For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12
Lately I have been a bit introspective about life (even more than usual) and I have been trying to identify habits that I have that are not constructive to me living a full, happy life. In meditation on these things, I had a strong revelation on how to identify whether things, people or activities that you engage in, are serving your higher good or if they are things which you need to remove from your life.
God is the ultimate expression of LIFE.
Jesus was quoted in John 10:10 as saying
“I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
We can therefore define those things that are of God as things that help you to have a more abundant life. What exactly is a more abundant life you may ask? Examples of a more abundant life would be love, peace, joy, and prosperity. Similarly we can look at things that do not manifest a ‘more abundant life’ as those things that are not of God.
I want you to stop and think about that for a minute. What activities are you currently engaged in, that do not manifest a more abundant life? If you really were to pause and think about it, I’m sure that you would find many examples of these activities. Let me give some examples of things that people often engage in because it feels good and they think that they are getting something out of it, but at the end of the day they can look at their results and realize that it lead them down a path away from a more abundant life.
Example: Sexual relations outside of marriage.
The world has established that it is totally fine and acceptable that people engage in sex outside of marriage and it is a pretty popularly held belief in our society. Because we have fallen into this belief we have seen a number of things happening:
a) More and more children are being born into single parent households where they are often dealing with some type of issue as a result of the father not being there. This is not to say that a person will automatically have problems if they are not raised in a 2 parent household, but it is to say that they are often very confused about their gender role and relationship identities when relating with the opposite sex. Children who are born to parents who are in a happy marriage are much more well adjusted than those who are not.
b) We have a world epidemic for HIV and AIDS. Although AIDS has been in existence for almost 30 years, the disease is not being curbed and is spreading like wildfire especially among ‘minority’ groups. If people were not engaged in sexual activity with a variety of people, there would not be a way for AIDS to exist. AIDS only exists as a function of ongoing promiscuity that is prevalent in our society.
c) People are waiting to get married until they get older or they are not getting married at all. For a lot of people, they feel that they have no need to get married if their sexual needs are being met. Since sex is given so freely these days, we are running into situations where people are not getting married until their mid to late 30s and beyond and are now seeking to have kids for the first time at 40 years old. People are finding that they are often no longer able to have kids because they waited so long to get started.
The above scenarios are examples that support my assertion that premarital sex is not of God. The reason being is that it does not manifest life, more abundantly. It provides people a temporary outlet of pleasure but on the other side it more often than not leads to various negative consequences.
Premarital sex is just one example, but look at others.
Getting Drunk – person gets on the road an drives and unintentionally kills someone because they have lost control of their sensibilities.
Getting High – lowers your inhibitions so that you may do things or put yourself in situations that you may not have ordinarily done. (ex. being a lone female doing drugs with a group of men who subsequently rape you)
I know those are a little deep but lets look at a light example like not eating right or working out. People avoid not eating right or working out and as a result of that their health suffers, they lose energy and vitality, and they become overweight. Therefore you can conclude that not taking care of yourself health wise is not of God – because it does not manifest life more abundantly.
This is a fun and interesting exercise. Take a look at those things which you enjoy doing and figure out if they manifest a more abundant life.
Thirtysomething Revelation: Review your friends, activities and habits and see if they are about manifesting the more abundant life. Make the necessary changes to realize joy, happiness, love, and peace in your life.