The Sexual Resolution

I like this..its originally posted by Renee on January 17, 2009

This is the premier month of Joe Dallas podcast, The Sexual Resolution with Joe Dallas.
Check out the podcast here.

What is The Sexual Resolution?
In essence, making a resolution means we’re hoping we can change a behavior we’ve engaged in so it will be back in alignment with our value system. If I value having a fit body or a healthy heart, I may resolve to quit smoking or lose that last ten pounds. In so doing, my behavior and my values line up.

But resolution also has a synonym—courage. That may explain why resolutions are so often abandoned when tested: It takes courage to live according to one’s beliefs.

Webster’s Dictionary has a few interesting definitions of the word “resolution” which communicate concepts I think are helpful in understanding what it means to be striving for “sexual resolution”. Let’s consider a few:

1) progression from dissonance to consonance

Many of us are living our lives in ways that conflict with our values and so we are in a state of dissonance. Think back to the last third grade band recital you attended and you’ll know what I’m talking about. One instrument may be playing in tune, but another instrument isn’t. When they play together, you have dissonance! And it can be very painful to listen to. In the same way, our values are like the instrument that plays in tune and our behavior is like the instrument that’s out of tune. The lack of harmony between the two creates a stressful, uncomfortable life until the dissonance is resolved.

Sexual Resolution depends on our getting back in tune with our belief system.


2) the point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication
is worked out

When we live our lives out of tune with our values, we create drama, don’t we? It starts with us, moves into our marriages, our finances, our jobs and complicates just about every relationship we have. Whether we want to admit it or not, our behavior may be causing us to be the “chief dramatic complication” in our loved one’s lives. Instead of a relationship of love and mutuality, we become a burden they have to deal with day after day.

Sexual Resolution is when the complications created by our wrongful behavior begin to cease because we’re “owning our stuff” and working towards living back in line with our beliefs.

3) a measure of the sharpness of an image i.e. the total number or density of pixels in the image

Sometimes we can be like a low resolution digital photo, or a fragmented hard-drive. When we join ourselves in sexual behavior outside of God’s design, little pieces of our emotions get bonded to this person, then that person, or that image, until little pieces of us are all over the place. When a partner has been engaged in sexual activity outside the marriage, neither partner can be content or fully functional in the relationship until God is allowed to reclaim those pieces, bring them back into focus and align them with His image of us.

Sexual Resolution is when my fragmented, pixilated emotions are recaptured, reexamined, and reassembled to form a sharp, focused picture of the true person I was meant to be in Christ.

So, courage my friend. And commitment. And take a minute to listen to The Sexual Resolution podcast. -R

http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/sexual_resolution/

Holiness

taken from Innocence Restored
http://innocencerestored.wordpress.com/


Was the title of this post a turnoff? That question isn’t meant to be in-your-face. It’s just an honest question. Holiness is not a popular word. It’s practically fallen out of our vocabularies. When uttered, it now almost has a pejorative hue to it. It sounds stuffy. It sounds Victorian. It sounds like something that strips the relevance right out of Christianity. If someone were to call you or me holy, would we recoil because it isn’t true, or because it makes us sound flat-out irrelevant? It’s an easy question to gloss over without any true introspection. Do we avoid the word holiness because it is condemning or because it is seen as a liability or hindrance?

We don’t pray that God would make us holy anymore. We ask God to make us “Christ-like.” We ask God to pry our clutching fingers from the sin we love. We ask God for wisdom and guidance. But we don’t ask God for holiness. But isn’t praying for Christ-likeness the same as praying for holiness? Biblically, yes. But American Christianity is enamored with the idea that you can be Christ-like and not be set apart. It’s bent on trying to prove that you can listen to the music that glorifies the ungodly, and watch the peeping-tom movies, and pepper your speech with innuendo for humor’s sake and still be “Christ-like.” Throughout church history, that wasn’t considered relevance. That was considered irrelevance. What good was a Christian who looked like the world?

Our culture detests anything holy. The great American motto is: “Don’t rock the boat.” We don’t care who you are, what you do, or what you believe so long as you look like everybody else. And yet true, authentic Christ-likeness means to be different. How did the Romans know who to toss to the lions? God’s holy people couldn’t blend in. How did the Roman Catholic Church know who to burn at the stake? The people who were rocking the boat. The world is always unholy. Therefore the world’s culture will always be unholy. Being Christ-like means being set apart. It means rocking the boat.

I think it is undeniable that our generation, our Christian culture, is horrified to call something sinful that really isn’t sinful. And I think we really don’t care about compromising holiness because we consider looking like Bob Jones or Pensacola to be a far greater sin than “crude jesting” or “filthy talk” or “walking in darkness.” Christian witness isn’t destroyed by looking different than the world. It’s destroyed by looking just the same as everybody else. What unbeliever wants a Savior that will change them into what they already are?

So when we pray for Christ-likeness, are we praying for holiness? Are we praying that God would set us apart and make us look different than the world and culture around us? If we are, then we’ll suffer for it. Satan will not tolerate those who do not participate in his culture of wickedness. And sadly, many Christians respond to holiness by turning their weapons upon their brothers and sisters whose lives stand in contrast to their own lack of holiness. Living a holy life is the same as painting a bull’s-eye right over your heart. Suffering is sure. But then again, Jesus told us it would be this way. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage,; I have overcome the world…For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it…Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. ( John 16:33…Mark 8:35…Matthew 5:8 )

Charles Finney

This great revivalist and evangelistic, spent long hours everyday in prayer. He knew the power of prayer and could teach it too. One very powerful statement Charles Finney said was, “Truth, by itself, will never produce the effect without the Spirit of God., and the Spirit is only given in answer to prayer. The truth by itself will do nothing more that harden men unto repentance.” Selah!

Find God!

by Francis Frangipane

There is only one thing that keeps most churches from prospering spiritually. They have yet to find God.

Holiness Comes From Seeking The Glory Of God
"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?" (John 5:44) If we are displaying our spirituality to impress men, still seeking honor from others, still living to appear righteous or special or "anointed" before people, can we honestly say we have been walking near to the living God? We know we are relating correctly to God when our hunger for His glory causes us to forsake the praise of men.

Does not all glory fade in the light of His glory? Even as Jesus challenged the genuineness of the Pharisees' faith, so He challenges us: "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another?"

What a weak comfort is the praise of men. Upon such a frail ledge do we mortals build our happiness. Consider: within but a few days after the Lycaonians attempted to worship Paul, they were congratulating themselves for having stoned him! (See Acts 14:11-19.) Consider: was it not the same city whose songs and praise welcomed Jesus as "King . . . gentle, and mounted on a donkey" (Matt. 21:5-9), that roared, "Crucify Him!" (Luke 23:21) less than one week later? To seek the praise of men is to be tossed upon such a sea of instability!

We must ask ourselves, whose glory do we seek in life, God's or our own? Jesus said, "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory" (John 7:18). When we speak from ourselves and of ourselves, are we not seeking to solicit from men the praise that belongs only to God? To seek our glory is to fall headlong into vanity and deception. "But," Jesus continued, "He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (John 7:18). The same quality of heart that made Christ's intentions true must become our standard as well. For only to the degree that we are seeking the glory of God are our motivations true! Only to the degree that we abide in the glory of Him who sends us is there no unrighteousness in our hearts!

Therefore, let us give ourselves to seeking the glory of God, and let us do so until we find Him. As we behold the nature of Christ, as our eyes see Him, like Job we "abhor" ourselves and "repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:1-6 KJV). As we are bathed in His glory, we shall be washed from seeking the glory of man.

If we truly find Him, no one will have to tell us to be humble. No one need convince us our old natures are as filthy rags. As we truly find God, the things which are so highly esteemed among men will become detestable in our sight (see Luke 16:15).

What could be more important than finding God? Take a day, a week or a month and do nothing but seek Him, persisting until you find Him. He has promised, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13). Find God, and once you have Him, determine to live the rest of your life in pursuit of His glory. As you touch Him, something will come alive in you---something eternal, someone Almighty! Instead of looking down on people, you will seek to lift them up. You will dwell in the presence of God. And you will be holy, for He is holy.

Convicted by mercy

“Repentance out of mere fear is really sorrow for the consequences of sin, sorrow over the danger of sin — it bends the will away from sin, but the heart still clings. But repentance out of conviction over mercy is really sorrow over sin, sorrow over the grievousness of sin — it melts the heart away from sin. It makes the sin itself disgusting to us, so it loses its attractive power over us. We say, ‘this disgusting thing is an affront to the one who died for me. I’m continuing to stab him with it!’”

- Timothy Keller, Church Planter Manual

Less of Me

Dig the mud from my mossy wells
On these manicured lawns rake away the stones
Weed the weeds from all my beds
Take the cold from all my bones
Stoke my coals that barely ember
When I should be burning in heaven’s consuming hearth
In my eyeballs blue those flames reflect

Un-sear my conscience burnt with iron cast
Blinded by the steam of seeing
In my weakness let Your strength
All Your life to speak from me
Mine eyes be light and single
Un-erred by fear of men
That they may see less of me

Trawl my heart for hidden splinters
Scan my mind of worldly kosmos
That hangs my neck time after time
Like fish on the hook
The secrets are in Your book
Thank You for the thorns that pierce
That prick with needles crusty dust
Turning to Your face I can
Eye to eye cheek to cheek
Hand to hand to You we turn we must

Break the jawbones of my foes
Re-arrange my heart and soul
Smash my tongue with heated coal
Don't hold back Your perfect work
Prepare me for the kiln of truth
The Highlands sing the song of clans
I can hear Your song for me
Your tender hand extending nigh
That I may live the truth and kill the lie

For You I long from this unpleasant tent
I long for ownership dominion all
Not to dance in tattered clothes for rent
I call my lover Lord
King, Warrior, Friend and Brother
The urbane blend of sundry heavens
Take all my leaven that falsifies this loaf
My incense I yearn to fill the air
But pure must it surely be
Aroma sweet to smell for You
So dig it deep my beautiful reverent King
And let it be less of me.

On the train England
9th February 2000
Stephen Bennett

'I have overcome the world'

Article from:
The National Post Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Page: A16
Section: Editorial
Source: National Post

Sic transit gloria mundi -- thus passes away the glory of the world, the old Latin phrase puts it. In 2008, the glory of money took the biggest hit. The economic ground shifted beneath our feet, and so much that was solid, so much that was powerful, so much that was thought stable, has passed away.

The mightiest of them all, General Motors, has devoted its most intense recent energies not to production, but to begging. The year began with five famous investment banks on Wall Street.

In 2007, they distributed year-end bonuses to their combined 186,000 employees of some $38-billion -- more than the GDP of Bulgaria, to put it in perspective. In 2008, Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch were bought out to save them from going bust; Lehman Brothers went belly up; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley converted themselves into regular banks. Transit: 5; gloria mundi: 0.

We learned some ancient lessons anew in 2008. There are no entirely safe investments, and if something seems too good to be true -- like owning a house with bad credit, little income and no assets -- it probably is. We learned again, too, that the innocent suffer for the sins of the wicked, as many charities the world over are now discovering, thanks to Bernard Madoff.

In Christian language, we might say we learned that original sin has not gone away. In a time of prosperity, we are inclined to forget that; thinking
that money -- privately earned or spent by governments -- can solve just about any problem. In times of crisis, we remember that isn't true.

The fundamental Christian telling of history is that we are always in crisis to a greater or lesser degree. Man is estranged from God and consequently estranged from his neighbour; therefore he lurches through history trying to avoid one calamity or another. The Christian believer knows we need Christmas.

We need Christmas because, contrary to a certain messianic politics that took hold of so many this past year, the simple answer is that we can't save ourselves. The things we make and manufacture, whether automobiles or mortgage-backed securities, are not the stuff of salvation.

"Yes, we can" is good politics but bad theology. "No, we can't" won't inspire a campaign rally, but the realization that the glory of this world is constantly passing away is the first step in the search for another, more enduring glory.

At the conclusion of his magnificent sermon, The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis reminded us that the possibility of glory lies as close as the next human soul: "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours ... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses."

The earliest Christian preachers learned that lesson at Bethlehem, that God had become man, and He had come to be with us so that we might be eternally with Him. The immortal God who comes as a baby at Bethlehem clothes His glory in the flesh of this world, so that the flesh of this world may be taken up into a glory that does not pass away.

"Take courage; I have overcome the world." So Jesus would eventually preach to crowds who knew that the world needed overcoming. Perhaps they thought then, as many do now, that what needed overcoming was this or that political authority, or this or that economic problem.

Yet what most needs overcoming is that everything in this world is coming and going, passing by and passing away before our eyes. Those of us in the newspaper business know that better than most; yesterday's news so often is just that -- yesterday's.

This year we have been reminded that the glory of newspapers, too, can pass away, as so many of our colleagues have faced cutbacks, layoffs and even bankruptcy.

The Christian faith is that the Child in Bethlehem came to save us from this passing world, entering into it that we might, with Him, overcome it. This year we may be more disposed to considering that possibility than most.

To our readers then, who do us the daily honour of passing some of their time with us, we wish a Merry
Christmas and a new year abundantly blessed by those things that do not pass away.

FPinfomart.ca Page 1

“Everywhere creation calls for the honoring of God’s standards. Everywhere humanity’s sinfulness disrupts and deforms. Everywhere Christ’s victory is pregnant with the defeat of sin and the recovery of creation.”
- Albert M. Wolter

BEING MISUNDERSTOOD

"They said, He is beside himself." What had He done the seemed insane to them? It could not have been His signs and mighty works--men do not count a man demented for that. Indeed His works were the best proof that He was not insane. "And many of them said, He hath a demon and is made; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" (John 10:20, 21). But the manner of His life, perfectly devoted to the Father's will, and the truth which He spoke, which sounded so strange to their ears; also the high place He claimed for Himself, and His demand that they should have faith in Him--that was the reason they thought Him crazed.

Who thought He was "beside Himself"? If it had been His enemies only it would have been natural. But it was His friends, those who knew and loved Him best. That was hard to bear. In verses 31-35, His mother and His brethren tried to get Him off to Himself--for what purpose is not stated, but in the light of v. 21, and judging by the way He ignored their attempt, it was for no worthy reason. The Lord Jesus did not even send them an answer. He merely said to His hearers that He acknowledged only those as mother and brethren who hear the word of God and do it.

Where all is wrong, the right seems odd and strange. Where falsehood has right of way the truth is evil spoken of. Where all are selfish and sinful a pure and true life looks abnormal. Paul, accused of being beside himself, gave an explanation of his life that the love of Christ constrained him to do as He did. That sort of life demands explanation. (2 Cor. 5:13-15). Even among fairly good people a truly devoted life and an unselfish work, is looked on with a little secret misgiving, as a sort of mild insanity. Partly because there is so much that is false and fanatical, a man would be counted as "beside himself" if he should really love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and strength and his neighbor as himself. Such a one must be content to be misunderstood and misjudged as Jesus was.