With a female voice, “Hi Berhan, I just call to say hi and to wish you a happy Easter!” was a message I found in my answering machine right after I celebrated my first year wedding anniversary.
Here is the message I’m trying to pass on in this video clip:
If you have sexual struggle, don’t keep it as a secret. The one thing that gave your struggle power is the fact that you kept it in secret, in the dark. Bring it to light by breaking your silence.
The Bible says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16
With a female voice, “Hi Berhan, I just call to say hi and to wish you a happy Easter” was a voice message I found on my answering machine right after I celebrated my first year wedding anniversary. (This was in 1998 – no smartphone, no Facebook, no social media, no nothing.)
After we had our three kids, my prayer time got shorter and shorter and kind of disappeared in thin air. When the Holy Spirit comes and whispers in my ears saying, “Why don’t you pray now?” I will immediately say, “I’m not able to; can’t You see?” And the Holy Spirit asks, “Why can’t you?” I will say, “The children You gave me take all my time and energy and I have no strength left to pray and read the Word.” In a way, I was saying to Him, “If it was not for my children, I would have been praying and worshiping You; but since they are here, sorry, I can’t do that.”
He has to come up with something like this because he married his 7th grade classmate; a girl he put his eyes on since that day; a day he realized that he missed one one of his ribs.
This young man realized that marriage is a ministry, a call. And he not only affirmed his girl that she is his but also he is hers! How romantic.
Don’t miss the second part of my interview with beautiful host of “4:12 Christian Youth Show” Abegail Hun on Elshaddai TV.
Part II will be aired tomorrow at the same time (9am EST; or 10 seate in Ethiopian time).
The host, Abegail is asking me the difference between holiness and purity.
Holiness is a gift from God. When God sets something/someone apart for His glory, that thing/person is called holy.
When it comes to purity, which can only be applied to “a person,” not a thing, it is a result, outcome and product of that holy work God did in the person.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a HOLY nation – – -” (1 Peter 2:9a) – This holiness can’t be found from work; but from God, as God sets the person apart and declares him/her as His possession.
Purity is the working out of what God worked in the holy person:
“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.” (Philippians 2:13)
This is a very short clip to encourage young and single men to get married. For those of you who don’t understand Amharic, this is what I’m saying with one or two points added here: