Are you caught in a friendship or relationship that feels like an unhealthy addiction?

Intoxication, entrapment, love, hate, fear, romance, addiction—it’s a garbled mess that once felt wonderful, like life itself. But now this friendship, “bromance,” or “you’re my person” connection isn’t feeling so great. You’re neck-deep, attached, and dependent on someone’s affection, attention, touch, and need for you. You want out, yet you can’t let go. Maybe this relationship started with Jesus in the mix, but he’s not the one filling, fueling, or guiding it anymore.

For those stuck in this kind of addictive relationship, today’s episode from Ellen Mary Dykas offers a prayer of encouragement and three very practical steps to help you wisely walk away from sinful dynamics in your relationships.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/help-god-im-addicted-to-a-person-and-cant-stop/

You’re discipling a young couple who hopes to be married. In conversations about their sexual past, you learn that while he’s faithfully saved himself for marriage, she has a messy history of pre-marital sex and other sexual sins. She’s repented and has been pursuing holiness in the power of the gospel for several years, yet he now wrestles with his conscience as he thinks about her sexual past and their prospect of a future together.

How would you counsel this couple?

Today’s episode from Keith Seary offers five principles for church leaders to consider as they disciple young couples thinking through the issue of virginity, each other’s sexual past, and the prospect of marriage. Keith will help you think through caring well for tender consciences and how to ground these conversations in the Bible.

Considering that waiting until marriage has been declining even for Christians, this article will help you care for young dating couples in your church well.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/a-case-study-on-christian-conscience-navigating-convictions-about-marrying-a-virgin/

How do you see your sin?

How do you see your salvation?

The answer to these questions is critical to how we understand God, ourselves, and others.

Today’s episode from Keith Seary contrasts the attitudes of Jonah and David as they were confronted with God’s mercy for sinners. He teaches us that refusing to bring our sin before God for grace opens us up to bitterness and judgment towards God and others. But when our own sin and God’s salvation are clearly seen, we are freed from these attitudes to become men and women who are filled with praise toward God, whose mercy is abundant for sinners.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/what-jonah-missed-how-to-stop-being-judgmental/

Is it okay to use AI tools to assist me in online dating? What is chatfishing? How should Christians think about these things?

Today’s episode from Caitlin McCaffrey explores the potentially harmful ways AI tools are being used in the pursuit of online dating, including the trend known as “chatfishing”. She shares biblical principles to help you think practically about how to honor God and love your neighbor in your pursuit of online dating.

If you’re tempted to use AI to enhance yourself as a dating prospect, this article will point you to a more solid foundation in Christ.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/ai-dating-and-chatfishing-are-you-dating-a-robot/

Certain sexual desires are explicitly forbidden in the Bible, but what if I don’t have any sexual desires at all? Is it okay for a Christian to identify as asexual?

Today’s episode from Caitlin McCaffrey will help you think through potential causes of your lack of desires, whether the lack of these desires is sinful, and why sexual orientation labels like asexual can distract us from our true identity in Christ.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/am-i-asexual-harvest-usa/

How do I talk to my kids about infidelity?

If you’re a parent who has experienced sexual sin in your marriage, you may already have experience with talking to your kids about infidelity. This may have gone okay, it may have been extremely painful, or you may be left with questions about whether it was enough, too much, or just plain confusing.

To help you think through these difficult conversations, today’s episode from Catherine Krasinski offers general principles for talking to your kids with love, care, and appropriate language. She also offers age specific advice for conversations with young children (2-6), tweens (7-12), and teens (13-18).

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/talking-to-kids-about-infidelity/

Have you ever enjoyed something pleasurable, only to find yourself indulging in it to the point that it starts to feel like something you need?

The problem isn’t pleasure, even sexual pleasure, which is a good gift from God. The problem is our sinful hearts, which easily turn pleasurable experiences into idols.

Today’s episode from Mark Sanders explores how cultivating a heart of thankfulness, pursuing pleasure as an act of worship, and engaging in fasting can help us reorient our desires and pursue legitimate pleasure in a way that pleases and honors God.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/betcha-cant-eat-just-one-redirecting-desire/

Illicit sex and death are close companions.

Yet, it doesn’t always seem that way. Our hearts our deceitful, our pride continually whispers that we’re okay, and the immediate rush of sexual pleasure dampens our sense of danger. But over time, illicit sex brings deep ruin to one’s body and spirit. The internal chaos of spiritual decay will eventually be revealed in one’s demise.

Today’s episode from Yohan Huh Prudente offers a sober warning and plea for repentance to those engaging in acts of illicit sex. He calls us to heed the warnings of Scripture that describe the danger and destination of our sin.

Whether you’re engaging in sexual sin or walking with others, all of us are called to fear the Lord, plead His mercy, cling to His promises, and fix our gaze on Christ, who alone has the mercy and power to redeem us from death and lawlessness.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/illicit-sex-and-death-an-embodied-chaos-a-warning-and-a-plea-for-repentance/

If you’re a woman, I’m guessing you’ve been unhappy with your appearance at some point in your life. From wanting to lose a few pounds to feeling deep dissatisfaction and even disgust with how we look, body image issues bother many women like mosquitoes on a camping trip at best and can become utterly debilitating—even overlapping with and feeding sexual sin.

Where can a woman go to find freedom from this nagging discontent?

Our latest episode from Amy Tyson examines the self focus that’s often at the root of our struggle and turns our eyes to Jesus, who clothes us in his righteousness, freeing us to forget ourselves and live confident in our identity as beloved, chosen, and treasured daughters of God.

Read along here → https://harvestusa.org/righting-the-warped-mirror-hope-for-women-with-body-image-issues/

Why do we find dating and commitment so hard?

Even if you’re a Christian woman dating a Christian man, you love his friendship, respect his character, and find him attractive, fears and paralysis can set in as we weigh the future and the serious commitment that comes with marriage.

Today’s episode from Amy Tyson will help you overcome the fear of commitment with a greater fear: the fear of the Lord. Amy shares how this fear overcomes our fears of commitment in the future along with five practical steps you can take to cultivate the fear of the Lord.

Whether your dating relationship leads to marriage or not, you have everything you need in your Savior to face whatever comes.

Read along here → https://harvestusa.org/dating-and-commitment-paralysis-hope-for-a-fearful-heart/