The Harvest USA Podcast

How do I rebuild sexual intimacy with my spouse after sexual betrayal?

Sexual unfaithfulness breaks trust at the most vulnerable aspect of oneness. Rather than forsaking all others, a spouse chooses something or someone instead of the one to whom they promised faithfulness. For couples who are committed to staying together, it is crucial for relational trust and spiritual togetherness to grow before they attempt to restore sexual intimacy.

Today’s episode from Ellen Mary Dykas discusses why sexual betrayal is such a painful experience and why prayer, a commitment to your spouse, honest communication about sex, and patient love are the steps that start the long road to rebuilding intimacy.

Watch Rebuilding Intimacy After Sexual Betrayal: https://harvestusa.org/video/rebuilding-sexual-intimacy-sexual-betrayal/

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/rebuilding-sexual-intimacy-sexual-betrayal-2/

Harvest USA Resources for Couples Facing Spousal Unfaithfulness: https://harvestusa.org/how-we-help/spousal-unfaithfulness/

When you read God’s Word, do you ever step back and think “Lord, I’m struggling to believe that.” Especially in circumstances that challenge our expectations about our lives and God’s work, all of us are tempted to unbelief.

Belief in the promises of God is hard.

Today’s episode from Joan McConnell calls us to faith. She helps us wrestle with the Lord through unbelief by pointing us to the simple truths and practices that cultivate and strengthen faith amidst chronic or occasional seasons of unbelief.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/lord-belief-is-hard/

Having a child identify as LGBTQ+ can be bewildering for Christian parents.

It’s easy to ask questions like…

Does God recognize what he’s allowed into my world through my child’s LGBTQ+ identification and choices? Has the situation created by my child’s conduct slipped past the Lord?

Joan McConnell assures parents that the Lord is still a present and active help in these situations. She reminds parents of God’s sovereignty and higher purpose for their lives as well as their child’s and the need to rely on help both from God himself and other brothers and sisters in Christ in today’s episode.

If you’re a parent of an LGBTQ+ identifying child looking for biblical help and support, check out our Parents & Family Support Groups: https://harvestusa.org/get-help-for-yourself/parents-families/

As well as a library of resources focused on Christian parents of LGBTQ+ identifying children: https://harvestusa.org/how-we-help/a-struggling-child/

Read along with today’s episode → https://harvestusa.org/when-lgbtq-hits-home-theres-help/

Should married Christian couples schedule time for sex?

There are seasons of life where it’s easy for healthy marriages to be overwhelmed by demanding schedules and competing priorities. In these seasons, prioritizing sexual intimacy with your spouse can be challenging.

As Mark Sanders reminds us on today’s episode, God has endowed sex with meaning and power in the marriage relationship. It’s meant to be a celebration of your oneness, which means you might need to take simple practical steps to prioritize intimacy with your spouse in busy seasons. He also reminds us that the engine that drives sexual intimacy in a marriage isn’t merely a schedule, but a relationship marked by sacrificial love, care, emotional intimacy, and friendship.

Read along here → https://harvestusa.org/sexual-intimacy-in-marriage-should-you-schedule-time-for-sex/

Are your eyes closed to the horrors of pornography? When you watch porn, are you aware of the harm being done behind the scenes of the images you’re consuming?

Pornography is a dehumanizing, slave-recruiting, demonic industry. The true nature of it is hard to face. Yet opening our eyes to the true nature of porn might be a means the Holy Spirit uses to break’s it’s hold on your life.

Today’s episode from Mark Sanders pulls back the curtain to expose the darkness, degradation, abuse, and harm the porn industry inflicts on men and women made in the image of God. He calls us to repent of the ways we’ve been complicit in this harm and sinned not only against God and spouse, but the people on screen. Finally, he reminds us that the mercy of God is greater than the dark depths of our sin, and that in Christ, our guilt can be overwhelmed by the torrent of his love for us.

If you’re currently struggling with porn, visit the page below to browse an abundance of resources designed to help you: https://harvestusa.org/how-we-help/pornography/

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/open-your-eyes-the-next-time-you-look-at-porn/

Have you ever felt drawn to the beauty of another person and wondered if you sinned? Was it temptation? Sin? Should you feel guilty?

How do we interpret these experiences in light of what the Scriptures say about temptation and lust?

As Stephen Moss unpacks in today’s episode, the problem isn’t someone’s else’s beauty, but our heart’s sinful interaction, interpretation, and distortion of that beauty. Stephen outlines God’s purposes for beauty and how we should respond to that beauty.

Ultimately, we fail if we approach others as either an object to consume or a threat to be avoided, rather than a fellow image bearer to be loved, served, and honored.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/same-sex-attraction-and-seeing-beauty-rightly/

Is the label “porn addiction” really helpful when discussing a habitual pattern of looking at porn?

Our culture has largely bought into the notion that if you have an addiction, you have a disease. The church needs to slowly and carefully examine whether the word “addiction” and the anthropology it espouses is in line with Scripture and God’s revelation of who we are as human beings in a fallen world.

To start, Mark Sanders explores three ways the word “addiction” can be helpful in accurately describe the experience of struggling with habitual sexual sin in today’s episode.

The addiction model highlights how it feels to be unable to stop.

The addiction model captures the insanity in a moment of temptation.

The addiction model highlights the need for a zero-tolerance policy on sin.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/porn-addiction/

If you’re struggling with habitual sexual sin, explore some of our resources here: https://harvestusa.org/how-we-help/sexual-addiction/

Deep underneath all our motivations, hopes, and dreams lies a fundamental struggle that every human being inherited from Adam…we want to live autonomously from our Creator.

Even in our fight against sexual sin, it’s easy to pursue freedom from sin on our own terms and in our own strength. But we can never fight sexual sin apart from embracing our neediness of the One who made us, knows us, and loves us.

Mark Sanders encourages us to avoid the folly of seeking greater independence from God and to embrace our need for God which leads to deeper intimacy with him, gratitude, and joy.

Read along here → https://harvestusa.org/you-need-god-hate-your-sin-embrace-your-neediness/

Last Tuesday on the podcast, Ellen Mary Dykas described the kind of friendships between women that can become emotionally enmeshed and sexual in nature.

The good news is that God’s Word speaks hope and clarity to women who find themselves in in emotionally enmeshed and sexually unholy same-sex relationships.

In part 2 on today’s episode, Ellen unpacks John 15:1-17 to demonstrate this hope by revealing how these relationships ultimately fail to satisfy the longings for intimacy inside us and why abiding in Jesus provides true intimacy we long for.

Read along → https://harvestusa.org/when-womens-fr-sexual-part-2/

If you or someone you’re walking with is struggling with emotionally entangled friendships like the ones described in this episode, check out additional resources from Harvest USA here → https://harvestusa.org/how-we-help/relationship-struggles/

Working from home brings unique temptations for those struggling with sexual sin.

How can you work from home with purity and resist sexual temptation?

Today’s episode from Keith Seary unpacks three steps you can take to resist sexual temptations while working from home.

Ground your view of work in the Bible.

Honestly assess your motivations for working from home.

Be willing to take “weird” steps to reduce temptation and increase accountability.

If you’re working from home and struggling with sexual temtpation, give today’s episode a listen!

You can also read along here → https://harvestusa.org/remote-work-and-sexual-temptation-a-christian-guide-to-working-from-home/