Ever encountered a crossroads where your heart's desires brushed against your faith's convictions? That's the crux of our heartfelt discussion on navigating the delicate terrain of Christian couples traveling together. Confronted with the temptations that trip can entail, we turn to scripture and soul-searching to discern whether such decisions honor God or edge us toward spiritual pitfalls. From the poignant tale of a friend's battle with temptation at a wedding to the hard-hitting truths in 1 Corinthians and Proverbs, this episode is a candid exploration of the emotional and spiritual stakes at play.
We don't stop at just identifying the risks; we lay out a roadmap for fortifying your walk with Jesus amid the snares of modern relationships. Emphasizing the vitality of accountability and the wisdom of seeking counsel, we delve into how these practices shore up our resolve to pursue purity and live with conviction.
And in the spirit of fostering growth, we introduce the Crown Mentorship program, an opportunity for listeners to strengthen their faith in a supportive community.
Join us for an episode that's as nurturing as it is challenging, and let's walk together towards a life that's applauded with a divine "well done.
Ever encountered a crossroads where your heart's desires brushed against your faith's convictions? That's the crux of our heartfelt discussion on navigating the delicate terrain of Christian couples traveling together. Confronted with the temptations that trip can entail, we turn to scripture and soul-searching to discern whether such decisions honor God or edge us toward spiritual pitfalls. From the poignant tale of a friend's battle with temptation at a wedding to the hard-hitting truths in 1 Corinthians and Proverbs, this episode is a candid exploration of the emotional and spiritual stakes at play.
We don't stop at just identifying the risks; we lay out a roadmap for fortifying your walk with Jesus amid the snares of modern relationships. Emphasizing the vitality of accountability and the wisdom of seeking counsel, we delve into how these practices shore up our resolve to pursue purity and live with conviction.
And in the spirit of fostering growth, we introduce the Crown Mentorship program, an opportunity for listeners to strengthen their faith in a supportive community.
Join us for an episode that's as nurturing as it is challenging, and let's walk together towards a life that's applauded with a divine "well done.
Speaker 1:
Hello my people, how y'all doing Y'all? We got a juicy one today, y'all ready. We got a juicy you talking about, like a juicy steak, honey or a juicy piece of fruit, baby, today we're gonna talk about it, y'all ready. So I've had several people y'all, several people to contact your girl and ask can Christian couples travel together, girl, can Christian couples travel together? Before I get started, we're gonna stop right now. We're gonna pray Father, god, in the name of Jesus. We just come before you, lord, and we just wanna bring this topic up before you, god. We wanna ask you just to touch the hearts of everybody who's tuning in with me today. Allow us just to hear from you. Holy One, I don't wanna speak, god, I want you to speak and, lord, we ask you just to have your way. God, we wanna serve and please you, father and God. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name, amen. Let's get to it Y'all.
Speaker 1:
I had several people and they like Faye, I need to know, is traveling with my boyfriend or my girlfriend, and since we women let's just hit with a boyfriend is traveling with the man I'm dating. Okay, before I give you my personal opinion, let's hop into the word. Okay, let's look at 1 Corinthians, 10, 23. Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive. Did you hear that? Did you hear the scripture? Okay, I need us to go back to the word of God when we are out here making decisions about traveling, about kissing, about touching, about different things that come up in Christian dating. I'm not talking to you if you're not trying to date the biblical way. I'm not talking to you if you just wanna be a passive, weak Christian. I'm talking to you if you really wanna honor God in dating, if you wanna date with biblical principles, biblical foundation, with the root of Christ and allowing Christ to be a sinner. That's what I'm talking to you.
Speaker 1:
If this is you, look at the scripture. Here's another verse Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. That's first Corinthians, 10, 24,. Okay, let's keep going. Let's keep going. We got so many scripture to hit right now, okay. And so I'm just gonna flat out tell you what I think. I don't think that's gonna be good for you. I think you setting yourself up for failure. I think you are literally setting yourself up for sexual sin. And let's look at the verse two before we hop into it. Proverbs 14, 12,. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Let's look at one more. First, Samuel 16, 17,. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. I can go on and on and on and on, and so I think it's a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 1:
I think, technically, we can say there's nothing wrong with going on a vacation with your boyfriend. But my question for you is what is the intent? What are you trying to do? Why are you allowing ground for the enemy? That would be my question for you. Why are you allowing the enemy to have any foothold? You have to be above approach. You don't want your good to be ill-spoken of.
Speaker 1:
I think no, okay, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, cause I'm gonna be real with y'all. Back when I was single day, doing my little thing, you know, with my man, even with my husband that I am with now, no, absolutely no, we not going to know. No. Mexico, no, vegas, no, whatever we heading, we're not doing that.
Speaker 1:
Because I know me, especially if you're a person like me, where you've had sexual, you've had sex before, you've allowed your flesh to experience different things and you put yourself back in that fire. The Lord said very clear do not put that stuff in your bosom, don't get close to it. And so I know for me that if I get close to it I'm gonna do it. I'm telling you right now, I'm not just gonna kiss and hug and most of y'all. You just gotta be real. You know that you cannot put yourself in those situations and you're gonna be fine. You have to be mindful. You got to understand the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak and most of our flesh is terribly weak, especially because we've been seeking and we've been asking, praying, god, please send my spouse. God, I just want companionship. I just want, I just want to know what it feels like to be loved. I just want that love and affection. And you're going to go to a nice beautiful escape with this person. What are you doing? And so you got to really look at like what's the ultimate purpose? That's all. That's all.
Speaker 1:
I ask you what is the ultimate purpose of going on a vacation with your, with your booth thing? What is the intent number two, and what is the expectation of you vacationing with your boyfriend or the person you're dating? I seem to understand, like why would you put yourself in that, in that situation, why would you put yourself in a situation? And so you want to take into consideration all the consequences and ramifications of your decision and you want to see is this really beneficial and constructive? And so, story time, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:
We had, I had, a friend who they were traveling. It was a wedding, right, and then we'll be vacationing. This one, even vacation right had a friend and this friend was supposed to go to a wedding to be the plus one of her boyfriend. And so she gets down to the little place they had this beautiful wedding. He's already loves in the air. She really wants a husband. She's thinking maybe this could be him. They're going out, they're laughing, they're shopping, they're doing all this stuff and he takes her as his plus one and they're traveling, just you know, across state lines, I think, going to Alabama. And so they get to Alabama and literally they get there and they order like they literally like book two hotel rooms.
Speaker 1:
And so you got to understand the enemy is very deceptive. He will make you think you're getting over or you are. You know people. He'll make you think you're getting getting by or no one's going to know what's really happening. He'll make you think, oh, we're going to book two rooms, we're going to, we're going to make it appear that everything's all gravy right, everything's all good.
Speaker 1:
And so this friend of mine, she went to this, this wedding, beautiful wedding, guys, and I saw the pictures. It was pretty dope. And I went to this wedding and, literally, guys, literally they booked two rooms, but they still slept in the same room, and they was like, oh, we just go sleep in separate beds. She didn't tell me they slept in the same bed. We didn't have sex, though, but we did touch and kiss and do a lot of other stuff, but we didn't. We didn't have sex, we didn't go all the way.
Speaker 1:
You see what I'm saying, and so when you're putting yourself in a situation, you got to understand like you're setting yourself up for disaster, you're setting yourself up not to be God honoring. You got to really ask the question would Jesus, if Jesus was looking dead at me, which we know, holy Spirit with us all the time, but if God was in this room, would I really be asking that question what I really do you really think honestly? And if you do, I want to, I want to help you today. I want to help you. Do you really think that's the best decision for you?
Speaker 1:
On your walk, you in your purity, you in your journey, you try to be God honoring, god pleasing, and so what I want you to do is I want you to have a discussion about the purpose and expectations with the one you're considering traveling with. I want you to sit down with your boyfriend and you just be real and go to your spiritual leader and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking about doing. And most of you are not going to do that because you already know what's, you know what's. You're not going to go talk to your spiritual leader. But if you really want to do that, I really suggest you go talk to your spiritual leader and ask them hey, this is what I'm thinking, what do you think? And then you need to find out how some other person shared this with their spiritual leaders, Like how they shared with anybody else, because if you're gonna travel together, it has to be boundaries.
Speaker 1:
I said firm, no, but if you have to travel together, you need firm boundaries, firm accountability. There's no way you should be on vague vacation in which I'll boot. I was gonna be honest with you, because if you are weak in the flesh, and even if you do, like that, I got a handle on my flesh thing, I got a handle on, you know, on my body, I won't, I won't. So come to that. Y'all I've seen very strong people fall, pray to their flesh. Because you gotta understand, you're just a human. We can't walk this walk out with Jesus by ourselves. We have to seek the Lord, and this by his might, not by might, know about power, by by his spirit.
Speaker 1:
And if you are setting yourself up, you putting yourself in a fire, you can't expect nothing but to get burned. And so you do not want to assume anything. You want to be communicating the intent and desires and See what's happening with your boyfriend or the other person in this situation. You got to have honest communication. Honest communication, that'll be the foundation of this, and you have to, if you're gonna do this, get understand that you are Putting yourself in a very, very compromising situation. And so I say no, I say affirm, no, okay.
Speaker 1:
So my other point I wanted to make was After we deal with intent, we want to deal with Just the biblical like, like, just of just the Bible, precedents of this what does scripture have to say? And we firmly see that the Bible honestly doesn't say yes or no. The Bible just basically gives us wisdom and you have to choose. That's what freedom, that's what will, your freedom of choice. God gave us a free will, so I need you to use that. But I think we got a really extra question Are you trying to live like according to culture and live like well, technically, god didn't say that was wrong or do you want to live biblically?
Speaker 1:
When you say that technically, you just really you try to stay on the surface. You're not trying to, you know, you're not trying to make sure you guard your flesh and guard your spirit and guard your walk with Jesus with all diligence. And so if you're that person, I want to really challenge you to go seek the Lord and ask him like hey, guy, help me, show me my heart, show me my walk with you. But if you really try to live a biblical life that goes deeper into the things of the heart, where you truly depend and lean on the Lord and that is you I want you to really just go before the Father. Like I always tell you, I go before the Lord and ask him God, what would you have me do? What would you have me do?
Speaker 1:
And so, before you go there, you need to one test your actions. What are your desires? Are they God uttering or self gratifying? You need to understand what's happening to that. Also, you can know in advance that you read what you so and if you don't, so wisely, you're not going to reap. Wisely, meaning, if you go out here and you travel knowing that you're setting yourself up for potential sexual misconduct or sexual morality, you got to understand whatever you so, you will reap. And so, just like me, I thought I couldn't fall. All faked, good Faked, they're going to be strong. I have a boyfriend. We can touch, we can kiss, we can travel, we can go on vacation, go to the movies. Fate ended up with a whole baby out here.
Speaker 1:
I don't want that to be you. That does not have to be you and some of y'all. Y'all been waiting and praying and you've been like holding out for God to move in this space in your life. And I don't need you to lose. I don't need you to lose your strength. I don't need you to lose that heart, that posture of God. I trust you. I need you to seek God. I need you to seek God with all the all your heart and lean not your own understanding, and so I want you to understand that it is God's will that you share. You should be sanctified. You got to be holy, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control your own body. Honey, you got to control your body because you got to understand too, that when you put yourself in a situation it's a beautiful beach vacation or a beautiful Alaska or Iceland, to whatever you go on vacation, you are already so excited about it. It's like you don't want to get the enemy, not a foothold, and so I finally believe that is a big no, a big old no, no.
Speaker 1:
And so we want to look at, look at the trippin verse here, first Corinthians, 1023 through 33. I want you to look at this. But basically, this talks about nobody should seek his own good before the good of others. Talking about is it beneficial, is it constructive? And also, my favorite part is so what eat? Anything? Anything so in the meat market, without raising questions of conscious, for the earth is a Lord and everything's in it.
Speaker 1:
If someone believes, you night you two meals, invite you to to a meal and you want to go eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of consciousness, and so basically telling you like it's okay to you know, eat certain things. You just got to know what is what has got. Convicted you, what are your convictions? And so? But if anyone says to you this has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat. And so you got to know your own convictions, which is why it's so important for you to go and ask your boyfriend what are your convictions about this? And if you don't have the same convictions, you need to be strong on your convictions, like what did God tell you? And so keep going. It just it really gets more and more into that.
Speaker 1:
But the last part I want us to hit is do not cause anyone to stumble, whether you Greek or other than the church, as I try to please everybody in every way. And so if you go to your, your boyfriend or the person you're dating, you need to understand they may not have same convictions you have. They may not even be willing to walk, but I think literally could right now be challenging you and and asking you like, hey, hey, I want to have sex with you, and they only hold it on because you said no. But you got to understand like, putting yourself in, even even in that relationship because you don't want to be alone, is very, very not good for your walk with Jesus. But you got to understand if this vacation is going to cause you or the guy you're dating to stumble, that's a big no. No, god wants us about that. And the last part says for I am not seeking my own good, but for the good of many, so that they may be saved.
Speaker 1:
And so my question when I'm doing stuff, no matter if it's going on vacation, no matter if it's going on this day or whatever I'm doing I'm asking the question am I causing this person to stumble? What are my intents behind it? What could happen? But I look at, look at the whole picture. Don't just go all based off your feelings. You need to ask God to search your heart. That comes from Psalms 51. Search your heart and reveal anything that is not clean and pure. So if you are having unclean thoughts unclean like, like mind says about this you need to go for the Lord and repent. And if you go on a vacation, you need to even think about what are you going to wear, like, are you going to be in the same room with this person? Like it's so many questions. I just feel like it's so dangerous to put yourself in that environment. And if you decide to go on vacation together and so I say no, but you got to do it, what your convictions allow you got to ask the Lord, god, what were you having to do?
Speaker 1:
And so if you decide to go on vacation, you consider going with a group of friends, going with family members, and these people that got to be better, be Christians and not just some water down Christians. These people have to be committed to pursuing holiness, meaning they are biblical Christians. They ain't folding, they're not weak, they're not stumbling, they're not seeking an opportunity to sin and do what they want to do anyways. And you have to hold each other accountable and be on guard. You got to remember the flesh is weak. Even the spirit is willing, and Holy Spirit can only do so much. He's not going to force you to do nothing. You're going to put yourself in environments and the situation is over and over and over and over. He said he gives you a door to escape from temptation. And so if you are going to constantly put yourself in those environments and in those spaces, you're setting yourself up to fail. You're setting yourself up to do what you already want to do anyways, and I just want to challenge you.
Speaker 1:
If that's you, you need to repent. You need to turn your heart back to the Father and get it right. You need to get it right now, because it's too late in the hour. It's too late. Jesus is coming back. Y'all we see the time. Right now, jesus is coming back. We don't know when, but it's too late in the game right now to be backsliding.
Speaker 1:
Just imagine, like you, on this romantic vacation. It's all beautiful and the Lord, like you know, lord, lord comes. That's a real thing. That could happen. And so you want to always be found walking in holiness. And we don't just do it out of fear. We do it because we love him and we want to hear. Well done. We want to hear. No matter how hard it was to wait, no matter how hard it was to see all my friends dating and vacationing with a boot thing and all my friends who are married vacation with their families, no matter how hard that was, you were able to withstand the temptation, and not by your might, but by his spirit. You want to hear well done you.
Speaker 1:
I don't know about y'all, but I want to make God proud of everything I do and I remember when I was dating it was so hard yeah, it was so hard to say no. What I want to say yes. I remember being triggered to do certain things. I will get stressed out. I want to go on like a big shopping Bench and spit on my money, which is so crazy. Or I want to go have sex my boyfriend I'm just being totally transparent right now and I remember every time I would fall into either spinning on money we're having sex with boyfriend, I remember I would feel so guilty. I would feel so like just terrible, because I knew deep down God was not honored. The spirit was totally Grieved and just so hurt by my decision to constantly. You know, sitting against my own body you gotta understand like sexual sin is sin against your own body, and so I will feel like dirt y'all. I will sit there and just cry like you. Sit there Right after I finish, right after it was such a great feeling and the feeling literally turned into dust. After it Was turned into nothing, I was sitting. I would cry and I don't want that to be you in 2024.
Speaker 1:
I want you to know what true holiness, what the beauty of holiness looks like when you really consecrate yourself to the Lord. I'm telling y'all, when I finally made up my mind and said, god, I'm not gonna compromise, I'm not gonna try to keep on straddling offense, I'm not gonna keep on trying to get my way, when you already told me what you want me to do, when I made my mind up that I was gonna really walk this thing out. I was gonna really be about my father's business. I'm gonna really be a kingdom woman who loves God, who's date, biblically, I remember I consecrated myself. It was January, I think, of 20, 2016, and I said, god, I am not dating, I'm not doing nothing until you tell me I could. Yeah, I meant I think it was. It was 2016, it's like a year. I think it was January 2017. It had to be January 2017 because, literally, y'all, I met my husband almost a year later. I met him as a friend at work, and then y'all know the story about how that happened, and so I've to challenge you.
Speaker 1:
I'm not telling you that if you do this, you're gonna get a husband. We don't do rituals over here, okay, we. I'm just telling you, like the beauty and the sweetness of the father guy who knows your heart, he knows your desire, he knows you want to. You know you want to go on vacations and chill with your boo and be all. You know I'll lovey-dovey and all this beautiful stuff that comes relationships. He knows that. And but what I want you to understand is when you seek him first, seek your first to kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. You gotta understand God's gonna come through for you and I'm not promising you a husband tomorrow. I'm just telling you God's gonna make everything right. He's gonna give you the desires of your heart, be it in friendship, be it in relationship, be it bringing your husband.
Speaker 1:
And so I want to challenge you stop compromising, stop trying to straddle the fence, stop trying to do. You know, be like, well technically, no, we biblical, we know type technical over here we trying to aim. The police got here, well done. We're not aiming to hear what. I think you got back, or better, yet you miss it all together because you move warm. I just want to challenge you right, really go, seek the Lord Before you go on this vacation with your blue time. Before you even spend the money, go ask your accountability group, go ask your spiritual leadership, and then y'all let me know I love you all. Y'all are amazing. Again, the crown mentorship is open, and so if you want to be a part of that, I got the link in the bio. I cannot wait to see y'all in that, in that, um, that community is gonna be amazing. Y'all have a wonderful day. Take care honey booms.