Becoming Whole

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is an important figure in every way. After all, it was her body that ushered in the tiny body of our Savior, Jesus, into this world.

Still there is controversy among us, as believers, on the amount of time we should dedicate to her.

For now, let’s spend a few moments meditating on Mary. Because, if we make too little of Mary, we miss out on more of God.

Looking at Mary and seeing how God sees her gives us a window to see how God sees us. Her role then is significant to you now. 

This week in Advent, join us as we explore the mystery of our Savior’s birth through a young girl named Mary.

Let's dive in!

Highlights:

We take the humanity out of Jesus when we make his birth too abstract because we think of it as something that is surreal, that is beyond the physical world.

Jesus becoming flesh dignifies our flesh.

Part of Jesus’ story is that his body came into this world through Mary’s body.

Extras:

Mary’s Song in Luke 1:46-55

(Mary chooses words to magnify the Lord from Psalm 22, 44, 103, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, etc. showing us that she held Scripture close)

“And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.’”

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Why Mary Matters to Your Body

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)

“And the Word became flesh.” Let's discuss An Embodied Advent!

As the holiday hustle and bustle begins, let’s consider how the season of Advent highlights the relationship between God and your body.

Your flesh is so important to God that He became flesh. Your body is central to who you are and God cares deeply about it. 

So, this season allow the Light of the world to reveal something new to you about your addiction to pornography, your struggle with infidelity, your flesh.

The Hope of Advent begs to help you in your walk towards sexual wholeness. Let’s unwrap this gift together.

Highlights:

Our bodies are not an accessory that we wear. We are our bodies. We are embodied creatures. You take away the body and you lose who you are.

Advent is the declaration that God cares for your body.  Advent is the declaration that your body matters deeply to God.

If there’s ever any question about the dignity, the importance of the human body; that question is answered completely, fully, forever in the Incarnation.

Seek to treat other people’s bodies with dignity this Advent.

Homework:

Meditate on the reality that God became embodied- Use that truth to guide you while you practice honoring your body. This Advent, try treating your body with dignity as God would. 

The holidays can bring an increase in anxiety & anticipation; recognize it and treat your body with dignity. If you cross a line, honor your body and reflect on your choice.

Try to treat the embodied people around you as worthy. Let their presence be a form of meditation not irritation.

Extras:

John 9:1-12 Jesus Heals the Man born Blind

“You know how it is when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” ― Athanasius of Alexandria, On The Incarnation

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, Look at All the Bodies

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)

When temptation comes knocking, you have more options than slamming the door and running away. In fact, fleeing can actually contribute to the cycle of sexual sin. Here are 5 Steps to Shutting Down Temptation.

So, let’s face temptation head on with feet firmly planted. In this episode, Josh offers 5 steps to help you shut down temptation.  

While the enticement can be loud and dizzying, you have options. 

If your body is charged with the bait of temptation, let’s begin with a simple prayer: “Lord, bring your Holy Order to this disorder.”

Let's dive in!

Highlights:

When you’re tempted take notice of your breathing and slow it down.

God has put you in a physical body and in the body of Christ

As you slow down, be curious why you’re feeling temptation.

Homework:

Take some time to write out the 5 steps on an index card.

1. BREATHE in through your nose (count to 4) and out through your mouth (count to 8).
2. CALL A FRIEND write down their name and number here
3. OPEN YOURSELF TO GOD “Lord, bring your Holy Order to this disorder.”
4. BE CURIOUS: What am I feeling - angry, lonely, rejected, anxious, stuck? Name it.
5. TEND TO THAT PART OF YOU: now that you’ve named the feeling, how can you care for yourself?

A Prayer: “Lord, I need Your help right now. I’m really tempted. Lord you are here and I open myself to you. Enter in. Slow my heart down. As I breathe and try to slow down; I acknowledge that you are present with me and know all that’s happening inside of me - my thoughts, my mind, the thoughts of my heart. You are here. You are present and know what my body feels like right now. I open myself to you Jesus.”

Extras:

“Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing” Jay Stringer

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, When Temptation Comes Knocking

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)

Seen, Soothed, Safe and Secure -these are key elements for a healthy relationship and 4 Reasons to Open Up about your Sexual Past. 

But when it comes to your unwanted sexual behavior; it might feel like a secret you should just keep hidden.  Is your relationship secure enough for you to tell your boyfriend or husband about your sexual history? 

Do you really want your girlfriend to know about your addiction to pornography?  The dangerous truth is while we keep back the darker parts of our lives, we deny ourselves real intimacy and continue bringing that deep need to illegitimate sources. 

As you’re moving closer to relational intimacy and marriage, opening up about your sexual history or sexual habits is important. Every person longs to have someone see the full scope of who they are and be loved.  

You and your loved one deserve each other fully and wholly. 

Here are 4 Reasons to open up about your sexual past.

Highlights:

Bringing yourself means bringing your whole self not just the best parts.

You can not walk in sexual integrity if you’re not willing, with safe people, to open yourself and let them see the truth about what’s been going on.

“I love you. I love what I see and I want to come closer.” That’s the cry of our hearts. It longs for real intimacy.

Extras:

“Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain” by William M Struthers

More on Oxytocin with Dr. Struthers

If you want to learn more, check out Josh's latest musing on this topic at, When Do I Tell My Significant Other?

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)

Talking about sex - yikes - Nobody really wants to talk about sex. 

It’s private. It’s personal. It’s painful. It’s none of your business. 

As awkward as it may feel, we need to be talking about sex. Together let’s better understand why we don’t talk about sex and consider why we should. 

In this episode, Josh will be exploring two reasons you avoid the topic. 

For more reasons, head to the blog.

Highlights:

How do we talk about sex in a way that honors the goodness and sacredness of sex?

We want to be honest, but we don’t need to be graphic. The world says otherwise.

Sex is not just an activity. It’s a God-given, faithful relationship that has the capacity to impart new life into the world.

Extras:

“Treading Boldly through a Pornographic World: A Field Guide for Parents” by Daniel Weiss and Josh Glaser

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)

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)

There’s a story, a set of rules and ideas that you’ve accepted as truth for your body and your sexuality. You might not even be aware. It’s ok, we’ve all done it. 

But, what if we were to UN-do the story?

Authors Linda Noble and Linda Stewart join Josh on the podcast to pull apart the narrative and present you with an invitation to The Body and Personhood.

There are no rules here, just God’s heart for the human person you are meant to be.

There is an unrepeatable value about each person.

There is an unrepeatable value to you. 

Let’s dive in.

Highlights:

We need to rewrite the paradigm. We need to go back to the very beginning and start over.

Actually, we are embodied persons. Our body expresses who we are and the things that we do with our body affects who we are and our person. So, we really need to change the message.

There’s a difference between our body being an expression of who we are versus an accessory.

Homework:

Prayer for your body: “God thank you for this strong body that enables me to love and live and serve, to see that my body is not about my appearance but about how it expresses the love from God through my person. I pray those parts of my body that I feel ashamed of or wish were different, that I can see them now as the way I express God’s love to others and also to Him.”

Practice for your body to recognize others as whole persons: Retrain yourself talk to say, I see the whole person when I see my best friend. I see the whole person when I see my family members. 

Practical exercise for your body: Model whole seeing by making EYE CONTACT, which acknowledges the person. Also, TALK about others as whole people when complimenting. We are more than the pimple on our forehead, or our stature or shape. Try using language for yourself and others that reflects what you see about the whole person (i.e. their kindness, patience or generosity).

Extras:

Before The Sex Talk: A Theology of the Body Approach for Parents and Mentors by Linda Beth Noble and Linda Marie Stewart 

Linda Noble, Ministry Director at Journey Community Church in La Mesa, CA 

Linda Stewart, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Supervisor at Safe Haven Relationship Center in Carlsbad, CA

Theology of the Body 

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)

There are times in this journey towards sexual integrity for teaching through a lesson and maybe even assigning homework. And yet, sometimes the most powerful lesson can come from a voice saying, “I understand. Me too.” 

If you find yourself wrestling with lust, we hope you’ll allow this episode to come alongside you. 

Lust is blinding. 

Let’s unpack a vision for seeing the way God intended.

Highlights:

We live in a culture of entertainment. We live in a culture of lust. We live in a culture of consumerism. And we live in a fallen world -All of these things conspire against our eyes capacity to see.

We are designed to see people and to hold them in esteem and value.

Lust can make people objects or obstacles but not human beings

Extras:

Genesis 1 and 2

Romans 1:18-32

“There is no dignity when the human dimension is eliminated from the person. In short, the problem with pornography is not that it shows too much of the person, but that it shows far too little.” -Pope John Paul II

For more on this topic, check our latest article Where Eyes Don’t See

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)

Maybe you’ve heard or you’ve said these words: “If you don’t have sex with me, I’m going to be tempted to stray.” Either way, we encourage you to stay and listen. Let’s, together, start Moving Beyond Marital Manipulation.

On this journey to sexual wholeness, the world is eager to bombard you with “facts” and “studies say” and “research shows.” 

The world discredits who God made you and is calling you to be.

Let’s understand five ways marital manipulation short cuts the courageous work you’re doing.

Highlights:

5 Reasons Marital Manipulation Fails

1. Places the husbands’ sexual integrity on the woman
2. Removes the Cross of Jesus from the equation
3. Degrading to women
4. Degrading to men
5. Mars the image of God

Your heart is to cherish your wife. She is designed by God to be a woman to be loved, cherished, honored.

That on demandIn all the ways that Jesus demonstrated integrity and self-control and self-restraint, he was willing to suffer to go against what his flesh desired in the moment to love his bride, pour out his life for his bride. sexual experience gives you what you want, how you want, when you want it. What relationship in life is like that? None.

Extras:

For more on this topic, check our latest article Do You Need Sex?

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)

Do you want to look at porn? 

The pull of pornography is devilishly strong. Whatever your reason is for seeking it out, let us offer you 5 reasons to NOT look this time. 

Don’t let the cycle continue to dull your senses in this life. 

You are created and meant for living fully alive, fully loved and loving, and fully whole. 

We hope this episode spurs you towards conviction without condemnation. There is no shame here, only encouragement for better understanding. 

Don’t waste any more time feeling bad about your pornography use. 

Rather, let the conviction become an action point to end your addiction. 

Regeneration Ministries is here to help you towards becoming whole.

Highlights:

Pornography provides you with “sex” on demand and your brain doesn’t know what to do with it. Your brain isn’t wired for that.

What happens over time as you use pornography is that the neuron-receptors in your brain begin to shut down, they begin to atrophy.

That on demand sexual experience gives you what you want, how you want, when you want it. What relationship in life is like that? None.

Homework:

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I ask that you would free me from the grip of pornography. Lord, I want my brain to be healthy and free.  I want to be self giving not selfish. I want to see people not objects.  I want to heal where I have wounds from my past. I don’t want them to fester. Lord, I don’t want to be immature. I want to grow up in full stature to be a full, loving Christ-like adult. Lord would you help me on this path. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Extras:

You have to want what you want but you have to want where your wants lead…

G.K. Chesterton: “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.”

Drew Boa: “Porn is a pacifier.”

For more on this topic, check our latest article 5 Reasons You Don’t Want 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)