Breaking the Cycle

We have to break the cycle. There is so much sin in our world and it is birthed from a cycle of sin by people who are ignorant of the reality of grace and the true impact it can have on them and their families.

This "sin" cycle is impossible to overcome... without the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Entire families have been believing the lies of Satan for so long that it just becomes natural for the next generation to believe it as well. All the time I'm meeting people who feel so guilty for their immorality that they find it unbelievable that God or the church could want them and welcome them. We have to break that cycle. We're all sinners and until the Holy Spirit breaks the cycle of guilt, generations upon generations of families will live in hopelessness and end up in hell.

Porn. Porn is a cycle of sin that is crushing men, young and old, in Tacoma. It affects their relationship with Jesus, it affects their ability to lead their families and it affects their ability to lead the church. It leads to other sin and it is a cycle that was passed onto them by men they looked up to and it's a cycle they will pass on to those that look up to them. Porn has become normal in our culture. I was listening to local sports radio the other day and the hosts were talking about the quarterback of the Seahawks, Matt Hasselbeck, who is promoting software for computers that holds men accountable to the websites they look at. They weren't bashing him, they just couldn't fathom why he would care if a man looked at porn. They didn't understand why that would be bad at all. I talked to one man whose addiction is so deep that he finds porn on cell phones at the cell phone store. I talked to another man who gets it at the library. My heart breaks. We have to break the cycle.

This weekend Kelli and I took the kids and the pup for a walk and 4 houses down from us we saw a couple arguing outside their car. We saw the man hit the woman and throw her into the car. I sent Kelli down another street with the kids and Addie and told her to call the police. As I approached the car I saw the woman inside the vehicle hitting the man. There was a toddler in the back seat and another adult in the front seat. As I yelled for them to stop the other adult said, "It's okay, they're married." That's seriously the view people have. The couple beats each other and people think that is okay. That's normal. We have to break the cycle.

I could go on and on but I think you see my point. Sin and therefore Satan is winning the battle. We know he won't win the war, but he is winning the battle. Even in our most clean-cut families in our "best" churches we know there is often sexual abuse at home or fraud at work. How do we break this cycle? Honestly, I know of nothing else that will work outside the reigning down of the Holy Spirit. I believe we will only see the Spirit come in power through pointed prayer by the church. Will you pray? Will I pray? Lets pray that the Holy Spirit would reign down in Tacoma, and in your city, and that this sin cycle would be broken and whole families would follow Jesus! It starts with prayer... and we have to allow the Spirit to break the cycle of sin that has been handed down to us. We must look at our own lives!

[14] if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

(2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV)