Some persons think they have no need of God. They feel they are warm enough, loving enough, joyful enough, without God's help. They are satisfied with the person they are apart from God. Not me.

Without God in me, I use and abuse persons; I form relationships solely suited to selfish ambition; I discard persons as empty containers; I choose paths that mean more power and prestige for me. Without God, the thought of ruling the world is unsatisfying. I insist on taking heaven by storm. Without God, I become a god unto myself. Without God in me, no one is safe anywhere!

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. God has slain the old, ruthless person. Whole sections in me are being transformed into his peaceful image. His new heart has begun to beat to the rhythm of love in my bosom. You are now safe. I am no longer a threat to anyone. Thank God for that!

Stone-cold heart, anyone? I don’t need mine anymore. I hated that guy anyway.

Do YOU believe God is?

If so, do you believe God is still good, regardless what he has allowed to happen to you in this life?

If so, do you understand God wants you to move toward him in all your pain?

If so, when will God be enough for you?

You are created for the work God planned before time for you to do. You are going to find your greatest happiness doing his will for your life. Until you do, you will only be confused and experience a feeling of being “displaced”.

Dishwashers are designed to wash dishes. What would happen if you tried to wash clothes in your dishwasher? The results would not be good. It is not that for which dishwashers are designed.

You are designed to be you! You make a terrible somebody else. So, stop trying to please everyone around you. Stop trying to please yourself. Start today to discover God’s will for your life.

Discover God and you'll eventually find your God-designed life. It'll be good. It will give your life purpose and meaning. It will be that for which you were designed.

God placed in me a little triangle, deep inside. When I committed my first wrong, that I knew was wrong, his triangle started spinning. Those sharp edges hurt. My God-given conscience was convicting me. If I listened to it (stopped doing the wrong), the triangle stopped spinning and the hurt went away. If I did not listen (kept doing the wrong), the hurting continued and gradually decreased. The next time I repeated that same evil act, my conscience bothered me very little, if at all! It was like I had worn down the sharp edges of my conscience by violating it. It no longer pricked me when I did wrong.

When I became a Christian, I received something sweeter. I received God! He took up residence inside me through the gift of his Holy Spirit. I learned that if I listened to him, he revealed deeper truths to me. (His presence was more powerful in me). If I stopped listening, he quietly slipped away. Along with him went his supernatural peace and supernatural joy. The image of Christ also faded in me. I no longer could clearly hear his voice.

Some unbelievers live reasonably moral and ethical lives by simply following the law of their God-given consciences. They can never experience freedom from the PENALTY of sin. They can never experience freedom from the POWER of sin. They are stuck with manual steering until they receive Christ. They cannot relax one moment. That’s why you hear me say, “Listen to your conscience until God has your heart.”

When God has his way in your heart, you can relax and enjoy Christ's cruise control!

Kissing and dating are pre-mating rituals. Parents should not encourage children to engage in pre-marital rituals until they are prepared (emotionally and financially) to marry! Teens and pre-teens are ill-equipped, emotionally and financially, to deal with the responsibilities of long-term relationships. Teenage emotions change with the winds. Most teens have great difficulty discerning true emotions from base mating instincts, especially males!

With hormones raging, males have great difficulty thinking clearly. Consequences of mating are far from the male mind. There is no real way for a female to know for certain that a male is serious in his expressions of love. He may merely be expressing his lust! The only way for her to know for certain is to watch his actions. It is also reasonable for her to expect him to demonstrate his love by refraining from all mating rituals until he is fully prepared to accept responsibility for supporting her and their offspring, financially and emotionally.

Why would any female lend herself as a willing accomplice to having offspring with a male who is incapable of caring for her and supporting her children? I firmly believe no person (in their right mind) should expect anything, except sex, from a person who is in a relationship only to satisfy their lustful appetites!

Responsible parents protect their children. Responsible parents protect their children from long-term (heavy) relationships until their children are capable of fully assuming responsibility for their choices. Otherwise, parents will have to assume the costs and responsibilities for their child’s poor decisions. When the child is mature enough to make his own choices, let the child also assume full responsibility for consequences of those choices. (See my blog titled, "Responsible Children".)

Are you ready for kissing? Not unless you are preparing to marry! Kissing is very personal. It leads to dating. Dating leads to marriage. Why kiss unless you are prepared to date seriously? Why date seriously unless you are preparing for marriage, with all its attending responsibilities?

There are different kisses. There is nothing wrong with a "peck" on the cheek or a hug with the arms locked around necks, cheek-to-cheek. There should be NO other body part in contact with the other person’s body below the neck! No kissing on the lips. No going beyond the stage of friendship until both are mature enough to engage in serious, long-term relationships. For teens, I recommend all serious relationships be put on hold until after graduation from high school (12th grade).

Just K.I.S.S., Keep It Simple Sweetie! And, listen to your conscience until God has your heart.