Posts Tagged ‘God’

I had to share this. It is from Lazaroo (www.lazaroo.com) a daily prayer devotional to which I subscribe. It is very relevant to the way I feel about my own struggle with porn addiction. Without it, I would not be the man I am today…

“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.”
(Micah 1:6)

I’ve been there before, Jesus.

reduced to rubble
all my stones poured into the valley

not one of them left stacked on another
my foundations laid absolutely bare.

It may have been the hardest time of my life.

I fought it
hated it

couldn’t escape it
couldn’t understand it

I thought You had utterly forsaken me.

People wrote me off.

I wrote myself off.

But after all the agony, desperation and fireworks

I survived.
I’m still here.

Looking back…

it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Now I know I have nothing to fear when they lay bare my foundations

so long as my Foundation

is You.

This does my heart good to read.

Which is more important, repenting of your evil behavior or your misshapen views on the unconditional love and acceptance of you Heavenly Father?

By Jonathan Daugherty

I’m going to do something an author really isn’t supposed to do when titling an article with a question. I’m going to give you the answer right up front (and keep my fingers crossed that you will still read the rest of the article).

Is purity for everyone?

No.

I have been working in full-time sexual purity ministry since 2003. In that amount of time I have heard the stories of thousands of individuals struggling with sexually addictive thoughts and behaviors. There are an unbelievable number of people carrying terrible shame and secrets of trauma and abuse that is truly unfathomable. Many shed tears. Some have memory loss and debilitating emotional problems. All have felt afraid, angry, lost, alone, weary, frustrated, hopeless and myriad other emotions. We offer help to all these people, yet only a few ever embrace a new life of purity.

There are many reasons (mostly excuses) why so many people carrying so much pain never find lasting freedom and peace from their addictive lifestyle. The most common reason is because they remain fixated on their circumstance, convincing themselves that in order for them to live a life of purity, their situation must change. Maybe their spouse is threatening a divorce or a boss is dangling a pink slip in front of their nose. Whatever the case, those who don’t ultimately experience long-lasting freedom have found a reason (however fickle and false) to return to the dungeon of lust and self-centeredness. (keep in mind, this is a generality based on thousands of cases; there are always exceptions…)

But are these the reasons why I say “no” to the question, “Is purity for everyone?” Not really. The reasons above (namely, believing circumstantial change, rather than personal change, will bring about a life of purity) are only one side of the coin of why purity isn’t for everyone. The other side, I believe, is a much more basic, spiritual reason of why purity isn’t for everyone. Purity is only possible for those in right relationship with God.

Recovery programs that only focus on correcting and managing behaviors are not understanding the true essence of purity. True purity is a condition of the heart, the inside of a person, not merely how a person chooses to use their body. To deny the reality of a spiritual need in sexual addiction recovery is to miss the point entirely. A person is pure when they are pure all the way through. How then does one achieve this sort of purity? Only from God.

God uses a particular word to describe his own attribute of purity: holiness. God is holy, perfect and pure in every aspect of his being. God created mankind in his image, breathing into Adam something of the essence of himself. Therefore, Adam and Eve were holy; pure and perfect in their original design. Then (you know the story) sin entered the world through their disobedience, and spiritually Adam and Eve (and the rest of humanity to follow) were stained, broken, impure. Man’s pride marred God’s holy creation.

Thankfully, God didn’t abandon his creation. He made a way for humanity to be restored, to be made new in spirit. He sent Jesus Christ to pay the penalty we deserved for our pride and sinfulness, thus erasing our debt and exchanging it for his life in us. And the only requirement of us to receive this indescribable gift is faith, simply trusting in Jesus. In that moment of faith, God restores our spirit to his original design for us. He breathes life anew into our darkened spirit and the holiness of God pours in. In this new state, we are now able to understand and even partake in a whole new life of purity, true purity that is based on God’s character and holiness, not our own.

So, do behavior modification techniques have any value in sexual addiction recovery? Of course they do. We each have a will, even if we have no relationship with God. But no person can experience the fullness of true purity apart from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And, ironically, even those of us who do have a relationship with God still have a choice: fully trust God and embrace his life-transforming grace or trust in our own intellect and effort to attempt to do what only God can do through us.

Purity, therefore, is only for those who 1) Know God through faith in Jesus and 2) Lay down their pride and let God have his way in revealing His holiness (i.e. purity) through them.

Final question: Is a life of purity for you?

Reproduced with permission from Be Broken Ministries. © 2006-2009 Be Broken Ministries and its licensors. All rights reserved.

A friend on Facebook updated their profile with this statement today.

Righteousness is believing the promises of God, being fully persuaded He’ll keep his word.

I was really taken aback by it. I had to go to Romans 4 and clear up my understanding!

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of
many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring
be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:18-22)

This really is an amazing thing. I’ll explain more later, but the remainder of this passage is even more amazing…

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. (Romans 4:23-24)

I’m sorry, did that just say that God will credit me with righteousness for my belief in Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead? Why yes, I believe it did!

If someone were to ask you, “What is the definition of righteousness?” How would you answer? Would it be something along the lines of, “Well, it is obeying God and doing what is ‘right’”? Perhaps you would more correctly say that righteousness is “being in a right standing with God.” That is still quite vague. How do you attain this right standing?

True to form, God’s word cuts to the heart of the issue. Righteousness is a result of our belief; our faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing more, nothing less.

It is living from this center that we can really see the change we so crave, including sexual purity. If our definition of righteousness is skewed, we can be certain that we will live out a works-centered religion that will not result in the changes we desire.

Here are a couple of other helpful verses that come to mind.

Colossians 2:20-23
Hebrews 6:1-3

I was really challenged by a post on Steven Furtick’s blog today. It is entitled, “Who told you that?“

It is a short devotion on Genesis 3:11 where God asked Adam and Eve who told them that they were naked? The blog goes on to ask some other more personal questions…who told you those things about yourself?

Check it out…

One of my favorite Bible teachers is Chip Ingram. I’ve been listening to him for about a decade now on and off. I follow his blog and came across a post today well worth sharing.

Chip explained that live is all about relationships. I wholeheartedly agree. He recommends asking ourselves these questions to do a check-up of where we stand with the most important relationships in our lives.

The original blog post can be found on Chip’s Blog.

Where do you stand?

Relationship with God

• Am I surrendered? Am I experiencing His presence?
• Am I loving Him more deeply? Am I enjoying Him more fully?
• Are there any barriers? Do I sense His pleasure?
• Am I motivated to meet with Him? Am I practicing His presence throughout the day?

Relationship with Family

• As a husband, am I loving my wife the way Christ loves the Church?
• As a wife, am I respecting my husband in a way that honors and encourages him?
• Are we making time for one another and our family?
• As a dad, am I leading my family spiritually?
• As a mother, am I nurturing and encouraging my children’s relationship with one another?
• As child/student, am I honoring my parents?
• As an adult child, am I honoring my elderly parents?
• Am I communicating with my family regularly? Do I pray for my family members and encourage them?

Relationship with Friends

• As a friend, do I love at all times and am I the kind of person who is born to help another person through adversity? (Proverbs 17:17)
• Am I sharpening and helping my friend’s growth in Christ?
• Am I speaking the truth in love? Am I critical or encouraging?
• Am I taking time out to nurture relationships and dig deep wells of relationships in the midst of busy work and life schedules?
• Am I being honest with what’s really going on inside of me?
• Am I a good roommate? Do I communicate honestly and from the heart on a regular basis with those I call friends?
• Am I looking for what I give in relationships or only what I can get?

Relationship with Myself

• Am I taking time for me?
• Am I stewarding well my physical body?  Am I getting enough sleep, eating the right food, and exercising?
• Am I cultivating the intellectual side of my life?
• Am I living an unhurried life?
• Am I coming to accept God’s unconditional love and understanding of me when I fail?
• Am I learning to set clear boundaries for those people who have unrealistic expectations for my life?
• Have I discovered my primary spiritual gift and know clearly my strengths and weaknesses?