Battle for Life

Edward could barely hold the sword; it was slippery with his own blood. He yanked it out of his enemies’ body and pointed it towards the next foe that had arisen out of the forces.
“You will not have me!” he screamed as he slammed his sword against the fire-coloured man, coated in glowing coals.
The fire-man drew back his sword and with great swing, knocked the sword from Edwards grasp. Immediately Edward drew his dagger and threw it at the fire-mans chest.
It made a stabbing noise, but the man just pulled it out, and dropped it onto the dead surrounding them.
“So, you can’t die either?” Edward pulled an axe from the ground, and lunged at him.
A throaty hiss issued from him, he shoved Edward back, sprawling on the ground, then with a scream, pushed down the sword.
Edward rolled away and onto his feat.
“Tell me your name!” Edward shouted.
The coals on his face lifted into a disgusting smile.
“Doubt.” He flung down his sword, and then reached out, and easily plucked the axe from Edwards hands.
“No!” Edward clutched his head. “You will not enter! YOU WILL NOT ENTER!” he screamed.
The creature was trying to enter his mind.
“You can’t win,” the fire-man hissed. “You have no chance. Why bother? This is all too hard. You won’t win through. If you keep going you will die.”
“NO!” But slowly, Edward was being pushed backward, the fire-man walked slowly towards him, whispering and hissing.
He needed to find his sword, he had to kill doubt before it could take over his mind and turn him into one of them.
He glanced around. There were plenty of swords, but where was his?
A glimmer of light stole his eye.
It was there, the fire-man stood in the way.
“Your friends are all lying to you, it will not come out right!”
Edward gazed into that face for a few moments. What if they had all been lying to him? What now? How would he even know this was all a lie? He would find out too late.
“…too late. It will be too late!”
“No!” Edward ducked between the hot legs, and pushed through, grabbing his sword and swinging it around.
The fire-man shrieked, then jumped at him, pushing his sword away and whispering in his ear.
Edward pushed him off, and turned his sword.
“Give me the strength!” he whispered, and then rolled onto the fire-man, feeling the coals heating his armour, but not burning through.
“While he gives me strength, I will not give in!”
Edward stood, doubt went to stand, but with a war cry, Edward stabbed him through.
He dropped to the ground.
Then another came at Edward from behind.

~ Written by Meggie. Protected with Copyscape. Please do not copy without permission.

Modesty

Modesty

Ladies of the past springing from novels: Elizabeth Bennet, Jo March and Jane Eyre. They were all so beautiful, and so elegant. But did you ever read a detailed sentence on what they were wearing? It didn’t matter what they were wearing! It was their characters that really spoke to us about who they were. I want you to remember that as we have a look at modesty, that clothes are not going to make us beautiful, only a beautiful heart will.

Therefore I want men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety , adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expiensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. – 1 Timothy 2:8-10

Modesty: 

1. The state or quality of being modest.

2. Reserve or propriety in speech, dress, or behavior.

3. Lack of pretentiousness; simplicity.

( From The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/modesty)

Guys are different from us. (Obviously!) They have their mind wired in a different way. Guys thoughts and feelings turn naturally to the marriage bed. These thoughts come into their mind so easily, that a guy that cares about purity has a lot of trouble fighting against those thoughts. Sitting in a guys lap, talking about touchy subjects and dressing indecenetly, does make it harder for them to keep themselves from lusting. Are you the sort of person a guy can hang out with and get to know without their eyes going to the wrong places?
Also, if we are keeping ourselves for our future prince charming, then why are we flaunting our bodies to every passerby? The Bible teaches that sex is for marriage, but so are the other private parts of your body. Those parts are especially for your husband, keep them that way!
By being modest in our actions, speech and fashion, we can help guys stay pure, and also stay pure ourselves.

If you are a girl who has given her life to follow Christ, show that through how you dress, what you say, and what you do. Dress, talk and walk who you are. I am not saying that you wear a t-shirt saying Jesus Loves You, or always talk about church. I mean that you reflect Jesus’ purity in the way that you save your body for only your husband by dressing modestly and that your speech shows you are not leading any guy on. Modesty is another word for purity. Dress and speak with purity.

“Make it your goal that when a guy looks at you, he will notice the light of Christ in your eyes and the radiance of your smile, rather than being distracted by the outline of your body.” – Leslie Ludy in The Lost Art of True Beauty.

Modesty is keeping your clothing, words and actions compleltly pure. Modesty means not causing temptation for guys, it means covering up what is only meant for our future husband to see, and showing through all where your life lies- in the hands of the Creator.

~Meggie

Discernment: following the right paths

But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. - Hebrews 5:14 NKJV

She flung her hand angrily over the mosquitoes hovering in the black around her lantern, which was swinging madly around as she jogged onwards. The darkness did not let up; she could only see black shapes around her and the sandy path underneath her shoes. Where did this road finish?

Sighing she kept jogging along, but slowed to a walk when she noticed the path widening. She stopped and frowned. Looking around she found the path was branching off into two completely different directions. The left one looked interesting; the path seemed to veer down a hill and all around. She turned and walked cautiously down it.

Discernment is being able to tell if a thing is good or bad. Right or wrong. Biblically, discerning is when you are able to look at two different paths and know which is the right one and which is the wrong one. It is understanding what the two paths are, and understanding where they lead.

Discern – to distinguish; to see the difference between two or more things; to discriminate; to see or understand the difference. (Taken from Websters: American Dictionary of the English Language).

Why bother with discernment? Imagine you are her. You are pushing through with one lone lantern through the paths of life and hit a crossroads. A decision: a guy asks you out or you get a job offer. Do you go with what you feel like? Discernment sees each path and finds out what to take by reading the Word to see which is right and which is wrong.
Discernment sees the end result, the destiny of each road and makes the decisions in light of what is at the end of the finish line.

Here are some bible verses that have taught me a lot about discernment.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up, You discern my thoughts from afar.  

– Psalm 139:2 ESV

They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand [ or discern]. – Isaiah 44:19 NKJV

God gives discernment. Like King Solomon, you have to ask God for wisdom, knowledge and discernment. He is the one who gives it, you can’t try and be discerning without being given it by God.

Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? – Job 38:19-20 ESV

When making a choice of what to do, take a step back and see what the end result will be. Will this new job at the end of its path, bring honour to God? Will this job bring me closer to God in the end, more towards heaven, or will it draw me to the devil? Think of that roads destiny. Each road, path and choice has a destiny, by looking for its destiny you can usually understand if it is good or bad.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. – Ephesians 5:8-10

Where do we find out what is acceptable to God? The Bible! When I didn’t know if I should be hugging my guy friends, I turned to the bible with a concordance and looked up verses on ‘friendship’ and ‘purity’. I soon realized what path God wanted me to take. You need to search out and dig up the truth so you can make right decisions. Should you go out with that guy? Go to your Bible and ask God what He thinks about dating. To make the right choices to live life on the path that God wants you to be walking, you need to forever be referring to His manual, and digging into it.

So, discernment is finding out if something is right or wrong by: asking God for discernment, looking at the end result, and by searching the bible for knowledge on that choice. Make the right choices by discerning what path to take.

She fell to her knees, briars clinging to her skirt and hair, the blood seeping from her arm and the mud flecked over her face. The path had turned into a little track and had finally vanished, leaving her with no way to go. “Oh, God. I went with what I felt was good, with what I thought was right. Please, please,” she whispered. “Please help me.”

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set me feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. – Psalm 40:2 ESV

~ Meggie

Purity in Action

Hello girls!

I talked last week about how beauty comes from the heart, and we need to cultivate those things in our hearts that will show true beauty. The next three parts are going to be look at three very different things that can make us beautiful: Chasteness, Discernment and Modesty. But the most beautiful thing that can be in our hearts is Jesus Christ. If He is in there and is the love of our lives, then He will change us daily to be more and more beautiful- more and more like Him. If He isn’t there, then these three attributes won’t be there either.

So what is this word, ‘Chaste’? (Yes, it is a very old word!)

Chaste:
1. not having experienced sexual intercourse; virginal
2. abstaining from unlawful or immoral sexual intercourse
3. (of conduct, speech, etc.) pure; decent; modest
4. (of style or taste) free from embellishment; simple; restrained
- (Definition from The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chaste )

 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. – Titus 2:1-5

The younger women are to be loving, homemakers, good, obedient, and chaste.

I wanted to look at this word, because it is not used now-a-days, but it holds a beautiful meaning. It’s a word that basically means ‘pure’. Sort of like pure, but not. The first and second meaning for the word ‘chaste’ is being a virgin or only having sex within the boundaries of marriage. It’s the third meaning I want to look at: (of conduct, speech etc.) Pure; Decent; Modest.

There is more to ‘keeping sex for marriage’ than most think. Being chaste is about letting that decision affect other areas of our lives. Can you remain a virgin, but flirt with guys? Can you remain a virgin until marriage, but in your mind obsess over your latest crush and be called pure? Being chaste means being sexually pure in everything: actions, words, conduct, thoughts, clothing, make-up and jewellery. Being pure, decent and modest in your actions means making sure you don’t lead guys in the wrong direction. It means loving guys by helping them by wearing clothing that is modest (I’ll talk more about this in another article).

Are your actions and thoughts revealing the decision you have made to remain pure? Do guys see low tops and hear flirtatious comments? Or do they see the heavenly beauty of a mind that lets herself dream, but not obsess, of a girl who is modest in her clothing, not fishing for attention, a girl who challenges and encourages those around her to live for God, not draw their thoughts in the wrong direction?

Let God into your actions. Let others see these decisions through what you do, not what you don’t do. Chaste: being sexually pure in every part of our lives. Not just the physical.

  ~ Meggie

Real Beauty: Outward Beauty versus Heart Beauty

Magazines, TV shows, celebrities, catwalks: they are all hiding behind there ‘beauty’ of their bodies. They tell us that we are not beautiful unless we do the same. But as Christians we don’t follow the world anymore. God says that actually, beauty comes from within.

Why are we talking about true beauty? As I am struggling with the demands of today with make-up, clothing, and jewellery not knowing if I should wear it, or how much I should care about beauty, I realized that I had given over my life to Christ, I am His, I need to do what He would have me do in this area.

For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive…according to what he has done whether good or bad. – 2 Corinthians 5:10 NKJV

Take a step back and look at eternity, God made the world, and in the end those that believe on Jesus will go to heaven, and live in heaven forever, for eternity. Now think about beauty. I realized that beauty is not going to get me to heaven.

Therefore do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing [dying], yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV

Does beauty really matter then? I didn’t know. Does God think make-up is evil? Should I wear jewellery? Do I need to wear un-fashionable clothing to be a Christian? I dug into Gods Word, and He brought these versus my way.

Do not let your adornment be...

[just]… outward… rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible [undying] beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. – 1 Peter 3:3-4 (words in brackets mine.) NKJV

He is saying that a gentle and quiet spirit is beautiful. The good, pure God-given stuff in our heart is beautiful or drop-dead gorgeous. 

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. – Proverbs 11:22 NIV

Does a pig with a gold ring through its nose look pretty to you? God is saying that without the virtue discretion, a woman is ugly.  Without that good thing in the heart, we might as well be pigs with a gold ring. Ever seen a girl who is gorgeous, but then as you get to know her you realize she lies behind your back, she does whatever she feels like doing, she swears at her friends, and doesn’t keep secrets.  She is pretty to the worlds standards, but when you think about her, would the word ‘pretty’ or ‘gorgeous’ come to your mind, or would you think ‘horrible’?

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us;… - Psalm 90:17a NKJV

God is good in every way. If He is in our hearts and changing our actions, then His beauty shines through us. Those pig-ish actions are chucked out and replaced with beautiful actions.

And the last one…

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment… - 1 Peter 3:3

My beauty should not come from the outside. My beauty should not come from what a wear, what my face looks like, or whether I have no acne (or pimples!) today.
REAL beauty comes from the inside. It comes from what we have in our heart, not what we wear!
True beauty is what shines through our lives through our actions, through our smiles, through our discretion and gentle, quiet spirit. Beauty comes straight from God living in our hearts and pushing beauty through us!

There is that beauty that the world thinks of; that outward beauty. But think: our bodies are dying and growing old. We might have beauty now as we are young, but as we grow old, what will we have left? Do we have the undying beauty that shines out no matter what we look like?

The world is selling us the fake beauty of outward appearances. It is covering up the fact that beauty actually lies within. We are made to be known for our good actions, not for our good looks.

Make sure what’s on the outside reflects the purity on the inside. – A Young Woman After Gods Own Heart, by Elizabeth George.

As I was reading those versus I learnt that God does care about beauty, that He wants me to be beautiful, but with a beauty that does not fade with age, a beauty that is the overflow of what is in my heart.

~ Meggie

Stay tuned for how we should put this inner beauty in our lives. How do we cultivate good things in our hearts? This beauty of the heart is good and all but how does that relate to clothing, make-up and jewellery?
Taleisha is posting next on cultivating modesty and chasteness in our lives.

---