her and become more gravitated to what you should be running from.

Do not despise your good thing and then sell out for a morsel of meat.

My wife and I have an understanding about the war on men. When we first met I told her if you hear me praying against adultery, pornography, fornication, and perversion it is not because I am doing it.

It is a constant reminder that I refuse to come into an agreement with something that will ruin my walk with God, my family,  my wife and marriage, or my soul.

If you struggle with lust and its affects, you are not alone. 60% plus deal with this issue from the fall.

The good news is you do not have to go through alone from defeat to defeat.

We have a High Priest who was tempted in all areas, yet without sin. 

He understands the pressure. 

We can talk to Him!

1. Submit to God

2. Resist the Devil.

3. Renounce the temptation immediately

4. Cleanse your hands

5. Purify your heart ❤ 

Here is a process that  helped me be victorious.

At times as a single man, I would lay on my face a cry out to God because I was alone but my flesh was rising up.

I walked celibate for 13 years. It is possible if we take the right steps. We must see the value in why the word tells us to avoid youthful lusts and fornication.

Why is pornography wrong? Why is fornication wrong? Why is adultery wrong?

It goes completely against the nature of God who is not perverted but Holy and Righteous.

He does not break a Covenant He instituted.

These perversions destroy the institution of marriage, makes room for idolatry and promotes selfishness. Not only is it carnally based but it is demonically inspired.

In many cases there is more at work than just a persons flesh.

Here is a true story. A Man of God went to a porn site. The people logged his IP address and got his info.They BLACKMAILED HIM!

 He paid once but then they insisted on more. They would tell his wife, friends, oh and yes... his church.

The only way he could break free was to tell his wife and  get help from the church.

The DEVIL is a professional at extortion.

The only way to be free is to break completely free and break the power of His influence. 

You must cleanse your heart of what he is able to tempt you with.

Don't open the door. ABSTAIN. Get help 🙏 

In His Love,

Jesse Griffin

Be PERFECT

A person looking for a perfect man or woman of God to serve or follow will never find them in the sense of a person who is flawless.

Instead, one should look for those who are mature and still allowing perfection to happen.

The commonly used verse "be perfect as your Father is perfect" means be mature.  

Matthew 5:48

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

It means to allow completion. Allow for the culmination of the expected end which is to become fully grown. To fully mature and exercise virtue.

It does not mean one is instantly perfect on the spot. It is a continual forward progress until we become like our Father. 

We are becoming.

Jesus prayed in John 17

22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me

In John 15:4 Jesus said to the Apostle, you cannot bear fruit unless you abide in Him.

If we see a lack of fruit or character it reveals a lack of abiding.

The Apostle Paul said "follow me AS I follow Christ"

One challenge is discerrning between a preacher, teacher, a called one and a FOLLOWER.

Christ had this to say in regards to those who taught but lived contrary to their teachings.

Matthew 23

1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

Easy English Version

Jesus talks about dangerous teachers

Matthew 23

 1  After that, Jesus spoke to the crowd and to his *disciples.

 2  ‘The teachers of the *Law and the *Pharisees have authority to explain the *Law of Moses.

3  You must obey everything that they teach you. But you must not do the same things that they do. They teach you what the *Law of Moses is. But then they themselves do not obey these rules.

The Lord did not have a problem with what the teachers and Pharisees taught.

His issue was their heart condition, motive and that they themselves did not obey what they taught.

What they teach is correct, but the character in which they live is not.

If you obey what they say (because it is still the Word "Law") it will benefit you.

We will get lost when we begin to analyze, scrutinize and then criticize every action a person in ministry makes.

The question needs to be asked. Are they teaching right? 

Are they living in right?

Do they live what they preach?

Can it be seen with evident fruit that they are not just teaching Christ, but that they are LIVING CHRISTLIKE?

Then pick up not just their teachings, but their example of character as well.

We must not allow pride a place to set up its Throne on our hearts to the point we cannot find, follow and serve someone somewhere.

In His Love,

Jesse Griffin