Becoming Whole

Within the realm of sexual sins, maybe you tend to look past Lust as “not so bad.”  But, looking past Lust gives this quiet sin even more destructive power.

In your journey to sexual integrity, you’re working towards becoming whole. And part of that work means considering yourself and others as whole persons.

Lust dismantles that work one body part at a time. It quietly splits us from ourselves and from others. 

Please consider taking some time to work through the Gospel Meditation in the Homework section.

Highlights:

Lust can be defined as looking at another person as a sexual object for my own selfish, sexual desire rather than seeing a person who’s created in God’s image to be loved.

When we objectify another person, it elicits a sense of pleasure and as we hold onto the parts that make us feel good; we are discarding the rest.

Lust says, “I want the parts that arouse me but not the parts that require something from me, that would cost me something.”

Marriage says, “I know that there are parts of you that will cost me something and I’m all in because you’re worth all of me.”

Check out Awaken

Homework:

Prayer: “Lord, I see this in me. I see that I want to hold onto this. And I need your help with it. I do surrender this to you. I want to see people as people.”

Read John 21:15-19 as Jesus sees the break between he and Peter, and heals the rupture. Read Jesus’ questions again, recalling that Peter had denied Jesus three times and was now being asked three times if he loved Jesus. Read the story as an invitation for you.

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Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Journaling, Fasting, Denying, Confessing, Releasing, Praying – Becoming Whole is a process. 

For Jesus, because of you, it is a process worth dying for. 

Friends, we have arrived at the end of Lent, which brings the beginning of a new Hope. While the world is grabbing at your sexuality to pull it away from your spirituality, Jesus is breaking through the grave to make you whole again. 

You are worth it. 

Jesus’ arrival on this earth declared God’s value on both your spirit and your body as a treasure.  Jesus’ death and resurrection promises redemption of the rupture. 

This Easter, absorb the declaration of hope for the union of your body and your spirit in complete wholeness through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Highlights:

Christianity is a religion, a faith, a worldview that sees the union of spirit and body as essential to what it means to be a human being.

We live in a culture that separates spirit from body in so many ways.

His Resurrection is an authoritative declaration that He overcomes the powers of this world.

1 Corinthians 6 “Our bodies are made for the Lord.”

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Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

It’s striking to consider Jesus’ will being apart or different than God the Father’s will.

After all, He came to do the will of the Father. That’s how Jesus lived His life on earth to the end. And yet, in the last days, Jesus exposes a gap. 

He exposes it through a desperate cry out to his Abba - “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Consider Jesus’ heart and his vulnerability.

Exposing that His will might be different from God’s makes space for us to pull in closer to King Jesus and learn. His final days on Earth offer us more than an example. 

He leads us to a deeper relationship where we can acknowledge our choice, seek God’s heart, cry out and say, “Not my will but yours be done.”

Let's dive in.

Highlights:

Your choice to echo his words comes out of union with Jesus and fosters union with Him.

Obedience can cause suffering, can make things hard, involves a cost; it helps to know Jesus is in it with us.

Jesus said “yes” to the Father’s will when He didn’t want to.  As Jesus decided, His decision became a gift for you now.

In the moments, big or small, where you find your will is not aligned with what God is asking you to do: recognize it, don’t beat yourself up, take comfort and look for Jesus in the midst of it.

Homework:

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” -Matthew 26:39

“Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” -Mark 14:36

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” -Luke 22:42

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2026 Upcoming Retreats - Register Today!

Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Have you noticed? There are invitations for each distinct part of you in these recent episodes of “Becoming Whole.”

Our hope is you’ll say yes to the invitations and incorporate all of you into this meaningful season of Lent:  Whether it’s through Confession widening awareness for your heart or Meditation as it transforms your mind.

Now, as you listen, allow your body to move through a prayerful exercise. This is simple yet powerful. 

As you sense your body communicating needs and desires; consider Jesus’ words. Jesus goes first. He gives us the words and so much more. 

Let’s begin. 

Highlights:

“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

Jesus gives us His body, His death and His Resurrected body too.

In the face of our temptations, our unmet longings, our bodily desires, those things we wish we didn’t want but we still want, the attractions or orientations we say no to, the habits we fight; Jesus says “This is my body given for you.”

If you want to learn more, check out Josh’s latest writing on this topic at, Giving Your Body

Transcription:

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Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Lent invites you to take a longer look at Jesus on the Cross. 

This season, we invite you take time to consider Confession as a way to fully understand the choices you are making. 

Naming and owning your sin is uncomfortable (and that’s putting it lightly). But as you’ll hear, confessing sin plays a vital role to your relationship with God.  

Before we get started, let’s pray: “Lord, I confess I can’t fully see the death and destruction that come from my sin. Many times, I don’t want to see it. Have mercy on my body and on my impulses. Change me through the resurrection of Jesus. Make me a new creation.”

Let’s begin.

Highlights:

Sin is a violation of who we are and who we are in relationship with God.

By avoiding our sin, we have forgotten the reality of what sin does to us, how quickly it moves into us and through us.

“Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” -James 4:4

Act of Contrition (Inspired by the Gospels, from the Vatican)

Father of mercy, like the prodigal son I return to you and say: “I have sinned against you and am no longer worthy to be called your child.”

Christ Jesus, Savior of the world, I pray with the repentant thief to whom you promised Paradise: “Lord, remember me in your kingdom.”

Holy Spirit, fountain of love, I call on you with trust: “Purify my heart, and help me to walk as a child of light.”

If you want to learn more, check out Josh’s latest writing on this topic at, If You Don’t Need Mercy

Transcription:

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Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

Friends, this is our 200th episode!

That’s 200 conversations and teachings we hope have accompanied, encouraged, and equipped you on your journey to Becoming Whole.

At Regeneration Ministries, we believe the trial you’re struggling with can serve as a holy invitation from God to know Him more deeply.  While these episodes aren’t meant to be substitutes for coaching, they can certainly be a first step to understanding the invitation more fully. 

Often, we go wide together here, covering a multitude of topics on sexual integrity. 

Today, we are going deep together through a prayerful meditation. Ask the Holy Spirit to open and guide your imagination. Allow yourself to hit pause on the activity around you so you can shift more fully into a posture of prayer. 

Together, let’s take a deep breath as we enter more deeply into the mystery of choice and suffering and Jesus. 

Let’s begin.

(We humbly ask that you take a moment to Review, Rate and Subscribe to let others know what you think of the podcast.)

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Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

If you accept the invitation, Lent can be so much more than a countdown to Easter. It is a season steeped in rich tradition.

Fasting is one way to observe Jesus’ walk to the cross. But this tradition goes beyond depriving yourself of food or alcohol. 

Specifically, for you, as you journey to sexual integrity, fasting can be a powerful way to grow in self-control. What initially feels like denying yourself can become, with diligence and dedication, a chance to free yourself.

In this episode, we’ll turn to the Gospel to hear how Matthew gives voice to our hunger and how Jesus gives voice to our satisfaction.

Highlights:

Fasting helps you grow in self-control. Strengthens you to say ‘no’ to what you don’t need.

Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus walked on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me and be my disciple.’ And Matthew got up and followed him.”

In this verse, as the author, Matthew is acknowledging he is sick. He identifies himself as the one Jesus came to seek and to save.

Our hunger is not the problem, it is part of the solution. Once we recognize that we are hungry for something more than food, more than sin, more than likes, more than distraction and comfort - then we’ll be able to recognize who we are and whose we are. And we, like Matthew, can stand up and say, that’s me. I’m one of the hungry ones and I need the bridegroom.

Homework:

As you practice Fasting, when you feel the lack, pray these defiant words “Lord, I feel hunger in my body, but I am more hungry and more thirsty for you.”

Transcription:

Full Transcription Available here

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2026 Upcoming Retreats - Register Today!

Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

As we step into the season of Lent, maybe you’re feeling a sense of somberness. 

That’s understandable considering Lent walks us through Jesus’ journey to the cross. It also walks us to a confrontation with our own sin. 

On this episode of “Becoming Whole”, listen in as Josh juxtaposes Simon’s first meeting with Jesus and his last.  There’s an invitation within this season and the two stories of Simon Peter to understand who we are and who God is.

Maybe your unwanted sexual habit or past trauma drops you to your knees making you want to push the Lord away.  

We pray you’ll allow this Lent to be a season where you spend time acknowledging your sinful nature while making time with your savior Jesus.

Let’s jump in.

Highlights:

In Luke 5:7 “Simon said, ‘Depart from me because I am a sinful man.’”

This Lent we are invited to a space of facing two realities: First, that Jesus is God in the flesh. And that Jesus came to earth and suffered for us on the cross. Second, we face the reality of our depravity.

Give us hearts that would jump out of the boat and scramble to you Lord. Amen.

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Could You Be Avoiding God?

Transcription:

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2026 Upcoming Retreats - Register Today!

Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

We’re taking your battle with sexual addiction deep into a familiar story and see The Father's Response!

While you may have heard the parable of the Prodigal Son before, this time try listening with your eyes closed and heart open to see where you fit in. 

As the story highlights the different paths two sons will take, allow it to draw a picture of how you may be relating to God the Father in your battle against sexual sin. Where do you see yourself? Are you the one pushing away or the one pressing in to earn approval? 

Listen for your role in your own story and listen for how God’s heart is revealed in the father’s voice.

Highlights:

Younger Brother - Posture of Rebellion:

Believes truest satisfaction found in sin.

Older brother - Posture of Earning:

Believes working hard to do the right thing, abstaining from desires almost acting like this is what I need to do in order to have God’s blessings.

Father’s Response:

The father’s first focus is not on what the son has done but that the son has been with him.

Not in response to what the son has done, the father responds, “all that is mine is yours.”

Bask in these words and actions of the father: 

Welcome & Celebration

v20 “He was filled with compassion and ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

Grace & Love

v31 “My Son (My Daughter) You are always with me and everything I have is yours.”

Be Aware:

The enemy wants us to leave, to believe God is a kill joy.

The enemy wants to convince you that you need to work harder for your Father to notice.

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, What If You Forget You Have an Enemy?

Transcription:

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Support Becoming Whole

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2026 Upcoming Retreats - Register Today!

Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)

When you hear the word “imagination,” chances are you’ll put it in one of two boxes- it’s either child’s play or a path to deviance. 

For a moment, let’s re-imagine imagination. There is great power in this tool. 

What if we view our mind’s ability to be creative as a positive not a negative?  This episode will challenge you to push past the idea that your imagination is a mere tool for daydreaming and that it is much more than an avenue to unwanted sexual behaviors.  

By inviting the Holy Spirit into your imagination, you can begin to bring the Jesus of the Gospels alive in your day to day. This will take time and practice. Make sure you check out Josh’s blog for more ideas and practices. 

Begin challenging yourself to use this gift as a way to connect to a Hope beyond your imagination.

Highlights:

The power of our imaginations is God given. And God wants to use our imaginations to move us away from the domain of darkness and toward the kingdom of light.

Satan wants you to believe your imagination only leads to what’s imaginary as opposed to what’s true and real and hidden.

J.R.R. Tolkien  “At its best the fairy story or fantasy is far from being a flight from reality; it is rather a flight to reality.”

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, How Imagination Helps Break the Grip of Porn

Transcription:

Full Transcription Available here

Support Becoming Whole

Talk To US

2026 Upcoming Retreats - Register Today!

Sacred By Design Women's Retreat  | October 17th

Free Resources to help you on your journey to Becoming Whole:

👉Men's Overcoming Lust & Temptation Devotional
👉Women 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Women overcoming unwanted sexual Behavior)
👉Compass 21-Day Prayer Journal & Devotional - (Wives who are or have been impacted by partner betrayal)