Present yourself to obedience (Romans 6:16). When we present ourselves, we are giving ourselves up. We are denying our own way and letting God have His way. In teaching about presenting our “members” Paul referenced directly the idea of “members” that Jesus spoke to in His seminal teaching about lust. Based on his study of [...]
Dallas Willard died Wednesday. It is a great loss. Unlike any other writer, he worked tirelessly to correct the failure of the modern church in its duty to “provide effective practical guidance” on how to live as a follower of Christ. ….this was his whole life—encouraging, challenging and most of all demonstrating a close walk [...]
Watchman Nee was an influential teacher out of China and is famous for his book, The Normal Christian Life. The book is based on teaching he gave while visiting Europe in 1938-1939. Nee painted his description of “normal” by drawing from Romans 1-8, concluding that a “normal” Christian was one who follows Paul in saying [...]
Today we conclude our study of how Dallas Willard’s VIM template—Vision, Intention and Means—can help us in overcoming lust. As we have seen, each of these elements plays a vital part in the process. Last week—in the first of our two part discussion of the Means—we considered those who live their lives in consistent obedience [...]
Overcoming lust is for everyone. No one gets a free pass—each of us must confront evil desires that “war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Working our way through Dallas Willard’s VIM template—Vision, Intention and Means—as to how to overcome lust, we now consider the means to this end. This is where we roll up [...]
Intention is all about how we exercise our “will”—we do what we intend to do. Last week we introduced Dallas Willard’s VIM template—Vision, Intention and Means—as a way to describe what it takes to overcome lust. We also described the Vision—or Goal—when it comes to overcoming lust this way: You will be overcoming lust [...]
How does one overcome lust? Do you “know how to” do it? ….that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust” Paul described the pressing need to “know how” this way—“that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know [...]
Have you been watching the The Bible on the History Channel? We have and I consider it well done. Last Sunday’s episode featured the story of King David—focusing on his illicit relationship with Bathsheba. This is fair enough since the Bible itself reveals this part of David’s life in great detail, explaining how David’s flagrant [...]
King David’s Promise Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Psalm 51:13 Psalm 51 is King David’s heartfelt, gut-wrenching prayer of repentance. It followed his confrontation with the fearless prophet Nathan who had dramatically and publicly exposed his sin. David had concealed his salacious affair with Bathsheba and [...]
“My Father Gave Me Porn….at Twelve” Recently, a reader generously shared the following story as a comment. In it, he explains how he was introduced to pornography at a young age and the damage that this caused in his life. My father gave me pornography at the age of 12 and told me that it would [...]
