Category Archives: Devotional Life

The value of developing a relationship with God, The value of having a daily quiet time.

Practice Keeping Your Eyes Pure: Fighting Against Pornography

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This post on sexual purity is part of my category on holiness. I wrote it over ten years ago and is an excerpt from my book on prayer. We all need this more than ever these days.

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

 Some would say, “It is impossible these days to keep your eyes pure, because there is so much pornography out there; we see it practically everywhere we go.”  But I want to tell you that with God’s help, and with practice, it is a battle that can be won!           

In this post we will talk about how people get trapped into viewing pornography, then about its results, and last, about how to fight against it.           

 

How People Get Trapped Into Viewing Pornography

 

The reason why people (both men and women) get trapped into viewing pornography is because they have not been warned against it, and they are unprepared to face it.  Satan comes against them as an angel of light to deceive them and trap them, and as a roaring lion to devour them.   And the reason why they continue in it is because they find…

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Practice Right Thinking For Holiness–Philippians 4:8

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

 The practice of meditating on the Word will be most beneficial for right thinking, because when you are meditating on the scriptures your mind is occupied with right thoughts.  And the scriptures will also guide you in what else to think about in the world besides the scriptures.  One of the passages that specifically tell us that is Philippians 4:8.  Here Paul outlines for us seven things we should think about; or I think we could also look at it as seven qualities or virtues we should seek out and think about in different things in the world, such as in people, books, movies, and institutions. 

But we are not to just casually think over them; the word translated “think on” or “meditate on” (logizesthe), suggests more than just thinking.  The word actually means to take inventory, to reason, to reckon, and to esteem.  Adam Clark suggests that…

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7 Things to Practice for Holiness

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

1.  Practice consecration with prayer.  Consecration is the act of giving ourselves completely to God through prayer for His will and service, recognizing that our life and all that we have is His. E.M. Bounds has said: “Prayer enters into every phase of a consecrated life…Consecration is really the setting apart of one’s self to a life of prayer.”

 And how does all this affect holiness? If affects it directly and in every aspect. We cannot be holy without it.  Why?  Because consecration is that which prepares the heart for holiness.  It is the act of giving ourselves to God by bringing our desires in line with His, thus by making our attitude right before him.  Moreover, by consecration we both prepare ourselves for holiness and we enter into that holy life.  A holy life in every phase is a life of consecration with prayer.

 2.  Practice…

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Why I Must Flee from Immorality – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

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I have been reminded recently of this truth—that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And because of this fact, we ought to flee from all that defiles this temple, mainly sexual immorality.

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

I Corinthians 6:18-20

If any man is serious about his own purity, this passage is one of the best to memorize and take it to heart.  I found that it helps in my studying of it to go over it backwards. Let me show you.

From verse 20. God bought me with the price of His own blood. So, He owns me. I am His property. Hence, He has given me access to this body, and I am its steward. And when I am found to be a good steward, I am honoring Him.

From verse 19. Here is more about this body: I can call it my body because God has purchased it for me and given it to me. The purpose of this body is to house God’s Spirit. My body is called a temple, the temple where His Holy Spirit dwells. He lives in me.

From verse 18. Now in light of this truth, I must do all I can to take care of this body. But there is a grave danger to it that I must be aware of and guard against. It is sexual sin. All other sins are outside of the body, but immorality is a sin against the body (and who knows how many ways it goes against my body). Therefore, I must flee from this sin. It is the only way to fight against it. I cannot try to fight with it and overcome it. If I try that, it will always deceive me and trap me. No, nothing I do will work to destroy this sin. I must run from it. That is the only way of escape. It is the only way to keep my body (the body that God gave me) clean and pure and honoring to Him.

How to Be Holy: The Process of Holiness

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

 Holiness is a process, which means that it takes time and continual effort.  It doesn’t happen all at once.  It is a process of transformation by renewal (Rom. 12:2).  Renewal starts with the mind and then works into the character.  The objective of renewal is always to renew the whole person: spirit, mind and body (complete renewal, however, will come after this life on earth; read 1 Cor. 15:51).

 Have you ever seen an old building being renovated?  All the old rotten material is removed and new material is put in its place.  Sometimes it is found that the entire building must come down and be replaced.  And so it would be a process of starting over.  That is the picture of what renewal is.  It is a renovation process.  The old comes out and the new is put in its place.  Hence, with us, all uncleanness and…

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God Has Gifted Every Christian for Holiness

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

 Sinceit is God’s will for every Christian to be holy, He has given us the following gifts as necessary resources for holiness.

 

Jesus Christ

 

 When you were saved you received Jesus as a gift (Jn. 1:12).  In Him you were justified and made righteous—absolutely holy.  “For He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew not sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  Hence, His righteousness is credited to us.  That means that positionally, we are eternally righteous and holy before God; we were made holy forever in Christ.

 Now, though we are holy and sinless in our position or standing before God, practically we are not sinless and holy.  In fact, though we have a new nature and desire not to sin, we still have our old sinful flesh; and so we find that…

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Update: Divine Encounters

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This morning I’m hanging out in one of my favorite places for breakfast: Panera Bread. It’s cool in here but hot outside. It will be 100 degrees today, the hottest day yet.

I’ve been reading Killing the Killers, by Bill O’Reilly. So far in the reading it’s just been a lot of killing by terrorists. I’m waiting for the good guys to show up.

I’m taking some time off from work—my painting. I know I will have some jobs coming up soon. I always do. People will call. Actually, some have called but I said no. I like my days off too much.

Divine Encounters

I’ve been thinking some on “divine encounters.” What I mean is the encounters I would have with people as an ambassador for Christ—when I am walking in the Spirit. Thus, when he or she meets and engages with someone, since we as Christians have the Holy Spirit in us, we normally have a divine encounter with them. And so, everything we say to them is as if God is talking to them through us. We are the instrument of God bringing His message to them. This is a concept that we don’t always think about, but it is true. And we realize it most when we are walking in the Spirit—walking close to God in obedience.

I want to remind myself constantly of this idea—that I am always His ambassador and that normally every encounter I have with people is divine. I must not waste my time. I must make the most of it. If I am walking in the spirt, everything I say to people will be from His (God’s) mouth—from His heart. But if I say what is trivial and not of the Spirit, I am blocking the flow of His Spirit through me. That is a tragedy, and unfortunately, it happens too often in too many Christians. Too many of us are walking around as zombies (dead to the Spirit), and what we say is contrary to what the Spirit is trying to say in and through us. We must open our heart to Him; we must clean out our mouth and let the Spirt flow through us and out to others—so that we have those natural “divine encounters.”

Six Reasons to Be Holy

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Not everyone desires holiness. But just in case you do, just in case God has put it on your heart to be like Him, I think you will find these point helpful. Here are six reasons to be holy.

1.  To be like God.  God created man and woman in His own image, according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26).  This of course included His holiness.  God wanted all mankind to be holy like Himself.

After the fall of man sin marred that image.   But God’s purpose for us did not change.  He has always wanted us to be holy like Him, even in a sinful world (Gen. 2:14, 15).  In fact, throughout the Old Testament He commanded His people to be holy, saying to them, “Be holy because I, The Lord Your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2, NIV).

And we can be holy!  God has provided a way for us…

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Finishing My Life Well

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Lately, I’ve been giving some thought to finishing my life well. I’ve been asking myself these questions: what will I have achieved in my life? or, Will I have done all the things that God has called me to do?

I suppose the unspiritual person would concentrate on worldly achievements, on greatness, wealth, and popularity. And even the Christian may be tempted to measure himself with these things: how much wealth have I stored up? How popular am I? or even How great I am, as far as my position in the community?

Then when I looked at a few Scriptures, I was pulled another direction. I first looked at Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” It’s hard to judge how much I have done that. I would say that it’s a daily thing—to walk in His Spirit and obey Him every day.

I also looked at Micah 6:8: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”  This is another one of those daily things and hard to judge how much I have kept up with this. It is something that I can only do when I am constantly walking in His Spirit.

Then I was led to a very familiar passage, Psalm 131:1-2:

1 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

It is a song of accent of David, and tells us of David’s childlike trust in the Lord. Here we can definitely see in David how we ought to conduct our lives; and if we are old, how we ought to finish our life.

For me, I ought not to give my thoughts to greatness or high achievements, even if they are regarded as spiritual, or “for the ministry.” I ought rather to quiet myself and be contented with the Lord—meditating on His word, listening to His voice, walking in His Spirit and doing His will.

Moreover, I ought not to pressure myself with how many books I should write, or blogs I should write, or with ministry goals. My focus should be to daily and hourly keep my heart right with Him and to walk humbly with Him—and then to be open to see where He leads me.