Focus

How is it possible to kill by abortion more than 336 million people and to sterilize more than 222 million people since 1971 in China? How is it possible to kill by abortion more than 55 million people in America since 1973 and to sterilize more than 60,000? One part of the answer is that it's necessary to "educate" as many people as possible to think that evil is good.

Satan, the devil, sometimes pretends to be gentle and good to confuse people into embracing evil as good.

Recently I was reading a book that described China's one-child policy as "highly effective." A confused mind describes as "highly effective" killing baby boys and baby girls via abortion and sterilizing women and men all accompanied with government compulsion on parents to pay for these acts.

1 Corinthians 13:7 Amplified Bible says, "Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]." Love does not focus on sin and difficult circumstances. Love focuses on God first then people. A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues." Matthew 22:36-40 Amplified Bible says, "Teacher, which kind of commandment is great and important (the principal kind) in the Law? [Some commandments are light—which are heavy?] And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets."

God is Love. Obey Love. Disobey the devil. Love sees the potential in people. The devil sees people as worthless and hopeless; the devil seeks opportunities to create problems for people, accuse them of sin and kill them.

God does not ignore sin and difficulties. God sees all reality and is still willing and able to love. Before the healing of a son with mental and physical disabilities Mark 9:23 Amplified Bible says, "And Jesus said, [You say to Me], If You can do anything? [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!"

When a father brought his son who had mental and physical disabilities to God the Son Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ did not sterilize, starve or separate the father and/or son. Instead Jesus Christ healed the son who had mental and physical disabilities and didn't hold his sins or his father's sins and difficult circumstances against them.

A Spanish saying is, "God will provide the means." God is a healer and a problem solver, not a people accuser and people killer. Imitate God. Ephesians 4:3-5:2 Amplified Bible says, "Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace. Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]. And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance."

Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead in three days getting back all that Satan stole from people. Satan has no potential for good. Jesus Christ is sterilizing, starving and separating Satan and his kingdom of darkness, so that God's love and goodness will reign in all the universe. What are some ways you on purpose focus on love instead of sin and difficult circumstances? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195

Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.

Covert Takeover?

In the Bible book of Jeremiah God tells His creyentes (believers) that they were doing many evil things in not worshiping God properly some of which were killing innocent people, mistreating employees and mistreating immigrants. God does not want well treated people or mistreated people to mistreat others. Galatians 5:14 Amplified Bible says, "For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."

Ebed-Melech was an Ethiopian immigrant, government worker and creyente. Even though he had been sterilized, Ebed-Melech helped save the life of the Jewish prophet Jeremiah by advocating for his release from a particularly bad prison. Leading government officials did not want to hear and heed the truth that Jeremiah spoke about impending trouble and a difficult but definite way of surviving; so they put Jeremiah in jail.

Angel Moya was put in jail because the Cuban government didn't want to hear what he was saying. His wife Berta Soler as part of the group Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) helped to free him and other political prisoners from jail. Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) is a Cuban human-rights organization formed by the wives and mothers of 75 dissidents jailed in a 2003 government crackdown on political opponents. They participate in a weekly march and in weekly attendance at Mass dressed in white to encourage the Cuban government to free all political prisoners.

Soler became the head of Las Damas de Blanco after the death of Laura Pollan. Pollan is Las Damas de Blanco's founder and head who died of injuries inflicted on her because of her advocacy for freedom.

Soler and her family did not accept the Cuban government's offer to some Cuban dissidents to move to Spain. Soler currently lives in Cuba and is fighting for the Cuban people's freedom and the end of communism. Communism is not compatible with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness because it is a system of government controlling people's lives rooted in the spirit of fear.

Love overcomes the spirit of fear. Cuba is a communist country. China is a communist country that has a one-child policy with government permission required for pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization, huge fines for conceiving unauthorized boys and girls and other means of fear. Communist officials claim the one-child policy is good for people. A Chinese proverb says, "Pointing to a deer and calling it a horse," meaning, "Right and wrong are deliberately mixed up." Abortion is currently legal in America; until 2003 in North Carolina people the government deemed to be 'mentally diseased, feeble-minded or epileptic' could legally be forcibly sterilized. Do you think legal abortion and forced sterilization are attempts at a communist takeover of America? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195

Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.

Wisdom, Power and Diversity

God welcomes people without getting stuck in a web of sin. He wants us to do likewise. God the Son Jesus Christ is Wisdom and Power that He gives to creyentes (believers) for living the good life He promised us. "Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power" (1 Corinthians 6:12 Amplified Bible.)

A Chinese proverb says, "No one's ten fingers are all the same length" meaning "You cannot expect that everyone will be like you." Paul, an apostle of God, was a keen observer of people who found multiple things in the way people are and act to show and tell them about God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit and to unite them into the family of God which has love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Paul celebrated diversity without practicing Biblical disobedience.

Patience is about cultivating consistent godly character not about putting off godly action. Un dicho (a proverb) says, "No hay tiempo como el presente" ("There is no time like the present.") Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said in his August 28, 1963, I Have A Dream speech given at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., "Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood .... There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights." 1 Corinthians 13:6 New Living Translation Bible says about love, "It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out." Another word for injustice is wrongdoing. 1 Corinthians 13:6 English Standard Version Bible says about love, "It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." The truth is God created equal people of all races, sexes, ethnicity, ages and abilities; He expects us to love Him and to love all people not make exemptions for wrongdoing. 

While racial and other wrongdoing still exists today, legal segregation doesn't; also African Americans are more fully enjoying citizenship rights than in 1963. What are some wonderful ways from African American heritage to lead people to Jesus Christ and to more fully enjoy American citizenship? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195

Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.

Kill That Beast

God makes it simple for us to enter into a relationship with Him. God did all the work. We just receive Him. John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]"

Is it simple to have a relationship with you? A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues." 1 Corinthians 13:5 Amplified Bible says about love, "It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]."

God loves people of all sexes, ages, races, ethnicity and abilities. He wants us to do likewise.

The human body is a work of divine art. God starts human life from sperm and egg uniting ideally through merry, marital sexual relations.

Don't kill unborn girls and unborn boys through abortion. "Kill that beast. Let your new creature appear" ("Kill That" song on CD Kingdom Business 4 by Christian Rapper Canton Jones.) Colossians 3:5-10 Amplified Bible says, "So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God). It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will), Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such practices]. But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander, and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips! Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices, And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it."

A Japanese proverb says, "Do quickly what is good." Now is the time to kill that beast and let your new creature appear. Waiting for any other time is a deception.

A Chinese proverb says, "To plug the ears while stealing the bell" and means "to deceive oneself." What are some ways people deceive themselves in trying to pursue loving relationships? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195

Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.

Think Big And Beautiful

God wants us to have a relationship with Him. God does not want us to be ashamed. He wants us to be assured that He loves us and in our thoughts, speech and behavior we can show people God.

A Yoruba of Nigeria proverb says, "One should keep one's eyes on one's destination, not on where one stumbled." No human being can be perfect. We can be pursuing God passionately.

John 10:10 Amplified Bible says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." God wants us to have a big, beautiful life filled with love and all of His goodness. Satan hates all people and has opposite desires for people.

Sometimes we have not sinned. Satan wants us to think we have sinned and get stuck on these harmful thoughts. Satan is also a liar with multiple ways to try to destroy people.

God commands His creyentes (believers) to love Him and people. God didn't give us excuses to do wrong. God gave us Himself to live inside creyentes, and God is everywhere. So creyentes have what it takes to love.

Ending abortion and implementing immigration reform are some big, beautiful  ideas. Truly big and beautiful ideas come from the Bible. What are some big, beautiful Biblical ideas currently expressed in your relationships? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195

Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.

Right Makes Might

Christian Minister T.D. Jakes writes in his book Let It Go Forgive So You Can Be Forgiven, "I am a lover of people who have big ideas! I love the way they envision the world as an expansive landscape of ever-growing possibilities. What others see as insurmountable mountains or treacherous waters, they view as giant-sized opportunities and limitless horizons. I love to hear them talk because through them my own ideas are watered and fertilized by my exposure to their way of thinking." Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was fighting apartheid in South Africa. Through the efforts of many apartheid fell. Apartheid comes from the spirit of fear whose author is Satan/the devil of the kingdom of darkness. Sadly the continent of Africa has many places where the spirit of fear lives. Gladly Africa also has many places where another spirit lives. Today Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is head of the African Union and is seeking the big ideas of Africa's development and the dismissal of the devil. 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control."

Everyone needs to ask God for a new spirit. John 3:1-5 Amplified Bible says, "Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (a leader, an authority) among the Jews, Who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know and are certain that You have come from God [as] a Teacher; for no one can do these signs (these wonderworks, these miracles—and produce the proofs) that You do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb again and be born? Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and [even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God."

When Angela Yuan was a new creyente (believer) she prayed, "Lord, give me strength to face this new day. Help me be the light of Christ in this family" (Out Of A Far Country A gay son's journey to God. A broken mother's search for hope.)

God wants us to pray and to push each day for His global goodness. Iran is ruled by the spirit of fear. Christian Minister and US Citizen Saeed Abedini is in Evin prison Tehran, Iran, because of his Christian faith and works. His wife, Naghmeh Abedini, is praying and pushing. Recently, Naghmeh Abedini spoke to the United Nations to pressure Iran to free Saeed Abedini. We can pray and push too by writing Saeed Abedini a letter and signing a petition to save Saeed Abedini at the website http://www.savesaeed.org.

Just do it now. Christian Minister Joyce Meyer writes in her book Making Good Habits Breaking Bad Habits, "I once heard a story about three demons who were graduating from their course on how to deceive people in the world and prevent them from knowing God. Satan was questioning each demon, and he asked each one how he would deceive people. The first one answered that he would tell people there was no God. Satan answered, "You won't deceive many because most people down deep inside of them do believe God exists even if they have not chosen to follow Him." The second demon said he would tell people that heaven and hell didn't really exist. Satan said, "You will deceive a few more than your coworker, but you won't get many souls either." The third demon said that he would tell people that there was no hurry, and they could put off the decision to follow God until another time. Satan got excited and said loudly, "You will reap many souls for the kingdom of darkness by simply telling them to make the decision later."

The spirit of fear from the kingdom of darkness can seem mighty and make some put off praying and pushing for its defeat and God's global goodness. Former US President Abraham Lincoln said, "It has been said of the world's history hitherto that might makes right. It is for us and for our time to reverse the maxim, and to say that right makes might."

Whose Time Is It?

Ephesians 5:15-17 Amplified Bible says, "Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is."

The Chinese invented the mechanical clock. It is never a good, productive use of time to be outside the will of God.

Jeanne Louise Calment was 122 when she died in 1997 in France; she holds the record for the world's longest living person in modern times. Jiroemon Kimura died at age 116 in Japan in 2013 and is the world's oldest man in modern times. No matter how long we live, this earthly life will end. Ending it without a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit equals a second death. Revelation 20:14-15 English Standard Version Bible says, "Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Creyentes (believers) have their name written in the book of life and need not waste any time now or ever.

The second death can be avoided. John 1:12 Amplified Bible says, "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—"

Helen Keller is a creyente who was blind and deaf. As a young person and even into her 70s and beyond, Keller traveled making speeches to help people live better lives. Keller said, "I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God."

 A North African proverb says, "Every day of your life is a page in your history." Keller used her time on earth to create an outstanding history. She was a creyente who had a several-decades-long friendship and business partnership with Anne Sullivan and was a writer, speaker and advocate. Keller spoke out for a variety of causes including disability rights, women's right to vote, just working conditions for the poor and international peace. 

God probably said to Helen Keller at the end of her earthly life "... Well done, you upright (honorable, admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the blessedness) which your master enjoys" (Matthew 25:21 Amplified Bible.)

Do you believe God will say likewise to you? Are you making history pages in God's timing and will?

Enlightened Sex

Ethiopian Queen Sheba said about wisdom in Kebra Negast (Glory of Kings), "I received a lamp which lighteth me." God Himself is Wisdom, and God gives His creyentes (believers) wisdom. Wisdom shows us the way to live wonderfully.

One quality does not define God. One quality does not define creyentes.

Some like to limit sexuality to genitals. However, God is limitless. God suggests sexuality is limitless in Genesis 1:27 by connecting sexuality to Himself. Sexual human beings are like God. Genesis 1:27 Amplified Bible says, "So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Christopher Yuan and Angela Yuan wrote a book Out Of A Far Country A gay son's journey to God. A broken mother's search for hope. Christopher Yuan indicated in a speech at Yale University, "Some people believe that sexual orientation is innate and fixed, however, sexual orientation develops across a person's lifetime."

The more we interact with God and grow in our relationship with Him, the more He reveals Himself and ourselves including our sexuality. Learning to live wonderfully is a life-time process that starts with a relationship with God. John 4:24 Amplified Bible says, "God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)."

It's a mistake to try to segregate sexuality from spirituality. The qualities of God are integrated and intense. God is not a lukewarm person. God is also a perfect personality. We cannot be perfect, but through God and the Bible He gave us, we can mature enjoying the good and leaving out the evil.

Are the most spiritual people also the most sexual? Write to:

Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195

Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.

Un Corrido Nuevo (A New Ballad)

Zacchaeus was a rich government worker who had cheated people financially. Then he met Jesus Christ, entered into a relationship with Christ and restored by four times the things he had stole as a chief tax collector. Luke 19:1-10 Amplified Bible says, "And [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through it. And there was a man called Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, and [he was] rich. And he was trying to see Jesus, which One He was, but he could not on account of the crowd, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. And when Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down, and he received and welcomed Him joyfully. And when the people saw it, they all muttered among themselves and indignantly complained, He has gone in to be the guest of and lodge with a man who is devoted to sin and preeminently a sinner. So then Zacchaeus stood up and solemnly declared to the Lord, See, Lord, the half of my goods I [now] give [by way of restoration] to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I [now] restore four times as much. And Jesus said to him, Today is [Messianic and spiritual] salvation come to [all the members of] this household, since Zacchaeus too is a [real spiritual] son of Abraham; For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."

America has benefited greatly from the labor of voluntary and involuntary immigrants without always treating them well. Now is a good time to begin to right the wrongs. Immigrants shouldn't have to pay to become citizens nor should they be denied tax benefits available to others.

God wants all people to be treated well no matter where they live or who they are. Desmond Tutu of South Africa said in a sermon delivered in Norway, "At home in South Africa I have sometimes said in big meetings where you have black and white together: "Raise your hands!" Then I've said, "Move your hands," and I've said, "Look at your hands--different colors representing different people. You are the rainbow people of God."

And you remember the rainbow in the Bible is the sign of peace. The rainbow is the sign of prosperity. We want peace, prosperity and justice and we can have it when all the people of God, the rainbow people of God, work together."

Jesus Christ wants us to have spiritual, psychological, physical and financial prosperity.

The Chinese invented paper money. God teaches us in the Bible book of Deuteronomy chapter 28 that when we do right money comes. Let's make a new corrido (a ballad) about America doing spiritually, psychologically, physically and financially right by immigrants.

Is She Depressed?

Why do women often fail to see the symptoms of depression until they are serious (persistent sad or anxious mood, loss of interest in usual activities, feelings of worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, difficulty in making decisions, sleep/appetite changes, decreased energy, loss of sex drive (yes, this is serious to our marriages,) thoughts of self-injury, even suicide, or any combination of these symptoms)? Women tend to attribute our symptoms to other things, such as fatigue from work or family care.

Depression may be the result of the following six typical scenarios:

1) family history of depression. Some depressions may be an inherited imbalance in brain chemicals.
2) puberty, adolescence, pregnancy, postpartum, menstrual cycles and menopause. Basically female developmental and hormonal changes often accompany depression.
3) life events, such as childhood trauma, violence or abuse in current relationships, poor health, a serous personal loss or emotional wound like divorce, bankruptcy, job loss, death of a loved one, business failure, housing foreclosure or eviction, multiple negative experiences coming one after the other or some other life event.
4) on-going life stress, such as single parenting, caring for elderly or disabled family member(s), lower pay in the employment market, discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, employment culture that fails to appreciate, advocate and advance our abilities and talents, stubborn, selfish supervisor or something else.
5) ways of thinking that can enable depression, such as difficulty with assertiveness, passivity, reluctance to rock the boat in relationships or shyness in seeking our own needs in a loving way.
6) difficulty setting boundaries with others.

Women may try to cope with depression in harmful ways, such as substance abuse, overeating, excessive spending, isolation, taking on too much responsibility or conversely not taking on enough responsibility, not financially managing our lives or some other way.

While twice as many women as men have depression any one can have depression, even the strong. Israelite King and Warrior David had times of depression.

However the depression comes, seven steps are helpful to coming out of depression:

1) Receive and passionately nurture a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost.
2) Engage in on-going studying and meditating on God's Word for the remedy to correct thought patterns and actions that lead to depression and maintain depression.
3) Surround ourselves with spiritually mature Christian family and friends. Sometimes family and/or friends help us to see depression that God has been trying to reveal to us through His Word and prayer for a long time, but we didn't receive the message and need others to help us receive the message.
4) Seek professional, spiritually mature, skillful Christian counsel. Therapy and counseling are not value neutral. Our health can be compromised by someone with beliefs and behavior contrary to the Bible. Healing has its source in God. Luke 6:19 Amplified Bible says, "And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all [saving them from severe illnesses or calamities]." Contact me at my email address michelefrancesjackson@hotmail.com or ask our spiritually mature Christian family members and friends for referrals to Christian professionals.  
5) Eat and exercise with proper nutrition, amount, frequency and balance. 3 John 1:2 New Living Translation Bible says, "Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit."
6) Partake in regular activities that we enjoy like dancing, foreign language classes or something else. Not only will we meet new people we will also be compelled to release and replace negative thought patterns with positive ones. We have a right to enjoy our lives. Jesus Christ says in John 10:10 Amplified Bible, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."  
7) Continuously think we are a priceless treasures. Life is full of discomfort, distress, disappointment and bad decisions, but God still values and loves us. We do not have to work to earn the love of God; He freely gives His love. Failing does not mean we are frauds. Psalm 127:2 Amplified Bible says, "It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil--for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep."

Please share stories of coming out of depression.

Second-Class Christian Citizens?

Are non-virgins second-class Christian citizens compared to virgins? No! Someone who has had one or more sexual partners is not a second-class Christian or a second-best marriage partner.

While a virgin has not sinned in having sexual relations with another human being, a virgin has sinned in some ways. Virgins and non-virgins have sinned in multiple ways. Romans 3:10 Amplified Bible says, "As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one." The solution to a lack of righteousness is offered to virgins and non-virgins in Romans 6:23 Amplified Bible which says, "For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord."

When considering someone to marry we don't want to disqualify a person based on being a virgin or non-virgin. What is much more important is marrying a person who has received an eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. While many are concerned about the chronological age of a spouse, what is more important is to be and to marry someone spiritually mature; someone whose relationship with God is deep like the earth's deepest lakes of Lake Tanganyika in Africa and Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia; someone who constantly chases God, and is consequently constantly improving.

A person can be a virgin or non-virgin and still be spiritually immature. A good marriage is the fellowship of two spiritually mature Christians who are continuously cooperating with God to change into His likeness.

Many people receive Christ, but refuse to grow in their relationship with Christ, themselves and other people. The Bible gives us the blueprint for living. Joshua 1:8 Amplified Bible says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success." Some people want to succeed, but they are not willing to do what it takes to succeed. Brian Tracy writes in his book, No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline 21 Ways to Achieve Lasting Happiness and Success, "One of the most important requirements for success, once you have decided what it is that you want, is the quality of willingness. Successful people are willing to pay the price, whatever it is and for as long as it takes, until they achieve the results they desire. Everyone wants to be successful . . . . But most people are not willing to pay the price. Occasionally, they may be wiling to pay part of the price, but they are not willing to pay the whole price. They always hold back. They always have some excuse or rationalization for not disciplining themselves to do everything that they need to do to achieve their goals."

Being a virgin before marriage may indicate that a person has some love of God. John 14:15 Amplified Bible says, "If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands." Virgins have been obedient to one aspect of Exodus 20:14 the Message Bible which requires us to practice, "No adultery."

A non-virgin may also love God irregardless of having sex outside of marriage once or thousands of times. Some non-virgins have sinned sexually, received the forgiveness, transformation and love of God and have been walking in beautiful, Biblical, sexual balance for a while.

God does not consider virgins more spiritual or worthy or better people than non-virgins. God offers His love to everyone. God inspired the Apostle Paul to say in Galatians 3:28 New Living Translation Bible, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus."

In some parts of the globe a woman can be killed if she is not a virgin before marriage. Hymenoplasty surgery to attempt to restore a broken hymen is routinely performed in parts of the world, such as Muslim countries and other places. In Japan hymenoplasty is called "virginity rebirth." Jesus Christ does not require hymenoplasty and other mutilation of our bodies to be holy.

If you are a non-virgin who has sought the forgiveness, transformation and love of God to empower you to celebrate single sexuality and to celebrate sexual relations inside of marriage, but find yourself struggling with your self-worth, shame, fear, guilt or something else, keep on asking God to help you to fully receive His love. God views us as individual, priceless treasures. He wants us to have the same view of ourselves as He has of us.

If you are a virgin who looks down on non-virgins, repent of being judgmental, condemning, haughty and self-righteous like many of the religious leaders during the time of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. Jesus Christ tells a story in Luke 18:10-14 Amplified Bible which says, "Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men--extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers--or even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain. But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am! I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

If you are a virgin envying a non-virgin, repent. Never envy sinful behavior. Sin hurts multiple people in multiple ways whether we see the pain or not.

Most people are not virgins when the marry. However, 73 percent of non-virgins say sex inside of marriage is better than sex outside of marriage. 

When we have received a lot of the love of God, we are able to give out a lot of the love of God. Having received the love of God, non-virgins will not feel bad about themselves and/or envy virgins; also virgins will not feel superior to non-virgins or envy non-virgins. God takes all of our sins and works them out for His glory and our good. International practical Bible teacher Joyce Meyer was repeatedly raped by her father as a child and as an adolescent. As a young adult she went through a divorce. Later she married Dave Meyer, and later still together they have a Christian ministry potentially impacting 4.5 billion. Luci Swindoll is a single who has an international Christian ministry and writes in her book, I Married Adventure, "It's daring to be curious about the unknown, to dream big dreams, to live outside prescribed boxes, to take risks, and above all, daring to investigate the way we live until we discover the deepest treasured purpose of why we are here."

Whether we are a non-virgin or virgin, if we have received God and are continuously seeking to mature in our relationship with God and people, then celebrate who we are just as we are.