I HAD SOME GOOD VALUES back in the day when I wasn’t a Christian…

Selah.

Without me loving God I was so spiritually dead. Yet, He still loved me, wanted me.

As I was praying with the Holy Spirit this particular day (July 7, 2026) I reflected back to friends I worked with before my first child was born. I loved that job so much! I was laid off because they were going out of business. I was a secretary / receptionist: busy phones, light accounting, typing, dealing with mail (there’s another story right there,) greeting. I knew I would love that job before I even started day one.

One of my memories there was one of the women getting married. We got along very well, yet we were different in important ways.

Here is one of them.
She and all the other women were going to a strip club for her pre-wedding celebration. She wanted me to go. From the very start I said, “No.”  I decided not to tell her (and as a non-Christian even) how disgusted I was…

So, being somewhat of a coward (I’m not any longer) I told her if I went than Duane would be able to go with the guys to a female stripper. Like that would ever happen! That would have been cause for divorce for me…

So I used that out. Let me tell you she didn’t give up easily. And there was no way I was going to give in. I loved (and love) my husband and would never do that to him.

Selah.

So what’s my point?

People who hate God, don’t know God, ignore God can still have some very godly virtues. I actually had quite a lot: like the girl I stopped hanging around with when she asked me if I wanted a carrot. She didn’t tell me we would steal them! And this was from an old man across the street!

If I would have the guts and character I should have had  I would have told him I didn’t know we were stealing them, apologized to him, and asked him how could I make this right!

Selah.

Getting back to the stripper…
No amount of explaining, coercing, nagging would have gotten me to that stripper joint. No way!

Another point: I am  not a people pleaser any longer. I never was a big one. For the most part no one could get me to do things that I didn’t want to because I cared about what they wanted…  Like my oldest brother wanting me to try his cigarette. He was quite the jerk a lot of the time in my life.

He was laughing like an idiot and kept coaxing me to smoke! He must have tried coaxing me five times or more. I stood there knowing I would never be a smoker…

Selah.

But I was curious about how bad it would be. I took it. I purposefully (though he probably thinks I was just stupid) took a big drag and, of course, immediately started coughing. Typical of my brother, he laughed like an idiot; thought it was the greatest of fun seeing me choke and gag. But I knew I never would be a smoker and I knew I took a huge, huge drag on purpose!

Selah!

There was no temptation! There was only curiosity ( which, itself, can be deadly.

The stripper incident was a failure for my friend (wonder if they’re still married?) and a victory for me…  An easy victory.

Like you, not all of my victories were easy. I’m thankful for everyone. The difference now is I give all the glory to God always and am thankful I obeyed. Sometimes you do just have to crucify your flesh.

 

NOTE:
If you don’t know that means, a good study on it would be ever so beneficial!

 

Go with God!

 

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS JOY STORY:

 

Matthew 5:27-30
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

 

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.  Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

 

 

AND IN CASE YOU’RE NOT IN LOVE WITH GOD…
stop being stupid…

 

and evil!

 

 

Dear God,

I surrender to you now, right now. I am done in trying to invent a working lifestyle without you. I humble myself and call out to You. I’m done with lying, with pretending, and explaining away ungodliness…

 

Romans 1:18-21
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

 

God in Heaven,

I come to You in the name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus. I have sinned. I now believe and know that Jesus is fully God, fully Man. He lived a sinless life and took all of my sickness and infirmities in His body. He died on the cross for my sins. I believe and know that He was raised from the dead so I might be saved from Hell and have eternal life in Your Kingdom with you forevermore.

Jesus, I ask you to be my only Lord and Savior. Please forgive me of my sins and wash them away with Your holy blood; never to be remembered again. Please take my sickness or any health issue I have by the stripes You endured for all mankind…

I will now strive to live my life for You to my best ability and with the help of You, Holy Spirit, I strive to seek You, study You and worship You all the days of my life, which are forever, amen!

I denounce Satan and his kingdom now and forevermore!

I also ask to be baptized in You, Holy Spirit, with the evidence of this by praying in other tongues, my heavenly language.

(To receive your heavenly language – take it by faith – just as you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Simply start speaking syllables – do not say anything in your known language/s. It WILL come – just believe. Satan will tell you it is false – never listen to the father of lies. Pray in tongues every day!)

Thank You, God, for forgiving me, cleansing me, healing me in every way, staying with me and praying with me.

In Jesus name, I pray this, amen.

 

 

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS:

 

Romans 3:21-26
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

 

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

 

Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

 

1 Peter 2:24
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

 

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

 

Romans 10:9-10
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

 

1 Corinthians 14:2
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.

 

DO NOT BE DECEIVED! You must continue your relationship as a child of God!
Live this way:

 

2 Timothy 4:7-8
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

 

Hebrews 3:14
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

 

Revelation 3:5
He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.