What is Life Like Over the Hump? ~ blog

How are you doing in your battle? I know some days are better than others. You get your hopes up and put together some days of sobriety, perhaps a week, and maybe even a month. You get this thought that maybe you have this addiction beaten and you are congratulating yourself.

However, like my favorite announcer on Saturday mornings football, Lee Corso says,

“Not so Fast my friend…Not So Fast”

Many of us enter this battle for freedom from porn and sexual addiction underestimating the power of our flesh and the enemy who wants to keep us entangled. So, here is the absolute truth that you need to know and just accept…

“This is a Battle unto Death!”

I hate to be the bearer of bad news…but our flesh or sinful nature will remain in us until our body dies. However, at death, it is gone and dies with our physical body.  Also, we live in a fallen world that has managed to make porn omnipresent. We can have it almost anytime and anyplace we want a quick fix.  Lastly, our enemy of demonic forces are able to influence us through lies and circumstances.

So, whether we like it or not we must learn how to deal with temptation and begin to use what God has told us to do on a daily basis so that we can move from being victims to being conquerors. And that is exactly what the 180 Recovery Program is designed to do.

However, today I want to try and give you some motivation. Because I know it is difficult to stay pure and often, we have to fight with shame, anger, and fear. We are still in cover-up mode and living in fear someone might discover we are still struggling.

Therefore, I want to help you look forward to what your life can become like if you are able to get over the hump and begin to be being healed through the Holy Spirit and the support of a strong community.

What can your life be like over the hump? Once we have learned the things we need to do to stop temptation in its tracks, have support from at least 2 other people, becoming honest with yourself, God, and others…it is critical to have a system of support to turn to at the first sign of temptation.

This is where we should have been all along. Growing in our Christian life in community with other believers and walking filled with the Spirit. This time frame, from the day you accepted Christ until the day you die, is called our Sanctification period of our salvation. This is the time when we are to be being transformed by the Spirit.

This is where we find ourselves being changed by the Spirit. He is doing something in us so that we do not find ourselves still in slavery to sin. His goal is for us to become conformed into the image of His Son…Jesus. He can also begin to bear His fruit in us as evidence that we are being changed. We are becoming more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.

Now I know what you are thinking. You read that and you think my goodness I don’t see any of those fruits growing in my life. Just remember fruit takes time to develop from being a blossom to becoming ripe fruit and the fruit of the Spirit is no different.

This is where time and consistency make all the difference. The Christian life is kind of like aging. We grow older very slowly. However, I have noticed that as time passes in my life it seems to be speeding up. When I was young a year seemed like an eternity. Now it is as if the days are flying by.

Something wonderful happens when you get over the hump. It is like someone has turned on the light in your brain and everything seems to be clearer and less confusing. I think when we have been walking in sin instead of the Spirit our vision is blurred. Our focus is drawn to things of the flesh and when we are out and about, we find ourselves hunting for anything sexual or alluring.

For example, we see a young mother walking with her daughter. In a split second, we are made a mental note about her breasts, legs, and rear-end. Yoga pants can clarify for us what is there. Her pants might be saying Yoga; however, her butt says McDonald’s…but I digress.

And because your lusts are getting you to look for the sexual you are missing sensational. Here is a mother with her daughter and they are out having a good time. It is one of those Indian summer days and one of the last times they may go out in their bright fashion. You also are missing the context in which all of you are in. It may be a bright and sunny day with gentle breezes and the hint of someone burning leaves in their back yard.

All around us all the time life is going on and if you are on the hunt looking for someone to lust after you will be missing the beauty of the moment in which you are living. Then there is a growing reality that your self-loathing is decreasing and your self-worth in increasing. There are less doom and gloom hanging over you causing depression and anxiety and more thoughts about the goodness and grace that God has poured into your life.

Last night my wife and I watched a movie called The Company Men. It was about 3 highly successful men who lose their high paying jobs because the Company is in trouble and they find themselves out of work and having to survive with extremely high expenses and three months severance.

It took me back to my life after I resigned from the ministry and found myself unemployed with 2 kids in college and a third waiting to go. My life was blown up. My family was severely wounded, and I was on the edge of bankruptcy. So, we prayed for three things. One, that God would allow us to remain in the home where my wife and daughter felt safe. Two, that we could somehow eliminate our debt. And three, that we would be able to get all our kids through college.

That was 15+ years ago and every one of those prayers God has answered. In fact, after working in the secular world as a door to door B2B salesman, a car salesman, and a recruiter for businesspeople, I was able to be fulltime running the 180 Ministry in the fall of 2017. I did not know how we could make it by starting a non-profit from scratch. However, slowly the ministry has grown to where I can continue to lead it full time.

Now I feel I have the greatest job in the world because we are seeing the lives of men being changed and helping men walk out of their sexual addiction.

I will go more into this story tomorrow…but let me end with urging you to keep going to get over the hump of your withdrawal. There is a much fuller and powerful life that God has for you if you will stay the course and get some help from one of our Online Support Teams.

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