The Voice of Truth

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3, NASB) My purpose in life is to know God and to make Him known; to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love others as I love myself.  I often get caught up in the "other things" of life, a plethora of daily activities most of which are necessary to live out this life here on earth.  But all that is really required is my relationship with Jesus.  I am not saying that those other things are bad in and of themselves, indeed they are necessary, but when they become the focus at the expense of the greater thing (my personal relationship with Jesus), then they become evil, or at the very least, meaningless endeavors. With each new day I become more acutely aware of my need for Jesus.  Spending time with Him in Bible reading, prayer, and self-examination is not a luxury I allow myself or a simple ritual, rather it is basic.  It is...

This post is from the Exodus International Blog dated September 27, 2012 Holy Sexuality (Batman)!

It is a very important question.  For me, the question easily could have been "Am I convinced of the love and goodness of my wife, my father, my friends?"  My wife and I during a recent argument (which I like to refer to as "passionate discussions") discussed this very issue as it related to us.  The honest answer for me was, no I am not 100% convinced of the love anyone says they have for me, not 100% of the time.  The reason I say that is that my actions indicate that I am not convinced.  I think it is just a moment to moment thing.  In a weak moment when I am feeling threatened in some way, or someone sins against me, or inadvertently does something that wrongs me in some way, it is easy to feel unloved.  This happens to me all the time.  It is a learned behavior.  My defenses go up immediately and I try to protect myself by distancing myself from the offender.  I assume they do not love me and don't care so I tell myself this person ...

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not" (Romans 7:18, NASB) "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary" (Galatians 6:9, NASB) My flesh is consistent and persistent.  It wants what it wants, when it wants it.  It wants to be lazy first thing in the morning.  It wants to lust just before I start my quiet time in the morning and sometimes during it.  It is very controlling and manipulating and has no regard for other people.  I believe God when He declares that "...nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh..." The Bible doesn't teach me to strive against the flesh on its terms, but rather to remove the flesh from the equation all together through faith by setting my mind on the Spirit and counting the flesh as dead.  The world tries to convince me that living in the Spirit (thinking about God, meditating o...

"Come now, you who say 'Tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow, you are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'" (James 4:13-15, NASB) "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.  So then, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." (Ephesians 5:15-17, NASB) The news of my cousin Sheila's death has got me thinking about eternal things.  The things that really matter that I so often take for granted have come to the front of my mind.  I am becoming increasingly aware that there are many sideline activities in my life that rob me of precious time I could be using doing more important things.  It is not so...

I don't really know what to write today.  I just received news from my mother that my cousin who is about the same age as me, passed away today.  I do not know any of the details about how she died, but it certainly reminded me how fragile life is, that I am not guaranteed tomorrow.  A lot of recovery thoughts have flooded my mind: living one day at a time, trusting God for each moment of each day, etc.  But more than anything, the importance of knowing where I stand before the Lord is so important and that being settled, I need to be about the Lord's business--telling others about Him.  I know that I am called to serve Him in the area of recovery and specifically with those struggling with same sex attractions, but I can't help but think that His purpose for my life is even higher than that.  I pray that my zeal for telling the truth about the issue of same sex attraction and lust never gets in the way of loving people and telling them the even greater tru...