Category
VERSES ABOUT VICES AND ADDICTIONS
Addiction and bad habits can be so destructive. Think about it, addiction is clinging to something—a behavior, a substance, an activity, even a person—that's actually harming you. So many of us struggle with these things, feeling trapped by a vice or an addiction. Sometimes, we feel like it's because of our past.
But here's the truth: in God, we're free. Christ set us free from all of that and forgave our sins. If you keep dwelling on the past, those chains can really hold you back. Sometimes, these struggles can even stem from negative spiritual influences, finding a foothold and coming to light when we unknowingly open a door, giving the enemy a legal right to step in.
You have the power to let go of what's binding you. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any areas of bondage you need to address. Receive God's forgiveness and His healing. He's there for you.
I pray that we all find freedom from anything that's hurting us and holding us back. Just like it says in John 8:36, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
At that time, the Lord will remove the heavy load that is on your shoulders. He will destroy the yoke that is on your neck. You will no longer be their slaves. The Lord will bless you and make you fat.
Some of you believers might say, ‘I am free to do anything that I want to do.’ That may be true, but not everything will help you. I could say, ‘I am free to do the things that I want to do.’ Yes, but I will not let anything like that have power over me.
When anyone belongs to Christ, they become a new person. Their old way of life has gone. Their new life has begun!
The things that test you are the same things that test other people too. You can always trust God to help you. When you want to do something wrong, God will make you strong in your spirit. When something bad tests you, God will not let it be too strong for you. He will show you a way to escape, so that you do not do anything wrong.
Instead, live with the Lord Jesus Christ as your guide. Do not even think about the bad things that your weak human nature wants to do.
The Lord keeps me safe. He is my great rock and my strong place. God is my high rock. I run to him to hide and be safe. He keeps me safe like a soldier's shield. He is the strong place where I can hide safely.
You must stay awake and pray. God can help you, so that you will not do something wrong. You really want to do the right thing, but your bodies are weak.’
The Lord takes care of me, like a shepherd with his sheep. I have everything that I need.He takes me to green fields where I can rest. He leads me to streams of water where I can drink.He gives me new strength in my life. He is my guide to the right paths. He does this to give honour to his name.I may walk through a valley that is as dark as death, but I will not be afraid of any danger. This is because you are with me, Lord. Your stick and your shepherd's pole protect me from danger.
What are the wrong things that belong to this world? People want to do bad things to make themselves happy. People want to have things that they see, even bad things. People want to show other people how rich they are. These ideas do not come from God, our Father. They are the thoughts of people who belong to the world.
If you have any kind of trouble in your mind, give it to God. God has promised to take care of you.
I asked the Lord to help me, and he answered me. He saved me from everything that made me afraid.
Trust in the Lord completely. Do not think that you understand things well enough for yourself.Whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord is with you. Then he will show you the right way to go.
The Lord hears his righteous people when they call for help. He saves them from all their troubles.When people are upset, the Lord is near to them. He saves those who feel very weak and upset.
Yes, my Lord, you are very kind, and you are ready to forgive people. When anyone calls to you for help, you love them with your faithful love.
I am with you, so do not be afraid. I am your God, so do not be upset. I will make you strong and I will help you. My powerful right hand will keep you safe.”
If anyone lives in Almighty God's safe place, the Most High God protects them.No bad thing will happen to you. No illness will come to your home.For God will tell his angels to keep you safe. They will protect you wherever you go.They will hold you safely in their hands, so that you do not hurt your foot on a stone. You will win against lions and snakes. You will walk over them!The Lord says, ‘If someone loves me, I will keep him safe. Because he worships me, I will protect him.When he calls to me for help, I will answer him. When he has trouble, I will be with him. I will rescue him, and people will respect him.I will give him a long life, so that he is happy. He will see that I have the power to save people.’I will say to the Lord, ‘You are the strong place where I will be safe. You are my God, and I trust in you.’
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’ Never forget all the good things that he has done for you!You who are the Lord's angels, you strong angels who do what he tells you to do, praise the Lord!All of you who belong to his armies in heaven, his servants who do what he wants, praise the Lord!Yes, everything that the Lord has made, in all the places that he rules over, praise the Lord! I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’He forgives all my sins. He makes me well again when I am ill.He saves me from the deep hole of death's power. He always loves me and he is kind to me. That is how he blesses me so much!
Because of their trouble, they called to the Lord for help. He rescued them from their troubles.He took them out of the completely dark place. He broke away the chains that held them.
Be very careful to keep your mind safe. The thoughts that you think make you the person that you are.
You cannot carry fire next to your body and not burn your clothes.You cannot walk over hot pieces of coal and not burn your feet.
If you drink too much wine or strong drink, you do stupid things and you fight. It is not wise to become drunk.
—15— Listen to me, my child. Learn to be wise and to live in a good way.Even if you enjoy your food, do not eat too much of it.Do not be a friend of people who become drunk. Do not be a friend of greedy people who eat too much.People who are like that soon become poor. They sleep too much, and their clothes have holes in them.
—18— People who drink too much wine have many problems. Do you see someone who is in trouble? Someone who is very sad? Someone who argues or complains all the time? Do you see someone with wounds on his body for no reason, or someone with red eyes? Then you are looking at someone who likes to drink wine until late at night. He is someone who likes to try different drinks.Do not want his special food for yourself. He may be trying to deceive you.So do not even look at that beautiful red wine! Do not think about the pleasure it would give to you.In the end, it will bite you, like a snake with its poison.
Somebody who cannot control his anger is in danger. He is like a city that no longer has a strong wall round it.
Lord, you keep those people safe who continue to trust in you. You give them peace in their minds, because they believe in you.Trust in the Lord now and for ever! The Almighty Lord will always be our strong Rock.
He makes tired people strong again. When people have become weak, he gives them more strength.Somebody's voice is shouting, ‘Prepare a way in the wilderness for the Lord. Make a straight road in the desert for our God.Even young people become tired and weak. Even strong young men may slip and fall down.But people who wait for the Lord to help them will receive new strength. They will rise up high, as if they have the wings of eagles. They will run and they will not become tired. They will walk and they will not become weak.
Yes, I am the Lord, your God. I will hold on to your right hand. I say to you, “Do not be afraid. I will help you.”
Israelites, descendants of Jacob, the Lord created you, and he made you who you are. Now he says this to you: ‘Do not be afraid, I have rescued you so that you belong to me. I have called you by your name, so now you are mine.The Lord says to his people, ‘You are the people who must say that I am right. I have chosen you as my servant. I chose you so that you may know me, and also believe in me. Then you would understand that I am the true God. There has never been any other god except me, and there never will be.I am the Lord, I alone. There is no other saviour, except me.I promised to save you, and I did what I said I would do. I told everyone what I had done. There was no foreign god among you, who did that for you. So you are the people who must say that I am the only true God.’ That is what the Lord says.‘Today and every day, I am God. If I hold you in my hand, nobody can take you away from my power. When I do something, nobody can change it.’The Lord is your Redeemer, Israel's Holy God. He says this: ‘I will send an army to attack Babylon, so that you, my people, will be safe. I will cause all the Babylonians to run away. They were proud of their great ships, but now they will use them to escape from their enemies.I am the Lord, your Holy God. I am the one who created Israel. I am your King.’The Lord is the one who made a road through the sea for you. You went on a dry path through the middle of the deep water.He led the enemy's great army, with their chariots and their horses, to chase you. They all fell down and the water drowned them. Their lives finished, like the flame of a lamp that stops burning.The Lord did all that for you, but now he says, ‘Forget those things that happened a long time ago. Do not think about past events.Look! Now I will do something that is new! It is already beginning to happen. Surely, you can recognize it. Yes, I will make a road through the desert. I will make streams in the wilderness.When you go through deep water, I will be with you. When you go across dangerous rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, it will not burn you. The flames will not destroy you.
I have removed the guilt of your sins, like the wind blows away a cloud. When you turned against me, I have quickly forgiven you. Return to me now, because I have rescued you.’
But it was our sins that caused his wounds. The bad things that we had done crushed him. The punishment that he received has brought peace to us. The wounds that he received have made us well.
This is the way that I want you to fast: You must remove the chains from prisoners who should not be in prison. You must stop being cruel to the people who work for you. You must let people who are in pain go free. You must break the yoke of work that is too hard for weak people.
Lord, please make me well again. Then I will be completely well. Rescue me so that I am completely safe. You are the one that I praise!
I, the Lord, tell you this: I have decided what I will do for you. I have plans to help you to do well. I do not want to hurt you. I want to give you hope for a good life in the future.
I will give you new thoughts. I will put a new spirit in you. You will no longer refuse to obey me. Instead, you will want to please me.I will put my Spirit in you, so that you obey my commands. You will be careful to obey my laws.
My enemies, do not be happy because I am in trouble. I have fallen down, but I will get up. I am in the dark, but the Lord will be a light for me.
Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of heaven. Always do what God shows you is right. Then he will also give you the things that you need each day.
Come to me all of you who are tired. You are like people who have worked for a long time. You are like people who have carried heavy things. Come to me. If you do that, you will find a place to rest.Do what I teach you to do. Listen to my message and learn from me what is true. I am very kind and I do not make myself important. I will help you. Then you will have peace in your mind.They said to him, ‘John wants to know this: Are you the special person that God has promised to send to us? If not, should we look for someone else?’I will not tell you to do things that are too difficult. I will not tell you to carry anything that is too heavy for you.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Young woman, you are now well again because you believed in me. Have peace in your mind. Go now and have no more pain.’
‘The Spirit of the Lord God is on me. He has chosen me to tell good news to poor people. He has sent me to tell people who are in prison, “You can go free!” He has sent me to tell blind people, “See again!” He has sent me to let people who are like slaves become free.
God loved the people in the world so much that he gave his one and only Son to save them. As a result, everyone who believes in the Son will not die. Instead, they will live for ever with God.God did not send his Son into the world because he wanted to punish people. He sent his Son to save the people in the world from punishment.
Jesus spoke to the people again. He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Those people who become my disciples will never walk in the dark. No, they will have the light that gives life.’
The robber only wants to take away my sheep. He wants to kill them. He comes only to destroy them. But I have come so that they can have true life. And so that they can have everything that they need.
Jesus answered, ‘I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me.
I will go away but I will give you a gift of peace. It is mine to give and yours to keep. It is not like a gift that this world gives. Do not let yourselves be sad. Do not be afraid.
I am the vine, and you are the branches. You must continue to live in me and I must continue to live in you. Only if you do that will you make plenty of fruit. That is because you can do nothing without me.
I have told you these things so that you will have peace. You will be like that because you live together with me. In this world, you will have trouble. But be brave! I have destroyed the power of this world.’
But God has shown us how much he loves us. Even when we still did not obey God, Christ died on our behalf.
We know that God has caused our old nature to die with Christ on the cross. This happened so that God could make us free from the power of sin in our lives. We are no longer like slaves who have sin as their master.
So do not let sin rule your life in this world. Do not do the wrong things that your body wants to do.Sin can use your body to do wicked things. So do not let any parts of your body serve sin as their master. Instead, be ready to serve God as your master. You can do that because you now have a new life. Your old life is dead. So give every part of your body to God. Then he will use you to do right things.
Remember this: when you agree to serve someone as a slave, you have to obey that person as your master. You may choose to serve sin as your master. If you do that, you will die. Or you may choose to obey God. If you do that, you will live in a way that is right.At one time, you were slaves to sin. But then you received God's true message, and you were happy to obey it. I thank God because of that!As a result, God has made you free from the power of sin. You are now like slaves who serve everything that is right and good.
Now we know this: God has forgiven those people who are united with Christ Jesus. God will never say that they are guilty.But, if Christ lives in you, you have a new life because of his Spirit. Your body will die one day because of the power of sin. But your spirit lives because Christ has made you right with God.God raised Jesus, to make him alive again after his death. Now God's Spirit lives in you. So God, who raised Christ from death, will also cause your human bodies to live again. He will do that by his Spirit who lives in you.So, my Christian friends, we must not obey what our weak human thoughts tell us to do. We no longer have to live like that.If you agree to live in that way, you will die. Instead, you should let God's Spirit help you with his power. Then you can stop doing the wrong things that your bodies want to do. As a result, you will have life with God.All those people who live with God's Spirit as their guide are God's children.The Spirit that you have received from God does not make you serve him like slaves. That would make you afraid again. No. God's Spirit causes you to become God's children. As a result, we call God ‘Abba, our Father.’God's Spirit himself causes us to know that we are God's children. God's Spirit and our own spirits agree together that this is true.Because we are God's children, we also know that we will receive good things from him. Those are the things that he has promised to give to his children. Together with Christ, we will receive the things that God has kept for him. That is true if we agree to suffer as Christ did. Then we will also enjoy life in heaven as Christ does.During this time now, we suffer. But one day God will show us all the great things he has prepared for us. That will make the trouble that we have now seem very small.The whole universe that God has made now waits for something great to happen. Everything is waiting with hope to find out who God's children really are.God's Spirit has given us a new life. God's Spirit now rules in our lives and he has made us free. Sin and death no longer have authority over us.
People who let their human thoughts rule them will die. But people who think about what God's Spirit wants will have life with God. They will have peace inside themselves.
God raised Jesus, to make him alive again after his death. Now God's Spirit lives in you. So God, who raised Christ from death, will also cause your human bodies to live again. He will do that by his Spirit who lives in you.
We know that God helps those people who love him. He uses everything that happens to them to bring something good. He does this for the people that he has chosen to serve him.
My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve him with everything that you have, and that will please him. That is the true way to worship God.Love each other truly like brothers and sisters. Be happy to give honour to other Christians.Do not be lazy, but always work hard. Serve the Lord well.Be happy, because you can trust God to do what he says. Be patient when you suffer. Always continue to pray.When God's people need anything, share what you have with them. Always be happy to welcome people into your home.Ask God to bless people who cause trouble for you. Yes, do not curse them, but bless them!If you are with someone who is happy, you should be happy too. If you are with someone who is sad, you should be sad too.Always try to be friends with other people. Do not be proud. Agree to help people who are not important. Do not think that you know everything.If someone has done bad things against you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to live in a good way, so that people will respect you.If it is possible, always try to live in peace with other people.My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Instead, let God be angry with them and punish them. This is what is written in the Bible: ‘The Lord God says, “When people do something wrong, I am the one who will punish them. I will pay them back.” ’ Do not become like the people who belong to this world. But let God completely change the way that you think, so that you live differently. Then you will understand what God wants you to do. You will know what is good. You will know what pleases God. You will know what is completely right.
The night has nearly finished and the day is almost here. So we must stop doing the bad things that belong to the dark. Instead, we must take weapons like soldiers who are ready to fight in the light. We should live in a good way, as people live in the light of day. We should not go to wild parties and become drunk. We must not have sex with anyone that we are not married to. We must not do wrong things with our bodies. We must not quarrel. We must not be jealous of other people.Instead, live with the Lord Jesus Christ as your guide. Do not even think about the bad things that your weak human nature wants to do.
Remember this: your body is the home of God's Holy Spirit. God gave his Holy Spirit to you and he lives in you. You do not belong to yourselves any longer.It is God's people who will judge all the people in the world one day. You surely know that. So you should be able to decide about small quarrels between yourselves.God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So use your body to give honour to God.
Do not let anyone deceive you. Remember this: ‘If you become a friend of bad people, you also will live in a bad way.’
Idols do not belong in God's house. Remember that we believers are the house of the God who lives for ever. This is what God has said: ‘I will make my home with them and I will live among them. I will be their God and they will be my people.’ And so, the Lord God says: ‘Come out from among them and be separate. Do not touch anything that is unclean. Then I will accept you.’ He also says: ‘I will be a Father to you. You will be my sons and my daughters. That is what the Almighty Lord God says.’
It is true that we live in this world as humans. But we do not use our human ideas to fight against what is wrong.It is like we are fighting in a war, but we do not use human weapons. Instead we use God's weapons. Those weapons are powerful enough to destroy the enemy's strong places. We use those weapons to destroy people's wrong ideas.People may speak proud ideas that stop other people from knowing God. We show that those ideas are completely wrong. We change the way that people think, so that they want to obey Christ.
Christ died on the cross on my behalf. It is as if I died there with him. So I do not live my own life any more. Instead, Christ lives in me. That is the life that I now live in my body. I live because I trust what Christ, the Son of God, has done for me. He loved me so much that he died on my behalf.
Christ has made us free so that we can be really free! So be strong in your minds. Do not let yourselves become slaves to the Jewish rules again.
So this is what I say: Let God's Spirit show you how to live in a good way. Then you will not do the wrong things that your weak human nature may want to do.
Everyone knows the kinds of bad things that human nature wants to do. People have sex with people that they are not married to. They do things that are bad and disgusting.Listen carefully! I, Paul, tell you this. If you allow someone to circumcise you, then Christ will be worth nothing to you.They worship idols. They do magic to hurt other people. They become enemies and they fight one another. They are jealous of other people. They become very angry. They want to please themselves and to be important. They cause trouble. They divide people into separate groups.They want things that belong to other people. They are drunks. They have wild parties. And they like to do many other bad things like these. So I warn you again, as I have already warned you before. People who continue to do these bad things will not receive the blessings of the kingdom of God.
But God's Spirit causes us to live in a different way. We love other people. We are happy and we have peace in our minds. We are patient, kind and good. People can trust us to do what is right.We respect other people and we control ourselves properly. God's Spirit helps us to live in that way. There is no law that says these things are wrong.
They taught you to change the way that you live. You must remove the nature that you had before. That old nature deceived you. As a result, you wanted to do things that would destroy you.Instead, let God's Spirit make you think in a new way.Take up the new nature that God has prepared for you. That nature is like God's own nature. Then you will live in a truly good way that pleases God.
Once your minds were completely in the dark. But now you belong to the Lord. As a result, you have become full of light. So now you must live as people who belong to the light.
Do not drink too much wine so that you become drunk. That will destroy your life. Instead, let God's Spirit fill you.
At the end of my letter, I want to say this to you: Be strong with the strength of the Lord. Let his great power make you strong.Use all the help that God gives to us. Then you can be like a soldier who fights against the devil. You must put on the whole armour that God gives to us. The devil attacks us in clever ways, and we need to be strong.
I know that God has begun to do good things in you. And I am sure that he will continue to work in you. Then, on the day when Jesus Christ returns, his work in you will be finished.
It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you able to do that. You do the things that make God very happy.
Do not worry about anything. Instead, pray to God about everything. Ask him to help you with the things that you need. And thank him for his help.If you do that, God will give you peace in your minds. That peace is so great that nobody can completely understand it. You will not worry or be afraid, because you belong to Christ Jesus.
Now my friends, I want to say this to you. Fill your minds with thoughts about good things. Think about things that are true, clean, right and lovely. Always think about things which people know are very good.
God has saved us from the dark kingdom where Satan rules. He has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves.God's Son, Jesus, paid the price for our sins and he made us free. Yes, God has forgiven us.
Your old nature likes to do bad things that belong to this earth. But your old nature is dead, so do not do these bad things any more. Do not have sex with someone that you are not married to. Do not think bad, disgusting thoughts. Do not want to have sex in a wrong way. Do not want to do any kinds of bad things. Do not want to have many things for yourselves. That shows that you worship those things as your idol.
This is how God wants you to live: as his own people, he wants you to be completely good. So you must not have sex in a way that is wrong.Each of you men must learn to control his own body properly. Then you will do only what is pure and right.
So we must watch carefully. We should be like people who stay awake. We should not be like other people who are sleeping.It is at night that people sleep. It is at night that people become drunk.But we belong to the day, not to the night. So we should think clearly. We must prepare ourselves like a soldier who puts on his armour. We must continue to trust God and to love him. That will be like a metal shirt that keeps our body safe. We must also continue to hope that God will save us. That will be like a strong helmet that keeps our head safe.
But keep away from any kind of evil thing.I pray that God will help you to be completely good, as his people should be. He is the one who gives us peace in our minds. May he take care of you in every way, in your spirit, in your soul and in your body. Then you will not be guilty of anything, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
What makes our life really rich? We should serve God in a way that pleases him and be happy with the things that we have.
Be strong, because God has given us his Spirit. And his Spirit does not cause us to be afraid. Instead, his Spirit causes us to be powerful to serve God. He helps us to love God and other people. And he helps us to control ourselves properly.
Be careful not to do the kind of bad things that young people often want to do. Instead, always try to do what is right and fair. Continue to trust God. Love other people and live in peace with them. Join with people who are clean inside and who pray to the Lord.
Because God is kind, he teaches us to stop living in a bad way. We no longer do the bad things that do not make God happy. We turn away from the bad things that belong to this world. God teaches us to control ourselves wisely while we live in this world. He teaches us to do what is right. He teaches us to please him in the way that we live.
While Jesus lived on earth, the devil tried to make him do wrong things. This caused Jesus to have much pain and trouble. But because of that, he can now help us not to do wrong things.
Jesus, our great priest understands us. He knows how weak we are. He knows that we sometimes want to do wrong things. The devil tried to make him do all those same kinds of wrong things. But Jesus never did anything wrong.So we should come near to God and we should not be afraid. God is our King. We can ask him to help us when we need help. We know that he will forgive us and he will be kind to us in whatever way we need.
We know that we can trust God to do the things that he has promised. That is what we tell people. So we must continue to hope for those things. We should not stop doing that.
So we have learned about many people who trusted God. They are like a very big crowd all around us to show us what is right. We must be like people who run in a race. We must throw away everything that stops us from running well. The sins that we do make us fall down very easily. We must not let those sins rule us. We must continue to be strong as we run the race that God has prepared for us.Our human fathers punished us for a few years. They did this in a way that they thought was good. But God punishes us in a way that will really help us. As a result, we can become completely good, like he is.Punishment never makes us happy at the time when we receive it. No, the pain makes us sad. But later we know that the punishment has taught us good things. It helps us to live in a right way that gives us peace in our minds.So be strong as you serve God! If your hands feel weak, lift them up! If your knees are not strong, stand up straight!Walk straight in front of you, step by step! Your example will help other Christians to serve God well. People who cannot walk well will not fall down. Instead, their legs will become strong again. Do everything that you can to live in peace with all people. Be faithful to the Lord. Nobody will see the Lord unless they are holy.Remember that God is very kind. Nobody should refuse to let God help them. Make sure that nobody among you causes trouble so that people turn against God. A person who is angry against God is like poison. He spoils many other people's lives so that God does not accept them.Make sure that nobody among you has sex in a wrong way. Be careful that nobody is careless about God's rules, like Esau was long ago. He gave away everything that he would have received as his father's firstborn son. He gave it all away so that he could get only one meal.As you know, after that, he still wanted to receive those good things from his father. He wanted his father to bless him. But his father refused to do that. Esau cried very much when he asked his father to bless him. But Esau could not change what he had done. You have come near to God. But you have not come to a place that you can touch, like Mount Sinai. That mountain burned with fire. But where the people stood, it was completely dark. They could not see at all. There was also a very strong wind and a storm.There was the loud sound of a trumpet. There was a powerful voice that spoke to them. When the people heard that voice, they were very afraid. So they asked that the voice would not speak to them any more.As we run, we must always look towards Jesus. He is the one who trusted God completely. Our faith starts with him, and he will help us to trust God all the way to the end. Jesus accepted punishment on the cross. He chose to receive much pain. He did not think about being ashamed to die like that. He knew that God had prepared something very good for him that would make him happy. Now he has sat down at the right side of God to rule with him in heaven.
But maybe you need to know how to be wise. Then ask God to help you. He is ready to give everyone what they need. And he never says that it is wrong to ask. So God will help you to be wise.
Some people continue to trust God even when troubles happen. God will bless those people, if they show that they really trust him. He will give them the gift which is life with him. He has promised to give this gift to all people who love him.
When troubles happen to you, you may want to do something bad. But do not say, ‘God is causing me to do wrong things.’ Nothing can make God do anything bad. And God does not try to make anyone do a wrong thing.It is our own thoughts that make us do bad things. When we want to do something wrong, our thoughts lead us in a bad way.We may agree to do what our bad thoughts tell us to do. When we do that, it becomes a sin. Then, we may not stop doing those bad things. If we continue to live like that, the result of our sins is death.
So now, prepare your minds, so that you are ready to live in a good way. Think clearly about how God helps you. Always remember that God will be very kind to you when Jesus Christ comes again.Obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew the true message about Christ, you very much wanted to do bad things. But now you should not agree to live in that bad way.God has chosen you to be his own people. He is holy. So you must be holy too, in the way that you live.In the Bible God says this: ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’
Think seriously about how you live. Watch carefully for danger. Remember that the devil is your enemy. He wants to hurt you. He walks about like a hungry lion. He is looking for someone to kill and then eat!But you must be strong to fight against him. Trust God completely. Remember this: Believers all over the world are having the same kind of trouble.
Instead, we should agree that we have done wrong things and tell that to God. Then God will forgive us for our sins. He always does what he has promised to do. He always does what is right. He will forgive us and he will make us clean again, whatever bad things we may have done.