Purity, Knowing You Were Bought At a Price

This past Thursday evening was an experience I will not soon forget.
The cell group for the teenage girls at Hawane is held at my place as I have been leading the girls through Scriptures about who we are in Christ. This week we had the privilege of having a Teen Challenge team of women from the UK share about purity and we heard some of their personal testimonies of how sex outside of God's will negatively affects lives. Genuinely sharing from their hearts, the team created an open atmosphere for the precious girls at Hawane to ask questions and share their struggles in this area. Each girl submitted a question anonymously and then each of us helped to answer their questions, pointing to God's Word as the Truth. As sexual abuse seems to be prevalent here, the people of Swaziland are in need of God's healing and restoration. He alone is the Healer of broken hearts (Isaiah 61:1).

God's love for every person on the face of the earth is so deep and indescribable- despite what you have done and no matter what may have been done to you. That means He loves you. God Himself is Love and He is holy. Our sins, things we do against God's Word, separate us from Him. Yet He longs to have a relationship with you and the depth of His love is seen on the cross where Jesus, God's one and only Son, died as He took the sins of every person upon Himself. He who was perfect received the consequences of our wrongdoings in order for us to come into a real relationship with God. The Creator of the universe and the Former of your heart invites you to accept what Jesus has done, inviting Him into your life. "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). So, not only did Jesus die for our sins but He rose from the dead in order that we might have eternal life. This great news should transform our lives! We cannot be the same or live in the same way. All Christians have been bought at a price and we are called to honor God with our bodies which are temples of the Holy Spirit because we know He lives inside of us (1 Cor.6:19-20). It is a challenging truth to hear that we are accountable for before God. Let us choose Him who loves us unconditionally. "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Cor. 5:15).

Please pray for God to continue the work He has begun in each of the girls' lives here at Hawane. May He raise them up to be godly women who live out purity, respect themselves, and who rely on God for everything.

-- A Posting by Kylee