³⁴And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].                                            -Mark 8:34

I know we talk a lot about God giving us the desires of our hearts, God having an amazing plan for our lives, and Him causing us to live abundant lives, all of which are true. However, I think in pursuing those things, we often miss out on the avenue God intends us to take to get those things.

When we give our hearts to God, we no longer own our lives, He owns them. It’s not up to us to choose what we want to do and pursue, it’s up for us to discover those things which God has planned for us.

Jesus said in Mark 8:35 that, “Whoever wants to save his life, will lose it, and whoever gives up his life for His sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Every morning we wake up, we have 2 choices: Deny, forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of ourselves and our desires in order to pursue what He would have us pursue or live for ourselves and what we want and think we need.

We all need to be willing to do anything, live anywhere, give everything away, in a moment’s notice for His sake. The real abundant life is living everyday in His presence, doing what He says to do, regardless of the cost.

Everyday we need to say to ourselves, just like John the Baptist did, “HE MUST Increase, and I must decrease.”

Ask God to open up your eyes to things that you’re holding onto that are holding you back from following Him with every fiber in your being. When he reveals them to you, let go and pursue Him with everything you got – you’ll find abundant life in the pursuit.

¹⁰ God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ¹¹ Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.    I Peter 4:10-11

Watching the Olympics has been awesome. Nothing has impressed me more than watching Shaun White on the Half Pipe! He is amazing!

I started thinking though… why is it so awesome to watch him? Because he found out what his gift was, dedicated himself to it, and now he gives his gift to the world to enjoy.

Sadly, while Shaun White gives his gift away for the world to enjoy, too many of us sit at home watcing people do remarkable things, and never entertain the thought that we could give something remarkable to the world.

Here is a truth: YOU have something remarkable to offer the world. I don’t know what it is, but the people around you do. Ask people what your good at, discover the gifts that God has placed in you, dedicate yourself to developing those gifts, and then give something remarkable to the rest of the world.

The world will recognize when they see something remarkable – make sure when they see the remarkable in you- you  use it as an opportunity to point people to God, because the reality is, without the gifts and gracings He’s put in our lives, we would never be anything near remarkable.

Don’t neglect what God’s put in you. Be remarkable. Give Your Gift Away for the World to Enjoy.

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. – Matthew 5:28

Every second – $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography, Every second – 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography, Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States?.

I’ve never met anyone who is addicted to porn who is actually proud of it. Everyone I meet is hurting, has caused pain to people around them, and longing for a way out. It’s the easiest thing to hide, but one of the hardest things to come clean to somebody about. The shame can be almost unbearable. So how can you get free?

1.) Repent and Pursue God - In James it says, if you draw near to God, He’ll draw near to you. Though you’ll feel so distant from God it’s not even funny, if you’ll pursue Him, His desires will start becoming your desires, and porn will become less and less of a temptation.

2.) Recognize You’re Not Alone - There are millions of people struggling with the exact same thing you are and feeling the exact same way you are. You’re not alone.

3.) Humble Yourself and Tell Somebody that Loves you Unconditionally – This is the hardest step. Find somebody you know will love you regardless, and will walk you through the journey to freedom.

4.) Get Accountability - The video above is promoting 2 programs: X3Watch and Safe Eyes - both are accountability software that will block sites you shouldn’t be going to, and send any questionable sites you do visit to two accountability partners of your choice.

5.) Control Your Thoughts - You can control your thoughts – that is a fact. Philippians says to think on Good things only! What you put in your heart through what you watch and listen to, will fill your thought life. If you’ve been watching porn for a while, you’re probably filled with bad thoughts. Focus on putting positive deposits into your heart (go to church, listen to sermons, read great articles). Garbage in, Garbage Out. Purity in, Purity out!

Another Great Resource is XXX Church which is headed up by Craig Gross – you’ll find tons of great videos and articles to help you.

I hope this helps you – if you’re in need of someone to talk to – Send me a message on Facebook – I’d love to talk to you.