#...while Jesus is the way to get rid of our sin | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cool-cowboy · 1 year ago

Text

Summary:

In which Father Kennedy comes up with a plan to expel your mutual lust by forcing the both of you to cope with it, and the plan works, for about a minute, then he confesses his undying and eternal love for you and does you on the altar while you stare at Jesus Christ.

This is the second work in this storyline, reading the first one isn't all that necessary, just know you've already indulged once before, during the previous Sunday's confession. If you like your men obsessed this one is definitely for you. Enjoy!

Tags:

Priest Leon S. Kennedy, Alternate universe- Medieval, Church Sex, Catholicism, Guilt, Adultery, Love confessions, Catholic prayers, Altar sex, Naked female clothed male, Body worship, Semi-public sex, Multiple orgasms, Oral sex, Vaginal fingering, Teasing, Vaginal sex, Cum shot, Aftercare

Blurb:

“If we are to abstain, why would we come here alone? Is that not counterproductive?”

Text:

“Father? Um- Stephan’s home, you-”

“I wasn’t looking to come inside. Accompany me through town, we have some things to discuss.” I nod, unsure exactly what said discussion will entail, considering it has been only a few days following our indiscretion, and I haven’t seen him once, though the guilt has been heavy, making me sickly to even look at Stephan, who is none the wiser, thankfully, I wouldn’t want to need to sin again by lying to ward off any suspicion regarding my adultery.

“Alright. Let me go and tell Stephan, he doesn’t like for me to leave without notice. Come in, Father.” I pull the door a little further open, allowing him inside and out of the cold, my thoughts already ungodly at the sight of him in his casual clothing, the collared shirt tight over his neck, and his upper body as well, providing an overly enticing view which leaves very little to the imagination.

“Hurry along, miss, we have things to attend to.” I nod, a little feverish, not glad to have been caught ogling, as well as anxious to speak to Stephan about the Father in any regard. I hurry to the study, admittedly delighted at the thought of any manner of time spent with the priest, even if it is sinful.

“Stephan?” He has the door closed, was telling me a few hours prior my cleaning was interrupting his work, so much so he had to close his door to keep me from being bothersome. He utters a soft “Come in” from the other side, so I do, opening the door slowly to keep from disturbing him, wary to rouse his bad mood.

“What could possibly be so damn important you’re interrupting a second time?” I don’t look at him, well aware being too bold is never a smart decision, just keep my gaze down and wring my hands, any attempt to calm the nervousness falling entirely flat.

“I just- I wanted to tell you I’m heading out for a short while.” I glance up, his expression unhappy, though he really should be glad to be rid of me, if I truly am being such a nuisance.

“Where?” A tight leash, that’s what he’s named it, his stipulation of getting to ask his questions before giving his assent for me to do as I please, though he’s usually not all that big of a part of my day, keeps to himself besides mealtimes and when he’s looking to bed me, more often as of late, our marriage barren without me giving him any children, of course I take precaution where I can, lily root has never failed me so far, though if Stephan ever found out about my unwillingness to bear his children I’d be in quite the predicament, I’ve already received more than a few slaps due to my “Infertility”.

“Just through town. The Father has some things he wants to discuss.” I hope it’s sufficient, I would rather be truthful where possible, I never had the chance to become a skillful liar, never had reason to, before now.

“The Father? What business do you have with Mr. Kennedy?” I’m sweating, hands wiped on the front of my dress doing nothing to abate the clamminess on my skin, my guilt plain, thankfully not so plain to my husband, this being one of the few occasions I’m glad he doesn’t pay me much mind.

“I assume it’s something to do with the choir, Meredith’s out of town for now, I assume he expects me to fill her role for the time being.” A convenient story, a truthful one, which happens to work very nicely in my favor.

“Sure. You’ll be back in time to make supper?” I hum an affirmative, and he waves me off, going quickly back to his writing, ignoring me once again, other than a final “Make sure you’re not “too tired” tonight”, the excuse I’ve been giving lately, claiming to be too busy to have the energy to give into being bedded, not that it works majority of the time, he does as he pleases no matter how pleading my asking him not to is. I leave him, not wanting to be a bigger bother than necessary, heading back down the hall to a man who’s more than willing to offer his time, the father waiting patiently just where I’d left him, inspecting a painting of Stephan and I hung just inside the door.

“He agreed?” I nod, making sure not to stare, taking my furs from their hook and shrugging them on, having a look at him when I’m finished, his expression serious, professional, not unusual, though we are closer now, close in a way I would have never guessed, me being the only person on the entirety of earth who has seen him in the throes of pleasure, lost to desire, the thought of his entirely different self rousing goosebumps over my arms, enticed and afraid at once.

“Let’s be off, I’ll need to arrive back with time to prepare Stephan’s supper.” He opens the door, letting me through first before closing it softly behind, the action not of any importance to him, but indescribably touching for me, something Stephan has never once done in the years I’ve known him, even while he was courting me he was selfish, luckily for him so was my father. “So, Father, what is it you… Wanted to discuss?” I’m curious, we’ve never spent time together outside of church hours, never had any reason to, which leads me to believe this has everything to do with Sunday’s confession.

“What is it about me that you enjoy?” I pull my brows together, taking his offered hand to help me down the steps, unsure why he’d ask something so forward, or where he intends to bring this discussion, the warmth of him lingering on my skin when he releases me, our pace lazy, a simple stroll, not entirely normal, but I suppose no one will gossip about Mr. Kennedy, the thought offering relative safety as we trail along, even if I’m not all that glad there are so many others out at this time of day.

“Forgive me, but why- Why do you ask?” I cast a look toward him, wary of having this conversation in public, even in the mostly empty residential block.

“I think I may have found a way to rid the both of us of our yearning… I suppose I should set the example. I find you perfect. You enrapture me with your nature, truly, you consume my mind and body with your presence, my entire being is delighted at any reminder of you, miss. I believe there is reason behind your draw, of course, God has sent you to me, and me to you, as either of our most formidable trials, lust being our greatest weakness-”

“Father, I don’t see how this is- What solution can we have for a trial from God other than to abstain?” He smiles, seeming overly giddy at my words, nodding along with them, his footsteps pausing just in front of the church’s walkway, his body turned to face mine, large in front of me, undeniably masculine, everything I would have wanted if the choice was mine to make.

“You’ve figured it out all on your own, miss. Abstaining is the only way, we must make a habit of it, that’s what I’m suggesting. Come.” He leads the way, the both of us entering the empty church, no service going on at midday on a Wednesday.

“If we are to abstain, why would we come here alone? Is that not counterproductive?” It surely seems that way, the tension settles the moment the door is closed behind us, thick and heavy, the weight of sin on my shoulders, my guilt eating me from inside out, an excruciatingly powerful deterrent, I must say.

“Temptation can only be overcome if it is present, miss. We are in no position to flee, we must face our desires and let God lead us in the way he sees fit. I intend to cure us of our illness in as quick a manner as possible, so we will need to bury ourselves in it, let the wound fester prior to healing. Sit.” I do, take a seat one the frontmost pew, watching him take a seat beside me, a small amount closer than what would be considered appropriate, though I suppose it’s necessary, being close enough to lean in but having the willpower not to. I wonder if he’s looking this well kept on purpose, to be enticing, he looks more put together than usual, and I must admit it is making me a little warm, my face heated only from being alone with him, sat close enough for him to do as he pleases, no confession window keeping me from seeing the entirety of him. “We will need to expel our desires… Have you been praying to the lord daily?” He’s sinning, the evidence is all over him, that same low, lusty quality to his gaze, the roughness of his voice, the pink dusting over his cheeks, the telltale tightness of his breeches. He seems to be trying to distract himself, keep his thoughts from wandering down the more unrighteous path, and I’m doing the same, though my mind has a tendency to wander, especially during time with the Father.

“Yes, of course, for forgiveness and guidance. I haven’t seen a difference- In the-uhm- The… Frequency of the ungodly thoughts, no matter the amount of times I plead for it.” God has been unkind to me in the past weeks, never providing any type of assistance to aid me with my problem, but I suppose that’s how it’s meant to be, it is my choice to be godly, or to give into the need burning through me, the scorching hot, pleasurable want that is nearly worth it.

“The lord works in mysterious ways, miss. We must remember this. We are to choose our own path, be worthy or risk our salvation when judgment comes.” I nod in agreement, though I can’t help but question it, God’s will, his willingness to tempt but not allow humankind to be tempted, the all-knowing man surely already knows what choice we will make, which path we will continue down. “Though it is true all sins are equivalent under the lord… As long as we are forgiven we are cleansed…” He has a hand over the front of his pants, just rested there, his expression lax, only a little pained, the suggestion clear, an offer to call off our abstinence before it’s even had the chance to begin, give into temptation and assume we will be granted forgiveness for our weakness.

“Father? You’re suggesting… We should..?” I’m not so sure, not that I’m strong enough to resist if he was to suggest we indulge again, it does seem much less consequential now that we’ve already done so once before.

“Not suggesting, merely… Well, perhaps I did suggest it. You really have ruined me, miss.” He sighs, closing his eyes and covering his face with one hand, seeming strung up, not all that willing to make either decision. “I’m all too willing to fail, only when it comes to you, all I ask is that we remain discreet, my position is based on the trust of the town, I cannot have them finding out I’m a sinner, they will lose all faith in me, I can’t have that.” I nod, unnerved he’s planning to keep this tryst going for longer than today, though I can’t say I won’t be glad to continue as we have, one sin is equal to many, penance is the only way we will be saved now.

“We cannot be found out. Stephan, he would- I’d-”

“I’m well aware, miss. I wouldn’t allow it, you will not be harmed. We will be sure to keep this under wraps, yes?” I hum, still afraid, a continued offense meaning more instances our sin could be revealed. “Good, well, I suppose reveling in temptation wasn’t the ingenious idea I thought it would be… Truthfully I’m being ungodly right now, thinking of how beautiful you were when you bore yourself to me, allowed me to pleasure you…” He’s touching me, has a hand on my knee over my skirts, his upper body turned toward me, the shift in the conversation bringing forth the familiar warm sensation, a buzzing of want settled over me, heavy and hot and unyielding.

“Father, we… Someone could come in…” He doesn’t seem to mind, his expression hazy, face near to mine, his breathing a little hoarse, excited.

“Don’t be worried, miss, I must admit I had lustful intentions, I turned the lock, in the case we weren’t well equipped to resist… Seems my hunch wasn’t far off, unless you aren’t as fully depraved as me… Tell me, do you wish to indulge?” He speaks softly, kind, his face a breath from mine, his hand pausing its upward travels to await my answer, this man who has no need to be so gentlemanly giving me the kind of choice I’ve yearned for nearly the entirety of my life as if it’s something so common.

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned, and I will do so again.” I sign the cross, praying my repentance will be enough, watching him sign his own, not at all concealing his lustful gaze, the holy signal dampened by his hand running a little further up my leg, my skin already sickly hot, the both of us anticipating it, steeling ourselves with heavy breaths.

“The father is just, he will cleanse and forgive the faithful of their sins…” He presses his lips to mine, soft and slow, the beginning of depravity, the sealing of our shared sin, the sweetest sin I’ve ever committed, the only one I’d give up everything to commit again and again. “This is it… The start of our descent… The most beautiful madness I could ever conceive of… The most evil perfection there is, my all consuming want, you.” He’s not rushed, it’s not in his nature, he’s calm, collected, his lips rough against mine, as well as his palm, cupped gently to my jaw, holding me to him, his skin hot against me, a reminder of sin, the heat a sort of omen of where we’re headed, a prelude to the heat of damnation we’re settling ourselves into. “I wish I could explain… The things I feel for you… The power you have over me… The carnal, painful need simmering inside…” He’s easing me back, slow, laying me back on my elbows, leaning over me to keep our lips connected, his hand trailing down from my jaw, ghosting over the curve of my waist, the gentle touch completely unfamiliar, his softness entirely enrapturing, his honest words spoken into kisses with a passion and fervor I could never begin to explain. “The sweet embrace of sin… Is all too enticing while you’re the one offering it… Miss, I have a confession.” He stops, pulling back to look down on me, his face and lips both flushed, nearly as flushed as mine feel, the both of us breathing heavy as he rests above me, his expression earnest and pained, distraught at his yearning.

“What is it, father?” He doesn’t tell me, rather sits up, pulling me along once he’s stood, lifting me right up out of the pew to rest across his arms, carrying me up the steps before pausing, just looking at me, still distraught, swallowing in a nervous manner as he looks down on me.

“My heart has always been full of God.” He sets me down, right on the altar, smoothing my skirts before sinking down, rested on his knees in front of me, staring up at me with that same expression, utterly terrified of what I’ve done to him, his hand moving to sign the cross before letting it rest over his thigh. “I’ve never had the room for anything further than the lord… Never felt inclined to make any, but you- You’ve shoved your way inside, clawed through a lifetime of God’s will and made your own home in my heart. The thought of- I’m appalled by it, the precedence you’ve assumed… Miss, you’ve consumed me, reached inside and tore my heart and taken it for yourself… Though… I find I don’t mind, and if it makes me ungodly then so be it- because I’m- I won’t apologize for being smitten with someone so utterly perfect- This is a mistake I would make time and time again, because it isn’t- Loving is never a mistake.” Love. I’m not sure I can say I’ve ever loved anyone, surely not Stephan, even if I do tell him so, the closest I’ve ever come to love is probably whatever warmth I have for the man before me, though I couldn’t admit it, loving him would be the worst possible offense, a far more real version of whatever we’re doing here, a crime for which there is no punishment other than the wrath of god.

“Father, we- You-”

“Just let me say it, I will bear my sins to you, you need not return my sentiment, I merely cannot keep the feeling festering inside any longer, feel free to ignore my ramblings, I am nothing but a godless madman, prepared to worship at your altar… Your body is the only temple I need, the only thing important enough to tear me from God, so allow me this, give me the freedom to speak my truth, divulge my sins to both you and the lord.” He’s touching me, staring at me with his head turned to the side, lips pressed to the skin of my inner ankle, lifted with a soft touch, the look in his eyes making me sickly, something so beautiful I can’t stand it, a care I’ve never seen, love. “I relinquish myself to you, completely, miss, from now until forever, I am yours, entirely. I will worship you, offer you all that I can in means of companionship and affection, though you need not do the same, I simply just cannot deny myself the simple pleasure of offering up my love, all of which belongs to you… Solely.” He’s making his way up, smoothly kissing up the inside of my thigh, looking up at me from his place on the floor, entirely enamored, his hand pushing slowly up on my skirts as he moves.

“Father..? I don’t- You can’t- You can’t say these things in God’s place…” He pauses his kissing, turning to look at me straight on, my skirts hiked up over my knee, my skin burning hot and clammy, worried what God will think of us now, two devoted disciples worshiping the other rather than our creator, indulging in an ungodly love.

“What I feel for you is not my doing, miss. I have fought against it long enough, I cannot convince my heart to feel for you any differently than I do. God knows this, knows I truly have tried my absolute hardest to quell my affections but I’m- This isn’t a decision I get to make, I’d continue loving you if I kept quiet. Just- Let me give myself to you, while we’re alone, the only time I can love you without looking your husband in the face… Let me love you before I face my guilt.” He looks near tears, voice soft and pleading, his hands coming palms together before he presses them to the wood between my legs, forehead to his thumbs, face hidden in my skirts. “Please, miss, forgive me, I did not intend to divulge my most gruesome secret, I only saw it fit to not hide it from you any longer- If you do not wish to continue-”

“I would- I mean… You may continue…” He lifts his head, lifts it and smiles, soft and affectionate, sickeningly so, his devotion pouring through his gaze, through his touch, his hands warm and rough on the skin of my opposite leg, fingers easing up on my skirts as he looks at me, his hand bringing my ankle to his lips, his eyes peering at me sideways as he lays slow kisses to my skin, slicking it with sinful saliva, his sin so overwhelming he’s lost in it, looking at me in a way that suggests nothing else on God’s earth matters as long as him and I are here, like this, indulging in something so terrible, but nothing of the sort, something so passionate it could only be god’s will.

“You’ve changed me… Molded me into something new… Laid the me before you to bed… Given me a new purpose… Pleasing you… My lord, you’re so beautiful I could do absolutely nothing other than gaze at you for the remainder of my days…” He’s made it up to my knee, my skirts hiked to my lap, his hands on the outsides of my legs, running up as he stands, pushing up further on my clothes before trailing his fingers up and over them, up from my hips to the lacing at my stomach, his eyes on mine as he pulls the knot, slow, his words quiet, the both of us too hot, too much feeling between us, too much to simply speak, the need burning low, humming beneath my skin. “I’ll say this, miss, you’ve made me human in a way I’ve never been… Shown me with your touch and care that I am to be cared for as I care for others…” He’s working my dress up, gently getting it up and over my head before smoothing my hair, not showing any interest in the skin he’s just exposed, instead continuing to stare into my face, conveying his truth through his gaze, his hands smoothing at the sides of my hair, the softness making me nearly emotional, a kind of fussing I’ve never received nor knew I’d wanted, all until now, until him. “You are my test, not of my willpower, but of how much of my love I can give away. I will not stop loving you, miss, I will love you until the day I die and after, I will claw my way out from beneath my grave and return to you, that is my penance, the one thing I can do to show that this is not a physical want, but an insatiable yearning to be one, a craving to be yours and to have you as mine, make a home for you inside my heart which cannot be sullied by fear or insecurity, a safe haven filled with all the warmth I have for you…” He kisses me, hands on the sides of my face, my body all but bare but without attention, this kind of lust without hurry, not about the physical pleasure as much as indulging in the warmth between us.

“Father… I must be… Off soon…” He hums, leaving one last lingering kiss on my lips before returning to his knees, hands pulling on my undergarments, leaving me fully bare, his clothing still fully intact, the clerical clothing still as crisp as ever, all of him smooth, enticing.

“Soon then, until then… Bless me Lord, and these thy gifts, which I am about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” He leans in, kissing up the inside of my knee as he eases my legs wider, trailing fingertips up the opposite side, his eyes peering up at me in his affectionate manner, his beauty laid out below me, utter perfection at my disposal. “I will do all that I can to please you, be free to speak any wishes you may have, I’m more than happy to oblige… I would be satisfied only to satisfy you…” He presses a thumb to my hole, or rather the wetness there, slipping it up to press to the pleasurable spot I’m not sure what to call, rubbing up and down, watching my face, seeming pleased at my expression, tightened with the feeling he’s offering, his breath fanning over my privates making me tense against him. “This is God’s will… It must be, otherwise he would never have allowed me this information, the secret to unraveling you until you’re puddled, so well worked you’ll never need anything else… God wishes me happiness, and that happiness lies where I’m able to show you my care… Where I can give you at least a fraction of what you deserve, miss. I’m curious… Let me…” He tastes me, softly, licking up and sending a pleasurable jolt through me. He groans, sounding pleased with his findings, moving to close his lips where his thumb has left, light suction there a whole lot more intense than the pressure beforehand, my light gasp getting him to continue, the image of him between my thighs entirely sinful, beautiful in the way of Lucifer, led astray, an angel who’s done wrong, cast down into my arms, well, between trembling thighs. “Yes… My lord this is… You’re incredible… The most perfect body and soul, truly the image of God…” He moves back to using his thumb, watching me with his pretty blue eyes, his lips skimming over the skin of my thigh, my wetness shining on his lips evidence of our actions. “This must be heaven on earth… Alone with only you… Nothing veiled any longer… Only my love for you laid out for God to see, whether he strike me down or grant me forgiveness I will not regret this, I could never bring myself to regret you.” The pressure is building, my hand mussing his hair, legs closed on either side of him, his thumb moving against me, the tightness making me breathless, unbearably hot, damnation so close it’s pressing into me, making me sick with fever. “You’re nearly there, miss, you’re afraid- Don’t be, worry on judgment day, for now only focus yourself on me, let me worship you, give you pleasure, mark you with my hands and body, leave traces of you all over me, ruin myself with your touch, plunge deeper and deeper into the depravity I’ve fought for so long I can’t remember the first time I sinned in your name.” He pauses his ramblings to watch me, head thrown back as I orgasm, intense pleasure along with the familiar searing heat washing over me, sweet words coaxing me down even as I pull on his hair.

“Father, father- We must hurry, come up.” He listens, standing to his whole height, still towering even as I’m sat up on the altar, his body slotted between my legs as he captures my lips, the taste of me on his lips somehow enticing, a reminder of what he’s done for me, of his depravity, of our willingness to deny God.

“Would you like to continue?” I nod, using a hand to pull him back to my lips, my other hand fumbling with his breeches, his hands taking over in a silent display of care.

“Would you… I’d like to… Please you.” I press a hand to his chest, backing him up enough to sink to the floor between him and the altar, his manhood bare to me, his clothes still mostly in place other than the undone clasp of his breeches.

“You’d really… You’d-” I grip him, softly, his whole body jolting as I run my hand up the length, looking up at him as I close my lips over him, the taste barely familiar, salty. “That’s… Lord help me, I’m hellbound…” He lets me do as I please, just pets the side of my hair as I sink down, gagging before I expect to, pulling back with watery eyes before taking him back in, my hands on clothed thighs, his expression worried, mouth gaping, the flush spread up to his ears and down his chest. “This is… Truly-ah- Lord, forgive me, forgive us, we will-hah- we will sin again and again, accept our-our penance and our pleas for forgiveness and-nnh cleanse us of our wrong doings-” He leans over me, one hand planted on the altar, the other gripped to my hair, leading me along, his head hanging, eyes closed tight, mouth opened in the pleasure I’m offering. “Nearly- I’ll never-Ah- I’ve never- Felt anything like this. So beautiful-hah- Heavenly- Your mouth is just as perfect as-Nnh! Perfect-Miss-!” He pulls me away, reaching out and pulling me up, taking care to wipe away the mess on my lips before easing me back onto the altar, his body against me, the heat terrible, dizzying, my body laid out below god, head over the edge of the altar, jesus christ staring down at me from his place against the wall, his body strung up to make up for me, for my lust, the greed to want more than what I’ve gotten, the sickness inside of me, whatever sickness has led me here, the father’s manhood pressing inside, my eyes on the son, his on me, the guilt making me sick, the distraction of the man above me not able to do anything to abate the burning heat settled over us, marking us as sinners.

“Forgive me, father in- in heaven, I will- I am a child of sin… I pray you will invite me- to paradise, forgive me for the-ah-the wrong I’ve done.” He lets me take care of my prayer, stays seated inside while I do, waiting, my eyes coming to his once I’m finished, both of us too unwilling to give up on whatever disgusting kind of pleasure this is to properly show appreciation to the lord.

“Miss… We really… Are you truly willing to- delve into the depths of depravity, accept and wear this sin as yours-Ours?” I really shouldn’t, I should high tail it out of this forsaken church and never speak to him again, but I truly can’t bring myself to deny him, or myself, something so searing hot, something so correct, perfectly incredible, his skin against mine the only thing I’ve ever truly longed for, enjoyed.

“Yes, I accept my sin and my penance, I need this, father, you.” He swallows, seeming distraught at my confession, at my willingness to be ruined, to sin alongside him.

“Then so be it.” He moves, slowly, drawing himself back and slowly forward, leaning over me and gazing down, one hand beside my ribs, the other gripped to my hip. “My God… I- You’re so-ah- beautiful… So- Tempting-! Miss, this is my love, this- This is the most of me I can-Nnh- Offer-! Being one with you- seated deep inside- this- this is the most-ah- Feels so- so good…” He’s lost, eyes nearly closed, opened for the sole purpose of gazing into me, his hips hitting the backs of my thighs, the sound echoing through the empty pews, his hand pulling me, coaxing me in to meet him, thumb stretched across to rub that spot, the both of us panting like dogs, feverish from our wrongdoing, burning with evil, a lovely sort. “Even if- If everyone found us ungodly- I wouldn’t- I’d kiss ungodly skin, live in an-ah- ungodly home, sink deep into an-hah- an- ungodly woman- Give into depravity, worship the opposite-Hnn- the-ah- of what I’ve sworn to, give myself over to the devil-” He’s laid out over me, head between my breasts as he works against me, both of us sweating, my hands in his hair and gripped to the side of the altar, my head tipped right side down, gaze on the son of God, my legs trembling, all of it too much, the devotion, the sin, the weight of him, the heat passed between us, all of it wretched, painfully precious. “You’ve corrupted me, miss, made me born new, born to-ah- love you, to satisfy this sinful need, to sink into the burning heat and-hah- and make my home there… God- You’re- You-Hnn- This is the only heaven I need, buried inside the- the woman of my dreams, our bodies and souls-ah- as one, two sinners lost in- in the- the- other-! Hah-The- feel of your skin is the most enticing touch I’ve ever-Nnh- The taste of your lips, your warmth, your sacrifice, ours, our shared sin…” He’s speaking into my skin, breath hot between my ribs, the heat of him nearly painful, his hand bouncing me against him, his manhood pressed deep with every thrust of his hips, my thighs tight and shaking around him, the high nearly there, Jesus staring down on us, reminding me of my guilt, the man waiting in my home, a man who could never even come close to making me feel like this, warm and overwhelmed and weightless and satiated all at once. He’s nearly finished, teeth gnashed and eyes screwed shut, forehead pressed to my skin, his thumb moving desperately against me.

“If the lord won’t forgive us for having this- I don’t wish for his- His forgiveness, I’d choose this a-ah- million times over- This- Emotion and pleasure like I’ve never felt, the touch of a woman who-Hnn- Woman who I’ve bared my soul to- Laid my heart out at your feet and you’ve taken it and-My Lord-! And me, placed your sweet lips on mine and given me all I’ve ever longed for. Let me return a- a piece of the pleasure you’ve given me- give you one more unforgettable high, one more today and a million more the following. Yes, God, yes- Miss, let me have it, Let me-Hnnn-!” I do, back arched up off the altar, the feeling entirely too much, wave after wave of heat and haze over me, both his hands on my waist to pull me in, his pace messy and quick, his noises whiny, huffed out against me, a final prayer in hopes of getting away with this. “Holy Mary, Mother of-Oh God, pray for us sinners, now and at- at the- the hour of our-Hah- our death-!” He leaves me empty, the high fading off as he empties, warmth laid all over my stomach, my eyes forward, toward Jesus, the loss of pleasure bringing a grief for who I was, a god loving and pure woman, now ruined, sinful and wretched, undeserving of God’s love, though that was the choice I made, the decision between the lord and my desire. “I love you, miss, purely and ceaselessly and infinitely, I will love you.” I believe I chose correctly, I suppose only time will tell, though I can’t help but find this love much more unconditional, the soft touch following the scene, gentle, rough hands easing me up to seated, a handkerchief cleaning the mess on my stomach, my hair smoothed sweetly, the closing of his prayer whispered against the skin of my forehead following a lingering kiss . “Amen.”

“Amen."

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thedalatribune · 5 months ago

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Shame

...we can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking, “Well, if it’s always good to move beyond shame, then shame must always be a bad thing.” That would be a trap, I think. That would be like saying, “Since we should always seek healing from having our skin cut, therefore surgery is always a bad thing.”

...Having your skin cut by a knife is not in itself a good thing, and neither is shame in itself a good thing. But given the reality of disease, being cut by a knife may become a kind of good thing because of what it leads to - namely, healing. That’s the way it is, I think, with shame in the New Testament.

Sometimes shame functions like surgery to bring us to the healing that we need, but that doesn’t mean that all shame has a healing function, any more than all skin cutting leads to health. There is surgery, and there is stabbing. So, we need to make distinctions...

...there’s misplaced shame, the kind we should not have, and well-placed shame, the kind we should have, but only temporarily while it does its healing work.

This is 2 Timothy 1:8: “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.” So, there are two kinds of things in that verse that you should not be ashamed of, shouldn’t feel shame about:

speaking about the Lord Jesus [and]

being associated with somebody who’s in prison for the Lord Jesus.

It doesn’t matter how many people belittle you or make fun of you. Which shows us that, for the Christian, the source of shame should not come from the false opinions of other people, no matter how belittling they are. That takes a great deal of self-identity in and for Jesus to live through that.

Another example is when Jesus said, “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). If human opinion is more emotionally powerful than God’s opinion of us, and if the power of human opinion cripples us and silences us with shame because we claim to be a Christian, we are not going to stand in the judgment, Jesus says...

Now, what about well-placed shame - namely, the kind we ought to have, at least temporarily? Paul says to the Corinthians who were doubting the resurrection, “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34). They ought to feel shame, he’s saying. And in 1 Corinthians 6:5, when the Christians were disputing with each other and taking that dispute into the secular courts, he says, “I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers?”

...I conclude that well-placed shame says you should feel shame for having a hand in anything that dishonors God, no matter how strong or wise or right it may look in the eyes of men. Now, when I say that we should feel shame if it is well-placed because of our wrongdoing, I don’t mean that we should feel shame 'indefinitely', any more than we ought to spend the rest of our lives on the surgeon’s operating table. I call it well-placed shame because it ought to be there, but it ought not to stay there.

So the key question for both misplaced shame and well-placed shame is, How do we properly move beyond both of them? How do we get rid of both of them?

...[A] promise from God that covers both cases of misplaced shame and well-placed shame, so that we can get rid of both of them appropriately, quickly. Here’s Isaiah 45:17: “You [namely, you who believe] shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.” Which Paul then applies to Christians with these words in Romans 10:11: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” No one, finally, will be shamed in the kingdom of God. It will be over.

John Piper Shame: Its Uses and Abuses

#Shame: Its Uses and Abuses #John Piper #Desiring God #Theology #Wildlife #Elephant #Damneon Saduak Floating Market #Ratchaburi #Thailand

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hiswordsarekisses · 23 days ago

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A girl who tried to walk in two worlds, until she figured out who she was and stepped with her whole heart into God’s.

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” (Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭21‬-‭32‬)

(Video Testimony clip of Singer-Songwriter Brianna Caprice)

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episcopalianorthodox · 3 months ago

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20 Quotes from the Saints to help you get through Lent this year.

1. *Saint Isaiah the Solitary*

"When you Pray to God in time of temptation do not say, ‘Take this or that away from me’, but Pray like this: ‘O Jesus Christ, Sovereign Master, help me and do not let me sin against Thee’.”

*Saint Anatoly of Optina*

2. “Are you fighting against your passions? Fight, fight, and be good soldiers of Christ. Do not give in to evil and do not be carried away by the weakness of the flesh. During the time of temptation, flee to the Physician crying out with the Holy Church, our mother: 'O God, number me with the thief, the harlot, and the publican (i.e., with the repentant), and save me!' "

*Saint Ambrose of Optina*

3. “One Ascetic woman was besieged for a long time with unclean thoughts. When the Lord came and cast them away from her, she called to Him: ‘Where were You before now, O my sweet Jesus?’ The Lord answered: ‘I was in your heart.’ She said then: ‘How could that be? For my heart was full of unclean thoughts.’ The Lord said to her: ‘Know that I was in your heart, for you were not disposed to the unclean thoughts, but strove rather to be free of them; and when you were not able to be free, you struggled and grieved. By this you prepared a place for Me in your heart.'”

*Saint Mark the Ascetic*

4. “Escape from temptation through patience and Prayer. If you oppose temptation without these, it only attacks you more strongly.”

*Saint Iakovos Tsalikis of Evia*

5. “Chase away the bad thoughts and fantasies that the devil presents. Don’t even notice them.”

*Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia*

6. “When a bad or gloomy thought, fear or temptation threatens to afflict you, don’t fight it to try and get rid of it. Open your arms to Christ’s Love and He will embrace you, then it will vanish by itself.”

7. “Continue along your path. The devil will come with his tempting thoughts and will tug at your sleeve, so as to disorient you. Don’t turn to him, don’t start a conversation with him, and don’t oppose him. In this way the devil will get bored and will leave you alone.”

*Saint John Chrysostom*

8. “When you are tempted, recognise that a Crown is being prepared for you.”

*Saint Joseph the Hesychast*

9. “You don’t see how, with every Prayer you utter, many demons fall and turn back. You only see how much you are wounded. Know that they, also, are being beaten, and flee. Each time we show patience they flee in leaps, and with each Prayer they are seriously wounded. So, in the time of war, don’t expect that while you are firing bullets and cannonballs that they’ll retaliate with turkish delight and chocolates!”

10. “Christ allows temptations so that we may be purified of our predispositions. Temptations are like soap and a mallet which hits us and whitens us.”

11. “Flee from bad thoughts as from a fire. Don’t take notice of them at all, so they can’t take root in you; and don’t despair, for God is great and forgives sinners. When you err, repent and force yourself not to repeat the offence.

*Saint Theophan the Recluse*

12. “He who refuses to give in to his passions does the same as he who refuses to bow down and worship idols.”

13. “Maintain the conviction that our disorderliness is not natural to us, and do not listen to those who say, ‘it is no use talking about it, because that is just how we are made, and you cannot do anything about it.’ That is not how we were made, and if we undertake to cure ourselves, then we will be able to do something about it.”

*Saint Nektarios of Aegina*

14. “Temptations come so that hidden passions may be revealed and so that it will be possible to fight them, and so that the Soul may be rid of them. They are also a sign of God’s Mercy. So give yourself with trust into God’s hands and ask His help, so that He will strengthen you in your struggle. God knows how much each one can bear and allows temptations according to the measure of our strength.”

*Saint Philotheos of Sinai*

15. “When you perceive an evil thought, rebut it and immediately call upon Christ to defend you; and while you are still speaking, Jesus in His gentle love will say: ‘Behold, I am by your side ready to help you.'”

*Saint Nikodemos of Mount Athos*

16. “Refuse to listen to the devil when he whispers to you: give me now, and you will give tomorrow to God. No, no! Spend all the hours of your life in a way pleasing to God.”

*Saint Silouan the Athonite*

17. “We should always remember that the Lord sees us wrestling with the enemy, and so we must never be afraid. Even should all hell fall upon us, we must be brave.”

*Saint Nilus of Sinai*

18. “Why do the demons wish to excite in us gluttony, fornication, greed, anger, rancour and other passions? So that the mind, under their weight, should be unable to Pray as it ought.”

*Saint Isaac the Syrian*

19. “Whoever does not voluntarily withdraw himself from the causes of the passions is involuntarily drawn away by sin. These are the causes of sin: wine, women, riches, and robust health of body. Not that by their nature these things are sins, but that nature readily inclines towards the sinful passions on their account., and for this reason man must guard himself against them with great care.”

*Saint Nikon of Optina*

20. “We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you.”

#christianity #orthodox #catholic #episcopalian

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scribeforchrist-blog · 7 months ago

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Unarmed & Confused

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

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+ 1 Corinthians 16:14: Let all that you do be done in love.

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VERSE OF THE DAY

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+ Matthew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

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** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM ARMED

I AM FOCUSED

I AM STRONG

I AM SEEKING HIM

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READ TIME: 8 Minutes & 54 Seconds

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THOUGHTS:

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It's hard to break away from things we enjoy doing that could be wrong; I can tell you this much: I enjoy video games. I can play for hours and hours, and no, video games aren’t a sin, but they do cause you to be idle. Before giving my life to Christ, that’s all I did all day; I didn’t care about my day. That’s all I did: drink, smoke, and play video games.

As I gave my life to Christ, I can't sit there and do that anymore, so what I do is I stop every once in a while, pray, and read my word so that I won't allow this hobby to steal away my time with God, it's so many things that can steal our time from God, but we must be careful with what we do that’s with anything if we have something in our life that is taking time away from God, or something that is causing us to sin we must do away with it, a lot of times we don’t see what we do as something we must fix. Still, if we want a stronger relationship with God, we must do the tough things, which is to separate or get rid of anything that the enemy is going to use as a snare for us; the word today tells us to throw it away, what are you throwing away, what are you getting rid of?

Acts 14:22 strengthens the disciples and encourages them to remain true to their faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

This verse tells us it will be hard to get to the kingdom of God; many of us don’t understand this because we aren’t putting away things that we feel are a stumbling block. We are allowing them to stay, and the bible says we must go through hardship to enter heaven, though we must do the RIGHT thing to get into heaven, meaning we must start throwing things away that we can't have.

We must start putting things out of our lives that are distracting us; Jesus did that one time when he put out a group of people who were doubtful because he didn’t want the negativity around him; we must understand the enemy is going to do all he can to get us to be distracted to stumble because if he can do that, we won't try so hard to enter into the kingdom we won't try so hard to be on the straight and narrow

Verse 8: If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. You should enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

If whatever we have in our lives will cause us to stumble, we must remove it. We can't debate or be torn about it because if we are so confused, that should tell us: "I shouldn’t have it in my life." It can be a TV show, a movie, a person, or whatever. Remove it from your life; it is not worth the kingdom of God.

Things create us to be idle, which causes us to be stagnant in our walk with Christ; at the moment, we don’t see it as that, but as we grow and God begins to reveal to us and give us revelation, we must accept what he’s showing us and change what we are doing, change starts small nothing gigantic because if it starts big, we will fall big. God is there to help us along the way.

What’s happening in today's society people are okay with the compromise; they are okay with sitting idle; they're okay with doing half of this and half of that; they okay with carrying dead luggage around ,the enemy wants us to be so heavy we refuse to read our word, we’re too tired to pray we are too tired to do anything that is about the lord because what we carrying, a lot of us need to break free from what we are carrying that is causing us to be idle.

Verse 9: And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

It’s things in our life right now that are destroying our relationship with Christ, and we are refusing to get rid of it. Because we whether “be happy” then to be sanctified, we whether be content than to be sanctified, we whether be cool or popular than to be sanctified, let me tell you, friends, the moment we start running our lives like this, we have a problem, and that problem isn’t going to go away so quickly because we allowed the enemy in, we have to stop allowing the enemy into our lives and heart and being okay with it!

We are going to end up having a life of dehydration because soon we will stop feeding ourselves the spiritual things we won’t see any use in them. After all, the enemy will make us think we don’t need to pray; he’ll start saying why are you praying? There’s no need for that; why are you reading your word? There’s nothing in it, and we will be so confused and lost that we won’t even be tempted to pick up our word. We can’t defend ourselves against the enemy if we aren’t picking up our sword because as long as we aren’t picking up our sword and as long as we are defenseless, the enemy got us right where he wants us, unarmed and confused.

Jesus tells us how to have the kingdom of heaven; look at verse 3: “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

He said UNLESS you turn from your sins, that means put them away, leave them alone, and become like a child; we won’t ever get into the kingdom of heaven; we must trust like a child, have faith like a child, be willing to be led like a child, but until we do this we won’t ever enter in, we must stop sitting idle and arm ourselves with his word.

***Today, we learned that some of us are living a life we shouldn’t, we are entertaining things we shouldn’t, but what happens is we get so comfortable in our sins. We are so complacent that we become unarmed and confused, and the enemy loves when we are this way because there’s no more fight in us; he can place situations in our life that cause us to go deeper, that cause us to lose our way.

Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life

If we are unclean, we won’t enter in. I don’t care who you know; I don’t care how long you have been a Christian, I don’t care who you confess to be, I don’t even care how much money you have if you are sitting idle and living any matter of the way you won’t enter in, we must stop being unarmed and confused and start walking in our calling and walking with our father, commune with him and not just when you need it but at all times! If you feel you have been idle, see God and throw away what is keeping you there, and he will guide you the rest of the way. ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

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PRAYER

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Heavenly Father, thank you for today, lord; we love and give you everything. Lord, help us not to be unarmed and confused, but help us to be armed and powerful; lord, we give you our problems and situations. We are giving you what is causing us to fail, and we are asking you to see us through it, father give us strength to read our word and talk to you; give us more of you as we submit to you, lord, we need more of you, we submit to you today in Jesus Name Amen

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REFERENCES

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+ Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

+ Luke 9:24-25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

+ Mark 9:47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell

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FURTHER READINGS

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Proverbs 1

Genesis 37

Leviticus 18

Joshua 7

1 Samuel 28

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childofchrist1983 · 1 year ago

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Sometimes, we read the Holy Bible and wonder how much easier life would be if Jesus Christ were right here with us, just as He was with His disciples long ago. But Jesus reminds us that it is better for us that He is not confined to the limits of an earthly body. He prepares His Kingdom of Heaven to receive us, while at the same time remaining with us in spirit to prepare us for Heaven, our true home.

So many of us, myself included, wish we could reach out and take His hand, or even simply touch the hem of His cloak. And one day, we who are saved and spiritually reborn Christians, will get that chance. Until then, we must be patient and continue to serve and praise Him and thank Him. Including for sending His Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to remain with us, to work in us and to guide us and our lives as we walk in step with Him each day. May He continue to help us grow spiritually conform me more each day until this life’s journey is done and His perfection is completed in us. Thank Him for providing for us and for reminding us everyday of His great and perfect love. We can take comfort in knowing that in Him, we are never forgotten. Whenever we find ourselves struggling to endure the trials and difficulties of life. let us call out to God for an answer, but also remember to thank Him and ask for His strength to help us endure. Let us not waste this time on waiting. Instead, may we humble ourselves and ask God to use this season to deepen my trust in Him as He helps us to grow in faith and prepare us for whatever lies ahead.

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for rescuing us from our destructive ways, and setting our feet on His path. Thank Him for lighting and guiding our steps and tending to the road ahead of us. May He help us to seek Him daily as we make this journey, so that we may not stray from Him and wander into ruin and destruction. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for easing our burdens and granting us the rest found in His mercy and forgiveness. May He teach us to walk in His gentleness and grace. Thank Him for providing us the strength to serve Him and for carrying the weight that should have been ours, all in His gracious name. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for faithfully staying with us in all times and places. We have not always sought Him and His guidance, yet He has continuously shown us the way back to Him. May He guide everything that we say and do, and show us the way no matter where He may lead us.

May He empower us by His Holy Word and Spirit to live in the light of His Truth, love grace. May our healing and transformation glorify His name and Kingdom of Heaven and reveal who He truly is to others. May He help us to keep close to Him, so that we may endure until He fully sets us free and brings us to our true home in His Kingdom of Heaven. Thank Him for His Holy Word and Spirit. Thank Him for revealing the Truth of Him and His holiness. May He help us to hold close to Him just as He holds close to us, so that we may live in humble and faithful obedience. If we stray from Him and His path, may He use His Holy Word and Spirit to bring us close to Him once again. May He help us daily to trust fully in Him and His love, provision and care. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for making us anew! May He complete His renewing work in us, ridding us of the sinful words, thoughts and actions that aren’t from Him, so that we may reflect only His love and light and presence in us to this dark and fallen world and the lost souls within it.

God is our Heavenly Father, our Creator and our guide. And Jesus Christ is our LORD and Savior and King. As Christians, we trust Him wholeheartedly and we submit our heart and our lives into His skilled hands. May He shape us according to His design and plan for us, so that we may stand strong in the firing furnace and emerge revealing His craftsmanship as He prepares us serve Him on Earth and in His Kingdom of Heaven according to His Holy Word and will. May He give us the peace and endurance we need each day, and may He use this time to help us grow in His wisdom and strength and to grow in our walk and relationship with Him. May He make us more into the person that He not only created us to us to be, but called us to be from the very beginning.

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for securing a place for all true Christian believers as followers of Christ and spiritually reborn children of God in His eternal Kingdom. Each day, the sun rises and its light and warmth, and the Holy Bible gives us a glimpse of the promised eternity to come. May we continue to walk in the love and light of Christ with our heads held high and our eyes on the finish line. May we lead others to His Gospel Truth and to His light as well throughout this journey with Him. Let us all humble ourselves before God daily, asking Him to forgive us and to strength and teach us to view life through the lens of God and His promises. May He guard our hearts against Satan and the temptations of this world and our flesh. May He give us the peace to find full satisfaction in God and His peace and promises, so that we may live our lives daily in ways that honor and pleases Him. As we seek Him daily, may He reveal Himself to us through the words He has provided and use it to conform the desires of our heart to Him and His love and compassion and grace.

As true and spiritually reborn Christians, we love, trust and believe in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ. We choose to keep Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ first in our hearts and lives and all other worldly desires behind us. He extends salvation to everyone, and we want to show the world the freedom, hope and peace they can have in accepting and following Him. We must ask Him to help us grow spiritually in our relationship with Him and strengthen us and the bonds of love that He has given us, so that our unity may glorify and testify to His power and goodness. Thank Him for calling us to faith and imparting us with salvation and righteousness. May He empower us to live in His will and righteousness, so that we may testify to His soul-saving power as our faith carries us past all doubt, fear, and failure. May He grant us the grace to forgive others who have wronged us, and the humility to seek forgiveness where we have caused strife. May we follow and serve God daily with love, trust, awe and wonder. May Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ strengthen our faith, lift our spirits, protect our hearts, and show us opportunities to help bring others to Him and His Gospel Truth daily. May we do this duty boldly, humbly and faithfully. Seek, follow and trust in the LORD God Almighty always! To God be all the honor and praise and glory!

We must come to Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ with sincere hearts to ask forgiveness and follow Him and His Holy Word and Spirit always. We praise Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for the mercy He bestows upon us and we are grateful for His grace and mercy and infinite blessings. By surrendering our hearts and our lives to His will, we see all the blessings He has bestowed upon us. God our refuge and our salvation and our constant provider. We lift our voices to Him in praise for His steadfast love, mercy and understanding. May Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ open our minds and hearts more and more to perceive and embrace Him and His truths. May He help us to find time to pray and read and study the Holy Bible daily and to find power in prayer, praying according to His Holy Word and will. May He help us to come to Him in true repentance and with faith in Him and His grace and merciful nature. May He give us the grace, courage and strength we need to walk with Him and do His will daily. May He teach us to watch our words when we pray to Him and to speak reverently and rightly. May we continually ask God to transform our hearts and make us faithful and humble as we walk with Him daily. We must come to Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ with honest, humble and repentant hearts. We must seek Him and His will and choose to follow Him all the days of our lives. May He help transform our hearts, help us to seek and live for Him above all else and to grow spiritually and build our faith and relationship with Him with each passing day. May He forgive our sinful nature and help us always make Him and our relationship with Him top priority.

As true and born-again Christians, we choose to walk in His righteous path and lead a life that is pleasing to Him. We desire Him and His will above anything else. We desire to walk in accordance with the love and light He has shown to us through His Holy Word and Spirit. We long for a deeper relationship with Him and a deeper fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ as well. When we fall into temptation and sin, we must turn to Him for forgiveness, strength and guidance. When believers learn to walk in accordance with God's Holy Word and Spirit, they have deeper fellowship with both God and one another. And the sin that could threaten to destroy that fellowship, if confessed (1 John 1:9), is covered in the blood of Jesus Christ and no longer a barrier between us and God. May we ask Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ to forgive us for any sins we have sinned this day or in days past. May we be faithful to Him and His Holy Word always. May He help us to walk more consistently in the light and to not neglect long to confess and forsake any sins that hinder our walk with Him. May He lead us in the direction He wants us to go so that we may seek and serve Him faithfully. God is holy and almighty and deserving of all praise honor and glory. We rejoice in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ, knowing He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8). May our hearts always be filled with thanksgiving and rejoicing. May He help us to praise Him freely and honestly like all believers who came before us. May we live a life that showcases our love and trust in Him and His Holy Word and Spirit as He uses us draw others to Him and His soul-saving Gospel Truth daily. May He continue guide, correct and protect us, so that we continue to grow in Him and not weaken and stray. May we all remain faithful to Him and to this duty and purpose He has called us to. Seek and put your faith and trust in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ and let Him do the rest. May He humble our hearts and help us focus on following and serving Him daily and helping others with joy and happiness. We lift our voices in praise to Him for His love, mercy, peace, faithfulness and grace - For EVERYTHING!

It is vital that we remain rooted in Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ through prayer and His Holy Word and Spirit and that we live and walk as a beacon of His light and love and share and spread the Gospel Truth daily, so that the lost souls in this world can come to know Him and be saved. The more we focus on Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ, growing spiritually by building our relationship with Him, leaning on Him and His Holy Word and Spirit, the better off we will be. Thanks to this and our faith in Him, we know that everything will be alright. And we will forever be grateful to Him. As true and born-again Christians, we believe in Him and His Holy Word and we strive daily to walk in His Holy Spirit. We know though our mortal bodies should die, He will raise us up and into new and glorious bodies (The Rapture). We who are truly His and alive at His second coming will never die, and our bodies will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and so shall we ever be with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven forevermore (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This is one of many promises given to us by God Himself. Thank God for His strength and guidance when we are faced with sin and temptation. Thank Him for His mercy and grace. Through Bible study and prayer, God reveals His wisdom and guides us to see opportunities to grow closer to Him and grow spiritually. He gives us direction to live our lives daily according to His will.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven (John 3:5, 14:6), the ONLY way to salvation (Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9) and He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). Jesus Christ the LORD of lords, the KING of kings, the GOD of gods (Deuteronomy 10:17, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:16) - He is the Living, Almighty and Everlasting God (Isaiah 9:6, Revelation 1:8, John 3:16, John 3:36, Jeremiah 10:10). There is no other God besides Him (Isaiah 45:5). We MUST humble ourselves before Him, turning our backs on false teachers, false gods and idols and our sinful ways. We MUST repent and turn back to God and recognize who He is and love Him in return for His great love for us. We MUST make God top priority everyday! May we be motivated to spread God's Holy Word and Gospel Truth to all the Earth, knowing that it is the only hope of all those lost in their sins. Let us not hold out a false hope for men to be saved without the Gospel, but instead, strive to do our part to get the Gospel out to a lost and dying world.

Leaning on Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ through prayer and His Holy Word and Spirit strengthens us and our knowledge and wisdom about God and His Gospel Truth, exposing these imposters. May God help us to seek and lean on Him daily to gain the strength, wisdom and spiritual discernment needed to expose Satan and his imposters who seek to destroy us and God's ultimate Truth. Everyday, we must remember to share Jesus Christ's Gospel Truth with the world and to thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for the grace that He poured out for us on the cross at Calvary. He has freed us from the burdens of sin and from the eternal damnation of Hell. In all we say and do, may all praise, honor and glory always be given to Him and His Kingdom of Heaven.

With renewed minds, hearts and wills, let us serve Him humbly and faithfully out of pure love and grateful rejoicing. May He remind us of His presence and to remain at peace, fully knowing that all will be well because He is always with us. Let us seek Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ today and everyday with all our heart and being, looking for His love, light and will for our lives with each step we take. Let us seek to please Him with our thoughts, words, and deeds and seek to advance His Kingdom of Heaven and His glory with our lives. Let us seek Him from a pure and humble heart, and when we so seek, we believe Him and His promise that we will find. May He help us all to be more sensitive to the teaching ministry of His Holy Word and Spirit, relying on Him and allowing Him to speak to us and guide us every step of our Christian journey.

God gave us the Holy Bible - His living and Holy Word - to let us know of Him and His abiding love and care as well as guide and prepare us for all our lives. May He help us encourage one another as we continue our walk with Him and our duty to Him daily. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for being present for all our new beginnings and all our lives. May He redirect any anxiety we feel as He provides countless opportunities for growth and change. May we humble ourselves before God always, asking Him to forgive our sins and make our hearts and lives anew through His Holy Word and Spirit. May He help us make Him and His Holy Word top priority, so we can grow spiritually and grow in our relationship with Him as we apply it to our daily lives. Thank God that we can focus on Him and everything about Him, for that is what keeps us sane and at peace. May our words and actions always be a reflection of Him and His Holy Word and Spirit and will.

May He help us to always walk in His grace and Holy Spirit, not by our own measure. May He give us the humble humility to know that our freedom and eternal salvation is found only in Him, so that His grace may sustain us, and we may never lose sight of His love and light and mercy. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for calling us to Him and to serve Him. May He equip us to do all that He has called us to do so that as He works through us, He may use us to produce fruit, to reach others, and to encourage all brothers and sisters in Christ. May He work all of these things in us and through us for His Kingdom and His glory. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all His creation, for His miraculous ways and for everything He does and has done for us! Keep the faith and keep moving forward in your walk with Jesus! He loves us and He knows what is best for us. Seek, follow and trust in Him - Always!

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Word and for sending His Holy Spirit so that we might have His grace, not only to awaken us and transform our hearts in our spiritual rebirth and guarantee our eternity with Him, but to also call upon Him whenever we are in need. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all the reminders of His love and mercy and faithfulness within His Holy Word. He is bigger than any challenge or circumstance in our lives. Knowing this within our minds and our hearts, nothing can deter our faith in Him and His Truth. May we all accept Him and His eternal gift of salvation and ask that He would transform our hearts and lives according to His will and ways. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Spirit who saves, seals and leads us. May we always thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His almighty power and saving grace. For He is our strength, and He alone is able to save us, forgive our sins and gift us eternal salvation and entry into His Kingdom of Heaven.

May we make sure that we give our hearts and lives to God and take time to seek and praise Him and share His Truth with the world daily. May the LORD our God and Father in Heaven help us to stay diligent and obedient and help us to guard our hearts in Him and His Holy Word daily. May He help us to remain faithful and full of excitement to do our duty to Him and for His glorious return and our reunion in Heaven as well as all that awaits us there. May we never forget to thank the LORD our God and our Creator and Father in Heaven for all this and everything He does and has done for us! May we never forget who He is, nor forget who we are in Christ and that God is always with us! What a mighty God we serve! What a Savior this is! What a wonderful LORD, God, Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ! What a loving Father we have found in Almighty God! What a wonderful God we serve! His will be done!

Thanks and glory be to God! Blessed be the name of the LORD! Hallelujah and Amen!

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holystormfire · 1 year ago

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How does God view our problems?

Matthew 6:26-30

Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 1 Peter 5:7

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. God cares about you and your problems.

Psalm 145:14

The Lord helps the fallen and lifts up those bent beneath their loads.

Matthew 10:29-31

What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Matthew 11:28

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.". God is not only aware of your problems, he wants to help you resolve them. He is with you in them.

1 Peter 5:10

After you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

2 Corinthians 4:9

We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.

Hebrews 4:14-16

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. God will never desert those who follow him. He doesn’t take the day off and forget about you. When you accidentally cut yourself, you become completely focused on how bad it is and on how to stop the bleeding. All you want to do is get rid of the pain. In the same way, your problems and troubles can focus you so much on getting rid of the pain that you neglect God, forgetting that he has promised to help you in your difficulties. But to abandon you, God would have to cease loving you, and he cannot do that, for he is love.

Exodus 4:10-12

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I’m not now, even after you have spoken to me. I’m clumsy with words.” “Who makes mouths?” the Lord asked him. “Who makes people so they can speak or not speak, hear or not hear, see or not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what to say.”

God specifically addresses your problems with trustworthy, sure solutions. When you take your problems to God, you can rely on him to deal with them. But expect that he will deal with them his way, which is always in your best interests. Often he uses your problems to help you grow.

Acts 8:4

But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.

Philippians 1:12-14

And I want you to know, dear friends, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including all the soldiers in the palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here have gained confidence and become more bold in telling others about Christ.

Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

God may use your problems to lead you in a new direction for a new assignment. The closed door of one problem may reveal an open door elsewhere. He can turn your problems into an avenue for his work.

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papirouge · 2 years ago

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Hi geniune question here from a Christian woman, I think I've nailed down why I get a certain habitual sin of mine, but unsure how to implement how to stop it. I have a habitual sin of masturbating, and while I don't watch porn or read erotica now I used to as a teen. Nowadays I like to read dark stories, listen to country or steampunk music or instrumental songs, watch informational documentaries or macabre videos online, then find myself drawn to certain fictional characters from the shows and books and fall into committing the habitual sin thinking about the characters. I also did used to be wiccan/pagan but have turned to God during the pandemic, trying to ammend my ways to fit His ways. I think the way to fix this alongside prayer is to cut these media sources out, but I'm not sure how, because it seems the media I gravitate toward usually isn't steeped in sexuality, it's usually dark fantasy or folklore. Any tips or recommendations that are Godly for those of us ladies who like macabre and gothic subjects but follow Christ?

That's a very interesting ask, thank you anon.

I think your solution is in your own word ; you admit consuming "dark stories" "macabre music" "dark music" and I know for a fact how much it can influence your spiritual health. I myself used to enjoy a channel about ghost stories (the channel owner was Muslim, and she definitively wasn't glorifying witchcraft or demons ("djinns") but still, regularly watching her videos made me feel like something was "wrong", so I eventually unsubbed.

I also think that "safe" media can also be very damaging, and they are the most dangerous ones because they seem so harmless that we tend to let our guard down around them. For example, if a say that love songs or romance novels are spiritually harmful, most people will think I'm crazy. But consider this : by focusing so much on love and romance, it breeds a spirit of lust within us. You might say "oh but it's just romance" but be honest, unless you're asexual, you'll eventually grow lustful sentiments towards someone you're really attracted to romantically (that's precisely what Paul was talking about when he said it was better to be married than sin if you feel like sexually incontinent). And yes, even for fictionnal characters. Why do you see fanfic are so much popular, and championed by women? They are a way to express female repressed sexuality by writing content about fictional characters they find romantically endearing.

For many people, lust isn't that much far from romance, and entertaining (even fictional) characters is a very slippery slope.... It's a form of idolatry, and it might as well develop strong demonic bonds with incubus who channel this lustful energy. : many cases of possession involve waking up having orgasms for example (this shit is serious : demons can have a physical impact on your body) (energy NEVER disappear, that's why we have to be very cautious to where we direct it)

Sanctification is a whole process anon, and you'll learn to get away of things you can't imagine living without, trust me lol All this gothic, macabre stuff isn't from God. Jesus is the God of Life, not dead. You might try to educate yourself on things from the "dark", but constantly surrounding yourself with it is ultimately hurtful. If you -truly- want to get rid of this dark energy following, get rid of this dark content, and if you want to get rid of your inclination to be drawn towards this stuff, you have to simply ask God to remove every idol from your heart. I'm not saying everything will go away overnight, but it will definitely be a progressive purge. I am myself in that process.

#answered #Christian

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johnhardinsawyer · 3 months ago

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Rest and Growth

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

3 / 23 / 25 – Third Sunday in Lent[1]

Luke 13:6-9

“Rest and Growth”

(Everything [in] Between – Week 3)

I got an e-mail from one of our elders this past week. She has been reading the devotional book that goes with our “Everything [in] Between” series throughout the season of Lent. And she wrote to say that this year, for the first time, she will finally be harvesting the asparagus that she planted three years ago. That’s how long it can take – well over a year. . . sometimes, up to three years. You can plant asparagus in your garden, but you’ve got to be patient. The same can be said for fruit trees and other crops.

Now I know that you can simply go to the grocery and buy all the asparagus you need, but knowing how long it takes to grow, that kind of puts some things in perspective. Someone had the forethought to plant some asparagus on a farm, they had the skill to tend it, and they had the patience to wait.

I don’t know about you, but patience can be a difficult thing for me. There are times when I want results, right now, and I’m not willing to wait.

Humans beings can be quite impatient. We also can be quite innovative when it comes to alleviating some of our impatient tendencies. This is why Amazon can deliver what we want to our doorstep – often in less than forty-eight hours. This is why if we have a hankering for junk food, Door Dash can dash it to our door within thirty-five minutes or less (before the hankering wears off). This is why organizations will seek to turn things around quickly – sometimes, by taking drastic measures. If you buy a company or take over a whole sector of business, or government, or whatever, being a “disruptor” is valued. If you perceive that it’s not working right now, then change it or get rid of it, right? You don’t have to wait around like you used to.

And yet, in today’s scripture reading, Jesus seems to be telling us that there is value – life-giving, life-saving value – to waiting.

As we look at today’s parable about an unfruitful fig tree, it is important to put this story in context. You might remember that Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. And, as they pass through towns and villages along the way, Jesus takes time to teach and heal. He keeps drawing a crowd, too – a crowd full of admirers and detractors, some who would elevate him to a royal status along with others who want to do away with him.

Right before today’s story, we see Jesus and some people in the crowd wrestling with a big question – a question that still keeps people wondering, all these years later: Does God cause or allow human suffering to take place? Or, to put it another way, does our own sinfulness bring God’s punishment upon us? There are some people in the crowd who tell Jesus a story about how the Roman governor, Pilate, has ordered the execution of some folks up in Galilee. Pilate had them killed while they were at worship. Jesus chimes in with his own ripped-from-the-headlines story about eighteen people who have been tragically killed in an accidental collapse of a tower in Jerusalem. And Jesus asks a question about those poor folks up in Galilee and the people who died in Jerusalem: “Were any of these people worse sinners than anyone else – worse sinners than their neighbors. . . worse sinners than any of you?”[2] The answer to this question is, of course, “No.” The hard truth is that suffering is often cruelly random and while our sinfulness be a contributing factor to suffering, it’s not always something that we can pin down and clearly state as fact. There is often no easy answer as to why some people suffer and others do not.

What Jesus says next, though, is tough but important: “. . . unless you repent, you will all perish as they did”[3] Another way of saying this, perhaps, is that regardless of what happens to other people, Jesus is calling you and me to turn toward God. Turning toward God – toward God’s kingdom, toward a way of life that is focused on the teachings and example of Jesus, toward an attentiveness to the Holy Spirit – is the most important thing. Yes, suffering exists. Suffering is real. Suffering, as random as it can be, is so hard. But set it all aside, for a moment. . . How are you going to live, right now? How will we live our lives in the here-and-now in a way that matters – in a way that offers our very best to God and to the world? As Jesus tells us, unless we turn toward God – unless we repent (which is the word that Jesus uses) – and begin to bear “fruit,” we will never know. . .

Then Jesus tells this story about the fig tree, and how the fig tree is really us. Will we bear fruit? Not bearing fruit has consequences, but thankfully, God is patiently working on it. . . on us.

We should note that one of the characters in today’s story is anything but patient. There is a man who owns a vineyard who has had a fig tree planted on his property and, for the past three years, it has produced no fruit. The tree seems to be a waste of space and nutrients from the soil, not to mention, precious water in a dry land – water that could be used to grow something else. So, why not cut the tree down?

But the gardener – who is well-aware that it can take fruit trees extra time to mature – says to the landowner, “Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it, and fertilize it, and. . . let’s see what happens. . .” (Luke 13:8)[4]

Jesus’ parable is, of course, a big metaphor that can be interpreted through several lenses. One of these lenses – that we might not be aware of in the 21st century, but that people may have been able to hear in Jesus’ day – is that this fig tree represents, not just individuals, but the nation to whom Jesus has been sent. As one commentator – F. Scott Spencer – writes,

In depicting “a fig tree planted in [a] vineyard,” Jesus draws on familiar prophetic images of Israel as graciously rooted by God in the promised land to bear fruit for God’s glory. The desired harvest chiefly yields loyal covenantal love toward God and neighbor expressed in acts of justice and mercy. However, Israel’s history has been marred by repeated failure to fulfill its fruitful vocation, despite God’s attentiveness as faithful owner and caretaker. Jesus now alerts his people that they stand at another critical crossroad. . . many continue to resist the message and thereby risk divine judgment.[5]

There are multiple examples in the prophetic writings from the Hebrew Bible – from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Micah[6] – that all depict God’s people as a tree, or a vine, or a vineyard under threat of being cut down because of the people’s unfaithfulness – particularly, a lack of mercy and justice. . . a lack of love for God and neighbor. Those of you who know your Bible know that it does not end well for God’s people. They are “cut down” and taken into exile. Sin – especially the national sin of selfishness, and idol worship, and oppressing the most vulnerable among us – will often yield disastrous consequences.

But in today’s story – in Jesus’ day, and in our own day – there’s still time to change. Jesus, who has ministered to his people for about three years, by this point – about the same amount of time that the landowner has been waiting for fruit from the fig tree. And Jesus is well aware that they have not collectively changed their ways. There has been no national turn-around of repentance. There’s plenty of divine punishment that could be meted out. . . but not yet. It doesn’t have to be this way. God is still merciful. There is still time. . . Even for us. . .

So, how might we spend this time? How might we use this gift of mercy in this moment? What might God be doing to us and through us during this time of patient, active, waiting and hopeful growth?

The first thing we need to remember is that even though we cannot see a plant growing by just watching it for a few minutes, there is always something slowly happening, deep within. Last week, we talked about Mary –sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to his words – and how this was perceived as Mary doing nothing when nothing could have been farther from the truth. The same thing happens in the Book of Acts, before the day of Pentecost, when Jesus tells his disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait. As Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand write in their recent book, When the Church Stops Working, “The real origin story of the church does not start in Acts 2 with progress and growth. The real origin story starts in Acts 1 with waiting for God to act. God is the hero and the church waits.”[7]

As I mentioned in my State of the Church address earlier this month, we have, in some ways, been doing this as a congregation since the pandemic struck, five years ago (this week) – actively waiting for the Spirit to reveal what will come next. And, in ways that are big and complicated – as well as small and loving – the Spirit is revealing a different kind of growth, building upon all of the blessings of our rich history and the present spiritual gifts of our people, right now. We see this in how we are loving our neighbors, by caring for a family from Afghanistan, and supporting affordable housing initiatives in Bedford, and reducing our need for fossil fuels through solar power, and opening our doors to community groups, and offering opportunities for worship, learning, fellowship, and service. We are not doing nothing. But, more importantly, God is not doing nothing.

And, this is the second thing we need to remember. Just as the gardener offers to dig around the tree and – as the Greek tells us – put “manure” around it, it is God who provides the growth. God is the hero in the story. . . in our story. One of my favorite – kind of obscure – quotes from Frederick Buechner comes from his novel, Love Feast, in which a preacher named Leo Bebb says,

There’s two main things about [manure]. One thing is it’s stink and corruption and waste. The other thing is if you don’t pile it up too thick in any one place, it makes the seeds grow. . . God’s where there’s seeds growing. . . God so loved the world he sent his only begotten son down here into the [manure] with the rest of us so something green could happen, something small and green and hopeful.[8]

Jesus, the patient gardener, is up to his elbows in the muck, right here with us – coaxing us into new fruit-bearing life, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And if Jesus is doing this for us – with us – how might our own human capacity for patience, and mercy, and service be shaped by Christ’s example? How might we be inspired, challenged, and blessed by offering our time, and energy, and passion, and hope, and healing and holy patience to this troubled world?

Just as Jesus is at work, justifying us before God – making our relationship right with God – and just as the Holy Spirit is at work, bringing about our sanctification – making us (even us!) more Holy, over the course of our lives, may we too be about the work of right relationships and humbly nurturing the Holy growth that is often hidden in our own lives and the lives of others.

God isn’t through with us yet. This is good news! Maybe we shouldn’t be through, either.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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[1] Based on readings and liturgy from A Sanctified Art, LLC – “Everything [in] Between.”

[2] See Luke 13:2 and 4 – Paraphrased, JHS.

[3] Luke 13:3 and 5.

[4] Paraphrased, JHS.

[5] F. Scott Spencer, Luke (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019) 347.

[6] See Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 8:8-13; Ezekiel 15:1-8; Hosea 9:10; and Micah 7:1-6.

[7] Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand, When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press/Baker Books, 2023) 23.

[8] Frederick Buechner, The Book of Bebb (San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, 1990) 352. “Love Feast.”

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