What is meant by "To be humble before God"?

Full Question:

What is meant by "To be humble before God"? How God want us to be Humble? Why God wants us to be humble?

Answer:

I consider the answer of this question as one of the most important thing which every Christian must need to know. God want every one of us to be humble in front of him and before other people. Every Christians know very well that God wants each and everyone of us to be humble. But the problem is that many of them don’t know what it is meant by to be humble before God, how God want us to be humble and why God want us to be humble.

I think first of all you need to get the answer of why is humbleness important. Let me tell you. To be humble is not a commandment in the bible, but it is a matter of wisdom, which will even help us to enter into the heaven and to receive the grace from God. You can be humble or not. If you become humble, God will give you His grace according to James 4:6, you will be exalted according to Matthew 23:12, to exalt you at the proper time according to 1 Peter 5:6, to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven according to Matthew 18:4, to revive your spirit according to Isaiah 57:15 and so on.

Humbleness in dictionary means, marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit not arrogant or prideful, showing deferential, low in rank and so on. Many peoples misunderstand the meaning of humbleness with the meaning that is in dictionary, while it is not. Dictionary meaning of humbleness can be considered only as a small part of biblical meaning. Maybe some of you may think how it can be different. I'll tell you very simply. The meaning of faith in dictionary is, to trust in somebody's ability or knowledge and to trust that somebody/something will do what has been promised (Oxford). While Bible says, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. But we can also see that the dictionary meaning of faith can be considered as a small part of its biblical meaning.

Bible do not tells us the meaning of humbleness directly like it tells about faith. But Bible contains its meaning indirectly and is also possible to extract that meaning very simply. It says 'to be humble before God' means to be obedient to God and to submit or to perform His will.

We can see it clearly by the epistles of Philippines 2:8 that “Jesus humbled himself in obedience to God” In the book of Jonah we can see the people including the king of Nineveh humbled themselves to escape from the wrath of God. People misunderstand the humbleness of Nineveh people is that Jonah 3:6 “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God.”

Actually this is not their humbleness, but it was only a part of their humbleness which is of less important. Their humbleness, which is to do the will of God, is on the next verse which says “Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.” You can see it clearly by God’s reply that “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

By the incident above we can see clearly that the humbleness God expect is to humble our body, but it is to being obedient to him and to perform His will. We can see the humbleness which God expect from us is obedience in different parts of the bible such as Exodus 10:3, Leviticus 26:41, Deuteronomy 8:2,3,16, 2 Kings 22:19, 2 Chronicles 7:14; 12:6,7; 12:12; 36:12 and so on. (Please refer yourselves.)

In the Old Testament and New Testament, God wants us to be humble, while there is a difference for how God want us to be humble. The inner content of what God expected from the people at the time of old Testament to be humble, is the same as that of New Testament, which is to be obedient to God and to submit or to perform His will. But we can see a difference in the way people expressed their humbleness in the time of Old Testament. They also covered themselves with sackcloth, sat down in the dust and also by fasting.

Many people consider humbleness is to count them as nothing. They used to tell Phil 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Let me tell you friends, who told you to make yourselves count nothing for considering others better than yourselves? Very simply, if you think you can understand that while you have nothing, you consider others always better that yourselves saying things like, ‘Look, he have everything and I am the only one in this world with nothing’ and so on. I would say we have to posses many spiritual and natural blessings and then you have to consider others better than yourself. Because, at these time of prosperity only comes the real trouble to consider others better than yourselves.

I also consider counting ourselves as nothing is something God really hates because God is the one who consider Himself as everything. We can also see God became angry due to these types of humbleness when Moses considers himself nothing and also as timid and also when Elijah considers himself nothing, by the words of Isabella.

As I already answered, what is meant by, to be humble before God, it is very easy to answer how God wants us to be humble. Some of you may think why God wants us to be a humble. We can see two main reasons for it in the Bible. One reason is that God like us to be humble because Jesus Christ is humble and He like all of us to have the same nature and the character of Jesus Christ. Secondly, to be humble is a necessary and sufficient condition to enter into the kingdom of heaven and God wants us to enter there.

May God bless all of us to be humble by being obedient to him and by submitting ourselves to perform His will.

How can we know, God's will and know it is the will of God?

Answer:

This is a good question and its answer will surely help you to know the will of God. But its answer is very simple. Its answer is, Reading and knowing the Bible will make you to know God's will, and is also to know it is the will of God.

I would like to explain the answer of these question more clearly and not confusing so that it will really benefit its readers to understand, and to bring it into practice in their life. As a father have lot of good wishes about his children, God also have many good wishes about his children. According to the Bible in this time of New Testament, the main will of God about human being is that, "all human being to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." according to 1 Timothy 2:4. Related to that God also like all human being to believe in His only son Jesus Christ, whom He sent into this world to save it from the consequences of sin, according to John 3:16.

Related to these stands almost all other will of God about human beings, such as to Love God with all our heart, soul and spirit, to love our neighbors and friends, to pray for our enemies and to forgive for all those who have done anything bad against us and to obey his commandments. He wanted all of us to realize the purpose of life which is the reason why He created us for.  And He also want all of us to receive his Holy Spirit and to walk being obedient to the Holy Spirit. He like all of us to see becoming like Jesus Christ in all our character and conduct. And there are a lot of of other things, which is also the will of God.

How can we know it is the will of God is not a big question. We are so blessed to have a book called Bible, which is consisted of all these things. By reading it and understanding it will help us to know the will of God. Almost all things, which is the will of God , to anyone should have a base in the Bible. Lacking off these base in the Bible for anything will help you realize, that it is not the will of God.

May God bless you with this answer and help you to know his will and to bring it into practice is your life.

What is Satan's main motive and why?

I would like to answer this question because I do believe that answer will help lot of people to remove their misunderstanding about Satan, and to stay away from him and his ways so that you may not fall into his plots. First of all, I would like to remove your misunderstanding about Satan, because many people still consider that Satan is the one person with two horns on his head and with a tail on his back, along with a back rounded face.

What Bible says through prophet Isaiah about Satan is that, Satan was an angel, A morning star, son of the dawn which is fallen from heaven, cast down to the earth, who once laid low the nations. What has happened is Satan said in his heart that, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." but what just happened is that, on the next moment he fall down from oldies all his heavenly glories and brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. God also cursed him that, those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?" All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot.

In Bible prophet Ezekiel gives us a detailed description about , who was Satan. It says 'Satan was the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned him: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. His settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day , he was created they were prepared. Satan was anointed as a guardian cherub, for so God ordained him. He was on the holy mount of God; he walked among the fiery stones.  He was blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through his widespread trade he was filled with violence, and he sinned. So God drove him in disgrace from the mount of God, and God expelled him, "O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more."

From this, I think you may clearly understand, who was Satan, and now it is very easy to realize and to understand the main motive of Satan. I would like to mention one more thing that human being was in God's own image and likeness after the fall of Satan. God created Adam and Eve with the power and glory more than Satan. As we can clearly see that Satan was a fallen angel, I do believe very boldly that the main motive of Satan is to make human beings also to fall from its glory and might. I can confirm it by the incident that happened in the garden of Eden where Satan lied to human being, so that he may have fall in sin and fall from the glory and grace of God.

Satan also have many other motives, which is related to the main motive, to make man falls short from the glory of God. It includes man to deviate from the commandments of God by his lies. He always tries to bring pride to human being, which is the same thing, which made him far from heaven. As a thief his main motive are to kill, steal and destroy man and his blessings.

I hope you understand very clearly the main motives of Satan. May God bless you to want in the grace of God and not too fall in these traps of Satan until the coming of Jesus Christ.

Where do people go when they die?

Full Question:

Where do people go when they die? I am very confused about this question. Other people said that when we die we will go to heaven or to hell, but others said that no one has reached heaven because we need to wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and other people said that when we die we are being reincarnate or we go to other body to live again in a new life.

Answer:

I do believe that this is an interesting question. This is also one of the most common questions that a human being asks to himself. And no one including me was able to answer this question from real-life because we are not yet dead. But I will try to answer this question from the knowledge which is available from the Bible and from the resurrected people.

First of all we can see what is death or when can we say that a person is died. When a human being is born inside the womb of his mother, there is a spirit inside him. God is the creator of that spirit and he is the one who put the spirit inside every human being which will result in the formation of pounds of life in that fetus.

The body should satisfy certain essential requirements to keep the spirit reside inside it. It includes almost all the things required for the good functioning of the body. Starting from the most important thing the blood, it also includes things Such as food, water, air, vitamins, and minerals and so on. Unavailability of any of these things naturally or artificially causes difficulties for the human spirit to stay inside the body. Natural causes can be diseases, heart attacks, lack of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fat etc and the total weakness of the body which is the main reason for normal death when we are old. Artificial causes can include death that happened due to suffocation, losing a lot of blood, serious damages for body by accidents and so on. Usually some of these were the reason for our death when someone tries to kill us or when we try to suicide.

Very simply when the spirit leaves the body of a human being somehow, it is called dead. I think you understand clearly that how will a human being die. An important thing which you need to understand along with this is that it is only your body that will become idle or useless. Your spirit will always remain the same.

From the best of available knowledge from Bible we can say that our spiritual go to a sleepy state or a state of rest just after it leaves the body. The spirit may be reserved for the heaven or hell; it is only a matter after the judgment. Some people believe that after the death the spirit will wander here and there which is absolutely wrong. Some people believes that the spirit of persons who are reserved for heaven is resting in paradise and the spirit of person reserved for hell is resting in Hades. This can be true or false. Whatever it may be the spirit of dead people will be in a state of rest until the coming of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ come to take his church, all the spirits will wake Up from their state of rest, some for eternal life and the some for eternal condemnation.

After the coming of Jesus Christ, the spirits should stand before God for the judgment. After the judgment God will decide whether he should enter the heaven or he needs to go to hell. No human being can judge and say whether a person will go to hell or heaven because of that. One thing I'm sure about that is they will only either goes to heaven or hell, and there is no any other place for them.

All this process cannot be claimed as a process of reincarnation because it is not a reincarnation but it is the transformation. Those who enter into heaven will get a new spiritual body. This is all which we know according to the best of our knowledge and we can only see what things will happen when we really face it. May God bless all of you with this answer.

Why cannot we rise above the bible?

Full Question:

If you cannot rise above the bible, doesn't that show that God is not doing a very good job?

Answer:

The Bible is not just the black or white book which we seen around. Actually it is the word of God which means the words came out of God and it is Jesus Himself. To obey all the commandments of the Bible is the most important and essential thing to rise above the Bible. I think and I do believe that, it is not a 100% practicable thing for human beings. What we can do is to obey the Holy Spirit and to keep a good mentality with Jesus Christ.

To rise about the Jesus Christ is not a biblical thing. Bible says clearly in Matthew 10:25 that, "It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master." Jesus is our only teacher and master. To desire to grow more than Jesus Christ is not good for a true Christian. It is also not practicable.

Many people teaches about ways to rise above Jesus by John 14:12, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." They are just teaching that we can perform greater things than Jesus and consider this as a way described in the Bible to rise above Jesus. Actually they are skipping the reason inside the same sentence which is, "because I am going to the Father."

Let me tell you dear friend. Satan once tried to rise above Jesus, and to seat in the throne of God. We all know what happened. God kicked him on the next moment from heaven for his wicked thought. Do not repeat the same mistake. Be happy with what you are now. Give thanks to God for that.

May God bless you with this answer and help you to learn from Him, word of God, more with a humble mind and to grow up to the head of Jesus Christ.

Is this girl possessed by satanic influences?

Full Question:

I think this girl at school is possessed by satanic influences? So there's this new girl, and she's sort of shy. Her name is *****, and I have her in my algebra and sociology class. She draws pentagrams in art, and wears perfume. And one time I even saw her speaking to another boy. All the other girls talk about her; nobody wants to go near her. I think they can tell maybe she's unsaved. Apparently, so I heard, she's not a virgin. And yes I'm as shocked as you are from hearing that. And my friend asked her what church she goes to, and she said she didn't go to church at all. How do I save her from hell? I mean, she's a train wreck.

Answer:

Dear friend. Your question seems different from many other questions I have received. I am very sorry to say this, but I had to say you that, this is not the way to view a person either someone you know or someone you do not know. With what a mind and spirit, someone can call a person a train-wreck. Jesus or Bible teaches us to love our neighbors, friends and even enemies. Either a believer or a nonbeliever, our fight is not the flesh, but only to the evil and its powers.

You are a teacher and you should have to realize and practice a lot of things to be a good teacher like Jesus. I will try my best to solve situations like this. There are many ways to touch the life of a student like by love, by care, by faithfulness, by helping and so on. First of all you should practice the very best way to change the life of a student, which is to start loving the student from the very heart.

We can never blame another person by saying that they have a demon, because almost every living human being in this universe has a demon inside them. Some people had a demon of sexual immorality some with the demon of murder, and many other with the demons of pride, angry, disease, hatred, judging and so on. I, you or anyone can never say that they do not have a demon, while they are doing all these kinds of acts.

God place each and every one in some place to change the life of another person. God placed me here to write this blog to give answers of many persons doubt. Now I am writing this answer to help you, similarly God placed you as teacher in that school to change the life of students like this, by influencing their life with unexplainable love in you, the love of Jesus Christ itself.

In this case, from your question it is clear that everyone hates that girl. I'm very sure that she was rejected from many places, by her friends, relatives, teachers, neighbors and so on. Just think, how much sad we will become, when we were rejected. Of course we will become very sad. Now just imagine what will be her situation while she was rejected from everywhere, where she tried for a little acceptance. Maybe we can not be able to notice the sadness in her heart by looking to her physical appearance outside.

What I have to say to you is that pray to God for her and to gift you a heart to love her. Try to separate some time to be with her. Hear her problems. Being so close to her, put your hands on her shoulders and calm her so that she may share all her problems, sadness, troubles and so on. Try your best to quiet her and tell her about the love Jesus Christ, how much Jesus care for her by His death and resurrection on the cross. Assure her that Jesus Christ is still living to bring the best solution for all your problems by giving you his love, peace, blessings and the even to give you the wonderful Holy Spirit.

Maybe you can see her crying by the love of Jesus. Sometimes she seems to be the same. Whatever it may be, I am sure you that her life will start to change from this very day onwards. You were so try to keep in contact with her by giving her your best the company and friendship. Carry her step by step to Jesus Christ. If you take initiate you to change your life by giving her the love of Jesus Christ, you were life will also start to change and there will be great reward for you in heaven.

God bless you with this answer to change your life and her life. I will pray to God to help you make this assignment successfully.

What should be the focus of a Christian's life?

Full Question:

What should be the focus of a Christian's life? Can you please provide Bible verses that support your answer.

Answer:

I consider this question also as an important question because it will surely help you, me and everyone to keep our focus on the right thing in our Christian life with Jesus. This will also help us not to deviate from the plan of God in our life and will also help to acquire essential spiritual growth.

There are many things which we need to be focused in a Christian life. The first and most important thing to focus is "To love the Lord your God with all your heart and To love one and other" according to Matthew 19:21. These two commandments, which should be our main focus are so important because Jesus told us already, if we do these two commands then the rest will follow.

The next main focus of a true Christian life should be to follow Jesus and to walk as Jesus walked according to 1 John 2:6. We are responsible to follow Jesus in the midst of all our problems. It is sure that if we start following Jesus, our friends, relatives, neighbors and all will start hating and to avoid us, but we have to follow Jesus without caring about these things. There should also be problems and troubles in a Christian life and still we have to follow Jesus and are responsible to love him with all our heart.

And another important verse which is in the Old Testament also tell us about the focus of a Christian life, which is to look to God and to be radiant as it says in, Psalm 34:5 "Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." We should have to keep our focus as Jesus always, because Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith according to Hebrew 12:2.

To be a witness of Jesus Christ is also a very essential focus of our Christian life as it is clearly said in Acts 1:8. There are also many more important focuses in our Christian life which include to keep fellowship with others, to be a good witness in your land and in your neighboring places. We should also have to maintain a good testimony about our life and our family. We should not grieve the Holy Spirit that is in us and we should read the word of God and keep it in our heart in such a way that it will guide us in the right path. We should not become disobedient to God and lot of things like this are there.

I would also like to mention one of the most important things related to this question which is what should not be the focus of Christian life. We have already seen the main focus of a Christian life. We should also need to know what all things are not our focus in a real Christian life, because it will help us to run from all those things. The main things which should not be the focus of Christian life is Money, fame, evil, sexual immorality, love of world, pride, hatred and so on which will all come under three categories called lust of eyes, lust of flesh and pride of life.

May God bless all of you with this answer and May the Holy Spirit help all of you to keep all of your primary focus as Jesus and to be a good Christian.

Why is it important to memorize the bible verses?

Full Question:

Why is it important to memorize the bible verses? I heard memorizing bible verses are really important and good way to have good faith, but why? Is it just because the words are instilled in my brain so that I could be brainwashed by them? I know environment is real affective strongly to what we think. Is it building up the spiritual structure surrounding my soul? or God really tells me through the word I memorize. I narrow down my question, what i want to know is, why to memorize them is important?

Answer:

Well, This is a good question and I would like to describe it as simply as possible and also by getting into all the details of it, so that this answer would really be a help in your life to grow more in Christ.

Let me get into the answer. Why do we used to remember your credit card Pin-number? Why do we remember the cell phone number? What about computer passwords and email passwords? If I keep on asking there should me more than thousands of questions to ask like this. The main reasons for that we remember these things are 1. they are important, 2. we need it often and 3. we don't know at what time we need to use it. Similarly along with these uses memorize the bible verses have many other uses too. To memorize Bible verses is not a commandment. We need to memorize it for it will become more useful for us like the password, cell number and so on. 

Can use to attack: Storing the Bible verses in our heart is like keeping enough bullets in the gun. If we have enough bullets in the gun, we can shoot our enemy before he start to attack us. Spiritually, memorizing Bible verse will help us to attack the temptations and attacks of Satan by shooting the word of God which we have stored with us.

Prevent from falling: One one the most important thing which help us to keep on focus to God. It help and prevent us from falling into any other false teaching of the world and also from false biblical teachings. Keeping the word of God stored in us help us as a lamp to our feet and as a light in our path. This help us not to get destructed by falling.

Increase in Faith: Memorizing the word of God will help us to increase our faith in God and his works. Faith comes by hearing the word of God.

To keep focused: To focus on to the one called one is a great thing in Christian life. Many people changed from their focus from Jesus and from the way Jesus shown us by focusing on the things of the world. The things of world are of course good to the eyes and will give pride in your life. Love to the world is envious to God. Memorizing word of God will help us not to change focus from God to the desires of this world.

To keep Holiness: Word of God is an important factor which help us from committing sins. Psalms 119 says us to store and to keep hidden the word of God in heart, cause it help us not to sin against God.

Which book has the most wisdom?

Full Question:

Which book has the most wisdom? Why is Bible special? How do I need to deal with Bible? May I need to handle Bible with care? What may be the blessings I should get if I care for my Bible? Please help?

Answer:

I don't believe that there are certain books with wisdom or books with different levels of wisdom. I do believe that all good books help to gain wisdom, by knowing the content inside. It also depends on the need of its reader. For an example, medical books help a doctor to gain more wisdom and knowledge about medical terms. But even some world's best novels won't help him acquire much wisdom. It only helps another person who is related to novels. Similarly a book of botany will not help an astronaut gain much wisdom. From these examples it is clear that all books are essential to gain wisdom and knowledge if we have some use with it.

In the case of Bible, it is not the best book to acquire knowledge or wisdom for a computer programmer or an electrician about his subject. But it is the best book to get wisdom and knowledge about spiritual matters and truth. It also helps to acquire theological knowledge, to study about God and even to gain a clear knowledge of history and so on.

The main specialty of the Bible is that it helps everyone to acquire spiritual wisdom and knowledge irrespective of caste, religion, ethnicity, color, age and so on. It is because everyone has a spirit inside or more clearly 'every human being is a spirit' and the Bible is the best book to acquire knowledge about the spirit and spiritual things.

The Bible is special for many reasons. One of the most important reasons why it is special is because it is the 'word of God' and is the book containing absolute truth about God and creation. It helps any human being to acquire spiritual wisdom and knowledge which is related to God. It also helps to get a clear understanding about the history, life of Jesus and so on.

Bible says that it is written when its writers, the prophets, were moved by hearing the Holy Spirit speaking from God. It is also inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

There is no need to handle the Bible with care protecting it from dust, damages, tears and so on. And there is also no special reward in heaven or earth for those who handle their bible with care and caution. All these are certain misunderstandings developed by human thought.

Let me tell you certain facts about all these things. I know very well that handling the Bible with such care will not help me or anyone of you to acquire spiritual growth, to obtain some special reward from heaven and to gain more wisdom and knowledge. It is not the outer cover of the Bible, but it is the inner content which includes commandments, history etc. which are really important. Even there is no difference for the papers or cover of the bible which are also got by trees.

Skipping the really important inner content and giving importance and care for the outer cover is similar to the act of Pharisees who clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside full of greed and wickedness. Here they practice and teach others how best to keep bible safe and sound from all damage. But they also fail to obey the most important inner content of the bible, which are the commandments of God. They do not realizing that, those who obey the contents of the Bible are the ones who do the will of heavenly Father.

Let me be open. I used to take all these things with no importance by understanding these facts I mentioned. I am not a person who keeps Bible safe from dust, damages or even from tear and wear. Many times the bible has fallen down from my hand too. I have many copies of the Bible and the one I am most frequently using seems looks bad indeed. But I have the boldness before God that I am keep trying my best to understand the contents inside the Bible and also to obey the commandments by bring it into practice. All these do not means that you should not even take care of your Bible, but it means to provide priority to the important thing.

There are many blessings which you will get by bringing into practice what bible says. Here I would also like to say about the blessings which you can easily receive by reading Bible. It is in Revelation 1:3, "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."

So I suggest you to remove all the unwanted care about the outer cover of the Bible and start reading what is inside the Bible, hear what you are reading with your own heart and finally bring it into practice. May God bless you to achieve these things and to gain success in your spiritual life.

Why did God or Jesus saved me so many times?

Full Question: Why did God or Jesus saved me so many times? They are real. I know it. When I was born I was not suppose to live one more day and if I did live I was never suppose to walk or talk or do anything. When I was 2 I stopped breathing and i came back. When I was 10 I almost got hit by a car and something was standing in front of me the same glowly thing with hands out. A week ago I almost lost my life by a dumb car but I saw the same thing. Why is it always things like this?

Full Answer:

OK. If I tell my answer in a sentence and give you the answer, I can end it by saying "You are so precious for Jesus." But I not gonna end with that sentence because you must have to to understand why is it and what may be the reason behind all these things. This will help you for sure.

Each and everyone was created in this world with a purpose. It was a purpose planned by God even before we were created in this earth. Only the people who is in touch and in a good relation with God can accomplish that purpose in their life. Many many people in this world is not even knowing about such a purpose of God in their life. They will not be able to acquire a place in heaven also after their life in this earth. In these group of people there are also some people who are predestined by God to fulfill his purpose. God will protect them and help them by giving an heavenly protection to accomplish their purpose.

I will explain you this in the basis of the Bible so that it may become more clear to you. Take the life of John the baptist. One of his purpose is to baptize 'Jesus and show the people that Jesus is the savior of the world and the Messiah.' Consider the situation in which John the baptist deviated from the purpose of God and was leading a immoral life or died somehow before the baptism of Jesus Christ. This will bring a great break to heavenly plan resulting No one to baptize Jesus and to tell the people that Jesus is the Messiah. God will not allow this type of situations to be happen. Similarly there is a special plan in your life also which has to be accomplished somehow by you and this is one reason God is protecting you.

We can see the same situation in the life of David, the king of Israel. Many times Saul, the king of Israel tried to throw spear towards him and all the time God protected him from that he may not die. This is also why God is making you escape from all these types of problems and accidents.

Satan is the person who is always trying to destroy God's plan. He is the one who makes people fall in sins, accidents, diseases and other misunderstandings so that the people may deviate from the purpose of God. He is the one who is trying to eliminate you from the earth so that the great purpose of God may not fulfill in your life. And from the best of my knowledge if Satan is trying such a way to destroy you from the face of earth, the purpose of your call may be to bring many sinners to repentance because this is most important thing Satan hate.

Believe that God have great plans for you and prepare yourself to accomplish that purposes in your life. Pray hard and prepare yourselves by reading and practicing bible which will help you to be concentrated on the purpose of God. Pray to God to help you accomplish His purpose in your life and to protect you from all dangers. Also thank God for keeping you safe until this very day.

I would like to add some more important things to the answer so that others may not get depressed and discouraged and you may not be boast of yourselves. All this does not means that all others are not called by God or God do not have any purpose in their life. Each and everyone have purpose in their own life. All purposes are equal in front of God for all are His plans. Some times our purpose may be small in front of human eyes, but there is no equality difference in the eyes of God. God will reward everyone for they accomplished their call and there is no special reward for someone.

So everyone of you try to concentrate on your purpose in life. May God bless you with this answer to accomplish this purpose in life. Wishes you safe.

What kind of wood was the cross of Jesus Christ made of?

I think no one in this 21st century should have some valuable knowledge about the wood that is used to make the cross of Jesus 2000 years ago. But according to best knowledge available now, science believe that the wood of Olive tree is used to made the cross of Jesus.

Lots of people are changing their focus from Jesus by going behind this kind of things. From my own knowledge and wisdom, I would like to share everyone of you some valuable information to change certain misunderstandings about the cross.

1.There is nothing special with the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus is just like the any other cross which is used to crucify people that time.

2.The cross of Jesus was not made of any special wood. It was also made of the same wood that is used to crucify others. The two thieves crucified with Jesus and others were also crucified on crosses made of the same wood.

3.The cross of Jesus is not a perfectly shaped cross with rectangular wooden bars finely polished as we see in pictures and movies.

I would also like to say you something about the crucifixion of Jesus is that Jesus was also crucified in a similar way as that of the thieves crucified with him. There is no much difference in the crucifixion of Jesus from the normal system of crucifixion existed at that time. Jesus carried the cross to Golgotha and was nailed in the arms and legs just as other thieves and as system existed that time.

The only noticeable difference happened in the crucifixion of Jesus according to me was that the soldiers made him wear the crown of thorns and wrote an inscription which they put it on the cross written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."

From all this we can clearly see physically that the death of Jesus on the cross was not the great thing which Jesus did. The torture Jesus suffered and his death on cross was similar to many. The great thing which Jesus did by his crucifixion is to carry all the sins, curses, diseases and problems of the mankind and to take victory over all the powers of darkness by paying his life as a price. While all other people crucified were crucified for some criminal reasons, Jesus was crucified without any sin. The people of this world give the most worst death to Jesus Christ which is the best of best in heaven can also be considered as a specialty in the death of Jesus.

Many times we can see people going behind the cross, dresses and other things which is considered to be of Jesus and of his disciples which are of really no importance. To have a knowledge about the subject, the history is good. But we have to understand that fact that there is no benefit in searching and going behind all these things. It will not help anyone of us to gain some spiritual growth.

Accepting and realizing what Jesus did one the cross and who He is the thing which help us grow in Christ spiritually with maturity.

May God bless all of you with this answer to focus more on Him and his word of God rather than going behind all the physical things. God bless you.

Jesus died for our sins and is not in hell. Why?

Full Question:

If the punishment for sin is death "of the spirit" and Jesus died for OUR sins, how come he isn't in Hell?

Answer:

Wow! I know this is a very tricky question. First of all I thank you for this wonderful question. I like it so much and I consider it myself as one of the best questions I received. It is very difficult to give an answer for this question with human brain. But by God's help, I can also answer this question too.

In the time of Law, the Old Testament, there are many types of offering to please God. They are 1.Sacrifices to please the Lord (Whole burnt offerings) 2.Sacrifices to give thanks to the Lord (Grain offerings) 3.Sacrifices to ask the Lord's blessing (Peace offerings or Well-being offerings) 4. Sacrifices to ask forgiveness (Sin offerings) 5.Sacrifices to make things right (Guilt offerings).

By the death of Jesus Christ, He became a sacrifice for all these, for the whole humankind. Here we only want to look at the 4th sacrifice, 'Sacrifices to ask forgiveness' (Sin offerings), to know the answer. This sacrifice is used to ask for God's forgiveness and to make amends for specific unintentional sins and to become clean after becoming ritually unclean.

What was used to happen in the Old Testament time according to the law was people used to sacrifice animals like a young bull, a male goat, a female goat or lamb, two doves or pigeons, two pounds of fine flour, two goats and a ram for their sins. These animals on sacrificing will die for the people's sin. As we all know with common sense that, at this time, animal is not the sinner, but it is dying for the sin of other people. These act doesn't means that animal is a sinner or no one can say that the animal is sinned. There is no soul for animals. Even if they have souls they will not need to go to hell according to the law for they are not sinners, but they only died for the death of other people's sins.

Very very similarly, Jesus died on the cross not for his sins and He is not a sinner. But He died on the cross for the sins of all mankind. It was like the animal died for the sins of people in the Old Testament. As there is no need for the animal to go to hell for that, Jesus also do not have the need to go to hell.

Then I would also like to change the misunderstanding of all Christians who believed and answered for this question that, 'Jesus was in hell for three days.' I would like to say all you dear people that, Jesus never went to hell according to the Bible. And Jesus was not in hell between the three days from his death and resurrection. Three important things I want to say to prove is that,

1.Jesus is not a sinner as you have seen to go to hell; Hell is for sinners.

2.By Luke 23:43, Jesus was in Paradise which is not hell or a place related to hell. (Luke 23:43 "Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.")

3.By Acts 2:31 also it is clear that Jesus was not in hell. (Acts 2:31,"Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.")

Hope you understand these answer very clearly. may God bless you all with this answer.

Is certain days are bad to start any work?

Full Question:

Is it true that certain days are not a good to start any work or job? Hindus consider Tuesday is a bad day, Christians consider Friday and some like Jews think it is Saturday not a good day to start any work or job. Is it true? If it is true, can u please give me the reason?

Answer:

No friend, it is not true in that sense. All the days are good. In the beginning God created, "Then God said, "Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night. These lights will be used for signs, seasons, days, and years. They will be in the sky to give light to the earth." And it happened. So God made the two large lights. He made the brighter light to rule the day and made the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars. God put all these in the sky to shine on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that all these things were good. Evening passed, and morning came. This was the fourth day."

In the creation, we can see clearly that, God created these days and He saw that all these things were good. I will just tell you something to think more practically, how many people are all over the world are start doing there millions of work on each Tuesday, Friday and all. Are they all not fulfilling or is their anything wrong with them? Of course, they are fulfilling their works and nothing is wrong with them.

And as far as I know there is nothing in Bible says that Friday is a bad day or so. Many are wrong beliefs created by people, thinking that Jesus died on a Friday and all. Actually there is nothing wrong with Friday. The only hing I felt little correct was that with about the Saturday for the Jews, that too was in the early times only. According to Torah they should have to rest on the 7th day, Saturday from all works(Law of Sabbath.) In old times if someone disobeys them, they have to and they use to kill that person who disobeys them. As it is so, if he start some work on the Sabbath, it would be really a bad day for them.

One more thing which bible says keeping the day clearly is in the New Testament, Romans 14:5-7  is that if one man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

May God bless you to be fruitful in every day in your life.

Christian girl 14 year old, needing advice please to stop smoking?

Full Question:

I am a 14 year old Christian girl needing advice please? OK, so I'm fourteen years old and am about to face a huge huge problem. I've been in trouble several times in my life, though I've been a Christian my whole life. I've been caught drinking and a few other things and I'm about to get caught for smoking. I've smoked a few times in my life and I've never got caught. I'm not even really addicted but recently I took a pack from my mom and stored them in my friends sock droor for us to smoke every morning before school. It seems like every time I do something bad, I get caught somehow. Well, somehow, my friends mom found them or something because she just called me and asked me if they were mine. I fessed up and she said all she had to do was pick up the phone and call my mom. shes not going to right now at least but now I'm not allowed back into her house or anything. I'm really scared of getting in trouble but what I'm really worried about is my relationship with God. I think if I didn't have God in my life, I wouldn't get caught. But I love God and want to get closer to Him. Please help me on how to deal with this.

Answer:

I am so sorry to hear this my dear friend. You are going and thinking in many wrong ways. Even from the question it is clear that while you are saying, "I think if I didn't have God in my life, I wouldn't get caught." In the real sense and proper way it should be like this, " if God is with me, I will be good and others will respect me and even my friend's mom will call me to give some good advices to your friend"

You just think what a joy should be you to hear your friend's mom saying about, "watch her and study, Good daughters should be like this' or when your friend is caught for something wrong or she is depressed somehow her mom calling you mom saying, 'can you please let your daughter be with my daughter to talk and to share somethings for that she can get well or good. To make a good image is never and easy thing as making bad image is very easy. But no need to worry. To make a good image is also not an impossible thing if you have the help of Jesus Christ along with a desire.

To make it possible with Jesus, you need to receive Jesus as your personal savior, then you have to start reading Bible and need to start praying. You told that, 'you love God and want to get closer to Him.' If you have such a decision, surely God will help you and it would be so easy. Click on these links to get help in receiving Jesus as your personal savior, to start reading Bible and to start praying. By this God will help you to keep out of all problems and help you me a model for your friends and all.

If you can, tell your mom, what you did and ask apology for her. It will help you be humble in your life and to ask apology for anyone, even for some other people. Then if you decide and start being in a relation with God, tell your friends mom sorry for that and if can also add Jesus changed me and my thoughts. This will make your friends mom proud of you.

Anyway may God bless you to develop a connection with God and to be a good child of God. For any help and doubt, don't hesitate to contact me. Jesus love you and may He with you.

Is it a 10 seconds enough to save a soul?

Full Question:

Is it a 10 seconds enough to save a soul. What would you say? If an atheist walked up to you and was willing to listen to you with an open heart for 10 seconds what would you say to try to put the entire message of God into those 10 seconds?

Answer:

'Yes' and 'No.' It depends on in what sense the saving will be. But I would like to describe this answer in detail to make every people of God being more fruitful to God in winning souls all over the world. I also pray to God to raise many 'short time soul winners' using this answer. Anyway, listen to this answer and understand, how to influence the life of a person in making a repentance.

First we have to clearly know the meaning of getting saved. There is usually only one way to get saved and there is only one type of saving in that sense. Literally saving means to repent and receive Jesus in their life by accepting Jesus in their life. There is also one more meaning for saving which is like to influence the person's life in such a way which will result him get saved, sooner or later. Repentance will occur in different ways for both these cases.

In the first and normal case, the gospel has to reach that person, either by preaching, speaking, reading or so. In that directly or indirectly we have to say him, what is sin, its consequences, eternal condemnation, about Jesus paying the price of all sins, way of salvation, skipping judgment by Jesus, eternal life in heaven and Holy Spirit which will result in repentance by the fear of eternal condemnation and hope in eternal life by salvation. At this moment or situation He have to say loudly with his open heart either himself or by the help of someone that, Jesus is the son of God by believing He died for his sins and God raised him from the dead and he is alive now. These type of a salvation will take of course more than 10 seconds.

And in the second case which include nothing regarding salvation mentioned in the first case. First you may think, how is it possible? Of course it is possible. You have to understand that the first case is entirely different from this one. In these case some words, or deeds which may or may not be related to gospel will result the person think about God and all which will result in a salvation in his life sooner or later. And I do believe that 10 seconds is more than enough for such a salvation to change his life.

This can be also describe as putting a seed. It is mentioned so for those words or deeds for salvation will be put into his heart as a seed, which will grow up to a tree bearing fruits resulting repentance and all. The time will depend upon the type of seed you put into their heart. But this will also have the same effect as the first case is its main specialty. It is a wrong concept that people will repent only by spreading gospel according to the first case. I will make it clear to you by giving some best examples.

We can take similar situations from Bible so that you will understand it properly and no one can oppose it further with their own words. Consider about the time taken by Jesus to say Nathaniel that, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."(Of course it will take less than ten second.) Then Nathaniel answered "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Are you able to say that this was not a true repentance or salvation. Accepting Jesus is what just happened and is a perfect salvation with a time less than 10 second.

And in an other incident, what about telling Jesus that "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."(Do anyone of you need more than 10 seconds to say this.) On the next moment we can see, "So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly." which is also an act of salvation and repentance by welcoming Jesus gladly into his life. We can see Zacchaeus saying "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount", is the result for great change in his life due to salvation. And if their is anyone yet who don't believe this can't be a perfect salvation, he can listen to the next words of Jesus saying "Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Similar only is the case Jesus call some of His disciples just by saying 'follow me'(2 seconds is more than enough to say 'follow me' to someone.) But they followed Jesus which is also an act of salvation. What about telling a women sinned and caught in adultery repenting just by silent deeds and words, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?, 'No one, sir,' she said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin."

Some of you may then tell, it is only possible with Jesus. Never, it is possible with all those who believe in God and we have the words of Jesus saying 'you will do greater things than I did for I am leaving this world.' In the book of acts, how much time Peter take to Heal the Crippled Beggar which result in repentance in his life.

But I do agree that there are certain requirements needed to make repentance and salvation in the life of a person through this second case. Those are righteous mind with God, powerful presence of Holy Spirit and you should be a obedient person to the Spirit of God to control you in such a way to make you speak or act what he says to you. But is simple to attain it by a good relationship with Jesus Christ by obeying His words and the Holy Spirit.

Anyway I pray to God for all those who read it to help them a short time soul winner in their life to gain many losing souls in this world. May God bless you abundantly with this answer and in winning souls. Glory to God and May God bless you.

I am an atheist, but she tries to make me a Christian?

Full Question:

I am an atheist but she tries to make me a christian? I have been atheist all my life, my girlfriend tried to make me a christian overnight forcefully and we ended up having a big fight. What the hell is wrong with Christianity? Why is it so difficult to accept things as they are? After fighting for 2 days, she decided to hide all things from Christianity from me. Not even telling me what she'll be doing for church activities. Is it so difficult to tell me things? It makes me happy to hear about things that she enjoys doing even though I am not a believer. she threw it off simply by saying things like "my heart will hurt everyday for as long as you don't believe in God" and "I will only tell you things if you're a believer". she wasn't like this initially, I feel that the bible is corrupting her mind now. Whats your view as any solution?

Answer:

Dear Friend, it is not a new question, but is interesting. But you like to give an answer which is also interesting so that these problem may be solved and you to be together again with happiness. Hey man there is an interesting answer in Bible saying its reason. If your friend or some distant relative is the one saying that, you can avoid it easily. But is not the same while you deal with your spouse, brother or sister.

I had its answer from the Bible and don't hesitate to read this because of that. I do believe there is nothing wrong if a non-christian reads it. There are some necessary instructions for her in the Bible, but you the one who asked me and so you should try to bring this into practice.

The most important reason which made her behave like that is in Bible, 1 Peter 3:7 "In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered." These sentence include the answer which is woman are weaker. Don't think they are weak physically alone, but you have to understand that she is weaker than you in many areas as you know.

You should realize that she is more weaker than you. She will sad and angry more often than you are all due to that. As long as she lives along, it may doesn't matter, but once she got a spouse, a man to care, she will start depending on him for almost all her purposes. She will put her trust in you and she will make you only person to depend in need. While you being such a person for her to depend and if you reject her by even a simple word or deed, she would feel like, so rejected, avoided, sad and totally lost. This is quite common and is what just happened here. Try to understand and love her, dude.

And my view as a solution is try to participate with her in a level you can. I am not questioning you for you are an atheist. But why can't you just believe that there is a God. As much as you get into the details of anything that how it is made of, you can realize that even a cell, an atom or a sperm can not be made with such a structure without a God. If once you just search for a God from you heart, He will reveal yourself to you and it will change your life and those persons like me who realized that do not have words to express how great it is.

I don't force you to be a Christian cause I know it is not a matter of forcing, imposing or compelling. Unfortunately your girlfriend lack the knowledge for that. I am asking apology for her to force you so and don't beat or force her to obey you by hearing some words of your friends or so, which will result her to be feel depressed. I mentioned this because I know some cases in which it happened which resulted in divorce and great family issues.

If you don't mind try to participate with her as possible as you can and if can also read the link of question below which will help you get some good basis of a married and family life.

 ( Successful married life )

May God help you with this answer and will give give you a wonderful and successful married life. God bless you.

Why can't God respond to everyone's prayers?

Full Question:

Why can't God respond to everyone's prayers? Because it seems whenever something lucky happens to and individual, they tend to say God did it. what happens when you pray for something and nothing happens?

Answer:

Before getting into the answer of this question, I would like to say you to please read the answer of question, 'What is prayer?' on the link here (  What is a Prayer? )to understand some very essential things about prayer which I already answered.

It is a fact that God will not respond to the prayer of each and every people including me. God usually like to hear only two types of prayers. One is the prayer of a sinner asking forgiveness and other is the prayer of his children, that is those who accepted him as savior and Lord. God doesn't said that he will hear or will not hear the prayer of any other people. So anything can happen in such cases.

In the first case, if a sinner pray to God to forgive his sins, from his broken heart. I can assure from the basis of Bible that, without considering any gender, color, ethnicity of that person and if his sins are the most cruel and worse that no human can forgive him. Jesus will hear their prayer with all love and care to him.

Second prayer is from a person who believe in Jesus and became child of God by receiving Jesus as his savior. There are some requirements needed by a child of God to pray to God so that God may hear his prayer.

1. Faith: James 1:6 "Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind. Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord; For there is a division in his mind, and he is uncertain in all his ways."

Matthew 21:21 "And Jesus in answer said to them, Truly I say to you, If you have faith, without doubting, not only may you do what has been done to the fig-tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and put into the sea, it will be done. And all things, whatever you make request for in prayer, having faith, you will get."

2. How To Pray?: Matthew 6:5 "And when you make your prayers, be not like the false-hearted men, who take pleasure in getting up and saying their prayers in the Synagogues and at the street turnings so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. But when you make your prayer, go into your private room, and, shutting the door, say a prayer to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will give you your reward. And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words. So be not like them; because your Father has knowledge of your needs even before you make your requests to him.

Let this then be your prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your kingdom come. Let your pleasure be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day bread for our needs. And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us. And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One. For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven. But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins."

3. Bad Intentions: James 4:2 "You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it. You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure. O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God."

4. Hatred: Matthew 5:24 " If then you are making an offering at the altar and there it comes to your mind that your brother has something against you, While your offering is still before the altar, first go and make peace with your brother, then come and make your offering."

All the four things mentioned above are the most important reason for which God do not hear the prayer of his children. First be corrected in these areas and ask to God what you need according to His wish and then God will surely hear your prayer.

Hope you got the answer for your question and may God help you with this answer to be corrected in the above areas. Blessing you and praying to God to hear you prayer. God bless you.

Is it actually possible to avoid sexual thoughts?

Full Question:

Is it actually possible to avoid sexual thoughts?
I'm an agnostic theist (yes, THEIST, not AGNOSTIC ATHEIST, I know it's not very common), and I don't think sexual thoughts are sinful, but many people do.
So, is it even possible to not have these thoughts? Like, if someone's hot, you're going to notice. Hopefully, you're not that much of a perv and you don't want to like have sex with them, but you might fantasize a little.

Answer:

Nope, It is not actually possible to avoid sexual thoughts or any other thoughts of killing, theft, lying, or anything else. Thoughts are very common with each and every human without mattering are they rich or poor, white or black, educated or illiterate and so on. All those who have a mind also will have thoughts of one kind or another kind.

But there is a great difference only for sexual thoughts than any other thoughts. Because sexual thoughts which is adultery in heart is a sin. As I already mentioned in some other answer, It is not good to have bad thoughts, but if somehow we think some thing bad, it is not a sin.

But there is something which I and all saints of God does. It is nothing but to take victory over all temptations of sexual thoughts. There is nothing to worry about sexual thoughts. Each and everyone and even Jesus Christ on living in this earth as a human being have sexual temptations and thoughts. But those who don't sin by continuing in such thoughts when it came can take victory over it.

May some of you think is it possible. Yep, it is not so easily possible along by human being, but is easily possible for everyone with the help of Jesus Christ who took victory upon all such thoughts by his death and resurrection on the cross and also along with the help of Holy Spirit. What you just have to do is, ask forgiveness for all our sins till this very day, receive Jesus as your personal savior if you are not saved, wash your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ and finally know Jesus Christ by reading the Bible.

A whole escape from such thoughts are not possible as you asked. But it can be reduced to the minimum as for the maximum you read the Bible. Another better option to even nullify it is by sharing the gospel daily with people personally. It is a big fact that no man can stick up with any sins, if he is sharing gospel from his very heart.

May God bless you with this answer to get out from this problem of sexual thoughts and to took victory over the desires of flesh.