His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
Obedience is one of those words that we don’t like to discuss, but it means everything if we are to have a victorious walk in Christ. We were created to be real men, walking in the image of God.
Over the past couple of years, I have seen a serious decline in the honesty and integrity of men. More and more prayer requests are coming from guys – Christian men, who are struggling with sexual sin. Pornography is one of the leading causes of sexual sin. Our society has deemed porn to be an “acceptable sin” but guys let me tell you it is ruining the lives of millions of men right now.
Guys, I want you to read this prayer request I received a little over a month ago.
“Lord help my husband. He is sick and he needs help Lord. What did I do to deserve this? Am I not pretty enough? Why does he want to look at those girls on the Internet? Help me understand this God. ― Faceless‖”
This is what many wives are dealing with. This breaks my heart. Here is another one I just recently received:
“ How many men actually change for the better? I’m giving up. My marriage is over. For the past 3 years my husband has been more interested in porn than in our marriage. He says he wants to stop, but he has done nothing to change. I’m in my late 30′s I can’t compete with those girls online. Why does it seem like God lets men do whatever they want? I pray for him every day, but nothing changes. Please pray for me, I am SO DONE WITH THIS!”
I wish I could tell you that these kinds of prayer requests are rare, but they aren’t. I get more prayer requests for things just like this, more than any other need for prayer.
I recently read that 83 % of men will do anything to avoid dealing with problems in their marriage. No accountability, no self-examination, their answer to dealing with problems is to avoid the issue.
Emergency!
We need to stop.
We need to take some time to examine our hearts. We need to step up and be the men our families need us to be, that God commands us to be.
40 days of self examination.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5)
For 40 days we’ll be digging into some of the darkest corners of our hearts. Each day will end with some study time, reflection, and prayer. Take as much time as you need.
Fred Stoeker once said “Real men don’t make their wives pray for them in desperation for years. They change. Real men don’t show so little response to their wives’s desires. They change.”
True character is who we are when no one else is looking. It’s who we are behind closed doors.
Take some time now and pray. I’m praying. This is one of those studies that I don’t think would do well in a group setting. Honestly most of us are too shallow to get really deep and personal about such a topic. We don’t want to open ourselves up to disappointment, hurt, and the vulnerability that comes with such a discussion.
This is one of the main reasons for this study being online. You can access it in your own time, even on your phones. Be intentional, be honest. I believe the call to this examination of ourselves is urgent. I don’t think that our marriages can wait. I don’t believe that we can afford to avoid this issue. That is why this study is being called Emergency.
Emergency – A serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.
Each day will have a place for you to leave comments, you can leave them anonymously if preferred, and those comments will be shared for others. Guys who are struggling with this, need to know that they are not alone. Honestly I don’t expect much discussion to take place, but I am encouraging you to do so. if you don’t want your comments posted, , I won’t post them. There is complete openness here. There is no condemnation, no judging, just guys who will be praying for guys. Guys who will be encouraging one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
This is a safe place guys. For those of you who are reading along, and not participating I ask that you would please pray. Pray for me as I lead this, and pray for the men who will be taking part in this. If you need accountability, someone to talk to, feel free to contact me directly whitt@bethedomino.org
You can subscribe to this study here http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeTheDominoEmergency
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