pod 11 - p5

The speaker discusses the issue of struggling with pornography in the church and the shame that comes with keeping it hidden. They emphasize the importance of speaking up and bringing it to God, as well as the encouragement that comes from sharing one's struggles with others. They also talk about the importance of having faith in God's strength rather than relying on one's own capabilities. They highlight the need to be aware of God's presence and be open to opportunities to speak and act in accordance with his guidance. The conversation ends with a prayer for strength, faith, and a deepening relationship with God. Yeah, but I saw something that was like 70% of like men in the church struggle with pornography. And like from when I was struggling with it, nobody really said anything to me about it. And so there's this shame about keeping it hidden, I guess, and not bringing it up. And then I guess that kind of just spreads to everyone who struggles with it. Or nobody's talking about it, so I must be the only one. Yeah. I think that's like a big thing that actually affects it and stops you from talking about other people and then, I guess, bringing it to God and not relying on yourself. Because then if nobody tells you, like the only way you can escape from lust and that sort of stuff is fleeing from it and relying on God and nobody's talking about it, then it can be difficult to even know where to start. Yeah, I reckon, yeah, very isolating. And like you just said, it makes other people confused to feel like, is it just me that's going through this? And like you gave that stat, 70% of men, like 100%, I think that that would be like something that, you know, you see that whether you're a Christian or a non-Christian, you see guys that are really struggling with it. And it takes faith and courage to be a guy that speaks up on it and says, you know what, I've struggled with it. And it brings encouragement to others to know, hey, I'm working through this and you can too. Silence, I think, just makes people feel insecure, makes people feel like they're isolated, makes people feel like, what's wrong with me? I love that there's a vulnerability around that because you need that. You need someone else to encourage you. And ask God to help you through it. Yeah, I think the most important thing is when you feel persecuted or going through something where you feel vulnerable and you feel weak, is having the faith that you don't find strength in yourself, you find strength in your faith you have in God. And that's what we spoke about recently with strength is, strength is not your own capability. Strength is choosing God over everything else. It's choosing having faith in God over everything else. And it's having faith that, yeah, I'm weak right now, but you know what makes me strong is God. I'm never going to have all this strength because of my capabilities and because of what I can do. No, this is what God is doing in me. We only get the armour of God when we're equipped by God. That's the only way we get strong is through God and Him only. Yeah, I was reading the Armour of God last night. It's so good. But I guess as a final question, do you have any more questions? I'm pretty much out of questions. I guess as a final question is, with faith, how do you think that we can just continually have faith that every single day of our life, every single thing that might happen or will happen, that we can just stay strong? Like what's an encouragement that helps us and what's something that's helped you to always stay in your faith constantly? I think one thing that is an encouragement and to be important for us to just have in our minds is to be aware that God is moving. God is wanting to speak to people. God is wanting to heal people. God is wanting to encourage people. God is wanting to strengthen people. God's wanting to do all those things and He chooses to use you and I. And so we walk into our day and we walk into situations and conversations and opportunities and God's already there. And God has set up things. God's prepared good works for us that we would walk in. The Bible says God has got opportunities for us. Are we aware of them? I think sometimes we can be caught up in our own busyness and our own thoughts and our own days and be so insular that we can forget and not be aware that God's there. God's wanting to work. God's wanting to move. And what miracle could be on the other side of us being courageous enough to step out in faith and say something or pray for someone or just be obedient to what the Holy Spirit's prompting us to do? I think that that is a really important key to being a person of faith is to just be aware. Being aware God's here and I'm asking myself under my breath sometimes or just in my head, God what are you saying? God what do you want to do? Because I don't have all the answers. I don't walk into every single day going I know exactly what's going to happen today. In our humanity we don't but the Spirit led life is just the life where we are just trusting the Holy Spirit and God what are you wanting to say? What are you wanting to do? And just flowing with that and following that. Look at Jesus. So many of his miracles happened because of interruptions. They happened in the street. They happened outside of a church building. They just happened in moments where people come up to Jesus and then he started to interact with them. I think that there are moments like that that happen to us every single day that if we're just aware of what God's saying and what God's doing and just aware that he's there, we can be ready for opportunities when they come. Yeah, so good. That's so good. Wow, that's such a good encouragement and such a good reminder. That helps me so much is just being aware and actually giving space. That's giving space to God is being aware that he is there, that he has something planned for us and we can have faith in that as well. How cool. Thank you so much for coming. The honest mind voice. It's so good to be here. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for your faith. Thank you for trusting God and being courageous enough to put yourself out like this. But more than that, more than this platform for the lives that you do live that is genuine faith in God, it is so inspiring. I just love cheering you guys on. Thank you so much for having me. It's a privilege. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Before we finish up, who would like to pray before we end? I'm happy to pray. No worries. Alright, we'll pray. Lord, I just thank you for this time together today. Thank you for the topics we've talked about, faith and hope and being transparent in our lives and being aware of you in all the different seasons and situations that we would face in our lives. I pray, Lord God, that you'd strengthen our faith, help our trust in you to grow as we just continue to journey with you each and every day. Help us to do the basic things of praying and reading the Bible and being aware that you are there and sharing our faith to our friends and family and those that are around us, Lord. As we talked about that scripture, not just to be doing good works, but to be in relationship with you that it would never be said about us that you never knew us. I pray that our relationship with you would be the bedrock that everything else flows from, the good works and the life that we live, that hope would overflow out of our life because of our relationship with you. We just pray for every one of the people listening to this podcast right now. Fill them with strength and hope and love and faith in you and that you'd help us, Lord, to each and every day grow closer to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much for coming, Ben. Thank you so much and thank you guys for watching. We'll see you next week. Have a good week, guys.