Five years ago I wrote an article for Regeneration entitled “Our Secret Weapon: The Will” (May 2004). In the years following, I have become even more convinced that our will is magnificent but grossly undervalued gift in our battle to become more and more Christ-like. In the article I stressed how in a feeling, materialistic society we have been taught to ignore the will. We’re told that feelings...
Temptation, testing, trials—three T’s—are all quite closely related. Each involves going through a difficult experience that may have a good or a bad outcome. We all face them—perhaps Christians more than others—and it is probably safe to say we wish they weren’t a part of our lives. In fact, we ask God to “lead us not into temptation” whenever we say the Lord’s Prayer. In a recent article I...
Tom comes from a homosexual past. It has been years since he has engaged in any homosexual activity or has even thought he would want to. He is married and has a sexual relationship with his wife that brings them both great joy. And Tom is quite content with his manhood. He no longer feels like the little boy in the presence of “real men.” He is comfortable in just being one of the guys. But Tom...
Your eyes catch hold of something or someone, or a thought suddenly comes into your mind, seemingly out of nowhere, and you feel your body start to respond sexually. Immediately your heart and mind start to flail around, thrusting the old familiar feelings of guilt and shame and hopelessness at you. Here I go again. Will I ever change? What’s the use of even trying? Does this sound familiar? Many...
Many of us, in our daily times in the Word, are probably ministered to most effectively through modern translations of the Bible. From time to time, however, the old words, such as those found in the King James version can seem to impart a broader and deeper meaning. In the familiar story of the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda, (John 5:1-17), Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to be healed?”...
Rarely does anyone solve his or her problems with sexual sin by a purely rational approach. Saying to one’s self, “That’s sinful and stupid so I won’t do it anymore” seldom works. Most Christians who repeatedly engage in sexual sin know that what they are doing is harmful to them on many levels, and yet this knowledge does little to help them stop. On the other hand, each of us has a belief...