the battle.

It has been quite some time since my last entry and I do believe it is a great place to begin blogging again. I'm going to jump right into things and place on here today something that I would like to learn. This is not something I have control over in my life right now and I am placing it here so that it can be a reminder to myself and to help give tools to you.

John Piper once posted something called "A N T H E M" online. It is a tool for fighting temptation. I would like to share this with you and ask that you could pray for me as I go through this battle. I hope to trust in God that He would be my strength. I am not great in the area of spiritual discipline, but honestly who is? It wouldn't be discipline if it was super easy!

With that, here it is. God be with you on this!

"A N T H E M

Strategies for Fighting Lust

By John Piper

November 5, 2001

I have in mind men and women. For men it's obvious. The need for warfare against the bombardment of visual temptation to fixate on sexual images is urgent. For women it is less obvious, but just as great if we broaden the scope of temptation to food or figure or relational fantasies. When I say "lust" I mean the realm of thought, imagination, and desire that leads to sexual misconduct. So here is one set of strategies in the war against wrong desires. I put it in the form of an acronym, A N T H E M.

A - AVOID as much as is possible and reasonable the sights and situations that arouse unfitting desire. I say "possible and reasonable" because some exposure to temptation is inevitable. And I say "unfitting desire" because not all desires for sex, food, and family are bad. We know when they are unfitting and unhelpful and on their way to becoming enslaving. We know our weaknesses and what triggers them. "Avoiding" is a Biblical strategy. "Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness" (2 Timothy 2:22). "Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Romans 13:14).

N - Say NO to every lustful thought within five seconds. And say it with the authority of Jesus Christ. "In the name of Jesus, NO!" You don't have much more than five seconds. Give it more unopposed time than that, and it will lodge itself with such force as to be almost immovable. Say it out loud if you dare. Be tough and warlike. As John Owen said, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Strike fast and strike hard. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" ( James 4:7).

T - TURN the mind forcefully toward Christ as a superior satisfaction. Saying "no" will not suffice. You must move from defense to offense. Fight fire with fire. Attack the promises of sin with the promises of Christ. The Bible calls lusts "deceitful desires" (Ephesians 4:22). They lie. They promise more than they can deliver. The Bible calls them "passions of your former ignorance" (1 Peter 1:14). Only fools yield. "All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter" (Proverbs 7:22). Deceit is defeated by truth. Ignorance is defeated by knowledge. It must be glorious truth and beautiful knowledge. This is why I wrote Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. We must stock our minds with the superior promises and pleasures of Jesus. Then we must turn to them immediately after saying, "NO!"

H - HOLD the promise and the pleasure of Christ firmly in your mind until it pushes the other images out. "Fix your eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1). Here is where many fail. They give in too soon. They say, "I tried to push it out, and it didn't work." I ask, "How long did you try?" How hard did you exert your mind? The mind is a muscle. You can flex it with vehemence. Take the kingdom violently (Matthew 11:12). Be brutal. Hold the promise of Christ before your eyes. Hold it. Hold it! Don't let it go! Keep holding it! How long? As long as it takes. Fight! For Christ's sake, fight till you win! If an electric garage door were about to crush your child you would hold it up with all our might and holler for help, and hold it and hold it and hold it and hold it.

E - ENJOY a superior satisfaction. Cultivate the capacities for pleasure in Christ. One reason lust reigns in so many is that Christ has so little appeal. We default to deceit because we have little delight in Christ. Don't say, "That's just not me." What steps have you taken to waken affection for Jesus? Have you fought for joy? Don't be fatalistic. You were created to treasure Christ with all your heart - more than you treasure sex or sugar. If you have little taste for Jesus, competing pleasures will triumph. Plead with God for the satisfaction you don't have: "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (Psalm 90:14). Then look, look, look at the most magnificent Person in the universe until you see him the way he is.

M - MOVE into a useful activity away from idleness and other vulnerable behaviors. Lust grows fast in the garden of leisure. Find a good work to do, and do it with all your might. "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord" (Romans 12:11). "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Abound in work. Get up and do something. Sweep a room. Hammer a nail. Write a letter. Fix a faucet. And do it for Jesus' sake. You were made to manage and create. Christ died to make you "zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:14). Displace deceitful lusts with a passion for good deeds.

Fighting at your side,

Pastor John"

so, what's going on?

As of right now I am trying to get use to a schedule of early mornings and long days! I have been back at my Starbucks job for just a week and a half now. I work early in the mornings until the afternoons. I have no idea how to fill my afternoons and evenings.. suggestions?

I really would like to get a mentor sometime soon. I am having trouble walking day to day without an older "more experienced" dude smacking me around. It's always nice to have someone with wisdom and experience pour into my life. There is only so much I can figure out on my own.. actually, I really have trouble figuring anything out on my own!

My friend Kerry is in town this week with his family! I am hoping to spend some time with him and the fam. They are awesome people who I consider some of the most loving people I have ever met.

I have enjoyed playing drums each weekend at the youth groups of Mountain Lake Church. It is a blessing that I get to play there and I take it for granted often. It's hard sometimes to keep the servant's heart when you're focusing on playing and getter better. My hope is to learn how to completely give this talent back to God in a way of worship and a way of leading others into worship. I pray and keep on believing that huge things are soon coming for Mountain Lake Church's youth. This past weekend was great worshipping with them.

Please keep Mountain Lake's leadership in your prayers as they continue to grow the church!

Please keep me in your prayers that I may continue to be disciplined and that I can keep the joy of living for Christ. Sometimes I feel quite stuck. I have noticed that I am a pessimist by nature. Although I do believe that if I let Christ rule in my life ANYTHING is possible. This is where discipline comes into affect...

Thanks for tuning in, spread the word about this blog! Interested to hear what is going on in other's lives!

so, what's going on in your life?

-brett

ps check out leeland's new album "love is on the move"

http://leelandonline.com/blog/

story.

Today may have been one of the best days I have ever had working at Starbucks. Everything went so well and we were fairly busy. I loved being there today. The people that I work with are awesome people.

I have really enjoyed seeing how small the world really is this week. I work with someone named Zoe. It just so happens that Zoe's step sisters and step mother attend the same church that I do, Mountain Lake Church. It gets even crazier, Crystal Corn, my friend and former spanish teacher knows Zoe's family. I also work with Phil who knows someone whose name is Jill. Well, Crystal knows Jill also. Jill knows one of Zoe's younger sisters and I could keep going, but I believe you understand the point.

Today I heard about another awesome story. A guy named Evan, whom I am in a small group with, is a part of the same program as my good friend and former band mate, Joel Thomas Webb. It is so crazy!

God is definitely in control and I do not believe that there is one person or thing that could ever orchestrate life as well as God does. Each day I see something new about His power and His control. I am so thankful for His grace and His willingness to include me in His story!

humbled.

Last night I attended a gathering called The Warehouse. I went because my good buddies in the band "The Promise" were playing there. Well, it ended up being a night that rocked my world up a little bit. Jordan, the speaker and leader of "The FC", was speaking at the Warehouse last night. I have heard Jordan give sermons many times and I had actually already heard the one he spoke about last night in the past. This time it was different. Jordan stepped it up a notch and God grabbed my attention through it a lot more this time.

The main focus of the sermon was, Love the LOST. Meaning, those who do not know Jesus. Tell them about Jesus. Direct your passion to the lost, because something else is grabbing that passion that should not be holding it. Start to care about the lost.

To be honest, it was one of the most convicting sermons I have heard in a while. It scared me. I realized how much I don't care about people. I mostly just care about myself and I hold onto my beliefs like I own them. Truth is, it is by grace that I am even alive. I have no reason to go through life not loving and sharing the greatest thing that could ever happen in the UNIVERSE.

I have noticed a lot of scripture over the past month about how when I chose to believe in Jesus Christ, I chose to die and let Christ live through me.

I'm not sure where to sit with all of this. I will continue to learn, fail, repent and learn more. All in all, I am after God's heart.

-brett

home.

It is interesting the way things change and when you think about change in your life. I find myself looking back to even two months ago and noticing growth in my life. I have finally become interested in reading the Bible over the course of this summer. This is something that I desired even just 3 months ago. It has been rocking my world and challenging me. I still haven't figured out where everything sits from what I have learned this summer. At times I feel out of place, but that is only because I am out of place of where I have been for two months. I do believe in the next two weeks I will have "sunk" into life here again!

I went into Starbucks yesterday to talk with the manager (whom was my manager before I left to go to Estonia) to see about me being able to work there again; he hired me back!! I am so extremely excited to have a job back there again. I really do like working there. I will begin back at Starbucks EARLY Saturday morning!

Please continue to keep me in your prayers. Re-entry after two months of being gone is confusing me every once in a while. Thank you for reading!

-brett