Boyfriend/girlfriend relationship to the ordinary man in the street means a boy and a girl that are emotionally or sexually attached to each other but they are not married to each other. It can also be called dating.

This is a very widely accepted practice among the youths today, and if you are not in it, then you are 'old school'.

But I want to let you know that the only relationship acceptable and recognised by God between a boy and a girl who are not married to each other is courtship (that is a period of getting to know each other after proposal and acceptance of marriage proposal, before the wedding comes) and worthy of note is that there must also not be any intimacy between the two of them before the wedding.

Boyfriend/girlfriend relationship or dating is not acceptable before God and is not right for a believer to engage in. That is a relationship coined out by the devil to deceive young men and women and drag them into the pit of immorality, and it has ruined so many young people today. Talking about the unwanted pregnancies that have destroyed many young ladies, sexually transmitted diseases, heartbreaks, etc.

Some may say they are just dating and are not committing fornication, but you cannot put a goat and a yam together in a room, otherwise you are calling for trouble. What about the touching, kissing etc. How long do you think you both can endure the fire you are carrying in your bosom without getting burnt? Please say no to such an ungodly relationship.

We have been made to believe that without dating, one can not get a good husband or wife. But dating is not a criterion for having a successful or happy marriage.
Many of the people that dated for so many years before getting married are not even happy in their marriages today compared to their counterparts who never dated before getting married. Some of them are going through hell in their marriages.

So, it's all about allowing God to lead and guide you in making the choice of who to marry. With prayers and obedience to His will, God can give you a good husband or wife without you engaging in the costly game of dating. I know this is not a palatable advice because the truth is always bitter and hard to practice. But it will save you so many troubles and heartache if you follow it.

Dont look at the fact that everybody is doing it because the bible said in Exodus 23:2 "You shall not follow a multitude to do evil..." So it doesn't even matter if 99% of people are doing it. And it also said in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter you in at the strait gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it".

You can see that the way that leads to destruction is very wide and so MANY people go through that way because its an easy way, but the way that leads to life is very narrow and its only very FEW people that go through it. It's so narrow that you cannot do as you like or you may fall or get injured, but it leads to life.

But in the wide and broad way, anything goes, there's no code of conduct, its wide enough to play or do whatever you like, it's such a smooth and thorn-free way that doesn't require carefulness on your part, but you know what? It leads to destruction.

Children are very interesting set of people to be with. Their carefree nature, calmness even in the face of danger, their forgiving nature, playfulness and their 'no worries' attitude to life sometimes makes me feel like becoming a child again . And that is exactly how God wants us to be in our relationship with Him, like a little child.
No wonder the bible said in Luke 18:17 " Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein" .
But how many of us are truly like a little child to God?
A child is one who is wholly dependent on his or her parents for survival: care, feeding, shelter, education and all the good things of life. As a child of God, do you trust and depend on God for all your needs and susteinance?
A child wholly believes in the ability of his parents to do whatever they told him. Do you believe in the ability of God to do that thing He promised you, both in His word and through the mouth of His servants?
A child is meant to obey instructions from his parents. Do you obey the instructions of God both in His word and personally to you?
A child may offend or disobey his parents, and he may be corrected by word, punishment or with some stripes. Do you accept His correction when He corrects you as a father does?
A child keeps no record of wrongs done to him. Do you keep record of the wrongs done to you by people, having no room for forgiveness in your heart?
If not, reconsider your stand as a CHILD of God and make amends where necessary.

Have we ever wondered what Jesus meant when He said this? "And He said to them all, if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me". (Luke 9:23)
How can one even deny himself? We may wonder.
Denying oneself simply means denying ourselves of certain things that gives us pleasure just to follow Him.
But many of us Christians today are not ready to deny ourselves of anything. Self denial involves a lot of things:
Self denial means we must be ready to deny ourselves of that delicious food and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit urging us to wait on the Lord in fasting.
We must be ready to deny ourselves the pleasure of sleep and the comfort of our beds sometimes in order to wrestle on the altar of prayer, both for ourselves and for others.
As youths, we must be ready to deny ourselves the pleasure of premarital sex and go through the pain of waiting till the right time just to obey God.
Even when we are being given a mouth-watering reward to do something we know it's against the will of God, we must be ready and willing to deny ourselves of the pleasure we would have derived from accepting such reward. We must be ready to deny ourselves the pleasure of keeping friends or people around us and go through the shame or pain of rejection just because we stand for the truth. We must be ready to deny ourselves of some pleasures just to make others happy. The list goes on and on.
Jesus denied Himself of the pleasures of heaven and came down to bear our sins on the cross. The cross signifies the suffering, pain, rejection and shame which He bore, and as His followers, we must deny ourselves of some pleasures too, take up our own cross daily, no matter what the cross is and follow Him. The cross cannot be compared to the crown that awaits us.

1. I dream'd that the great judgment morning
Had dawn'd, and the trumpet had blown;
I dream'd that the nations had gathered
To judgment before the white throne.
From the throne came a bright shining angel
And stood on the land and the sea,
And swore with his hand rais'd to heaven,
That time was no longer to be.


Chorus:
And O, what a weeping and wailing,
As the lost were told of their fate;
They cried for the rocks and the mountains,
They pray'd, but their pray'r was too late.


2 The rich man was there, but his money
Had melted and vanished away;
A pauper he stood in the judgment,
His debts were too heavy to pay.
The great man was there, but his greatness
When death came was left far behind;
The angel that opened the records,
Not a trace of his greatness could find.


3 The widow was there and the orphans,
God heard and remembered their cries;
No sorrow in heaven forever,
God wiped all the tears from their eyes.
The gambler was there and the drunkard,
And the man who had sold them the drink,
With people who gave him the license--
Together in hell they did sink.


4 The moral man came to judgment,
But self-righteous rags would not do;
The men who had crucified Jesus
Had passed off as moral men too.
The souls that had put off salvation--
"Not to-night; I'll get saved by and by;
No time now to think of religion!"
At last they had found time to die.