Guard Your Heart! by JON JONES

We are continuing with great posts from the male perspective! Jon Jones is back again with a message that is something we all need to think about. I’d like to give a shout-out to Jon and the entire Atmosphere of Heaven team who brought a little bit of heaven to Apostle Nina Marie Leslie’s birthday celebration (wasn’t that a great testimony that the sister from Tulsa gave -hearing your worship helped her make a life decision) – awesome!

Right now I can’t get my mind off of a message that the Pastor of Christian Life Center’s Shorewood Location (Dan Johnson) taught in June. He taught on Holiness. In my experience, I either hear Holiness taught with a list of rules and regulations, mostly concentrating on our outward appearance, or I hear Pastors doing their best to stay away from the subject in order to not “offend” anyone. On one of his points, Pastor Dan talked from Romans 13:14 on the subject of “Making Provision for the Flesh.” He used the example of going on a date, coming from the movies and dropping off (as a male) his date at home. She then asks to if he wants to come in for a minute to have something to drink before he’s on his way (I’m paraphrasing him). It’s after 11pm at night and the guy battles in his mind should he or shouldn’t he go in. Will he try to reason with himself and go in telling himself that “nothing will happen” or will he “make no provision for the flesh?”

The thing that my wife and I talked about was what movies were they watching. In making no provision for the flesh, what are we putting before our eyes? I talked to someone last night and they were talking about going to see a movie with one of today’s most recognized actresses. We talked about what we saw when we looked at her. Even without spiritual discernment you see a sultry, alluring, seductive “aura.” In the natural we detect that. In the Spirit we see those things as seducing spirits! Why would we allow our selves to be “entertained” by a “seducing spirit” for hours? We are not to make provision to even arouse the flesh’s desires …. Avoiding anything that would arouse or open the door to stimulate the flesh…. We do things and say, “That wasn’t a big deal.. I didn’t fall into anything”, not realizing that evil desires are being aroused and planted in us…. Then the next time it just draws us closer and closer to the edge until we look up one day and say “how did I get here” or “I can’t believe I did that.” What we watch everyday is eating us up, but we allow it, in the name of “entertainment.”

We are raising up a generation of “malfunctioning Christians” by not telling them they are being “sifted as wheat,” not guarding their hearts with “ALL DILIGENCE!” Proverbs 4:23

God Bless You,
J2