Crave the Victory!

This topic keeps coming up among friends so I thought I'd share a post from the past.

Ladies, learn to crave the victory more than the sin!

----
I was watching Joyce Meyer one day and she asked the question, "Are you an investor or a gambler?" What a simple yet deep question to guide you with almost any daily decision. (I've been reflecting on this a lot lately concerning my health too)

Do you get up every day and make choices based on the word of God or just "roll the dice" and hope not to get a bad consequence? What areas are you just taking a gamble? What areas do you need to be more of an investor? What areas are you doing great in and can celebrate a victory? These questions can even make a difference in your purity. Let's talk about that...because purity is the one area I've seen Christian women fight with more than anything else.

Two things have helped me a ton as a Christian in the area of purity and I'd like to share both with you.

• I invest instead of gamble - 2 Timothy 2:21-23 (NLT) "If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith, love, and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”

In the sentiment of what we pursue and follow, I created the poster (shown below) to remind me that I need to be an investor and not a gambler. I was shocked to see how many of these areas can make a difference in my purity and how important it is to invest. Think about it!

• I fight negative with positive. "Imagine yourself walking along a path. Notice the air. Is it warm or cool? How does the path feel under your feet? Become aware as you keep walking that this is a safe path. Now notice that slightly ahead, you are coming to a fork in the path. One way looks hard and dark. The other way is beautiful and green. Jeremiah 6:16 reads, “This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls…” Choose to walk down the beautiful path. As you continue, you hear water just beyond a bend of this path. You have come upon a river. It’s the Jordan River. You see Jesus walk up besides the water’s edge with his hand stretched out toward you. Go over and take his hand... look into his eyes...smile...and just as a child would…run and jump into that river with him...a free spirit, unencumbered, natural.

If you are struggling with impure thoughts, you have to shift your thinking! So to do this I come up with images that really motivate me. For example, I start to consider the holiness of the place where Jesus was baptized like in the illustration above. Also, because my “trigger” is hopelessness that lead me into patterns of negative thinking, when tempted with impurity or immorality, I imagine not all the scriptures that tell me to be pure, but the result of my purity.

Some examples: picturing myself as a bride getting ready in her chamber for God, or I imagine not giving in and dreaming of Jesus kissing my check because he is proud, or I hold on to an image of God exclaiming at judgment for me to come forward, “My righteous daughter, victorious one!” Those have been more motivating than anything. The verses I hold to are: Song of Solomon 4:12 Jeremiah 2:2 Revelation 15:2

We reap what we sow and that lesson shared over and over in scripture.  I hope you can spend some time reflecting and become the best investor ever!