A4P Guest: “Is watching a movie a sin?”
A4P: It is always good to ask yourself, “What do I get out of this movie?” before you decide to watch one. Will the movie bring you close to Jesus or away from Him?
Continue reading “Is watching a movie a sin?”
(As usual, I first would like to say “Thank you” for the person who asked this question and said, “Go ahead, share my question with others. Somebody may benefit from it.” God bless you my dear!)
A4P Guest: I know God has been good to me, but sometimes I feel confused about the things which are happening in my life. I have been praying to get married for years now. All my friends got married except me. I ask God and I seek Him to know his plan for my life but my main prayer is always to get married but He doesn’t seem to hear me. I think I prayed enough now. When is the day for me to stop to pray about this? And my other question is how can I meet Christian men? Thank you!
Continue reading Lovely and Timely Question
You know I can’t keep good news from you even if it is not going to happen soon, lol!
So, here we go: I’m going to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!
Oh, my gosh! Am I excited? That would be an understatement! I’m thrilled for having this huge opportunity for me to speak at the Misrak Meserete Kirestose Church.
Well, I don’t have address yet and to tell you the truth, it is going to be during the American and Ethiopian Christmas weeks.
It is going to be a very short trip since I only have five days to spend with my parents and eight days to minister.
The long awaited Appeal for Purity’s first magazine, Turn-A-Round will be released during that time! Oh, how excited I’m! May the plan and purpose of God be done!
I can’t wait to see all the MKC youngsters and married couples I ministered just a year ago! May the LORD’s will be done!
I will soon post detail information and of course I will post a beautiful flyer about the program. Just stay tuned! ///
God opened up another wonderful opportunity for me to minister to the people of God! Praise the LORD!
So, if God’s will, I will be teaching at the Amanuel Ethiopian Evangelical Church located at 915 N. Oakland St. Arlington, VA 22203, on Sunday, Oct. 05, at 2pm.
So, if you are going to be in Arlington, VA on Oct. 05, come out and worship God with us. And make sure you invite others to come along!
Sexual immorality seems to be the number one sin to catch us all off-guard more times than the other sins. There can be many reasons for it but the one reason that comes to my mind is this: We are prone to sexual sin because we are sexual beings!
You see, we are not naturally created to kill; or to steal. We are not fashioned by God to go around and drink somebody else’s blood. No, we are not.
But we are created and fashioned by God to be sexual beings, so that we have all we need to have sex.
That by itself makes us all vulnerable to fall into sexual sin. But knowing that fact shouldn’t encourage us all to say, “Oh, well, here we go again; Let me jump in it because it is meant to be like this” because as we are created to be sexual beings, do you know that we are also originally created to be sexually pure beings?
Yes, we are created for sexual purity not for sexual immorality. That is why our whole life gets disrupted when we miss the mark of purity. When we turn to sexual impurity, our mind, soul, spirit can’t get anything right. They all get misaligned and we try everything to calm them down but nothing can clam them all down but sexual purity because we are created for sexual purity. Our nature is ONLY COMPATIBLE WITH SEXUAL PURITY because we are created in God’s likeness and image which is always and only compatible with holiness and purity.
The image we may seem to lost it because of Adam is ours through Christ Jesus. His grace and spirit are with us to bring that likeness and image back to us.
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son" Romans 8:29a – Did you hear that?
Listen what Jesus is saying to you and me: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me." Revelation 3:20
Isn’t that beautiful! Jesus is inviting you and I to the ONENESS of holiness; so that we take His image and likeness!
He is calling you through this post!
Don’t wait until you get it all right because you will never get it right without Jesus.
Will you respond to Him? Will you open the door of your heart for Jesus to come in? Do you take Him in? Do you receive Him into your life and make Him the LORD and King of your sexual life which is the ligament that holds all your other life areas?
If your response is "Yes," inbox me and I will contact you so that we can pray together. ///
Thank you again, my friend, for saying “Yes” for me to share your question with others!
A4P Guest: Saturday night, my husband and I were at the restaurant and we kissed in the middle of our candle light dinner. And one of my church members happened to be at the restaurant and I didn’t see her. So, yesterday at church, she called me to the bathroom and said to me, “We Christians are not supposed to do such kind of thing in public.” I was very mad at her because she accused me as if I kissed some other man who was not married to me. So, I said to her, “He is my husband and I can do whatever I want with him” and I left the bathroom. Afterward, I felt bad for saying that to her. Why did I feel bad? I mean he is my husband and the lady knows that. BTW, this particular lady is the one I respect very highly in our church but at that moment, I didn’t have any respect for her and I guess I had an attitude too when I responded back to her. What is your take on this? Am I wrong to kiss my husband in public?
A4P: Kissing your husband is a holy thing as long as you are conscious of your surroundings. We, Christians, are called to live for others’ conscience.
This is what the Bible says: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. – – – But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:1, 13b
You have freedom to do whatever you want but up to a certain extent or boundaries and one of those boundaries are called love (and we have to avoid those things which don’t edify and build us – 1 Corinthians 10:23).
As long as you do it in your private bedroom, you can kiss your husband in whatever ways you want to. But outside, in the open air, I advise you to stay away from those kinds of kisses which make others “cringe” not because you have no freedom to do so but because some people may not have freedom to see you doing that and accept and consider you as a child of God. Their conscience may not have that much freedom on that particular area.
And to tell you the truth, why do you want to expose your private joy to the whole world? Keep it private and you will have a lasting joy. Kiss your husband outside the house but not like “French kissing” kind of kiss. Keep that for your bedroom.
I also have a problem with the way you responded back to the woman. You see, you felt bad afterward because of the Holy Spirit who is inside you. He grieves in our spirit when we hurt others. That woman may know five thousand Bible verses but when it comes to romance, she might be from the old school who condemns any romantic love as a sin. Or, she might have the most unromantic husband ever; or she may not have a good marriage. But whatever her reason could be, don’t judge her because she is not free like you. Love her and approach her in love and respect. Invite her to read what you’ve been reading. If she is resistance, leave her alone. We can’t demand from others the same kind of understanding we have.
St. Paul didn’t eat meat throughout his Christian life. Do you know why? Because some of the people around him were not eating meat as a sign of their devotion to God and they couldn’t consider a person as a Christian if they saw him eating meat. Because of that he said “no more” for eating meat so that he wouldn’t be a stumbling block for others around him.
Listen what he said: “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.” 1 Corinthians 8:13
That is the call of Christ for all of us! That is my take on the issue.
Take care,
In Him, Missy.
P. S. Remember, I’m not advising you to live in fear of others; losing every freedom you have in Christ but I’m advising to love and respect others. Fear of man is a snare which paralyses you to do anything as the Bible says: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Proverbs 29:25
He sits to learn.
He doesn’t run around. He sits to learn!
He considers himself to be just like a child who doesn’t know anything.
When he sits to learn, he surrenders his knowledge, empties himself as if he didn’t have any knowledge.
A child of God hears with an open mind to catch those which may not agree with the Word of God and to let go those which don’t agree with the Word of God.
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3
Jesus said that to those who were thinking and analyzing what they were listening and seeing according to the world they knew; not according to what Jesus was telling them. Actually Jesus said that to His own Disciples who were with Him, 24/7. Why? They were the ones who came to “the church” to the gathering, thinking that they knew it all; they figured it all out!
He asked us to “become!” Becoming is a process; an active process of change! A process one has to consciously and purposely choose to be!
Jesus said to His Disciples, be like a child. Children are always eager to learn so that they can copy and do it exactly as they learn. That is why they tend to ask adults this question: “Do it again!”
I wish I had that attitude to say to God, “Tell me again so that I know that You my God will never forget nor forsake me” instead of going around with fear of being alone, without a Shepherd!
Oh, LORD, give us a teachable spirit! A spirit that says, “I know nothing! Teach me again!”///
Isn’t God an awesome God for giving us another brand new week to celebrate for! Yes, He is Awesome!
You know, sometimes, I open my eyes in the morning and say, "Thank You, Jesus, for giving me another brand new day for me to write!"
Yes, I love to write. When I write, I can see clearly one of the purposes of God in my life and that truth gives me “super” freedom to be who I’m created to be!
Anyways, my husband left this morning saying, “The weather feels like the month of Meskerem” LOL! (He meant to say, “The weather feels like a month of Meskerem in Ethiopian’s Calendar, according to Ethiopian weather during this season”) It sure feels really Meskerem! I love it! It is gorgeous! If you are in DC area, make sure you find time to go out and enjoy it!
Well, if you have a question or two, I will be on Facebook for the next two hours. Go ahead and drop me your question in the inbox and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Have a blessed Monday!
In Him, Missy.
P. S. For those of you who see this message through your email inbox because you signed up for the Appeal for Purity daily blog, you can email me your questions at: missysaltandlight
Getting ready to go to the Dulles area church (IEEC branch church).
I just realized that this is my 9th times ministering at this church. I can’t tell you how excited I’m to have this opportunity again, not only to minister but also to worship God with all the believers and ministers at this particular church. Oh, how I love and treasure each one of them!
If you are in the Virginia, Dulles Airport area, join me and others to worship God together at 10am.
Address: 1402 Shepard Drive, Sterling, VA 20164. ///
A4P Guest: “Who is God for you?”
A4P: Well, it depends on which god you’re referring to. Whenever I get asked like that, I can’t help but think how the person who asked me that question is expecting me to answer.
The word “god” can mean so many things for so many people. Some people want to think of God as “Santa”, the one who always gives gifts (without demanding anything), the one who overlooks all wrong doings; the one who always smiles, gives kisses, hugs and gifts, raises up the dead so that he won’t see anybody crying, and etc; just like the Genie in a bottle.
Some see God as the one who forgives without holding one responsible and accountable. If you say to them, “God disciplines His children” according to Hebrews 12:4-6, they give you a kind of look that says, “You are from the 1st century Christianity, aren’t you?” They won’t listen to you because they think that discipline is needed for Satan not for them.
If you tell them that, “God is a consuming fire,” as it is written in the Bible (Hebrews 12:29), they will say to you, “That nature of God is only for the Old Testament people and for the devil not for us who live in the New Testament”.
There are others who see God as the one with a long white beard, sitting on a big throne, holding a rod on his hand (a star at the tip of the rod), ready to "zap" anyone who goes out of line.
But the truth of the matter is there is only One God and that God is the God of the Bible and that God ain’t “Santa!” nor a Gene in a bottle whose job is to bring people’s wishes, dreams and fantasies into a false reality. He is not a god with a rod either.
The God of the Bible can’t be compared to Santa or Genie or anything and anybody. He can’t be defined and explained by human intelligence or fluency.
When Moses asked God what His name was, God said “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Whatever He said He is, that is His Name and that is who He is and that my dear never changes in the Old as well as in the New Testament. We cannot separate God and His Word. The moment we do that, we will be guilty of heresy.
So, that will bring me to my short answer to your short question: For me, God is who He said He is in the Bible! ///