Luke

Introduction & Disclaimer

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

Our journey into ministry started when my husband and I wrote our first book, True Intimacy, together. It’s all about God, sex and marriage. We started with one of the toughest topics, everything since then has been CAKE! If you’re married I highly suggest reading these, if nothing else they’re a great refresher course. Which is why I believe God has instructed me to make this a yearly thing for www.TamarKnochel.com. to be posting the daily devotionals from our book True Intimacy.

May God bless your marriage RICHLY!!!!!


Numbers 1:1-3:39

Introduction to True Intimacy

In 2009 my husband and I set out on a journey to freedom; hopped onto the spiritual Underground Railroad so to speak. We had been married for nine years at that point and loved each other desperately… but we had issues; issues that just weren’t going away with time. I had prayed for years that God would “fix him” until one day something clicked for me. The things we’ve done in the past can follow us to our present and ruin our future! It was then that I realized I had to go back, open up things from our past that needed dealt with and, well, deal with them. Now, I’ve been a “goody-two-shoes” Christian girl my entire life. I didn’t have a lot of skeletons in my closet… but I did have some, and they needed to come out! The biggest and most important skeleton was the skeleton of pre-marital sex.

Pre-marital sex is extremely common these days, especially considering that some people aren’t even bothering to get married and are just living together instead. But just because everyone else is doing it (literally) doesn’t make it healthy or right. It just means there are that many more people calling curses down upon themselves and their love lives! I know that in this day and age when we think/hear about curses the first thing we think about is Harry Potter and magic wands and such. So when we hear that having sex outside of marriage (AKA. sexual immorality) brings a curse on our sex lives, it sounds absolutely ridiculous or absurd to most people. But the truth is that is precisely what happens! Until I really started digging deeply into the word of God, I didn’t understand what a curse even was. So indulge me for a brief moment as I expound what I’ve learned.

A curse is the opposite of a blessing. According to my gigantic Webster’s Dictionary, a curse is: “*the expression of a wish that misfortune, evil, doom, etc. befall another. *a formula or charm intended to cause such misfortune to another. *an evil that has been invoked upon one. *the cause of evil, misfortune or trouble.” So while a curse is something someone can speak, it is also something that is the cause of misfortune or trouble.

In Deuteronomy 28 God explains the difference between blessings and curses. He spends 11 verses explaining how “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these (11 verses worth of) blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:” (v.1-2) He then takes the rest of the chapter (almost 3 pages long in my Bible) to explain curses, what they look like and how they exhibit themselves. A few examples are: confusion, drought, disease, defeat, fever & inflammation, incurable boils, tumors, festering sores & itching, mildew, unsuccessful in everything you do, oppression, robbery, fiancé raped, work hard but never enjoy the fruits of your labor, debt, a foreign nation will strike out against your homeland, paychecks disappear before your eyes, sacrificing children and spouse well-being for your own selfish desires, no rest for the weary, anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, despairing heart, live in constant suspense, filled with dread day and night never sure of your life, “In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening, ‘If only it were morning!” (v. 67)

YIKES! And you see, the thing about living as a Christian is that it is possible to be blessed beyond the curse in one or even most areas of our lives and still be living under the curse in others. That is precisely what was happening in our marriage. We were living as believers under a heavy and oppressive curse, several of them. But God is an amazing God, abounding in love and mercy and goodness! You see, He heard my cries for help and He answered me and told me great and unsearchable things. Things that I did not know! (Jer 33:3) On July 14th 2009 God gave me a key. And Oh! What a key it is! Because this key unlocks curses! It unlocks the padlock of oppression that is keeping millions of people all over the world captive in satan’s jail. Heh, heh, heh, and I – the daughter of the living God Most High – have this key and I know how to use it! I know I have something precious and very important, and it wouldn’t be right of me to keep it to myself! So here I am to share it with all of you! Are you ready to hear what the key is that the Enemy has tried so desperately to keep a secret? SEX! … and not having it. Yup. It’s as simple as that! Read on my friend, you’ll see.

Disclaimer

This is not an ordinary book you hold in your hands. It is not a daily devotional, and yet, it kind of is. It is not a self-help book, and yet in a way it kind of is. It is not a journal, and yet it kind of is. Yes, this book is many things, but most of all, this book is a journey. It’s a step-by-step road map that we followed, sometimes despite confusion or frustration. It’s a path that led us to Jesus and a relationship with each other that we never could have imagined was possible. And it wasn’t possible, without Him. There will be things in this book that may sound silly or make no sense at the time that we ask them of you… but… know that the blessing that you will reap from doing them can and will be more profound and farther reaching than you ever imagined. So, for the next thirty four days, please commit yourself to reading daily and to “taking action” and you will not be sorry. You could read and not commit to take action; but don’t expect a full blessing if you don’t put in your full effort. As your tour guides on this journey we pray that you step onto this path with an open mind and an open heart, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you to a closer relationship with Him and each other. May God bless you with His presence in each passing hour until we know Him fully.

– S. Christian & Tamar Knochel

Categories: 365 Life, Luke, True Intimacy | Leave a comment

Thank You Sir May I Have Another?

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

This week’s :

 

If this last week is any indication of how 2015 is going to be, SIGN ME UP!!! I mean, no offense 2014, but you stunk! That was one of the hardest years I’ve had in a very long time! I feel like I’ve been through the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and lived to tell about it. When 2014 passed away on December 31st, I didn’t have a whole lot of hope for things changing much but BOY WAS I WRONG! Thank God!

So far this year I have started attending Alpha class at church with my husband, I attended a very inspirational writer’s meeting at church that ended with a divine meeting, I’ve spoken at a MOPs meeting where there were about 35-40 women in attendance (and they apparently loved me and are begging their leader for more), just yesterday I got the word that I officially have a new job teaching as a special ed aide in the middle school here in Sheridan (and I can’t even begin to tell you how absolutely ecstatic I am about it for more reasons than I can even begin to explain), and today both my son AND my husband were baptized!!!!! To say it’s been an awesome twenty-five days would be putting it lightly. I mean, these are only the things I’m telling YOU. I’m not even mentioning the things that I’m holding tight to my chest and not even breathing a word about because they’re too glorious to even speak of yet (and quite possibly the most wonderful blessings of all).

My friends, this morning in church as I was standing in awe of the RELIEF that I feel right now I was singing my praises and the Holy Spirit gave me a revelation of what this past year has been – refining fire. Yes, just like our dear ole friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, we too have been going through a fire. If you look in the book of Daniel you’ll find our friends’ story. They were placed in a VERY uncomfortable position. First they were brought to Babylon and offered the kings food, which probably smelled AMAZING, but didn’t quite abide by Jewish Law. They were presented with a choice, obey God or not. They chose to obey God and requested only vegetables to eat. And they were handsomely rewarded for their obedience.

Later in the book they were presented with this same situation, obey God by refusing to bow down to an idol or not. The stakes were high… really high on this one. If they obeyed God and refused to bow down to the idol, the king would throw them into a fire-filled furnace. They stuck up for their beliefs and refused to bow resulting in them being tied up and thrown into the furnace that killed the guards who threw them in because it was so hot…yet our friends didn’t die. The cords that bound their hands and feet were burned off, a man that shone like the son of the gods appeared with them IN the fire, and they were removed from the fire with all their clothes not only in tact but they didn’t even smell like smoke!!!!! They obeyed God at all costs and came out MINUS the ties that bound them and smelling like roses. The fire did more benefit for them than harm.

And that, my friends, is where we stand today. I know that many of you have been facing fires of your own; un-pleasantries of all different kinds. Yet we faced them all the same simply because we knew in our heart of hearts that it’s what God wanted of us. Beloved, you have been removed from that fire! Your cords have been burned off and you’ve emerged smelling like roses instead of smoke. And honestly, if you’re anything like me, your obedience has been reward in and of itself, buuuut I have the distinct feeling that there will be even more reward than that in store for us this year.

This is the year we’ve been waiting for my friends. It’s the year where clarity will be the norm. The year where the things that have been shadowed by uncertainty or misunderstanding begin to reveal themselves plainly. For me, it’s been about direction. I knew God was taking me somewhere I just didn’t understand how in the WORLD I was going to get there or where exactly “there” was. But from where I stand today things are SO MUCH CLEARER than they were last year. With the blessing of this new job that will pay MUCH more than what I was making before while still affording me the luxury of being a writer AND a mom, it has also brought into focus a picture of my future and the plans that He has had for me all along. I feel like I’ve been traveling along with Him in complete and total blind trust through this winding path where I could only see a few feet in front of me before the path curved again taking me somewhere completely unexpected and away from where I thought we were going. On Saturday when I got that call it was like we rounded a curve and everything that lay before me was straight as an arrow pointing to exactly where I thought we were going but just didn’t understand yet.

Clarity!

For the first time all the jumbled pieces in this puzzle are fitting together just like I knew they were supposed to but couldn’t for the life of me get them to go. It’s like my vision was blurry before, I could see colors and shapes, light and dark, but nothing had real definition. Then I blinked and suddenly everything is clear.

I pray for that for YOU today my friend. Maybe you’ve been walking around bleary-eyed looking for the straight-a-way in your racetrack. Maybe you’ve been looking for your purpose and direction in life that you KNOW God has for you, but you just can’t quite put your finger on it yet. I pray for that for you TODAY! I pray that God’s Spirit will reach out and touch you in this very moment with more clarity and understanding than you’ve ever had in your entire life. I pray that He will lay His plan out before you in plain English (or whatever language you’re more fluent in). I pray that today you find yourself in precisely the right place at precisely the right time so that the door that He is flinging open before you will swing so close to your nose that you’ll feel the wind (but not the sting) so that you absolutely, positively can not miss this opportunity. And then I pray that He will PUSH you through that door so that there is no way you can doubt for even a second that it’s THE door for YOU. And I pray all that in Jesus’ name for you my friend!

Now go out there and follow that dream that God put in your heart! He MADE you for this, so you’d better go do it! Because no one can do it the way YOU can!

 

Categories: Luke, Malachi, Mark, Season 3 | Leave a comment

Let the Rocks Cry Out

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

Last week’s post – finally! I will post this week’s post tomorrow when I return to civilization and internet access.

This week’s:

“silent”

  • Luke 1:20, Matthew 26:63 & Luke 19:40

From the third word in this week’s reading and throughout the entire week God has sprinkled a message of speech before our eyes. In Leviticus 19:1 The LORD spoke to Moses: “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.”

And again in the first chapter of Luke we come upon Zechariah who’s faculty of speech is taken away due to his disbelief! The angel Gabriel said to him, “You will become silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time” (verse 20). As I read this verse I was reminded of the piece I wrote about the fall of Jericho and the role silence played. In order to stave off the birth of Unbelief and Doubt, Joshua commanded the people: “Do not shout or let your voice be heard. Don’t let one word come out of your mouth until the time I say, ‘Shout!’ Then you are to shout” (Joshua 6:10).

John 1:1-5 says that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.”

Words are spoken. This entire world began its existence with God the Father speaking, commanding, “Light be”… and instantly according to His command there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

Words contain within them tremendous power.

And when someone who houses the Holy Spirit within them speaks a word, any word, that word has the power of life and death. (See the entire book of James!) Solomon the wise wrote a few words on the ebb and flow of life I’d like to share with you:

There is occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:

A time to give birth and a time to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot;

A time to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build;

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance;

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

A time to search and a time to count as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away;

A time to tear and a time to sew;

A time to be silent and a time to speak;

A time to love and a time to hate;

A time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his struggles? I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. – Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

My friends, there is a time to speak and wield those words of power, and there is a time to clamp that mouth shut and hold them all in. Zechariah had voiced enough doubt before that angel who stood in the presence of God daily to let Gabriel know that Zechariah couldn’t be trusted to keep his big doubting mouth shut. So Gabriel shut it for him – saving the prophecy from an untimely death. And what happened when John was born and christened John? Zechariah’s mouth sprang open and he SHOUTED amazing blessings upon that child! There is a time for silence, but there is also a time for shouting.

I was curious about this particular Greek word that Luke used for Zechariah’s silence so I looked it up. It’s the Greek word, see-oh-poh, and it refers to a kind of forced silence as opposed to a voluntary kind of silence. Zechariah is the perfect example of this kind of silence. However there are a few more instances in the New Testament that this particular Greek word is used that I found quite interesting. One is in Matthew 26:63 and the other is in Luke 19:39-40. We’ll take a look at the verse in Matthew first and it will lead us straight to our verse in Luke so watch for it. 😀

In Matthew chapter twenty-six we find Jesus having been captured from the Garden of Gethsemane and a trial being held in order to find Him guilty of anything they can find to pin on Him and get to stick. They bring forward false witness after false witness to no avail until two came forward and stated, “This man said, ‘I can demolish God’s sanctuary and rebuild it in three days.'” The high priest then stood up and said to Him, “Don’t You have an answer to what these men are testifying against You?” But Jesus kept silent.

There are times to speak, and there are times to just be still and let the Truth set you free!

That night in that darkened courtroom a Light shone bright and the darkness couldn’t overcome it. In the beginning God said, “Light be” and the Light was, is and still is today. That night in the courtroom they found Jesus guilty of none other than Blaspheme, a sin punishable by death. A sin that, “coincidentally” enough, we read about in our readings this week. Leviticus 24 shares a story of a man who blasphemed, this is what the LORD had to say about his punishment: “Bring the one who has cursed to the outside of the camp and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole community stone him.”

Laying their hands on his head transfers his sin against them back to him. Yet here we have Jesus who is without sin. So what is it that happens when we lay our hands on His head? Our sins, our guilt, our shame, it ALL transfers over to His head where He takes the punishment for the crimes we committed. In Leviticus the LORD spoke to Moses: “Speak to the entire Israelite community, everyone who will HEAR, and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” And yet here we are today with our hands on the head of a Saviour and once again the LORD speaks and says, “Be holy. Because I the LORD your God am holy!”

My friends, there is a time to be silent and there is a time to SHOUT! And this is a time to SHOUT for I tell you, if you keep silent about this the very stones in the fields will cry out!!!! (See Luke 19:39-40, I told you it would come around!) Jesus has transferred His holiness onto your head! He has taken the guilt and the shame from you. He has removed the cause for Fear and Doubt and Concern! He is LORD. He is LIGHT. He is GOD! Rejoice and be glad in this day that He has made for you.

Next week’s :

Categories: Luke, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | 2 Comments

Day 7: Princess

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Mark 1:1-3:35

And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”. Revelation 19:16

God is the King, and not just any king; He is the King of all kings. He is the Lord over all other lords. He is the ruler of everyone and everything. Boy it feels so good to say that!!! You know why? Because just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. (Ephesians 1:4-5 emphasis mine) WE are the siblings of Christ! WE are the sons and daughters of God Almighty! WE are in God’s royal family. You are His daughter, His baby girl. Now stay with me here, if God is THE King of kings and we are His children (Rom 8:14 & 16 and Gal 3:26-29), then we are princesses!

Oh, but wait, it gets even better! As God’s children we receive royal benefits as well! In Matthew 7: 9-11 it says what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! If we love and cherish our own children and want to give them good things, then how much more does God our Father want to give good things to us!?! He loves us so much more than we could ever comprehend; of course He wants good things for us!

1 John 3:1 tells of how God LAVISHES his love on us, His children. When was the last time you had human love lavished on you? How great was it? Now think about all the times in your life you’ve felt really loved, all those times it was God using that person’s arms to hug you, their voice to encourage you and make you laugh. But that’s not even the best part of being His child. The best part is how it makes you valuable. Here’s a little bit from one of my journal entries:

“Oh the changes He’s made! I wonder if He lets us screw up when we’re young so that He can show off by fixing us as we get older. I had no idea I was so broken. I thought my worth was in my body and my sex appeal, no, not ALL my worth, but the majority of it. Through this journey (of the sex fast and writing this book) I’ve discovered my TRUE worth and value and that I’ve been bought with an un-payable price. I’m more than priceless, I’m Christ’s. By attaching myself to HIM my value becomes more than who I am or what I do or wear. It’s who I’m with. I am the LORD’S and He is mine. My value comes from Him and the fact that I am His child. My children are priceless to me because they are mine. I am priceless to Him because I am His child. I have an “all access pass” because “I’m with Him”. I’m with Christ! With Christ, all things are possible; including turning a stay at home mom into a princess and a mechanic into a prince charming; completely sweeping me off my feet, in every sense of the word. Thank you Lord! Praise be to You alone! You did all this. Thank you for being in the heart-changing business!”

Christian’s comments:

Husband, your wife is a daughter of God. God is THE King of kings. So that makes your wife a princess and she should be treated as such. If you start treating her as a princess, she is most likely to reciprocate that back to you. If you want to be treated as royalty, you first need to treat her as royalty.

A side note to the wives. Your confidence in yourself is one of the most appealing aspects about you. If you show off your confidence and royalty (remember not stuck up and snotty, precious royalty), your husband will have no problems treating you as royalty.

Tamar used to wear somewhat baggy clothes to kind of hide her curves. Recently, since our first fast, she has started wearing clothes that fit her well. They show off her curves (which are very sexy) without being revealing. She has confidence in herself so she doesn’t feel like she needs to hide anymore. And believe me, I complement her every chance I get.

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke, True Intimacy, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | 1 Comment

Day 6: Call Me

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Mrs Knochel

Luke 23:50-24:53 & Malachi 1:1-4:6

“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

Call to Me and I will answer you. You know, when you think about it, that is a really remarkable thing! The creator of the UNIVERSE is promising that if you call to Him, He WILL answer you! Oh, but wait, there’s MORE! He’s not just promising to answer you, Oh no, He is also promising that if you call NOW, you’ll not only receive an answer, but He’ll throw in – at no extra cost – great AND mighty things, which you do not know. So ACT NOW AND CALL! But don’t call on just anyone, no, call on the One who REALLY cares for you.

It was through calling to God and learning as much as I possibly could about HIM, that I found the love I’d been longing for my whole life. You see, according to 1 John 4:8 God is the definition of love. I have discovered that until I really knew that love, His love, I couldn’t really give that love. You simply can’t give what you don’t have. I learned that I needed to fall in love with God first. When I fell in love with God – something amazing happened – I began to fall even deeper in love with Christian! And that, has transformed us both. Psalm 147:3 says “[The Lord] heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” HE healed our broken hearts and HE healed our marriage. And if HE can do that for us then HE can heal you too. HE can; no one else. Jesus is the ONLY way.

You see, Jesus is the only way to the Father, and in my opinion the only real way to solve ANYTHING that you are facing in life as well. Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He has come so that we may have a super-abundant life. Jesus didn’t come so that we could just simply survive here on earth and then live in heaven with Him. No! Jesus came so that we could surpass surviving and LIVE our lives with a FULLNESS that we can only achieve through His power. “How do I do that?” you ask? You call to Him. Life is filled with hardship, it just is. And when I’m going through a really hard time, I know that God is there, waiting to help me. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it, He’s there; with His arms open wide, ready to hold me. Love me. Comfort me. He’s there; ready to listen to everything I have to say. He’s there; ready to catch all my frustrations when I throw them His way. He’s God, He can handle them. I… can’t. In those times when I just can’t take it anymore He reminds me WHOSE I really am. I am HIS CHILD, His Precious Baby Girl. When my own baby girl is hurt or sad, I rush to comfort her, to soothe her, to make the hurt go away. When she was tiny I used to marvel at how I could sit with her on my lap and if she tucked her knees up close to her chest I could wrap my arms around her and lean over her in a way that my body would completely cover her, protecting her, taking away the hurt. For a child there is little more soothing than climbing into a parent’s lap and being wrapped up in their loving embrace.

Last night God woke me up in the stillness of the night to give me some extra TLC during a particularly difficult week. I followed His lead out to our living room where I wrapped up in a blanket and sat down in our big comfy red recliner. As I sat there with my feet tucked up under the blanket warm & cozy & still, I realized what God had done. Amidst this amazingly challenging and difficult time, He drew me away from all the noise and chaos, into the stillness and quiet of the night to spend some time on His lap (symbolized by the chair) wrapped up in His loving arms (symbolized by the blanket) to just snuggle and talk. I sure do love my Daddy! I can’t begin to explain to you how delicious it was to come to Him, curl up in His lap and relax with my head against His chest. Casting myself and all my burdens at Him knowing full well that in that moment He was tenderly holding me in His arms and cooing to me “Oh my Beloved, all is well, tell me about it.” He soothed me, and rocked away all the pain, and worry, and anger, and whatever else was bothering me. I called to Him and told Him all about it, and He took it ALL away. (Not necessarily the situation as much as my emotions and feelings about the situation.) And when I was done spilling my guts to Him, I felt like a completely different person… because I was!

So, now the question is, do you believe that He’s there for you? Listening to you? Are you willing to crawl up into His lap, snuggle into His chest, and let Him completely encircle you with His arms? If you are, while you’re up there, you’ll be close enough to hear His heartbeat, and touch His face. Then, in that moment, you will really be resting in the Lord and placing your faith in Him to do the things that He has promised to do. Then, you will truly know that He is real.

Today, make some time, I recommend a lot of it, to crawl into YOUR Father’s lap. Find a quiet private spot, preferably with a big comfy chair and a warm blanket, to pour your worries out at His feet like a drink offering onto the ground never to be returned to you. We all have problems; more numerous than we can count. So, start by telling Him all about them! Pour your heart out to Him, tell Him what hurts and why. Let Him pour out His soothing balm onto your soul, let Him heal your broken heart and mend your aching Spirit. Cry out to Him and let Him tell you great and mighty things! When you reach out to Him and truly trust Him completely, you will soar on eagles’ wings. You’ll start to see His face all around you; and experience the thrill of miracles, real miracles, in your life. Trust God, who better to lean on and give you rest than the comforter and creator of love Himself. Find rest in His arms, there is such a peace there because He is love… and all that love can be directed straight at YOU.

Christian’s comments:

In Jeremiah 33:3 God promises that when we call to Him, He will answer us. He does not, however, promise that the answer will be immediate, or that it will be “yes”, but He promises to answer. And He does, every time, with the answer that we need; not necessarily the answer that we want. Sometimes “No” is the best answer we can get. We may not want to hear it, but His answer is ALWAYS the correct one. As a parent, you know this to be true. Your kids can not have everything they want, so you have to tell them “No”. If you don’t have children, think back to when you were a kid. Try to remember when your parents told you “No”. You were probably upset by it; but as you think back about it, you (hopefully) realize that “No” was the correct answer. The reason we tell our children “No” is because we love them, and we want what’s best for them. We are all God’s children, and He loves us, and wants what’s best for us. That is why He tells us “No” sometimes.

As far as letting things go to Him, I still have trouble with it. I hold on to things. I have to really concentrate on giving it to Him. But Tamar is correct, when I do give everything to Him, I feel SO much better. I challenge you to do the same thing. It may feel strange, or difficult to you, but try it out. Find a quit place, and just pour your heart out to Him.

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

Day 5: Memorize

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Mrs Knochel

Guess who totally forgot all about sending this out yesterday! THIS GIRL!!! It didn’t even cross my mind until I was brushing my teeth before bed, and at that point I said, “Tomorrow is Sabbath, so we’ll just switch it up a bit and make today the Sabbath and tomorrow a reading day.”

Sorry guys. Looks like I’m as unpredictable as they get.


Luke 21:25-23:49

I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27

For today, there is no reading other than your Bible. Take the time you would normally spend reading and spend it instead, memorizing the word of God. For today we recommend you look up (in your favorite translation) 1 Corinthians 9:27, write it on a note card or sticky note and then say it out loud 7 times or until you can say it from memory. For me, I learn better by saying them as I write them several times. We also recommend that you memorize the “address” (1 Corinthians 9:27) as well, so that in the future you can look it up easily or refer other people to it quickly.

    Now when (notice I did not say “if”) you are tempted, if at all possible, say this verse out loud. This is important. In those moments of temptations, if you are able to roll these words right off your tongue it will make Temptation flee! Really. You’ll see.

 

(If you would like a printable version of the scripture card above go to TamarKnochel.com and click on the Printables button. Or click Here.)

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke, True Intimacy | Leave a comment

Day 4: Fast

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Luke 18:31-21:24

OK, so if you’re still reading today you’ve decided to see this thing out the whole way. You’ve decided to join us on our journey and sex fast with us. I’m telling you, this is very powerful stuff, not for the faint of heart. However, you WILL NOT REGRET THIS! Christian was reluctantly compliant in our first and second sex fast (yes, believe it or not, we’ve done this more than once) and close to the end of the second fast he told me, “We should really do this again sometime”. Taking sex out of your relationship changes it, dramatically. I’m going to be honest with you, fasting is difficult. You will fight, you will cry, you will be frustrated and you will be angry; and so you will pray, you will read (I suggest the Bible along with this book), and you will seek God like never before. This is why I wish I could be there with you, to encourage you to keep going. You CAN survive this storm, your marriage and your family WILL be so much better for it in the end. Yes, your family, for generations to come! For instance, David and Bathsheba committed the sexually immoral sin of adultery, you can find their story in 2 Samuel 11 and then on throughout the rest of the Bible. That one night of passion started a ripple effect that sent a wave through their entire household for generations afterward – including but not limited to incestuous rape, murder because of that rape, pagan wives… and lots of them! So if you’re not quite sure about doing this just for yourselves, consider doing it for your kids and grandkids!

Through fasting and praying you are not only showing God how important this is to you, but more so, you are showing each other and the non-omnipotent principalities of this world who are in charge of carrying out your curse, how serious you are about breaking it! A curse must be broken through relative means; through a similar way in which it was brought upon the person under the curse. If sexual immorality put you under a curse then sexual purity is what gets you out of it. And “fasting is the most sacred, most serious, most sacrificial way to present ourselves in total devotion to the Lord. Fasting helps us relinquish our will to God. By abstaining from food [or sex], humbling our souls, and setting worldly matters aside in an act of worship, we can please God beyond compare.”

God cares more about our motives than our actions. Therefore, we fast as an act of thanks for the second chance He has given us, and as atonement for the sexually immoral acts that we have committed in the past. This is not something to take lightly my friend; you are entering into a serious commitment, one that will have a major impact on your life, a very positive one if you’re willing to do it for the right reasons. Here are the rules of the road, they’re pretty simple and there are only two.

1) Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:16-18 In other words, don’t make a big deal about the fast to everyone you see. In fact, don’t tell anyone, it’s to be done in secret. We committed our sexually immoral acts in secret and God saw them; similarly redeem them in secret as well. God will see it and reward you for it. So far in my experience I’ve had a rule of 2 for my fasting. Both times God has given me 2 other people to share my secret. I have asked those people to pray for me and my husband that we may be successful in our fast, and that we will grow closer to God and each other because of it. Other than those 2 people, to everyone else it’s business as usual, no matter what, no complaining, grumbling or twisting your face to show disapproval. Remember, God sees what is done in secret, both the bad and the good. Trust me, this IS worth it.

2) This fast includes ALL SEXUAL ACTIVITY OF ANY KIND. We’re not just talking about strictly sex here. We’re talking no sex, no touching each other (except for hugs and 10 second kisses), and no touching yourself! NOTHING FOR 30 DAYS! It was through complete abstinence that we grew so much during that time. Plus, in a way, it was resetting our bodies back to the “manufacturer’s settings” so to speak. Seriously, if you do not take my word for this particular part of the fast you will not gain as much from the experience. Trust me on this one!

To help you through this I suggest memorizing some scriptures. They are extremely wise and really do help in those moments of weakness. 2 of my favorites for this are: 1 Corinthians 9:27 and Romans 6:14. Both of these verses appealed to me because of the idea of being the master of my body. There were moments of temptation, man of them. And in those moments I could not allow my body the luxury of indulgence; I had to “beat” it instead. I would say to myself, “No body, you are NOT in control and you will not get your way this time!” That’s the true meaning of “SELF” control. Your body is NOT the master of you! You are the master of your body; do not allow your body to be the one in control!

A couple quick notes before I hand the laptop over to Christian. Wives, before day 30 arrives make sure to buy a new white bra and panties and if money isn’t too tight, a beautiful white satin nightgown. I’ll explain more about this later, but for now, start looking for some beautiful new underwear or jammies… or BOTH! Also, since this is supposed to be a 30 day fast and you’re now on day 5 of the book, may I suggest 1) start reading from day 1 again, or 2) skip reading on Sundays to make up the difference. May God lead you in which method you should apply.

Christian’s comments:

All right! You guys are on board, so Let’s DO THIS THING! Husbands! You may not be too thrilled by this, but you just need to suck it up! Oh wait poor choice of words there. You can handle it! No, that’s not right either. It’s going to be hard, scratch that, difficult, but you will manage. Seriously, though, you will get through this. You have to follow the rules though.

Number one: No whining, complaining, moaning, groaning, or any other form of grumbling allowed. Don’t say anything to the guys at work. No “The old lady says” comments to your buddies that you play sports with. No “Old ball and chain” remarks to the guys in the garage (if you’re a gear-head like me). Tell no one! Just live your life like nothing is different. However, don’t be surprised if they mention how they see or notice a difference in you.

 

Number two: No sexual activity of any kind! You will be tempted to, ahem, “take matters into your own hands”. Fight that temptation. Learn the scriptures that Tamar mentioned above. Recite them whenever you are tempted. There is an old joke that 90% of men admit to masturbating, the other 10% are liars. If you masturbate, you will be greatly tempted. One tip: Don’t think about getting through the 30 days all together, you will likely fail. Instead, get through one day at a time. If that’s too long, just get through one hour at a time. That’s how addicts beat their addictions. If they think about going the rest of their life without whatever they are addicted to (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.), they will fail almost every time. So they break it down into shorter time intervals, usually hours. That’s how I beat my addiction to chewing tobacco. I would think, “I can make it through this hour without it.” Then think the same thing the next hour.

 

Another tip: Remove any sexually suggestive material from your house and workplace. Any movies, pictures, magazines, etc. They don’t necessarily have to be pornographic either. Like I stated in chapter three, they could be something as simple as a movie with scantily clad women, or even your wife’s Cosmo magazines. I still struggle with the temptations of pornography and masturbation. Having fewer things to tempt me, made the fast much easier to get through. It also helps after the fast is over.

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke, True Intimacy, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | 2 Comments

Day 3: Return

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Luke 15:11-18:30

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45

Blessed is she who believed. Do YOU believe that God can heal your marriage? I believed; and it totally changed the course of my entire life. God’s plans for us are so much bigger and better than our own plans. HE knows the future, we don’t. Trust Him. He is faithful to His word. When you obey Him, He blesses you. Sometimes more than you can bear. So I hope you’re ready for this!

I would like to share a letter to God that I wrote in the beginning of this journey.

“Lord, my heart is so broken right now. I am so consumed with Christian and his neglect of his duties to us. I don’t understand what you want me to do. I know that you don’t want divorce because I have a blood covenant with him, but he hurts my feelings so much. I feel like he’s sucking the spirit from me. Yet I love him so desperately. I can’t REALLY leave him. You’re not really telling me to leave the husband of my youth are you? Surely not. What you have joined together let no man tear asunder right?

Lord, I need an undivided heart, one where BOTH halves are pumping and functioning together as one. PLEASE help us become one again. And not just for a short time but for forever. Please please please don’t let it come to this again! Please Lord, I’m begging you; heal us back together again so that we are one functioning heart again. Let the two become one and stay that way!”

Reading that letter again I remember the pain and grief that I felt over how our relationship was fairing. Yet, it makes me happy to read it, because it shows me just how far we’ve truly come; how far God has brought us on the path of healing. In response to this letter do you know what God told me? Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:19) He gave me my answer. Repent, turn to God, and times of refreshing WOULD come. Not maybe they’d get here, they WOULD come. I had already repented of my sin of pre-marital sex and I believe God had forgiven me for it. But I hadn’t forgiven myself, and I certainly hadn’t forgiven Christian for taking my virginity before it was time to take it. Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t rape me, if I had told him “no” he would NOT have had sex with me.

I’ll never forget that moment of decision as long as I live! We were lying there completely naked together, Christian over me asking “What do you think?” And I heard God’s desperate plea in my right ear say: “Baby, don’t do this!” But the tempter was right there too, in my left ear, “Oh, it’s no big deal, you’re going to marry each other at some point anyway so what difference does it make if you do it now or later? It’s all the same. Go ahead. Do it.” And just like Eve, I believed his LIE! So instead of saying “no”, I said “yes”. And that moment, the moment I said “yes” instead of “no”, changed everything. That one moment of disobedience turned our whole world upside down.

So, back in the present day, what’s a girl to do?!? I felt like I needed to talk to Christian and in the least, request an apology from him. But as I was preparing for my “talk” with him I did a lot of praying and scripture searching. I felt that we needed to do more than just ask for forgiveness, we needed to DO something. “God guide me!” I said. He immediately made my eyes fall on Ezekiel 33:14-16. But when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

God gave me the steps to take. 1) Repent of our sin of sexual immorality by asking for forgiveness from God, each other, and ourselves. 2) Do what is right and restore what has been taken, therefore making restitution. 3) Sin no more. Once we’ve done those three things NONE of our sins will be held against us anymore! We will be free! “OK”, I thought. “I can do that! Ummm, but Lord, how can I pay You back? How can Christian return what he stole from me? I mean… A hymen’s not really something that grows back ya know.” That’s when the idea of fasting came to mind. How can you give back sex? Stop having it! Not forever obviously, just for a time. In 1 Corinthians 7:5 Paul writes: Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. He was telling his followers in the church of Corinth that they should not withhold sex from their spouses except to grow closer to God, and only for a specific period of time so that the enemy would not tempt them to commit sexual immorality. All of this seemed to fit perfectly for our situation. I needed to repent and return the things that I had stolen and I needed to do that by abstaining from sexual relations with my husband for 30 days (which is the traditional length of a mourning period, fitting I thought). I knew that Christian would not be happy about it, but I also knew that I would give him no choice. And he’s a great man; I knew he wouldn’t force me.

Christian’s comments:

Christian was not happy, not happy at all. No sex for 30 days! We weren’t having sex all that often, but 30 days? That’s like a month!

Yeah, I wasn’t happy and I didn’t really understand either. But it was important to Tamar, so it was important to me. As was stated in chapter one, as well as here, I wasn’t a great husband. No, I wasn’t a good husband, or father. I’d stay out late, working on demolition derby cars at one of my friends’ shops. I would only begrudgingly come home if Tamar had something to go to. It wasn’t that I didn’t love Tamar, but to me, everything I had going on was more important that anything she had going on. Little did I know, that’s what was tearing us apart.

The fast came along about the same time that I began to realize that I was a major problem in our marriage (after the pre-marital sex, multiple partners, masturbation, and porn of course). So I thought, “Hey, if this will help us to get closer, I’m in.” Boy howdy! Have we ever gotten closer (Wink wink, nudge nudge). Things aren’t perfect, but they are much better, and getting better every day.

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke, True Intimacy, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

Day 2: Shadows

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Luke 12:22-15:10

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. Proverbs 5:21-23

In this proverb it talks about how our sins capture us, tying us up in cords. Our lack of knowledge will lead us astray and cause us to make mistakes. Our sins have enormous impact on our lives and our children’s lives, especially when it’s not immediately evident.

Take Adam and Eve for example. In the Garden of Eden, God had originally commanded Adam: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) Then, later, in Genesis 3: 4 Eve has a conversation with a talking snake where he tells her that she will not “surely die”. And she believed him! She took the fruit… ate it… HEY! No death! Well, huh, no immediately evident death anyway. There was immediate death alright. The death of innocence, and the birth of guilt, shame and sorrow. That is what disobedience (sin) will do; it immediately births guilt and shame and sorrow; all things that God never wants you to live with.

Have you ever spent time just looking at a shadow? I mean really watching it? Everything casts a shadow, even glass. Old sins, those things we did when we were younger, those things cast shadows too. Each sin that goes un-repented is like a brick in the blessing blockade. The bigger the blockade the bigger the shadow it casts. At “high noon” when the sin took place, the shadow was small and barely noticeable (ie. “I was just sowing my wild oats.”) However, the longer the sin stays in your heart the bigger, longer, and farther reaching its shadow becomes. Someday, if you sit and observe the shadows outside, as time passes you’ll notice that the shadows get longer and begin to creep over other objects in their path. They begin to block out the light from the Son to those other things. That is what past sins from your life can and will do. The longer those sins stay locked up in the closet of your mind the bigger and farther reaching their shadows become. Eventually, they start creeping and covering other aspects of your life; blocking God’s light from touching them. I can’t speak for you my friend, however I know that I had old sins, and they were casting very long shadows. Those shadows were covering our marriage and blocking God’s loving grace from shining down on us. They were blocking out the light of my husband’s love for me, and they were blocking my love from truly reaching my children. These old sins, the ones that I’d shoved down into a teeny tiny box in the farthest corner of the back closet of my mind; they were the ones that were causing me so much grief. Sometimes the only way to fix a current situation is to go back to the beginning. Rewind time so to speak and fix the root of the problem and not just the symptom of it. For us, the root of the problem was our pre-marital sexual experiences: pre-marital sex, emotional adultery, and porn/masturbation/self-pleasuring (we’ll go more into depth on each of these later). These activities performed both before our wedding vows and after, could have ruined our marriage if they had continued to grow and “shadow” over other things. However, through the power of Christ, we are not only forgiven of the sins that we committed, against Him, ourselves, and each other, we were also freed from the “cords that ensnared us” and our sexual blessing blockade tumbled down!

One morning, early on in the writing process for this book, God gave me a very sobering and heartbreaking vision, one I’ll not soon forget. We were standing high on a cliff looking down on a large town. As I looked down onto this sleeping town it was like Earth had turned into hell. Almost every house was black, charred as if it had burned somewhat. Between the houses, rivers of lava flowed in the streets. The cries coming from these houses were mournful and desperate. But the cries weren’t from human lips; they were being made by human souls. Every living soul in every charred house was crying, mourning. God turned to me and said, “This is what sexual sin does to you. It brings hell to Earth.” As I’m writing this I just want to sob. My soul cries out, not for myself (at least not anymore) but for every living thing in those houses. Because I remember what it was like inside my house before God came in and remodeled it. My house was burned to a crisp! My sexual sin and my husband’s were burning our house down. It was tearing us apart. The stress in our home was palpable. My husband was never home, I was miserable, my children were unhappy, life was filled with tears.

Is your soul in torment? In the Garden of Eden, after they had eaten the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve hid from God. Are you hiding from God, hoping He won’t find out? Are you hiding out of guilt, or grief, or shame? God knows where you are and He has come to you, in your place of hiding. He is standing next to you with His outstretched hand hoping that you will take it, stand back up, and follow Him. He loves you no matter what your condition and no matter what you’ve done. Really, no matter WHAT you’ve done. There is nothing under the sun that you have done that God hasn’t seen done before and isn’t willing to forgive. There is NOTHING you could ever do to make Him stop loving you, not even for a second. Nothing. Period!

Christian’s comments:

Have you ever gotten a splinter in your finger and not been able to get it out? If left too long, the splinter will irritate you more and more. It will eventually get infected and swollen. It will start to affect your daily life. If left long enough, the infection could get bad enough that your finger would need to be amputated. Or worse, the infection could spread and your whole hand could be lost. Obviously, I’m being dramatic. I’ve never known anyone that left a splinter in their finger long enough for that to happen. I did hear about a guy with one in his foot, but that’s a story for a different time (and book). Anyway…

An old sin is like the splinter. The longer you hold onto that sin, the more it affects you. Everything reminds you of it. People, places, things people say. Eventually, you can’t stop thinking about it and it really starts to affect your life.

As you may have guessed, I’m the one that had pre-marital sex with other people; two girls in college to be exact. We have come to agree that if Tamar and I had not had sex when we did, I don’t think I would have had sex with those two other girls. After Tamar and I had “done it”, I realized what I was missing. I think I may be getting ahead of myself, let’s do a little history.

It all started when I was in jr. high. That’s when I started masturbating. Shortly after I took up masturbation, I started looking at pornography. (I learned later that God considers it adultery to look lustfully, and masturbate to, other women.) After a while, the porn became a tool for masturbation. (I’m using the word “porn” very broadly. I didn’t necessarily look at magazines full of naked people; I would also look at scantily clad people in Cosmo, or catalogs, or on the internet. I would even just read about people having sex. To me, porn is that broad of a subject. To this day, I still have to guard myself against looking at magazines and catalogs. Some of the images in them can bring some of those temptations back to the surface. The enemy will use all the tools at his disposal to get you to slip and fall.)

All of this finally built to a crescendo, the porn and masturbation weren’t enough. I “needed” physical satisfaction from someone else. Tamar was several hours away, so I found someone at school to get that satisfaction. Afterwards, it all started tearing me up inside. I started suffering from depression. I didn’t want to spend time with my family, friends, or anybody. I’d just sit and watch TV and wonder why my life was falling down around me. Because of this fast, I found out why. Keep reading, and you will too.

 

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke, True Intimacy | Leave a comment

Day 1: God & Sex

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Luke 10:1-12:21

For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:37

One night before sharing my testimony at church, I had a vision. I was lying in bed and the enemy was sitting on my chest with his hands over my mouth. At first I could only murmur and make sound through my nose, then the longer he sat there, the less noise I could make until finally I could utter no sound whatsoever.

As chilling as this experience was, I was relatively unconcerned with what had just happened to me in my vision, (because I have nothing to fear, GOD is on my side) so I rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning, before dawn had fully broken, I was on my way to church and praying for insight about my vision. As I prayed, God revealed to me that the enemy would do ANYTHING to keep me from sharing my story with others. As I spoke those words aloud, instantly there was a deer in my headlights! “Nice try!” I told the enemy. Maybe one of these days he’ll discover that “greater is He who is in [me] than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4b (I, of course, didn’t hit the deer.) You see, the enemy really would do anything to keep me from telling my story. Why? Because it is through our faults and mistakes that we relate with each other. Because my story is less a story of what I’VE done and all about what GOD has done. The enemy doesn’t like these stories, because they break the chains of slavery that he has wrapped around us. Those stories, transform lives, and set captives free! So yes, he would do anything to keep me (and you) silent, usually with embarrassment. BUT he has no power over the Children of God, and can NOT keep us silent when it is God’s will for us to speak. So, speak I will, and there is NOTHING the enemy can do about it! He can TRY, but he will not succeed. He will try to keep you silent as well. As your journey to sexual freedom progresses I encourage you to share your story with others. Don’t allow the enemy to keep you embarrassed about this!

In today’s society, most Christians don’t feel comfortable talking about sexual issues; especially in church. Most of us have encountered them at some point in our lives and have come out of the experience with permanent damage. But yet, we don’t TALK about it! Why? Because, that’s the enemy’s goal; to keep us embarrassed and silent! Well, I’m here to tell you that GOD does talk about it! A LOT! And if HE talks about it I think it’s about high time that we did too!

You see, God created us and therefore sex; and He knew what He was doing too! Did you know that the area of the brain that receives religious experiences is the very same area that receives sexual pleasure input. You can try all you want to separate God and sex, but in the end, there’s no denying it; sex and God go together. Sex with your husband can actually be a spiritual experience. Believe me, by the end of this book you will be praising God for the miracle of your husband’s body with yours! God knew what He was doing. He meant for sex to be a God-glorifying experience. Why do you think that in those moments of pure passion many people say “Oh God!”? We are forced to praise Him in those moments of physical enjoyment. We are, after all, enjoying the fruits of HIS labor of creation.

So. If God and sex go together, and I’m dissatisfied in my marriage and sex life, then doesn’t it make sense to go to the One who created them both and ask Him how to make them both better? Maybe even great! I mean, if you’re having trouble with your dishwasher, you don’t call the telephone company to get it fixed! You call the maker of the product! And so, that’s exactly what I did. I prayed and went to the Bible first. Did you know, there is a whole book in the Bible about relationships and sex!?! A whole book! And yet I had gone most of my life without knowing it was even there, let alone that it held the many secrets I longed to know. However, it wasn’t just the Song of Solomon where I found the keys to unlocking this wonderful mystery of truly intimate sex; it was throughout the entire Bible. God has quite a bit to say about sex and intimacy!

When we love and obey God not a single solitary good thing does He hold back from us. Not one. Right now, He has a whole storehouse full of amazing blessings for you. Good health, AMAZING SEX, love and a deeper connection with God and your husband… the list goes on and on! If you think it’s good and would like to be blessed with it, it’s most likely in there waiting for you. However, before those blessings can rain down on you, you have to remove all the things that are blocking them from getting to you. For years I asked God to change Christian. For Y-E-A-R-S. I was beginning to think God just wasn’t listening to my pleas! I didn’t understand why it seemed like my prayers were simply hitting a brick wall and bouncing back to me. Why wasn’t He making our marriage better? According to Isaiah 59:1-3 God was (and still is) able to save our marriage and He did (and still does) hear our prayers for help. However, since our hands were still covered in the blood of sexual sin – and not Christ’s forgiving blood – then God could not justify fully blessing our marriage with His presence. He desperately wanted to bless us, but like Isaiah 59:2 points out, our sins had built barriers between us and God. I had hindered my own prayers from being answered “Yes”. To remove these “blessing blockades” I had to first have a relationship with Christ. All good relationships take time and communication. Without these two crucial elements I didn’t have a relationship; I had an acquaintance. Jesus was someone I knew of, but not very well. To build my relationship with God I 1) Spent time talking with Him, and not just to Him. I stopped talking when I asked questions and was surprised with what happened. He talked back!!! Not always audibly or immediately, but He spoke to me none the less. 2) Studied the Bible as a student studying for a test. The better I know His word, the better I know Him.

Still not sure if you believe that God can help your marriage and your sex life? Well, whether you know God personally or not, you do know the difference between right and wrong. And when you do something you know is wrong you get a guilty conscience. I believe it is our guilty consciences that hold us back from a multitude of blessings. One of which being the most truly intimate sex you’ve ever known! I believe, with my whole heart, that our pre-marital sexual experiences led to all the strife in our marriage. They started a snowball rolling down a hill that got too big for us to control and it ended up rolling on top of us, nearly crushing us. However, God loves us and pulled us up from under that crushing snow. It is because of Christ that today we are able to stand on the top of that mountain of snow instead of under it. It is because of Jesus and His saving grace that I can sincerely thank God for the blessing of my husband every day, instead of every day begging God to “fix him”.

Christian’s comments:

Whoa, whoa, whoa. God and Sex? Hang on here. I was raised in a Methodist church, and we NEVER talked about sex. In church, out of church, anywhere. I’m sure I would have paid more attention in Sunday school if we had. The only time I even remember hearing the word sex spoken in that church was the day Tamar and I were married.

As we were having our picture taken with the preacher after the ceremony, he said “Think sex!” right before the photographer snapped the picture. If you look at the photo, our eyes are huge! We just couldn’t believe such a sweet, short, little man had said that! In church!

Most Christians would balk at the idea, but we believe what the bible teaches about sex needs to be taught in church, especially to the youth. They need to be taught how dangerous and damaging sex can be if it’s done with someone other than their spouse.

I’m glad Tamar missed the deer, not only because of her safety, but she was driving my truck that morning too. It wouldn’t have stopped us from sharing our message, though. I would have gotten in the car, picked her up and taken her to church that morning. Nothing ticks off the enemy more than when you pick yourself up after he knocks you down, and continue on your way.

As far as sin holding your blessings back, there is a solution. Get on your knees and ask for forgiveness. God wants to forgive you, but you have to ask. Repent of your sins. That means, after asking for forgiveness, don’t just turn around and sin again.

Categories: 365 Life, Jesus Loves YOU, Luke | Leave a comment

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