Author Archives: Brian

Don’t

Don’t fall for it.
God has shown you
something so much more.
Don’t fall for it.

Don’t chase after illusions.
You know you’ve seen what’s real.
A place beyond comparison.
Don’t chase after illusions.

Don’t be distracted.
What they say is a lie
and you know it.
Don’t be distracted.

Don’t turn from the path.
Temptations never
lead to blessings.
Don’t turn from the path.

Don’t panic.
You aren’t being left behind.
Everything has its time.
Don’t panic.

Don’t give up.
The only way to fail
is to quit.
Don’t give up.

Don’t lose hope.
It’s not as fragile
as you think.
Don’t lose hope.

When All That Is Left Is To Sign The Papers II

I started thinking about my challenge in the previous WATILITSTP post: to stop-viewing-porn/seeing-someone-other-than-your-spouse and I thought this may be helpful. Here’s a list of thoughts. I’m sure there is more and better stuff out there, but this is too big to ignore.

Top 10 Ideas to get rid of Porn/the other person:

1. Get to know the Holy Spirit. He will bring to mind thoughts that will bring you to the only sure ground.

2. Get rid of the source. Whether it’s your computer/tv/phone, whatever it is get rid of it.

3. Join a trusted accountability group. Get help, don’t rely on your own strength.

4. Join a recovery type group. There are plenty of ones available. XXX Church, Conquer Series, etc.

5. See a professional Christian counselor. They can help discover keys to help equip you.

6. Think strategic like during a war. Know your strengths and limits. Highlight weaknesses and address them: ‘R’ movies, compromising magazines, relationships, facebook, etc.

7. Make sacrifices. A lifestyle of a living sacrifice helps erode temptation.

8. Change up schedules. Avoid a routine by filling your time with different things. Set goals for what you want to accomplish.

9. Hang up a picture of Jesus where you can see it prominently throughout the home. I know it sounds silly, but visual help is good to have.

10. Repeat every day: “I am a child of God. He loves me, so I love Me.” Then do the previous points.

Visions of Yesterday

There was a freedom I met in the Spirit.
It allowed me to breathe, not perform.
Visions I never would have believed possible
flooded my mind. I let go of everything I knew
and found unspeakable joy. Limits were gone as I regarded Him
at work in me.

That was yesterday.
Shackles that I never fully let go of returned.
The warm comfort of slavery, of my cell
called me from the stars
and returned me to the earth.

O, would that I could return to the stars
Nothing mattered there
He could take me anywhere
Let me tell you of them, of Him
the Maker of the stars.

I know you won’t believe me, you can’t
you would feel justified pulling me back
It is not your fault, it is mine.
But I tell you now of yesterday, of my clarity
It was something to behold.
It was something to behold.

When All That Is Left Is To Sign The Papers

Here’s an attempt to help:

Take a week/month and do these 10 things (If there is another person/porn outside of the marriage take a week/month break from them. I know this is ‘of course’ and should be for all life)

1. Get a babysitter. Kids don’t need to pick a side.

2. Don’t say anything to each other for a day. Only write each other notes.

3. Go on a date. Dress up for it. Make it special.

4. Get each other a present for the date. Guys: get her jewelry/chocolate, Girls: get him cologne/wine etc.

5. Feed each other dessert. The more awkward the better.

6. Do something the other spouse likes: movie/ice skating etc.

7. Take a walk together somewhere. It has to be at least 1 mile.

8. Look each other in eyes for 10 min. Don’t talk. You can blink/not a staring contest.

9. After 10 min. pray for each other still looking in each other’s eyes. It has to be a positive prayer.

10. Tell each other 10 positive things about each other.

Do this every day/night with each other. Take off work. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 out loud together and take communion giving each other the elements.

After The Week (kids and work are back)

1. Write a note a day for 10 days saying a positive thing about each other.

2. Begin each day praying with and for each other.

3. Look each other in the eyes for 1 min. each day.

4. Embrace every day.

5. Read a chapter of 1 John together as a family each night.

After The Week After The Week (Testimony Time)

1. If problems persist begin communicating about them through notes. Write them from the other’s perspective.

2. Begin seeing problems as the enemy. Write down each one and make a plan to defend each other from them.

3. Look at your relationship as a castle. Write down/discuss weak points in the walls.

4. Write down 10 ways you would attack the other person if you were the enemy.

5. Write down allies/10 ways you can help defend them.

Spiritfire, Proverbs 20:4 “Beans Or No Beans”

“Sluggards do not plow in season;
so at harvest time they look but find nothing.”

We live next to a bean field these days. This led perfectly into discovering the seed of wisdom the proverb contained and we prayed for God to plant it firmly and deeply into the gardens of our hearts, souls, and minds.

Sluggards are one of the 5 residents of the Imposter’s House- one of the 3 houses in the book of Proverbs. Other inhabitants of the Imposter’s House include: the violent man, the perverse man, the scoundrel, and the gossip, 16:27-29. These 5 give an enticing but false view of wisdom which proverbs like this one reveal to the discerning.

Sluggard’s don’t want to work, they won’t even bring their hands from the bowl to their mouth, 19:24. We talked about the field next door and the timing involved; the plants are almost 3 feet tall. If the farmer decided to sleep instead of to plow would there even be a harvest? He would look and find nothing. The poor sluggard, always causing his own problems, but always expecting none.

Then we looked for Jesus, Wisdom’s fulfiller, in this proverb and found He talked about it in Mark 4, the parable of the sower. We decided the sluggard was most like the stony ground. The proverb didn’t say the sluggard doesn’t plow, just that he doesn’t in season. His inactivity left him without a harvest; like the plants of the rocky soil, it all withered and died.

We then began to talk about a mystery of God: The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, Luke 10:2. Would a sluggard even see the harvest when he looks out over the field? Does God hide it from him, and if so, why?

Spiritfire: Something to Yell About!

It all started with watching kids shout about Karate during a training session. The sensei would give the kids empowering phrases to scream before he began the day’s lesson, and they would respond by shouting it back to him at the top of their lungs.

This gave me an idea for our Spiritfire times. I saw how much they enjoyed screaming about martial arts, though my kids didn’t really enjoy the actual lessons, so I wanted to give them something to yell at the beginning of our devo-times that actually gave them real power.

I had them back up as far as they could and then run to the middle of the room and jump up real high stomping their feet as they landed. After they did this, I had them shout: “I am a child of God! (They would make a fist and pound their chest) He loves me! (They’d point to heaven), so I love me! (They’d point to themselves)”

Our Spiritfire times have never been the same.

Spiritfire, Proverbs 20:1 A Better Brawler

“Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;
whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”

As soon as we opened the door on this one, we knew it was talking about another bad seed like 19:24, 28 and so many more. We were immediately given a window view into Folly’s house and we witnessed the lot of those who succumb to the drink. Abused wives, beaten kids, lost jobs, lost souls, our hearts were heavy as Betsy and I explained this Proverb to our kids.

Substance abuse has overtaken so many. The overdose of various drugs takes the lives of the users and destroys their families. “Led astray” is too gentle a way of putting it.

We couldn’t focus on the darkness for long and began looking for Jesus. Over the years I have had the honor of leading worship for different groups like Celebrate Recovery, drug rehabilitation centers, and prison ministries. In much the same way as this Proverb revealed the darkness, each opportunity to praise Jesus revealed His Light.

I learned people become dependent on whatever substance they are addicted to. What do they receive from such a reliance? Pain, misery, and darkness. I have heard everyone’s addicted to something. Changing one’s addiction from drugs to Jesus is like changing from darkness to Light. What do they receive from such a reliance?

You tell me.

I’ve heard stories of families restored, lives healed, and hope returned as the Holy Spirit moves. Turns out the Love of Jesus is a better brawler than beer, and His blood is better than wine.

Spiritfire: Proverbs 19:27, “Mirror, mirror on the wall”

“Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.”

As we looked at this proverb to explore the wisdom it taught, we were surprised to see a mirror reflection of proverb 19:20. Much like the multiples of 9, you see the reflection as you pass from 45 to 54, the following numbers follow the pattern. And like that pattern, the two proverbs mirror each other in form and meaning. If you stop listening, not only will you not be “counted among the wise”, you will be counted among a different group, the fools. You will stray and be lost to the discernment from the advice you could have gained. This “Core” proverb revealed the price of disobedience by looking at the other side of the apple, the dark side of the moon.

We then looked again for how Jesus fulfilled this proverb. He is the Word, John 1, there is no greater knowledge than knowing Him. He is Way, John 14:6, and as we follow Him, we will not stray. And just as Jesus submitted to the Father and became the “source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him”, Hebrews 5:9, if He didn’t, then there would be no salvation and we would all be lost doomed to stray in the darkness for He is the Light of the world, John 8:12.

My kids met a man the other day who questioned them about Jesus. He asked, “Why don’t you believe in a god that has a cooler name?” As my kids see first hand how Jesus fulfilled all wisdom, was the new Adam that opened the way for us to be new creations and provided salvation for all who obey Him, they truly understood Acts 4:12. For when it comes to names:

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”