Stop Sex Trafficking

   I don't know how aware my readers are of sex-trafficking, but it is running rampant, not only in America, but all over the world.

   We ask ourselves, why would anyone want to harm little girls like that? There are a million different answers which I will not write about on this blog, but, what can we do to stop this movement?

   The main people involved in sex-trafficking and getting children involved are the parents. Fathers need to protect their daughters, but many are absent or irresponsible. Quite a few don't care. Sadly, many fathers sexually abuse their own daughters.

   Again, I don't want to go into the reasons why men would do this, but, moms are guilty as well. Some moms sell their daughters in exchange for services done by men. They hire men to do handy work around the house, and use their daughters to pay for the bills. Many dads are not even around to protect their daughters from this activity.

   The easy answer to why anyone would do this is obvious. It is caused by sin. But that is still not helpful in trying to deal with those who have been abused. Some men are perverted because they have turned their backs on God and God has turned them over to their sinful indulgences. Keep in mind that these people do not have a conscience any more. There is no remembrance of recollection of immoral activity being sinful before a holy God.

   I think the big reason though in why we have so much sexual abuse is due to generations of people who have been doing these things to their children. Any parent who is an abuser was once abused himself or herself. This could go back many generations.

   We have the breakdown of the marriage today. We have men and women living together in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. We have dead beat fathers. We have mothers who use their children's sexuality to earn money to pay the bills. The cycle goes on and on. And without consciences to tell us right from wrong, and without the fear of God in our lives, this will continue.

   I know two keys to solving this issue. One is, that the church become the church. What I mean by that is that those who know the Lord Jesus Christ will live for Him and for His glory. Those who are part of the body of Christ will love one another. Those who are part of the true church will respect God's word over what culture says. The church needs to fear the Lord once again and believe that God's word is true. God will not be mocked. But billions of people have been deceived into thinking they can do what they want and live however they please, even at the cost of other's lives. They will find a stiff penalty after they die and end up in hell for eternity.

   The second key is that Fathers need to be responsible. We are not put on earth to find the 'perfect woman' who will make us utterly happy. That is not reality. Women need to love and respect their husbands. No more of this, 'I just don't love him anymore'. That is a lie from the Enemy of our souls. If you don't love your husband, then ask God to give you a love for him. Love doesn't come naturally to any of us, except for loving ourselves. Being enthralled with someone and infatuated is not the same as love. Love involves sacrifice, and everyone who is called by the Lord must live a life of sacrifice. Remember we are not here to serve ourselves, but to serve God and those around us.

  So here are some points briefly to ponder:
*Dads, protect your daughters. Utterly important!
*Moms, be grateful for your husband, even if he isn't who you dreamed he would be.
*Moms, do not use your children's sexuality to pay for anything (jobs around the house, etc.).
*Dads, take leadership in your homes.
*Teach your children the 'fear of the Lord'
*Live your lives as if God is right with you. When you fall, call on God for help to get back up.
*Become involved in a Spirit-filled, Bible believing church.
*Serve others instead of yourselves.
*Ask God to fill you with His love and compassion.
*Ask God to give you a deep conviction of your sins.
*Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
*If you have not come to the place in your life of repentance and turning to God and trusting in Him for your salvation, now is the time to do so. (see http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com).
*If you are involved in sexual sin, and want to repent and be set free, find a church where you can get help.

All of these points are utterly important! Children have souls that will live forever. They have dignity. Those who take the dignity away from their children are in serious danger before the Lord. Please repent if you are involved in sexual abusing of children! This is not something that will pass and be forgotten about in the future. Serious ramifications will come if sexual abuse to children continues. It will affect generations to come. God takes this most seriously, and so should we.

Why Are The Things of the World So Much More Attractive To Us Than God Is?

So many things to blog about, but so little time. Today, I have had three different inspirations that I wanted to blog about. They may tie in with each other, so maybe I can put them all on one blog. Wouldn't it be cool if I could do a complete blog with a complete thought in two paragraphs or less?

   My latest wonder is why we in America, in particular, don't fear God. I also wonder why we find the things of the world more appealing than we do with the things that pertain to God. Why do young adults turn to the world instead of to God? Why is the world more appealing than God is?

   I know the answer has to do with what we see spiritually. I have written about this a number of times. There were different people throughout the whole Bible who were in awe of God. We know of Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, where his eyes were opened to see God, and Isaiah was a changed man. Never would he go back to being a self serving man, who lived only for himself. And we see Peter in Luke, chapter 5. I'm sure Peter knew that Jesus was unlike other Bible teachers, but Peter was in for a surprise when Jesus told him to 'cast his net' into the water. From Peter's perspective, Jesus was not a fisherman. Jesus was a Bible teacher who had deep teachings of the Scriptures, but Peter really had no idea who Jesus actually was.

The fishermen had a bad fishing night. They caught nothing. Then Jesus gets into one of the boats and preaches from it. After Jesus was done speaking, He instructed Peter to put his nets out into the deep water. Peter then informed Jesus that it wouldn't work, for they had been fishing all night and caught nothing. But even as Peter was speaking, he changed his mind and told Jesus he would put out his net, because Jesus told him to.

   Well, the nets filled up with fish quickly, and they needed help because there were so many fish! They called the other fishermen to help out. But something happened to Peter. All of the sudden, Peter got spiritual eyes. He knew who Jesus was at that moment. Peter backed off and wanted to get away from Jesus because he was a 'sinful' man.

   When we have eyes to see God with, we see our sin more clearly. That's why I am concerned with people who deny that they have sin. When people defend themselves and try to make themselves out to be a good person, I fear for them. I wonder if they have ever 'seen' God, for if they had seen Him, they wouldn't think they are a good person anymore.

  But here is my concern, which ties in with this theme: I see professing Christians who are more enthralled with the world than with Jesus Christ. I have to ask myself, why? Are we so Biblically astute that God is more like a formula to us, than a personal being? Have we ever tasted for ourselves and seen that the Lord is good? Are we trying to make ourselves enjoy God when we really find the things of God are like drudgery?

  Here is an example of what I am talking about: This picture was on Facebook and the comments were most interesting. These young people are so intrigued by Harry Potter that they respond quickly to the post with comments that make it sound like they have some kind of relationship with Harry Potter and his friends. Kids gravitate toward this stuff. Not sure what the draw is, but am wondering why the draw for Harry Potter and friends is so much more attractive than the draw for Jesus Christ. Have we never encountered the true and living God, and have we settled for what the world thinks is great instead? I can guarantee that if a person encounters God, this encounter will be exponentially greater than any character that the earth has to offer. What is wrong with this picture? Why do children from Christian homes love this stuff? Why do our children and young adults not have spiritual eyes to see God with?

If one encounters the true and living God, they would
find that there is no match for this great, incomparable
God. If one encounters the true and living God, he or
she would gladly forsake everything else in order to
know this God.

How Not To Do Discipleship!

I've been so away from blogging during the month of December as there were many, many activities going on. But, nevertheless, blogging has still been on my heart. I just never had the time to get to the computer to write my thoughts down!

  I wrote a blog yesterday on 'how not do to evangelism' and today I want to write one on 'how not to do discipleship'. This topic is what we are studying in church right now (http://www.metrolife.org) so it is a hot topic around here. We also talked about it last night in home group. Four questions were presented, but we only got through the first question, which was, 'were you ever discipled by anyone, and if so, tell your experience'. Most of the home group had not had someone that discipled them. Many were discipled by reading books and listening to sermons by outstanding Bible teachers or attending a class that taught the person how to do evangelism or just a basic Bible study they learned from.

  I had the privilege to have had a woman I called up continually, to ask questions. We were in a tiny church and I had just come to Christ about two to three years prior to that. The person who sat behind me in homeroom was the one who pointed me to Christ. She had just become a Christian and was filled with the joy of the Lord. When she talked about God, she wasn't just giving a bunch of facts out of the Bible, but she talked like she knew God personally as if He were right there with us in the room. I had never seen anything like this before, and for sure, I wanted to go to the church she went to.

  I wasn't really allowed to drive, but my boyfriend at the time (now my husband) took me to his little church that he went to. It was nice, but there was not much deep teaching or relationships there. I tried to ask questions, but my questions were evaded for some reason. But, God in His mercy allowed me to get in touch with an older woman (she was my mom's age), so she was older than I was, in more ways than one! At the time, I was only 19 or 20, and I would call her on a regular basis and talk about the things of God with her. I really enjoyed my talks with her, but they ended when we moved away because neither of us could afford to pay for a long distance phone bill.

  But here is what happened: I really wanted to be a part of the church that my friend in homeroom went to. We started going there for the 5:00 services, but then we moved away. We went to the church that they recommended (was supposed to be like a sister church), but the church there was nothing like the one I wanted to go to! We looked around and never found the church we were supposed to be planted in, so we moved back and started going to this church that I wanted to go to since I was 16!

   While we were in this other city, we tried to be involved in this 'sister' church, but never fit in. We went there for several months, but no one reached out to us or ever even greeted us. We were like invisible to everyone. In spite of this, we met a couple who were a few years older than we were. We got to know them a little bit. They were also studying about discipleship under the teachings of Juan Carlos Ortiz, who is credited with bringing the idea of home groups to the church in America.

   Back in the 70s, there was a lot of wrong teaching on discipleship. There were groups who lived like there were living in communes. Some had cultish features that were kind of scary. I remember one group and they called their leader 'Dad'. There were some though which didn't know their limits on those they were discipling and treated them as if they owned them. There was a lot of control in some of these groups that isn't warranted in the Bible.

   We got to know this couple in the church in the new city we were living in. After a couple of weeks of interacting with them, the man told my husband that he felt like he should be discipling my husband. That seemed weird. Of course, we needed discipling, but is that how it is supposed to take place? How do we go about discipling people anyway?

   My husband didn't feel comfortable with that idea, and probably, rightly so. I didn't know them very well at all. Perhaps if the man and his wife would have just continued to be friends with us, over a long period of time, the relationship would have turned into a discipleship relationship. I don't know.

   We were talking about that last night, specifically how are we to approach people who we want to disciple or who we want to disciple us. I think it sounds weird to go up to a person, even someone we know well, and tell them that we want to disciple them. Wouldn't it be better if we just go to know people on an intimate basis, and those who we are drawn to, or who are drawn to us, would form that natural relationship that would result in discipleship?

   I think there are a lot of people I can draw from, and I want to be intentional on taking the time to learn from them. We can learn a lot from listening to sermons and reading books by good Theologians, but, learning from other people who are our friends can be the most helpful way of being discipled.

   When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He did not tell us to just make converts of people. There are explicit instructions to disciple people. We put into practice, God's word, activated by the Holy Spirit in our lives, and we give what we have received from God, to others. They in turn, will do the same.

   I could go into all the reasons why the church in America is not really doing discipleship well, or at all, but, that would take too long and perhaps will go on another blog sometime. But for now, there are good books and videos out on discipleship. Two I recommend are 'Not a Fan' and (I think) 'Mulitiply' by Francis Chan. I have not read the one by Francis Chan, but I have heard good reports on it. 'Not a Fan' will make you cry, but the point is so very clear as you go through the series.

  One more thing: Discipleship goes both ways. I learn from you and you learn from me. Or, I am learning from someone or from certain people and I can share with someone else what I have learned and incorporated into my own life. There is no 'I am above my disciplee' or, 'My discipler is above me'. We are all learning together, how to live a new life, in a new way.