Becoming Whole

Send us a textAs you do the work of pursuing sexual integrity, cultural messages keep watering down God’s heart for you as His creation. So, let’s pause for a deeper sense of what it means to be a man or to be a woman. Both the mystery and the glory of being man or being woman have been lost in our society. Christ is inviting you to stop and consider the creation story, the very beginning. You and I were created to be image bearers of God. Have you considered how your body’s sexuality images God? Let’s start now.Highlights:Sexual integrity means trusting that your body is made for God and not for sexual immorality.If we’re to become people of sexual integrity then we need to become more emotionally whole.Your body is designed for God. Whatever it feels in the moment of sexual pleasure, you still can always acknowledge that your body is designed first and foremost for God and for His will, not for sexual immorality.Homework:Questions for Reflection:How at home do you feel in your biological sex?How at home do you feel with others of the same sex – are you self-conscious, comfortable, etc?How at home do you feel with people of the opposite sex?Are you experiencing joy as a man, as a woman?Resources:Make sure you check out Becoming a Woman of Sexual Integrity and Becoming a Man of Sexual Integrity. These quick video series are an introduction to becoming more whole in the area of Sexual Integrity!If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Sexual Integrity Is Sexed IntegrityTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textSexual integrity is about you becoming whole. You are made up of many parts – mind, body and soul. And in your journey to becoming whole, it is key to address all the parts that make you, YOU. In the last episode, we examined the role of the body. This week, we’ll learn more about the role of emotions. There is a direct link between your unwanted sexual behavior and your emotional life. And, if you’re willing to pay attention to your feelings, they can serve as clues into something inside you that needs your attention. This is not easy work. It takes courage and vulnerability. Facing your feelings connects you to who you are at a deeper level. Don’t be afraid. Let’s move beyond regulating an unwanted sexual behavior boundaries and protocols into living a life of freedom and wholeness.Highlights:If you want to be a person of sexual integrity, there is no way to do that without becoming an emotionally healthy person.A lot of us run to unwanted sexual behaviors as an attempt to regulate our emotions.Our emotions are not always correct barometers of what is real or true but they’re an important part of who we are.Homework:In Luke 18, Jesus asks the blind man:  “What do you want me to do for you?”Why did Jesus ask the blind man that? Jesus desires us to be in touch with our desires. He wants to engage with us on that level. Emotions are a gateway to what we really desire and Jesus knows that.He’s inviting you into a place where you examine and explore with Him all the hopes in your heart.Resources:Dr Patrick Carnes says unwanted sexual behaviors are a way to medicate pain.Dr Harry W. Schaumburg talked about acting out as a way to gain a false sense of intimacy.Russell Willingham explains, we run to unwanted sexual behaviors when we don’t know how to deal with certain types of emotions.Dr Mark LaaserMake sure you check out Becoming a Woman of Sexual Integrity and Becoming a Man of Sexual Integrity. These quick video series are an introduction to becoming more whole in the area of Sexual Integrity!If you want to learn more, check out Josh’s latest musing on this topic at, Sexual Integrity and Emotional HealthTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textSexual Integrity Starts Here. Integration is a big word describing the large task of becoming whole. Over the next couple of episodes, we’ll dedicate time to understanding the mechanics of sexual integrity. You are a complex, marvelous being with many layers and even more moving parts. When it comes to sexual integrity, you may assume your body is the enemy, the source of sexual sin. That is just one sign of the dis-integration we’ll identify. You are worthy of and designed for wholeness. The journey to sexual integrity starts here, with your body.Highlights:To be a person of sexual integrity means all these parts are healthy and they are working together that you might live out your life physically, relationally, sexually, with integrity.Your body is not the enemy.Honor your body because you are designed bodily for God not for sexual immorality.Homework:Talk to your body prayerfully and with honor. Apologize to the part of your body involved in sexual sin.If it was your eyes, then pray: “Lord, forgive me for using my eyes in a way they’re not designed for. Eyes, forgive me. You were made not for lust. You were made for love.”Resources:Make sure you check out Becoming a Woman of Sexual Integrity and Becoming a Man of Sexual Integrity. These quick video series are an introduction to becoming more whole in the area of Sexual Integrity!If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Sexual Integrity Starts with Who You AreTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textGod’s design for sex includes your questions and desires and hopes. But, if pornography was your sex-ed teacher, you absorbed imagery and ideas that changed your brain.On top of that, your heart is probably holding onto shame too.  We live in a world where pornography is literally at our fingertips. If you started watching it as a kid, we hope the message is clear for you to stop blaming yourself for that early exposure. Those visuals should never play the role of teacher.In fact, trusted adults are meant to be God’s provision to help kids begin to understand what sex is all about. We hope this episode encourages you to ask God to untangle the good from the bad so you can walk more fully as the man or woman God designed you to be today.Highlights:Far too many of us have been shaped by porn in such a way that it’s changed our sexual templates.Porn is highly addictive for adults. So, it’s all the more so for kids whose brains are still forming.Parents need to own that giving a kid digital device is too heavy a responsibility because pornography can be so easily accessed on it.Extras:Treading Boldly through a Pornographic World: A Field guide for Parents by Josh Glaser and Daniel WeissIf you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, What Billie Eilish Didn’t SayTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textWe’re moving closer to Christmas. Ironically, this is about the time when ads and expectations and schedules pull us further from Christ.For sure, there is an abundance to this season but not in the commercial way you may be thinking. Strip away the fussy garland and the must-have linens and the coordinated outfits. Let’s listen for the call to you and me; inviting us to a more Christ-like Christmas. Highlights:How much of the way we expect to make Christmas meaningful, how much we pursue has more to do with the culture and media have put in front of us than what God has put in front of usWhen we seek to make Christmas about Christ in a way that moves us, draws us, reorients us, helps connect us with the truth of who God is and why we worship him in the first place. Do we do so around a liturgy of commercialism or around a truly Christian liturgy?The commercial liturgy in the U.S. is powerful and embedded in us.Homework:How can we reorient our hearts around Christ himself this Christmas?Seek out Christ in the lowly, the lost, the widow, the orphan - seek out those who cannot pay you back this Christmas.Is there step, a little sacrifice you can make so you can experience a Christ-centered Christmas?Invite him into our home through the least and the lost.If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Laying Down the Ideal Christmas (for Something Better)Transcription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textWe are in a season of waiting for the arrival of Jesus. And, while we count down the days of Advent by eating chocolate or reading devotions, the anticipation builds. In the area of sex and relationships, waiting can lead us to a place where we are really tempted to compromise. As a culture, we are too short-sighted and impatient. Where are your sights set this season? Experiencing Advent side by side means we can wait with each other. There’s community and power and beauty when we share in each other’s suffering.Listen in as we learn to wait together.Highlights:The church of Jesus is suffering on a big scale. We struggle with waiting.When it comes to sexual integrity, relational wholeness, health in our sense of identity; I believe that one of the reasons the church is really faltering in the West is because we don’t know how to wait.In the area of sex and relationships, waiting can be very hard work and become an area where we are really tempted to compromise.Homework:Some questions to put before God this season: Where are you placing your desires?  Where are you placing the “finish line”? What are you waiting for God to provide for you?If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, What Are You Waiting For? (And Why It Matters.)Transcription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textMary, the mother of Jesus, is an important figure in every way. After all, it was her body that ushered in the tiny body of our Savior, Jesus, into this world.Still there is controversy among us, as believers, on the amount of time we should dedicate to her.For now, let’s spend a few moments meditating on Mary. Because, if we make too little of Mary, we miss out on more of God.Looking at Mary and seeing how God sees her gives us a window to see how God sees us. Her role then is significant to you now. This week in Advent, join us as we explore the mystery of our Savior’s birth through a young girl named Mary.Let's dive in!Highlights:We take the humanity out of Jesus when we make his birth too abstract because we think of it as something that is surreal, that is beyond the physical world.Jesus becoming flesh dignifies our flesh.Part of Jesus’ story is that his body came into this world through Mary’s body.Extras:Mary’s Song in Luke 1:46-55(Mary chooses words to magnify the Lord from Psalm 22, 44, 103, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, etc. showing us that she held Scripture close)“And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.’”If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Why Mary Matters to Your BodyTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 text“And the Word became flesh.” Let's discuss An Embodied Advent!As the holiday hustle and bustle begins, let’s consider how the season of Advent highlights the relationship between God and your body.Your flesh is so important to God that He became flesh. Your body is central to who you are and God cares deeply about it. So, this season allow the Light of the world to reveal something new to you about your addiction to pornography, your struggle with infidelity, your flesh.The Hope of Advent begs to help you in your walk towards sexual wholeness. Let’s unwrap this gift together.Highlights:Our bodies are not an accessory that we wear. We are our bodies. We are embodied creatures. You take away the body and you lose who you are.Advent is the declaration that God cares for your body.  Advent is the declaration that your body matters deeply to God.If there’s ever any question about the dignity, the importance of the human body; that question is answered completely, fully, forever in the Incarnation.Seek to treat other people’s bodies with dignity this Advent.Homework:Meditate on the reality that God became embodied- Use that truth to guide you while you practice honoring your body. This Advent, try treating your body with dignity as God would. The holidays can bring an increase in anxiety & anticipation; recognize it and treat your body with dignity. If you cross a line, honor your body and reflect on your choice.Try to treat the embodied people around you as worthy. Let their presence be a form of meditation not irritation.Extras:John 9:1-12 Jesus Heals the Man born Blind“You know how it is when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” ― Athanasius of Alexandria, On The IncarnationIf you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Look at All the BodiesTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textWhen temptation comes knocking, you have more options than slamming the door and running away. In fact, fleeing can actually contribute to the cycle of sexual sin. Here are 5 Steps to Shutting Down Temptation.So, let’s face temptation head on with feet firmly planted. In this episode, Josh offers 5 steps to help you shut down temptation.  While the enticement can be loud and dizzying, you have options. If your body is charged with the bait of temptation, let’s begin with a simple prayer: “Lord, bring your Holy Order to this disorder.”Let's dive in!Highlights:When you’re tempted take notice of your breathing and slow it down.God has put you in a physical body and in the body of ChristAs you slow down, be curious why you’re feeling temptation.Homework:Take some time to write out the 5 steps on an index card.BREATHE in through your nose (count to 4) and out through your mouth (count to 8).CALL A FRIEND write down their name and number hereOPEN YOURSELF TO GOD “Lord, bring your Holy Order to this disorder.”BE CURIOUS: What am I feeling - angry, lonely, rejected, anxious, stuck? Name it.TEND TO THAT PART OF YOU: now that you’ve named the feeling, how can you care for yourself?A Prayer: “Lord, I need Your help right now. I’m really tempted. Lord you are here and I open myself to you. Enter in. Slow my heart down. As I breathe and try to slow down; I acknowledge that you are present with me and know all that’s happening inside of me - my thoughts, my mind, the thoughts of my heart. You are here. You are present and know what my body feels like right now. I open myself to you Jesus.”Extras:“Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing” Jay StringerIf you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, When Temptation Comes KnockingTranscription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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 textSeen, Soothed, Safe and Secure -these are key elements for a healthy relationship and 4 Reasons to Open Up about your Sexual Past. But when it comes to your unwanted sexual behavior; it might feel like a secret you should just keep hidden.  Is your relationship secure enough for you to tell your boyfriend or husband about your sexual history? Do you really want your girlfriend to know about your addiction to pornography?  The dangerous truth is while we keep back the darker parts of our lives, we deny ourselves real intimacy and continue bringing that deep need to illegitimate sources. As you’re moving closer to relational intimacy and marriage, opening up about your sexual history or sexual habits is important. Every person longs to have someone see the full scope of who they are and be loved.  You and your loved one deserve each other fully and wholly. Here are 4 Reasons to open up about your sexual past.Highlights:Bringing yourself means bringing your whole self not just the best parts.You can not walk in sexual integrity if you’re not willing, with safe people, to open yourself and let them see the truth about what’s been going on.“I love you. I love what I see and I want to come closer.” That’s the cry of our hearts. It longs for real intimacy.Extras:“Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain” by William M StruthersMore on Oxytocin with Dr. StruthersIf you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, When Do I Tell My Significant Other?Transcription:Full Transcription Available hereSupport Becoming WholeFree 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)