Christ Centered Chronicles

Important note: Please read your bibles to fully grasp each scripture in its entirety. Do not just run with the scriptures I have stated in this message, I used these to corroborate and portray the message being shared with you all. I am not a prophetess or pastor but just someone who wants to share this message because this was also a part of my life. At some point you are supposed to come to your senses and ask yourself “what am I really doing?“

Isaiah 5: 11 – 12 “What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties— lyre and harp, tambourine and flute— but they never think about the LORD or notice what he is doing. 

Ask yourself the following questions as a journal entry or just out loud.

What quality of life do these events bring forth ?

Does this type of lifestyle truly benefit you or is it just an immediate fix to an even bigger issue?

Why pile yourself with so much alcohol/drugs that would only lead to an addiction and major health problems sooner rather than later?

Does gratifying the flesh feel so good to you that you disregard the Lord and ignore his counsel?

Do you ever stop to think that you should be doing God’s will and not your will?

Do you remember this prayer :

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6 : 9-13. 

So in everything we do, it must bring glory to the LORD. To bring glory to Him, would be to follow ALL of his teachings correctly. The word of God is more precious than gold, it is priceless. In other words, if it doesn't align with God's word or doesn't bring both Him and His kingdom glory we shouldn't be doing it. I know it is easier said than done, hence the reason why we can call on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to turn away from fleshly desires. Firstly, you must take full accountability for your actions, ask for forgiveness and repent. You have to truly make up your mind to want to stop acting out those ungodly desires. The urges would not cease overnight, it will be a battle but eventually they will no longer bring you joy. 

"But if we evaluated and judged ourselves honestly [recognizing our shortcomings and correcting our behavior], we would not be judged.  But when we [fall short and] are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [by undergoing His correction] so that we will not be condemned [to eternal punishment] along with the world." 1 Corinthians 11 : 31 - 32 AMP

"When I kept silent, my bones grew old. Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah"  Psalm 32: 3-5 NKJV

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5:16 NIV

"Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace." Romans 8: 5-7 NLT

This is why Jesus said :
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV 

Therefore, what do you think about the continuation of the verse below in Isaiah 5:13-16 ?

Of course it doesn’t just pertain to drunkenness and wild parties, those were just the highlighted ones in this verse.

Isaiah 5:13 -16 “So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst. The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up. Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation. But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.”

This should be considered as a WARNING and not to be take lightly even though it is from the Old Testament and we are under the New Testament. These are not fairytales or just history lessons. NO! please do not be mistaken.

Psalm 103:10 “he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” We ALL should be so grateful and thankful that we have his grace and mercy!!

How can we forget JESUS ? who sacrificed himself for us all so that we wouldn’t have to bear the burden of our sins or face God’s wrath.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.  For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,  for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” Romans 3: 23-26 NLT

However, his sacrifice is not to be taken for granted or seen as a ticket to sin. If you persist and refuse to heed the warnings, it will no longer cover those sins if you deliberately continue after receiving the knowledge of truth.

‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Psalm 32 : 1 -2 NKJV

“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.” Hebrews 10:26-27 NLT

God’s judgement can be in any form so if you ‘know’ and refuse to obey then accept the punishment like a champ, whatever or however it may present itself.

Which leads us to the following verses below :

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NLT ( this scripture was placed here to show that you cannot serve two masters. I will discuss this in another post. When it says judge, it means righteously not based on your self righteousness and arrogance. This is basically being my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper and the same should be reciprocated for you too because you care for each other’s well-being.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”  Luke 6:46 NIV.

“And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” Luke 12: 47-48 NLT

God does not tolerate disobedience. Do not be fooled by his silence or a lack of consequence, feeling comfortable and confident to carry out your worldly desires thinking that judgement would not come upon you suddenly when you refuse to obey. By continuing to sin and having no regard for the price that Jesus paid for us all, then why should it cover your sins? You are basically saying that Jesus’s sacrifice was in vain.

What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.” Isaiah 5 :18-19 NLT

How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Psalm 4 : 2 NKJV

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!” Romans 6:15 NIV

The above scripture does give you much to think about. I would suggest that you meditate on the full verse in Isaiah 5 : 11 -16, whether or not it applies to you or how you live your life or maybe it applies to someone you know. We are all in this together dealing with some type of struggle, either addiction, sexual immorality, lying, unforgiveness or greed just to name a few. That is why we need to examine ourselves thoroughly with the Lord’s help, of course.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139 : 23 NIV

My brief testimony

I repented for all of this and turned away from this life. I have no desire to engage in such activities anymore. Praise the Lord!

I used to go clubbing ever so often and would sometimes wear revealing clothing to feel more desired or to capture the male gaze. I would drink to get myself drunk, boast about how secular music spoke to my spirit, which would invoke a sexual spirit within me causing me to dance very provocatively, which is a part my culture (wining).I felt really proud to be gyrating without even paying the Lord any mind. I barely prayed back then, it was a sporadic occurrence. However, during Covid it was such a scary time for everyone being restricted to the point that it felt like imprisonment in your homes and always having to wear masks. That really put things into perspective making me realize I took a lot of things in life for granted, my life, my health and my freedom to go wherever I wanted. There was always a lingering fear building up and I am sure a lot of people felt the same way when the news would give an update. However, before 2020, many times after clubbing I would feel ashamed of myself and how I acted. Of course that would be when I could recall it, if I wasn’t in a drunken stupor. Therefore the shame was tangible, but the lure of it and how I felt in those moments was so much greater than the shame, that I continued. There were times I was groped in the club without consent, and someone even tried to kiss me while drunk, but my friend at that time stopped him, which I am thankful for. I know in settings like that people would say “well then what do you expect would happen” but still it doesn’t justify it unless it was allowed. One time I went with my ex-boyfriend and I drank to the point that I could not remember anything, and to this day it is still blank, he told me parts of what happened, which were true or not I do not know. Those times felt like a drug and an addiction, because in that small window from night to the wee hours of the morning it would feel electrifying, as if all your worries and cares would melt away, and for that time frame nothing else mattered but how I felt in that moment. However, when that was all over and back to reality, I would so badly crave to be in that state again. Let me be clear I was not an alcoholic. I would only drink when I went clubbing which was not as often as I may have made it seem. I started to feel empty before the rise of Covid like I was missing something and I wasn’t sure what, then Covid hit and it all made sense. What I needed was to accept Jesus in my life and follow his counsel, to change my thought patterns, my ways and actions and utilize that time of solitude to examine and reflect. I even “ghosted” my friends who were a part of that lifestyle. I know I handled it poorly but I needed to do that in order to avoid outside distractions. I then upgraded to being lukewarm , but I thought if I just discontinued clubbing and drinking and distanced myself from everyone that I was truly a follower .I was so wrong and deceived. A word of advice, it takes years to fully strip yourself of ungodly desires that have been a part of your life for so long, to then live a life pleasing to Christ. Mistakes would be made along the way, temptation would come and many times you would take the bait when you know you shouldn’t. That still isn’t an excuse to keep doing it and using God’s grace and mercy through Jesus’ sacrifice as a shield, or to justify why you can’t stop. I will also admit I wanted to go back to that life when I made new friends, thinking maybe one more time wouldn’t hurt. I was wrong, you are only doing yourself an injustice, showing God the world is better than him and also confusing others who thought you gave up that lifestyle. You cannot serve two masters, you have to pick one. It all begins with that one decision to change.

I am currently without friends and I am honestly okay with it. I really thought it was of great importance to have many but until God sends the right friendships my way I will not murmur.

P.S I will always share my testimony pertaining to the topic I am writing about and if not, I will try to give a little advice regarding my journey as well which isn’t perfect. I made some mistakes along this journey that I am not proud off, leading me to question my mental state and finding it in me to forgive myself and others. Do not let anyone deceive you!! This walk is not easy, there are many fulfilling moments, breakthroughs, answered prayers and experiencing God’s love, but there is also spiritual warfare as well. Despite all of that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is worth all what we have to go through here on earth because we are all running the race to gain everlasting life and heavenly treasures when entering God’s rest.

God loves you and it doesn’t matter how terrible your sins may be, God is waiting for you with open arms to return to him, so remember to hold yourself accountable, forgive yourself, remove the shame and guilt and sincerely ask God for forgiveness. Do not ever let anyone make you think that your sin is too great to be forgiven.

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matthew 3 : 2 NKJV

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2 NLT