Barricade
Theme of the Week: Purity Guardrails
Friday, April 15, 2005
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from the evil one (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Bonus Reading:Ephesians 4:17-24
As a new believer, the way our minister prayed for a kidnapped girl raised chill bumps on me. He asked God to build a wall of fire around her and bring her back unharmed. God heard that prayer. I immediately prayed, "Lord, if You'll build a wall of fire around me so that I won't succumb sexually—so that my strength won't be consumed fighting temptation—I'll use it to serve You."
God built that wall. That doesn't mean a thought has never gone through my mind. I'm a man. It does mean I've never considered breaking my promise to God to maintain sexual purity. I've been super careful. When a woman is in my office, the door stays open. If a woman wants to talk to me in a hotel, we do it in the lobby.
A reporter once asked me if I ever took my executive assistant to lunch. "Of course not," I said.
"Well, why not?"
"If I took her out to lunch once, I might enjoy it and want to take her out again."
I've prayed that God would give me eyes only for my wife. I cherish every moment with the Redhead. I wouldn't, as I told the reporter, risk offending her for a thousand lunches with anyone.
—Zig Ziglar in The Zig Ziglar Difference
My Response: Have I made the same promise and set up similar safeguards?
Thought to Apply: Temptation is not a sin; it is a call to battle.—ERWIN LUTZER (Illinois pastor)
Adapted from The Zig Ziglar Difference (Berkley Books, 1999) by permission.
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
Your Word says that You bless those whose hearts are pure. Grant me the willpower to become and remain inwardly pure.
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