What word would you use to describe an airport during the holiday season, with thousands of people all trying to make their flights on time? Perhaps frantic or busy come to mind. This same feeling could describe a New York City street or a Los Angeles freeway. But while much of this may seem normal to the average American, our culture’s busy lifestyle presents a real spiritual problem for believers.

The psalmist declares that our Good Shepherd will lead us beside still waters. It’s only when we know how to be quiet and still before God that we can find the refreshing our souls long for. And as Steve Gallagher shows us in episode 13 of our series, a life of ceaseless agitation is built to draw us away from that still life, away from God and deeper into the heart of Babylon.

We see it all too often. And we see it from both sides. There is the man who is struggling with sexual sin, with his addiction to pornography, but he thinks, “My problem will all go away when I get married.” Then there is the young woman who knows of her fiancé’s struggles, but she marries him anyway, thinking the same thing: “Marriage will fix him.” In this Purity for Life episode from 2019, we answer the question “Should I Marry a Man Struggling with Porn?”

Resources

• I'm Engaged to a Struggling Man (Article) By Rise Colón

In part two of our discussion on the Spiral of Degradation, Ken Larkin expounds on steps three through six of the Spiral of Degradation. If you haven’t already read part one, you can find the link to that article below. (from Podcast Episode #493 - Babylon: When Satan Rules the Hearts of Men)

Click here to check out "The Spiral of Degradation (Part 1)"

Nate: Let’s begin this part of our discussion by talking about the third step in the spiral of degradation which is the suppression of truth? What are some ways that people to suppress the truth?

Ken: In Romans 1:23 it says that the people who began suppressing the truth did so by exchanging the truth of God for a lie and that they began to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. So, it's not just the idea that you're suppressing the truth, but you're replacing it with a lie. That's an important distinction. I've counseled men in sexual sin for 14 years, and it’s unbelievable that most of the men that come into our program have an exaggerated sense of their own spirituality when they first arrive. They often say things like, “I'm walking with God, but I just have this one little problem.”
           Meanwhile, their whole inside world is filled with lust and perversion. You see, they’ve compartmentalized this one aspect of their lives as being the problem without realizing that their whole heart and their whole character is moving away from God. Overall, their issue with sexual sin is just the fruit of a life that's not right with God. So when it comes to suppressing the truth, maybe the Holy Spirit has been dealing with them for years about how they have been living and they've silenced His voice and somehow justified or minimized their sin. They may lie to themselves and think that it's not a big deal or that they’re like everyone else. Meanwhile these lies that they are buying into are just enabling them to continue down the spiral.

Nate: I can think of some of the ways that people suppress the truth. We can easily choose to suppress the truth whenever we feel guilt or shame. We can tell ourselves, “Well, everybody does this.” Or “I'm just human and God doesn't expect me to be perfect.” Or maybe we find someone who will coddle us in our sin. I remember one time when somebody confronted me in my sin and said, “You're not a victim.” I had been telling myself I was a victim, and it was that truth that really cut through and helped me realize that that victim mentality had been enabling me to continue living in sin.
        There are so many ways that we can suppress the truth. We can distract ourselves and throw ourselves into a hobby or the pursuit of pleasure. Some people when they realize that they are addicted to something decide to exchange one addiction for another and suddenly they're all into weightlifting or self-improvement. There are just so many ways that we can keep ourselves from acknowledging when our life is a wreck.

Ken: Yeah. And I would say another thing is that a lot of people that come to us for help come from ministry backgrounds. That makes it easy for them to dismiss their actions by saying, “I'm working for the Lord. I'm not doing good in this area, but look at all of the good that I am doing over here.” In their mind, somehow their wrong behavior is balanced out by other good things that they are doing. But it's not true. Just because you're doing the right thing in one area doesn’t mean that all of sudden your sinful behavior is okay.

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Nate: Let’s move on to the next part of the Spiral of Degradation. Steps four, five and six in the spiral of degradation all have the common denominator of being given over. It starts by being given over to the lust of the heart, then given over to degrading passions and then given over to a depraved mind. So, you can definitely see that a person is being progressively given over, further on and further down. I'd like for you to talk about this term given over, because I don't think it's really clear just from the outset what that even means. What does it mean in the Bible when God gives someone over?

Ken: Well, it's interesting. The word paradidomi in the Greek has the idea of handing one over to an enemy. But in the case of the Spiral of Degradation, it's not so much that God just hands someone over, it's more of the idea that He withdraws His protection. So now you're undefended and you have an enemy out there that wants to kill, steal and destroy and you're basically defenseless. I think it’s easy to forget how much God's grace keeps us from sin.
         The other aspect is not so much that He's just throwing you to the wolves, but He's withdrawing His restraining influence - the grace of God that keeps you from sin. You've rejected it so often that God is slowly withdrawing His presence and now you're left to fend for yourself. And you've already given yourself over to a particular sin and shown you've wanted it. So, God gives you what you want and you're helpless in yourself to defend it.

Nate: So then, can you describe steps four, five, and six of the Spiral of Degradation? What would it look like to be given over first to the lust of our heart, then to degrading passions, and then to a depraved mind?

Ken: The idea of being given over to the lust of the heart is interesting. I like the Scripture in James 1:14 where it talks about how each man is tempted and carried away or enticed by his own lust. It's the idea that we've seen played out a lot where someone might start out indulging in a certain sinful behavior, but there's still some sense of morality or a semblance of knowing what's right and what's wrong. But when they do give in to sin, they are being drawn away by their own lust. They’re enticed. It's like they're carried away to an alternate state where they're in a trance and morality flies out the window. Then they're given over to the point where they would begin to consider and do things they never would have considered doing before.
           Maybe someone crosses the line where in the past they were only acting out with the opposite sex, but now in this lust, they don't care how they fulfill their lust. Suddenly they may begin dabbling into fantasies about the same sex or even begin acting out with people of the same sex. They just start crossing lines and God has given them over to that. Basically, their whole life is starting to revolve around this sin and again, going back to the law of diminishing returns, after a while one begins to be so depraved that morality doesn't matter. Consequences don't matter in this altered state. Whether they're hurting other people – their friends, their family, their children – none of that matters. The only thing that matters is how are they going to fulfill their lust, and they're totally given over to it.

Nate: Yeah. So, then you kind of see that if you're given over to the lust of the heart and you don't repent, that's just going to perpetuate this cycle where then now you're going further and you’re being given over to degrading passions. You explained that a bit already. Is there anything else you would say about degrading passions?

Ken: Yeah. We can go back to talking about the restraint of God. For example, when someone is being given over to lust in their heart, maybe in that step, they weren't crossing lines as far as acting out in a particular sin. But now they're given over where God's restraint is being lifted and His grace and they're basically left to their sin. And we become a slave to what we obey. So, they’re becoming addicted and enslaved to their behavior and now they're probably crossing lines and acting out indiscriminately with other people, because morally to them it doesn't matter anymore.
          And one of the scary things is that a person becomes less and less aware of this pattern. They can get to the point where they don't even realize that their heart's becoming darker because they're getting more and more deceived, more and more depraved, and they love to have it that way. So, they are just given over more and more within.

‍

In America today, conservatism is often equated with Christianity. And though they share some of the same values and lifestyles, there is a real danger in linking them too closely with one another.

For American Christians, it is vital to examine our hearts and our faith, to see if nationalism has replaced devotion to Christ. And in any area where the values of the Kingdom of God and the values of conservatism differ, we must be willing to align ourselves to God alone.

In this episode, we're not taking sides or looking to diminish real gratitude for the core values of our nation. Our desire is to call believers back to passionate dedication to Christ and His cause because He deserves our greatest loyalty.

This is part two of our episode, "A Leaders Guide to the Sexual Addict." We created this episode to be a guide for lay leaders, counselors or anyone who wants to help someone overcome their sexual sin. We hope it will give you a better understanding of what's going on inside the heart of a professing Christian who is involved with sexual sin. We can't discuss everything, but we're trying to hit the key features.

Resources

• A Biblical Guide to Counseling the Sexual Addict (Book) by Steve Gallagher
• How to Minister to the Sex Addict (Article) by Jeff Colón

When a church culture is compromised enough that false teachers can thrive inside of its system, this will undoubtedly affect people in their daily lives. You see, Jesus said that when we continue in His Word that we will know the truth, and that the truth would liberate us. And so the converse is also true. Without the truth, we will not be liberated. And by definition, false teachers do not offer the truth of God to people, not in its purity. And so people are left bound in slavery to their sins. In this episode, Nate sits down with Patrick and Jon to discuss how this played out in their lives, and how it was that God helped bring them out of that system.

Resources

This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.

The world as we know it is in a spiritual freefall—moving ever further away from God. Those who remain attached to this world system are moving irresistibly into an ever-greater darkness. Before long they will be utterly engulfed, unable to escape. The only way out is to live in the will of God every minute of every day. This is the only path into the light—the only way into God.

Register now for the 2023 Pure Life Ministries Conference!

Ken Larkin has been a biblical counselor in our Residential Program for 14 years. He's seen many men who have entrenched themselves in sin and have traveled deep down the Spiral of Degradation. In part one of this interview, he discusses the first two steps of the spiral and how they can play out in a person's life.  (from Podcast Episode #493 - Babylon: When Satan Rules the Hearts of Men)

Nate: In Romans one we are given a description of what many Christians’ call “the Spiral of Degradation.” And what we see in this passage is a group of people who are going through a spiritual process that ends in total corruption. Anyone can go through the same spiritual corrupting process that would make them the kind of person that God destroyed in the biblical flood described in Genesis 6. So, anyone of us can become the kind of person that would make God say, “I am grieved that I made them.” Personally, I believe that viewing pornography is a fast track to becoming that kind of person. So, I brought Ken Larkin in to help us take a detailed look at this process. Ken, you’ve watched men come into our program who are way down the spiral of degradation, but you've also seen men come out of the spiral. So, first, could you briefly describe the steps down the spiral of degradation for us?

Ken: Sure. There are basically seven steps. The first step is a failure to reverence and give gratitude to God. In Romans 1:21 it says, “They did not honor or glorify Him as God or give thanks.” The second step is the darkening heart. Verses 22 & 23 say, “Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.” And you can see where this is going here with the whole idea of pornography and sexual sin. The third step is suppression of the truth. Verse 25 says that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
       As you're going down that spiral, the next step would be to be given over to the lust of the heart. Verse 24 says, “Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.” Step five signifies being given over even further. In verse 26 it says, “God gave them over to degrading passions.” Further on down the spiral is step six, which is the depraved mind. It says this in verse. Lastly, step 7, goes from verse 29 to the end of the chapter where it says that they came to a place of being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, and they were given over to a lifestyle of fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the sinful mind.

Nate: If somebody were to read through that portion of Scripture, they would definitely be able to see that there are definite steps along this pathway. This is not just one quick jump all the way to filled with all manner of unrighteousness. This is a process and what we want to help people realize is that if they are anywhere in that process, they're headed somewhere. But we also want them to see that they can come out of the spiral. So, here's what I want to do. I'd like to flesh these steps out and give a little bit of what they might look like in a practical way, so that somebody could see where they identify with being in this process. Or maybe they have been there, or it may help them see where they are headed. Let's start with the first step down. They did not glorify God as God or give Him thanks. What does that mean exactly? And what does it look like when somebody is taking that step?

Ken: Well, it's interesting because Scripture says first that they did know God. So, it's not ignorance. This is someone that has the knowledge of God, has come into a relationship with Him, but then they lose their reverential and worshipful fear and love of God. You could say it's like someone left their first love. First of all, what happens is they begin to lose their adoration and awe of God. They lose the place where God is literally the center of their universe, where He should be. They lose the place where God is everything and where God is God, and what slowly happens is that begins to be replaced by self.
        If you look at someone that may have been broken over their sin, they should be coming into true repentance. But often times even after repenting, all of a sudden, their self-life and pride starts rising up again and they become bigger in their own estimation and God becomes smaller. Then what happens is since they're not deriving their ultimate fulfillment from a relationship with God, a sense of discontentment or dissatisfaction starts welling up in their hearts and they become ungrateful. Then since they're not seeking intimacy with God, they might be doing all the outward things they did before, but something inside their heart has changed their direction and now they're turning away from God and seeking fulfillment or satisfaction outside of Him. This causes them to be disgruntled and believe that somehow God's holding out on them and not giving them what they want. It's a very evil disposition.

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Nate: Yeah, and it's also very subtle. This doesn't even necessarily mean that a person is engaging in some gross sin. This is just like you said, a change of direction in the heart. I think that’s important for people to understand. The danger zone is not looking at pornography once a week or starting to commit A, B or C sin. The danger zone is where the attitude of the heart changes towards God. Now let’s look at the second step which is the darkening heart. What's happening at this point and how do you see this taking place?

Ken: It's a change in direction. Now they're moving away from the light and toward darkness. I've heard it said that morality is not a line, it's a direction. So now they're moving in the opposite direction and what happens is since they're not satisfied with God, they're going to seek satisfaction in their idol. And in a lot of people's case the idol is sexual sin, which Scripture really brings out in Romans 1. So, what's happening is they might be involved in a certain behavior and it's maybe euphoric or they really get something out of it. It’s almost like a drug addict. The first hit is amazing and then afterwards they're always seeking that high again.
        Eventually they want to continue this behavior more frequently. They were giving over to their sin once a week and now they are giving over daily. But ultimately, it's the law of diminishing returns, because it's not going to continually satisfy. It's never going to be like the initial high or euphoric experience, so they're going to want to continue to do it more frequently. And then what happens is you cross lines and begin to engage in more depraved behavior. Where once it might have just been looking at porn, now this person is acting out with other people or getting involved in behavior that is worse than what they ever would have dreamed they would do. But they're starting to go down in a direction away from God and toward their sin.

Nate: Yeah. And when it says the darkening heart, I think the thing to remember is that it's not just a change in the progression of behavior, but something's really happening in the person’s heart. What other kinds of things could you see taking place in this person’s internal world maybe?

Ken: One of the things is that their value system begins to change. What they would have considered evil before, no longer looks that bad. As a matter of fact, it looks good and it looks enticing. It looks like something desirable even though it might be something God hates and it’s inherently evil. And one of the aspects of sin which we'll get into more as we go down the spiral is that one of the lies that is easy to believe is that you can just easily quit whenever you want. That is not true. The more you give over to sin you're being corrupted on the inside and your heart is becoming more dark, more polluted, more fouled and tainted by that sin. And the effects of that don’t just immediately go away once your wrong behavior stops.

When you've ministered to Christian men in sexual sin for as long as we have, you start to get a pretty good idea about who you are dealing with and what they need. If you’re a pastor, if you’re discipling someone who is struggling with sexual sin, or if you recently found out that someone you love has been living a double life of hidden immorality, this episode is for you. Welcome to part one of "A Leader's Guide to the Sexual Addict."

Resources

• Counseling the Sexual Addict (Book) by Steve Gallagher
• The Foundation of Biblical Counsel (Article) by Jeff Colón

When Chris looked at Marissa, he saw a woman who would help him control his lust. He saw someone who would help him achieve a prosperous life. When Marissa looked at Chris, she saw a man who would help her pursue the Lord, someone who would help her cultivate the kind of spiritual life she dreamed of having. One day, both of their dreams came crashing down. But this did not result in the destruction of their marriage. Instead, it brought about the creation of something unexpected. Something beautiful. Something brand new.

Resources

• No, Marriage is Not the Cure for Lust (Article) by Jeff Colón

People living in habitual sin often believe that their sin only affects them. They deceive themselves into believing it won’t harm family and friends. But this isn't true practically, and it isn't true spiritually or biblically either. In part two of our interview with Dustin and Brittany Renz we discuss how hidden sin affects a marriage and some of the important aspects of rebuilding a broken marriage.                                                                                        

If you haven’t already read part one, you can find the link to that article below. (from Podcast Episode #462 - Husbands, It's Time to Be Honest)

‍Click here to check out Hiding Your Sin Won't Protect Your Wife (Part 1)

Patrick: Dustin and Brittany, today we’re continuing our discussion on how Dustin’s double life affected your marriage and how important honesty and transparency are in a marriage. I think we would all say that it is worth it to bring our sin out into the light. The consequences we have to walk through are worth the freedom and the joy of the Lord in our relationships with others. But I think that a lot of people are going to hold out their hand and try to resist that moment. So, if there was someone that you knew was hiding sin and being dishonest with their wives, how would you counsel them considering your own experience with hiding sin?

Dustin: When I look back, I had always told myself I was going to get free between me and God. It wasn't that I was just going to blatantly live in sin, but me and God are going to get this figured out between me and Him. I've counseled people before in that place who don't want to let it all out in the open and my advice to them is if it works getting free between you and God, then why aren't you free? How many years have you been struggling with this? 5 years? 10 years? If you want to be free, the only way to do it is to confess your sin.

           When I look back, I don't think it was possible for me to be free until I let Brittany know and let things out in the open. So, in some ways, all the painful consequences that I had to walk through was the only pathway to freedom. The only reason it was so destructive and painful was because I waited so long. So, I always let people know, unfortunately you can't go back in time and fix the damage that has been done from your sin. I couldn't go back to the beginning of our marriage when we were dating and decide to be real, but I could make the choice that I did and let it all out when I did. Adding more days, months, and years just causes more and more pain, so why not just deal with it now and get it out in the open so that you can be free?

Brittany: Also, I think it would have helped back then if he would have gone to a pastor or a mature believer that he could confess his sin to. He could have told someone that he wanted to get free and maybe they could have helped him walk through some things before confessing to me.

Patrick: As we're talking about this Dustin, it reminds me of the sermon you delivered to the men in our Residential Program. You were talking to them about the story of Achan out of the book of Joshua. He was hiding his sin. But it didn't just affect him. It didn't even just affect his family. His sin affected the whole Israelite community. You made some pretty strong statements to the guys about that. I'm wondering if you can relate that to your marriage and the conversation we're having.

Dustin: I mentioned in that message something Paul talks about in Galatians. He said that if you sow to the flesh, you'll reap corruption and that if you sow to the spirit, you'll reap everlasting life. It was the first time I really thought of it this way when I was preparing that message, but one of the points was that as believers, or really anyone, we all have control over what kind of seed we sow. We can choose to sow to the flesh or to sow to the spirit. But we have no control over the harvest that comes. So, the decision we make, and the repercussions and consequences of those decisions are all going to play out in ways that affect others. It’s like a ripple effect that we can't choose the outcome of. You can't control it or keep it from occurring.

           The lie that a lot of people believe is that their sin only affects themselves. They may even believe that they can deal with it between them and God and just move on. They also may think that it doesn't even affect their wife or kids. That's not biblically true. When you look at someone's life, it's obvious that their consequences and their decisions have a very large impact on the people around them whether they want them to or not.

Patrick: We've already kind of touched on one of the questions I wanted to ask, which is, what does the Word of God have to say about living honestly and transparently in a relationship?

Dustin: Yeah. We talked a little bit about the theme of walking in the light as He is in the light. In 1 John there is a contrast made between darkness and light. We can't live in darkness and claim to know God. That should bring conviction to anybody who claims to be a believer and yet is living in the darkness. So, I think part of the lifestyle someone has to develop, even after their first major confession, is an ongoing process or confession and repentance. It's not just a one-time thing where you come clean and then you go back in to hiding. You have to learn how to be an open book with the people close to you in your life. Not necessarily the whole world, but certainly your spouse and your pastor or spiritual authority in your life.

          I really love how Paul says in Romans 12:9 that we should let love be sincere. That word sincere is actually translated in the Greek anupokritos, which means “without hypocrisy.” In essence, Paul is giving an exhortation to us that love should be without hypocrisy. You should love that way, especially in a marriage relationship. That should be the closest relationship that you have on the earth. Your spouse is the person that you are the most intimate with. You can't truly love your spouse and have a true marital bond if you're living with a mask on. Biblically it doesn't make sense and practically it doesn't either.

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Patrick: As you talk about learning to live in the light and learning to love without hypocrisy, obviously that didn't happen right away after you confessed. That probably had to play itself out when you returned from the program and got back into rebuilding your marriage. Can you each talk about what that time was like and some of the struggles and issues that you had to walk through to learn to build honest communication with each other?

Brittany: I could see that Dustin was being more open and honest after coming back from the Residential Program and trust was something that had to develop over a lot of time. Trust doesn't happen overnight. I had to see that he was being trustworthy and the more that he would communicate with me about anything that he was struggling with or just difficulties that he was having, I saw that he was being more open and honest about his life in general. Also, he was getting help from our pastor and other mature believers, so there was accountability factored in there as well. I couldn't be his accountability partner because I still had all of my emotions and thoughts involved as we were going through this process. But if I had to or wanted to ask him a question, I knew he was able to answer me honestly and able to open up and be honest about what he was dealing with or struggling with.

Dustin: For me, I think the process was very challenging because I had spent years trying to learn how to deceive and manipulate. That was my lifestyle and I had become really good at it. So to learn to live outwardly and to talk about what was going on inside, especially if I was having a struggle with something, was completely contrary to what I taught myself to do. So it took a while. Even with pastors and other people aside from my wife, I had to learn to be open and honest. There were times where I felt like I was really struggling and I would tell Brittany that I needed her to pray for me. But one thing I found for me is that I would get really defensive if Brittany would ask me, “Hey, how are you doing?” If I was doing well, it would be frustrating because I kept feeling like she didn’t trust me yet.

         So, I had to work through that and I had to realize that I was the one who caused all these problems. Who was I to get upset? But when you start to have a good track record, it can become difficult not to rise up internally when you are questioned about if you are struggling. I'm used to being questioned now, because now I know that I'm not above temptation and I actually invite people into my life who can ask those tough questions. Initially I remember often responding like, “I’m doing good. Don't worry about me, I’m fine.” And I had to work through some of my selfishness and self-sufficiency during that period of time.

Brittany: And on the flip side, when I would ask him those questions and he did admit something that he was struggling with or something that was difficult, I wanted to get real upset myself and say, “Why are you still dealing with this? I thought you overcame these things or got past them.” But I had to realize that he had to take a lot of time to get these sins worked out of his life and to get the overwhelming temptation out of his life by continually walking in freedom while being open and honest. So, I had to deal with things myself internally to be a support, not to pat him on the back and say, “Oh better luck next time.” I just needed to be a support where I realized that he might mess up and he might make a mistake, but he was walking in the light and going through a process of transformation.

Patrick: Was it challenging for you at first to really believe that he wouldn’t go back to hiding everything and to really believe that he was on the right track? Did you have to fight to believe that about him?

Brittany: Oh yeah. A lot of doubt at first and a lot of distrust. A lot of wondering if he is just saying what I wanted to hear or if he was saying the truth. Especially in the beginning, because I would think back on when he opened up and confessed all of his sin and I didn't even know anything was going on in his life at that time. I would get hit with the thought of, “I already believed the lie once. Am I going to believe the lie again?” So, the time factor was big because it took a lot of time to trust him again and to believe what he was saying. But I could see the more that he was walking in freedom and walking in the light, I would begin to trust him more and see that he was walking out the life that he was claiming to be living now.

Dustin: So, when we look at the whole process during that time, it was messy, difficult, and challenging. It had its ups and downs emotionally as well. It wasn't just like we flipped a switch and everything was perfect. It took a really a long time. Some of the battles still continue to this day, but we've grown a ton, so things are a lot different. Initially it was really difficult for both of us, but the Lord gave us the grace to navigate through it and get us to a place where trust could be built into our relationship. And as I continued to walk in transparency, we were able to get to the strong relationship that we have today.

Patrick: I want to switch gears as we close today because when it came to rebuilding your marriage you guys talked a lot about the process of learning to be honest and learning over time to rebuild trust, and how that involved your communication with one another about things going on in your life. But I can imagine that there were other factors of building a healthy marriage centered in God that would over time help you guys to feel closer and more vulnerable with one another. So, is there anything else you would like to share about how you rebuilt your marriage as we close today?

Dustin: I think that each of us getting alone with the Lord to pray and get into the Word consistently has been an essential part of rebuilding our marriage. We get together to pray and read the Word as well. We’ve gone through marriage books together and we’ve watched teaching videos just to learn. Spending time doing those things on a regular basis has been helpful. I think one of the biggest things for me that Brittany referenced earlier is that I've got people in my life that I meet with on a regular basis. I've got a couple of men that I am accountable to that I meet with once a week and one of the questions that I'm asked every week is, “How's your marriage doing? How have you been treating your wife? What kind of issues are you working through?” So, I think for her, knowing that I have people I'm going to that I'm being transparent with, gives her a peace about where I'm at in my walk with the Lord. Overall, it has been a huge advantage for me as a married man to have people to ask those questions. Because every married man should be able to be held accountable for the way that they’re acting and the way that they are treating their wife.

Brittany: Yeah. And we're able to do devotions together and this isn't in place of personal devotions, but we're able to read a marriage devotional or listen to a podcast or something that will build our marriage up. We’re also able to pray together and sometimes just go on dates together where we are able to spend time building our relationship and have uninterrupted time to more deeply communicate with each other about our lives.

Welcome to the fifth episode in our series, Key Lessons on the Road to Freedom. In this episode, we are going to look at yet another vital aspect of learning to walk in freedom from sexual sin - keeping a godly atmosphere in your home. It's a lesson we all have to learn. If we want to live godly lives, we have to keep a careful guard over our homes.

Resources

The Role of Consecration in Overcoming Sin (Article) By Steve Gallagher