Brother, or Lover?

How do you view guys? Do you see them as a Brother (in Christ) or a Lover?
It's an easy thing to slip into doing the second one, as seeing each guy around our age, a potential 'lover'.
I want us to be honest with ourselves, even when it's painful. Let us ask ourselves this question, and give ourselves a true answer. You don't have to share it with anyone else, besides God, of course, but it's important to know where your motives come from.
When we're walking through a store, and we see a guy that we think is not so bad looking, do we see him as someone we could 'have a crush on' or a brother in Christ?
I, just like the next gal, don't always catch myself to think of every guy as a brother in Christ. And that's where it needs to start. We need to first see every man as a brother in Christ, and if God desires something more to become of it, than it will, but we are then comforted with the knowledge that he was first our brother in Christ, and we held no impure notions about him.
By our own will we cannot just switch our thinking. It's not going to happen just like *that*. It is going to have to come from the Lord. Our strength comes from the Lord, and this is also considered a strength we need, in my opinion.
Today we treat our emotions, and feelings toward the opposite sex as if they are nothing, really. They don't matter that much, do they? But they do. This is a area we need to be daily praying about and for. We need to hand over the key to our King, and let Him guard our hearts and emotions how He desires to. It isn't up to us alone. But through Jesus Christ our King. He will take care of us, and steer our thoughts to Him, if we let Him. And it will be something that we have to work on too, because Satan wants our minds pulled away from the Lord. But "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." which is found in Isaiah :)
Next time you look at a guy, ask God to let you see him how the Lord sees him. Let's surrender all to God, and count it gain.

Marriage

There is a wedding in my family that is taking place the same day this will post. And with this beloved union, it causes me to think about our union with Christ.
He is our Groom. We are His bride. We've all heard that before, of course, but I wanted to go a little deeper on it. Especially now with the experience of wedding preparation.
When you plan a wedding, you take extra intricate care, with each little detail, making sure that the brides day will be splendid and perfect. Memorable. You start the preparations the minute that the couple are engaged, and have their wedding day picked out.
Now let's switch it around to our marriage to Christ. When we accepted Christ, we accepted Him as our Groom. And therefore, as with earthly weddings, we should be preparing for our heavenly wedding, when we will be united with Christ again. That will be our wedding day.
We should be preparing our lives, taking extra intricate care with each little detail, to make sure our lives line up with how our Groom wants us to live. And only then, will He accept us as His bride.
We think that our heavenly marriage to Christ, is just a cute, fanciful, romantic idea; not truly real. If we did think it was truly real, would be living our lives the same way? No! We'd be devoting all our time to Him, Who called us to Him. Getting to know Him more, so we can please Him more. Spending more time in His Word, because that is His story. If an earthly groom had a book all about him, the bride would be pouring over it, wouldn't she?
You must think the same way of our marriage to Christ, as you would an earthly marriage to a man. Christ is the ultimate Groom. We need to strive to be the ultimate bride for Him.
When He comes for us, will He find we did the preparations right, and made sure everything would be perfect for that Day? Or will He come and see us wasting our time on other unimportant things?
Will you be His ultimate bride?

Have You Let Him In?

My heart is like a house

One day I let the Savior in

There are many rooms

Where we would visit now and then

But then one day He saw that door

I knew the day had come too soon

I said, “Jesus, I’m not ready

For us to visit in that room

‘Cuz that’s a place in my heart

Where even I don’t go

I have some things hidden there

That I  want no one to know”

But He handed me the key

With tears of love on His face

He said, “I want to make you clean

Let me go in your secret place.”

So I opened up the door

And as the two of us walked in

I was so ashamed

His light revealed my hidden sin

But when I think about that room now

I’m not afraid any more

‘Cuz I know my hidden sin

No longer hides behind that door

That was a place in my heart

Where even I wouldn’t go

I had some things hidden there

That I wanted no one to know

But He handed me the key

With tears of love on His face

And He made me clean

I let Him in my secret place

Is there a place in your heart

Where even you won’t go

Do you have some things hidden there

That you want no one to know?

But He's handing you the key

With tears of love on His face

He'll make you clean....

Let Him go in your secret place.

"The Secret Place"

               -by Michael Booth