When I say “a woman is crushing your soul,” I’m not referring to your eternal salvation. Rather, I’m saying your soul, the immaterial parts that make you who you are, is being assaulted and damaged by this woman. Proverbs 18:14, “A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”
It can be really difficult for a woman to know when she should stop talking to a man. Is he pursuing you or playing you? Is he trying to be respectful by going slow or is he just too passive? Is he inconsistent for a good reason or is he just a flaky man who is wasting your time?
We know the Bible says to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). So why isn’t God removing your romantic feelings for someone who is not a Christian?
When Satan attacks, usually he doesn’t use overt tactics. We might imagine lights flickering, a person with a deep voice uttering evil spells, or some other visible mark of demonic influence. However, Satan knows he is more effective from the shadows, when we don’t know he’s working, so we then do not resist his evil will (James 4:7).
It shouldn’t be our normal practice to block people from our lives in an extreme way. If, for example, you like a man but it doesn’t work out, you may need to distance yourself for a bit so you can move on; but it’s not necessary to go to severe lengths so there is no evidence of his presence at all in your life.
Christian purity is not something you are born with. In fact, the Scriptures teach us that every human was born with a sin nature (Psalm 51:5). Thus, we do not sin and become sinful. Rather, we sin because we are sinful.
Idols rob us of the immense joy God wants to give us. Everything good in this life is from God, given to us in love (1 Timothy 4:4-5). And yet, because of our sin nature, those good gifts often get turned into false gods. Our hearts were made to worship the one true God; if we are not worshiping him, we will always find something else to worship.
Putting God first is always the right thing to do. So in some sense, God is always telling us to put him first. However, in this article, we are talking about those moments in life where God is emphasizing this command to us in a more intentional way.
Fear is a focus on an unwanted outcome in the future. Fear occurs because you are worried about experiencing a pain you don’t want to experience or not experiencing a pleasure you do want to experience.
