I don’t say this to be funny. This is a serious problem. I use the word “recovering<\/strong>“, not because I am actively engaged in activities that fall into this category, but because like with all addicts, I am constantly tormented by the past, and tempted in the present, whether I willing to admit it or not . Additionally, while the battles may become smaller each day, there are always challenges that try to revert us to unacceptable patterns of behavior while we try to live according to God’s standards. However, <\/span>I know I can win this battle because of what God has done in my life, through the work of Jesus. I use the word “recovering<\/strong>“, not because I am actively engaged in activities that fall into this category, but because like with all addictions, I am constantly tormented by the past, and tempted in the present.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Now, why would I share this?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because during my reading time this morning, what I read from this devotional<\/a> that stuck in my heart. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the statements that set off my innate “DUH!” alarm:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now while these are true and we essentially all know can see this as common sense, shame, guilt, fear of judgement all play a part in us NOT following through. But we have to remember to live life as though we are on the same team, BECAUSE WE ARE (Matt 19:4-5). As I meditated on these thoughts I realized that I had to be completely open. For example while my wife knows about my past behavior I don’t share my daily struggles when they occur. I also decided to share with you, so that we could help each other live better. There is no judgment, that is not our job. We are called to help each other through encouragement and edification (the instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually. in other words. a reminding to one another what the standard is to which we are called) with love and understanding of the fact that we all have struggles. (1 Thes 5:11 ; Heb 3:13) Even God, the only one with the credentials to be the judge, didn’t expect us to be able to live blameless, But he loved us so much that Jesus took all guilt and shame through His actions on the cross. (Rom 5:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n My take away(s) from this mornings reading were the wife and I should be reading this devotional together so we can talk and pray for one another’s struggles (1 Cor 7:1-5) AND I should share this because it could help others live better. (Eccl 4:9-11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n While we are learning to be open with one another, remember that we were not meant to do life on our own. We were built for fellowship and community. (Prov 27:17)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I do not know who this was for today, but I was led to post this morning. I hope and pray you read this in the Spirit in which it was written. Remember, “God is good, all the time.” I am praying for you, and would love to hear from you if this has helped you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May the Lord bless you and keep you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ** Note<\/strong>: The devotional reading is from : God Sex and Your Marriage from Authentic Intimacy. For more information, please visit: www.authenticintimacy.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Encouragement for Husbands: Ephesians 5:25-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t expect any of you to know this about me but it is an important over share. So here it goes: I am a recovering sex addict. I don’t say this to be funny. This is a serious problem. I use the word “recovering“, not because I am actively engaged in activities that fall into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,34,12,57,17],"tags":[8,20,32,29,23,37,33,39,40,35,14,15,25,30],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-choice","category-fellowship","category-life","category-relationships","category-religion","tag-8","tag-bible","tag-christ","tag-christianity","tag-facebook","tag-family","tag-fellowship","tag-god","tag-husband","tag-jesus","tag-meta","tag-myspace","tag-raising-men","tag-religion-and-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2353,"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/man-skilz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n
May Jesus have His way with your day<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/creativecommons.org\/images\/public\/somerights20.png?zoom=1.100000023841858&w=800\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\nHe is Founder and consultant for Tek Management<\/a>,
\nFounder of the Men\u2019s Community site: Man Skilz<\/a>,
\nCo-Founder of the online Bible study app: BibleCounts<\/a>
\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.linkedin.com\/img\/webpromo\/btn_in_20x15.gif?zoom=1.100000023841858&resize=20%2C15\")
View Gary Cartagena\u2019s profile<\/a>
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\nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.<\/a>
\n\u00a9 2008-2026: All content on this and other pages within the TekMan family of domains are the specific intellectual property of the owner of the site, Tek Management and\/or The Strong Foundation. Content may be reused or reproduced according to the licensing restrictions without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source as per the licensing restrictions found at the link above. Opinions of the authors may be generated from content obtained from other sources and such content is referenced as appropriate.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"