Becoming Whole

Send us a textIs lust a problem for you that you've been trying to overcome? If so, my guess is that at some point in your life, you've made promises to change. You've promised yourself you would change, you've promised God you would change, and you've promised others that you will change.The problem with making promises to change is that making promises to change is actually a part of the problem. Say that five times fast. I want to explain in this podcast why that is and give you three reasons why making promises to change actually is a part of the problem.And if you are ready, I want to offer you a better way forward.Highlights:Do you wrestle with lust? How does it feel?Can you relate to this? Does it resonate with you?When our children are born, everything changes.The problem with pornography is not that it shows too much, but too little.What does God do in response to our lusts?Love incarnate vs. lust incarnate.“If you wrestle with lust, you find your eyes, looking at people and using what you see, for selfish gratification are tempted to do so. Failing to see a whole human person, but instead of seeing body parts, objects, obstacles, then would you sit with me a while kneel with me a while at the manger."Help the show:Support the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for behind the scenes and more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textToday, I invite you into the healing connection between our wrestling with lust, and the face of Jesus; his visible face. As a parent, especially a mom, you intimately knew your child when you were pregnant. You carried the child in your womb. Even dads know their kids while they are in the womb. And then they were born. We saw their face for the first time, and everything changed. Everything deepened. And of course, that only continues as they grow. As we see new aspects of their personality, their heart, and their mind. There's something about this understanding that matters for us in the realm of lust. How Jesus, the Word who is the invisible God, became the visible God for us. There's something about this that offers us an antidote, a cure, a healing balm for our lust.Highlights:Do you wrestle with lust? How does it feel?Can you relate to this? Does it resonate with you?When our children are born, everything changes.The problem with pornography is not that it shows too much, but too little.What does God do in response to our lusts?Love incarnate vs. lust incarnate.“If you wrestle with lust, you find your eyes, looking at people and using what you see, for selfish gratification are tempted to do so. Failing to see a whole human person, but instead of seeing body parts, objects, obstacles, then would you sit with me a while kneel with me a while at the manger."Help the show:Support the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for behind the scenes and more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textAre you ready to be free?Are you ready for life in the area of sexual integrity?Are you ready for your relationships to be healed, and working the way God intended them?Together we will walk through 8 phases in the journey to sexual wholeness. Through this process, you will know where you are and how to take the next steps.Highlights:Phase 0 – Ground zeroIn this phase, there is an awareness of sexual addiction. You are living in denial and still enjoying your sin. There is a tendency to be distracted from your deeper felt needs and to often blame others or circumstances for the things not going right in your life. Phase 1 - Uncertain but curiousThere is some acknowledgment of the pain of the problem but otherwise, you feel you're okay.You may begin looking for recovery options at this point, but no real commitment.Phase 2 - InterestedAt this point, your pain points have intensified; and you're feeling more of the weight of your actions. Maybe you have been discovered, or it's beginning to affect your family or career. You're looking for "no risk" content; something that fits neatly into your lifestyle.Phase 3 - Testing the watersYou have become wearier from carrying this weight and are aware that you need help.Who can I talk to, where can I go?Can I afford it?You have not made any direct interaction, yet are aware you need to change.Phase 4 - Stepping InReady, but still skeptical.I need help now; I need a community!But how do I fit in with a recovery group? Am I like them, will I be excepted? Phase 5 - Walking forwardAt this phase, you are convinced you need help but in denial about the commitment needed.  Maybe you think you don't need as much help as others do. Perhaps you're doing the work but not ready to let your spouse know.Phase 6 - All inYou are aware that you need help and are willing to do whatever it takes. Here you're ready to give what's necessary for however long it takes.This is the most open and honest you have been through this process.Phase 7 - IntegrationThis is the point you recognize recovery is healthy living. You are open with your weaknesses and struggles. You are aware that living a healthy life requires attention and attunement.You were still a part of a local community however you may begin teaching or leading others into sexual wholeness. The integration phase highlights the important fact that recovery is just a process of sanctification. It opens up more and more of our lives into the light of Christ so that we may heal, grow, and be all the men and women God has designed us to be.Wherever you are in this process, be encouraged God is with you! Trust Him and take the next step.Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usFree Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textAs the garland and the lights and the holiday specials and the festivities ramp up, where are you?If you’re feeling temptation take over, you’re not alone.There’s a lot more of just about everything during the holidays. Let’s try to recapture what Jesus has given us. Together, we’ll name 5 things that can distract us from Immanuel.And, we’ll unpack 5 ways to recenter our focus back on our Savior’s birth.Highlights:FACING TEMPTATIONS1. Busyness Increases Sexual sin is offering you an answer to your pain, discomfort, faulty views of yourself and others at a deeper level.The answers though, are not truly satisfying.2. Expectations IncreasesImages of happy people, loving families, wealthy displays and spreads of food lead us to feel more expectations.We’ll also feel increased inadequacy, inferiority, futility in our lives.When the comparison game is squashing you, the message of pornography is “you are enough.”3. Family Dysfunction IncreasesWhether you’re spending more time with family of origin/extended family or you’re alone because you have no family; the loneliness and brokenness increase.Sexual sin offers a false sense of intimacy, a sense of belonging and a false sense of connection.4. Habits IncreaseYour brain and body may remember this time of year as the time when you binge on porn more.5. Spiritual Warfare IncreasesChristmas is the celebration of the Incarnation of the Word of God. Our temptation wants to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas.FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS1. Fight for Peace - The Peace which Jesus has given you, which surpasses all understanding, which He gives not as the world gives.  Fight to maintain that peace.2. Slow Down - Your breathing, eating, walking, working, slow it all down. Slow down in defiance of the spiritual warfare.3. Simplify your Christmas - Clear away and make room for you to be at peace. Does it look like simplifying your calendar? Not putting up all the decorations?4. Connect with people who love you - In the midst of the holidays, make time to be with the people who love you most (including people from your recovery community).5. Create New Traditions - Be intentional and creative about nurturing yourself well to cultivate and commemorate walking with Jesus. Find an Advent devotional to work through, schedule time to serve the poor, write a letter of thanks to someone who has meant a lot to you.If you have a sexual fall this Christmas, don’t spend time beating yourself up. Instead, turn to the One who came for you, confess what you’ve done, acknowledge it was wrong and then walk in peace with Him.Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFree Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textIs your view of God getting in the way of your pursuit of sexual integrity? God isn’t blocking your healing. But your view of Him, your assumption about God could be an obstacle standing between you and your freedom.Let’s try to understand the theology working in the background of your heart, that may be limiting your progress.Let’s blaze a trail to Jesus when you need Him most.Highlights:Functional belief = what you believe in the moment of pressureWhen you’re tempted to sin sexually, what do you think about God in that moment? How is god seeing you in that moment?How do you feel in that moment as God sees you?When you fall into sexual sin, how do you feel God sees you then?How does He feel about you then?The next time you go to an adult book store or knock on the door of your next hookup; bring Jesus with you. He’s already there.Pay attention to the reality Jesus is with you everywhere you go.Images to work into your Functional Theology:Jesus reaching for you.Jesus stretching his nail pierced hand to you.Jesus rushing toward you to embrace you, carrying you, holding you up.Read through & take note of how Peter’s Functional Theology changes in John 18:15-27 and John 21:1-17Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for behind the scenes and more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textStruggling with unwanted habits can feel isolating. Your journey to sexual integrity isn’t a common or easy topic of conversation which can leave you feeling alone. Satan seizes your isolation as a perfect opportunity to tell you you’re different, dirty. This belief stacks a wall between you and your healing. Let’s tear down the wall that says you’re chronically unique so you can keep moving towards becoming whole.Highlights:There are so many men and women, who struggle with sexual sin, believing that their struggle is different from everybody else.If that feels like you, you need to know that belief is part of your problem and part of what keeps you stuckWhen you view your problem as that which makes you chronically unique, then you actually damage your own ability to be free.The separation from other people, from ourselves, from God is what makes us feel chronically unique.  We were never intended to live apart from ourselves, others and God the way that we do in this fallen world.Take the risk to move out of this space.Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for much more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textPitfalls, betrayal, pride, shame, cycles - While you do the work of becoming whole, these are some of the things that will pull you from your calling.You are made for greatness. And God gave you a vision for what that looks like in Jesus: “We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him.” (Romans 8:29 MSG) Keep doing the hard work. You were made for greatness. Don’t you forget it.Highlights:Do we no longer do the hard work of pressing into the subtle, sinister places in us that keep grasping and holding onto sexual immorality?We can be transformed in the innermost person.Transformation is more than setting up legalistic boundaries. It’s actually about heart transformation that exudes through how we act with one another physically.If we’ve lost that vision, then we’ve stopped believing in the power of the Gospel, we’ve stopped believing in the power of the Resurrection, we’ve stopped believing in the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and changing us.“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to His purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”  -Romans 8:28-29Jesus is not meant to be the exception of who can be trusted in a situation to do the right thing, act honorably with someone.  He is meant to be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters who can be trusted to act honorably in situations like that.If we stop aspiring to that then we settle for less than the greatness for which God has saved us.Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for much more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textLet’s isolate the moment of temptation: Maybe it looks like your fingertips hovering to type in a string of words you know will lead you to that site. Or maybe it looks like driving home a different route so you find yourself rolling slowly past that street. Every bit of you pulses with energy in that moment of temptation.The world is encouraging you to say “Yes” to the urge. Giving in can leave you alone with shame and regret. So, let’s pivot to a different “yes.” This is hard work but shift your heart, mind and body in that moment to a different option. God is inviting you to a bigger YES. Let’s listen in for more.Highlights:The world tells you, “You can’t be yourself in holiness. You can only be yourself in sinfulness.” What if that is a lie from the pit of hell?Christianity understands that human beings are not just disembodied spirits. Human beings are embodied creatures, embodied spirits.We are each an individual, human person, hybrid spirit/body creature. So, in order to live-giving life, we need to live in accordance with that truth.The world, with all its sexual promiscuity and permissiveness, ignores we are created as one individual person. Our bodies are designed for sexual union with one person.To be a human person, to have sex with them is to become ONE flesh with that person.Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for much more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textA jumble of frayed ends - consider the raw, exposed mess of a jumble of frayed ends. Keep this image in mind as we consider our current cultural belief system. Josh is about to carefully look at each broken strand of thinking and tie them back into one, whole, intentional, truth. God has a good, holy, beautiful design for our sexuality.  So, why is sex today a jumble of frayed ends? Let’s find out.Highlights:God could have made the method to produce babies anyway He wanted and He chose to connect sex and pregnancy.What happens if we no longer connect sex with pregnancy?Pregnancy moves from unexpected to unplanned to unwanted.Notice the difference between God’s design for pregnancy and our current cultural concept around pregnancy: Pregnancy is a risk, a threat, a danger. What happens to a cultural psyche when we think of children as unwanted.Believing that anyone is unwanted is evidence of a demonic move against humanity.Homework: PRAYER CHALLENGE: Pray that God will reconnect for us the disconnect between marriage, sex and pregnancy. Link to more on Christopher West https://tobinstitute.orgHelp the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for much more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Send us a textLet’s go beyond reading words about God’s kindness. If you are wrestling ongoing sexual sin, if you are battling shame, if you are facing past traumas; God is inviting you to experience His kindness. Right now, what if you could hear Jesus saying to you, “I’m right here and I love you.” (be sure to look in the Homework Section for more questions)Highlights:God is near and He loves you.It’s hard to accept God’s love for you in the difficult areas of wrestling with sexual sin.We carry deep within us a fear that if anyone knew the full scope of that part of our lives they would pull away.Shame and fear are heavy burdens to carry.It’s so important to receive God’s nearness, His kindness. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance, it is His kindness that heals us. (Romans 2:4)Homework: PAUSE with these QuestionsWhere are you most anxious right now?What are you most angry about now?What are the places in your life that are the most difficult to share?What are the secrets that you’re wrestling with?What are the areas that you’re struggling to let go of?What are the things you don’t want to talk to God about?Help the showSupport the showAsk a question by emailing usLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsFollow us on YouTube for much more.Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole 👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)