The WholeHARD45 Challenge - WholeHARD45

Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.

I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.

Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.

Welcome to the Born for War podcast.

Today I want to do something a little bit different.

I'm changing hats.

I'm not just Pastor Steve, but I'm Coach Steve.

All right?

I didn't even realize, probably you haven't even heard this before from me because I didn't even, I forgot.

But when I was in college, I was down in southern Georgia, Milledgeville, for my internship, was a pretrial investigator for juvenile court services as a criminal justice and social work major.

And I was in this town of Milledgeville, and the coach for the college there, which was one of the top teams in gymnastics in the nation, asked me to help coach his girls' team.

So I did that.

I'd forgotten I'd done that until somebody sent me something that was a bio on me, and I went, oh, and there's a picture of me as a coach.

I was like, I didn't even know I did that.

But I I mean, I remember I did it, but I forgot about it for 30 years.

Anyway, that's how impactful it was, I guess.

But no, I enjoyed it.

It was fun.

But that's kind of what I'm doing now.

I'm gonna change from Pastor Steve to Coach Steve, and I'm gonna do something a little different today, in that people are really fearful.

People are super fearful right now, and I think we have a lot to be fearful of that's coming our way in 2024.

Some are saying that by May or June there may be a war that we've basically created or a pandemic.

And we think, well, no, look, but we learned so much from COVID.

No, you learn so much from COVID because you come to this church.

And we we equip you really good on these things.

But they didn't learn anything except, this is what they learned.

They learned that Americans believe anything, they'll follow anybody as long as it sounds good, and if it comes from experts, you guys know, experts know.

You can listen, this is really important.

Everybody listen up.

Trust the experts.

So, one thing that I think COVID did for a lot of us is we started getting alternative forms of news.

We started doing our own research, right?

And when we did that, we realized that Big Pharma and Big Gov are kind of all in bed together, and that they're doing whatever they can to control you.

They want to control you.

And we let them, in many cases, control us.

We're not gonna do that the next time.

There's a number of us that are gonna stand up, and we did that at this church.

I think we stayed closed for four weeks, and then we said, we're opening.

We're gonna open.

We had done the research.

I knew that we guys would be safe.

We didn't have to do the social distancing, we didn't have to wear the mask.

Everybody knew that the mask didn't work, except for those that only listened to mainstream media and legacy media and got hoodwinked.

So we're not gonna do that again.

So today we're gonna do something really different in that I want to take some time for what I'm calling wholehard 45, wholehard 45, to prepare us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for what's up ahead.

That you would have not just a physically strong immune system, but that you would have a spiritually strong immune system, you would have a mentally strong immune system, you would have an emotional, relational immune system, because everybody knows that knows anything about science that if you build up the strength relationally, mentally, spiritually, and physically, you can almost handle anything.

It's pretty amazing what you can handle if you walk in strength in your life.

And that's related a lot of times to habits.

So we're now in this state of mind in America where mental health is in major decline.

So even when I was talking to the assistant of the mayor in Colorado Springs a couple months ago, I said, what do you think?

What do you think is the number one problem in Colorado Springs?

And this is coming from the mayor's office, and um, and Yemi and his assistants were saying it's mental health.

And I think we're finding that all across the nation, that mental health is in decline because of all kinds of variables.

But I would venture to say from my research is that it's fear.

We've got so many fears, and we feel, don't you feel out of control sometimes?

I mean, you can feel out of control if you're not careful.

And so that out-of-control feeling sends toxins into your bloodstream and begins to create all kinds of sicknesses and illnesses in our life.

Well, Jesus understood that.

Jesus understood that we as a people, we as human beings, tend to worry.

We tend to become freaked out over things we don't understand and circumstances that feel like it's out of our control.

So turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

And in Matthew 6, Jesus is dealing with worry.

He's dealing with the struggles that all of us have.

It was the famed German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goth who said, things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

And Jesus is giving us a prescription.

We'll call him Dr.

Jesus right now.

So this is Dr.

Jesus giving a prescription for how to live well.

This is Dr.

Jesus giving us a prescription of how to live healthy with our lives.

So look at verse 25.

So he he analyzes the problem, and then he's going to give us the solution.

Verse 25.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns.

Yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

Which of you, by worrying, can have one cubit to his stature?

I can tell you I've been a worrier my whole life, and I'm still five foot six and a half.

So my stature has not changed.

Okay, now jump down to verse 31.

Therefore, do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

For after these things the Gentiles seek.

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

I love that.

I just love that.

Verse 32 should always be encapsulated with verse 33.

For after all these things the Gentiles seek.

In other words, those who are non-believers, those who are non-churchgoers, those who have no relationship with God, they seek those things.

But your heavenly Father knows that you need these things.

He knows He created you to need those things.

You know Maslow's hierarchy of need.

And in Maslow's hierarchy of need, we need food and shelter.

It's like at the very basic, and that's what he's talking about.

He's talking about food, shelter, clothing, those kind of things.

But then he moves us through what's the most important thing, and that, you know, when Maslow did his hierarchy of need, if you took that in sociology, you remember self-actualization was at the top.

Well, now here's self-actualization.

If we taught that right, we teach the hierarchy of need and go, oh, we have self-actualization given us 2,000 years ago by a man named Dr.

Jesus Christ.

Okay, and here's what he said, verse 33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things in the hierarchy of need will be added unto you.

In other words, replace the worry-filled life with a kingdom life.

That the prescription for health, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, is to seek first the kingdom.

You line up your life with the kingdom of God.

God pours down into those who've lined up with him.

He shows us how to live.

He guides us with our mind, with our heart, with our soul, and even with our body.

He shows us how to live a life that's healthy.

And it builds up all these areas of our immune system.

Because men and women, stuff is coming.

Stuff is coming.

And it's going to be scary unless you're prepared and ready and you have an attitude to bring it on.

So seeking first the kingdom of God is the most profound and noble statement ever made to man, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson said.

So Jordan Peterson, who would not consider himself a Christian, said, This is, in all my studies of Freud, in all my studies of psychology, in all my studies of Young, because he's a Jongian psychologist, this one statement by this guy named Jesus is the most healthy, most noble, most profound statement ever given to humankind.

So many women, I'm challenging us today.

The rubric from which I'm working from on Whole Hard 45 is seek first the kingdom.

Now, how many of you, raise your hand, be honest, if you're not always totally sure what it means to seek first the kingdom?

Okay, so a lot of us.

That's me.

So I'm working on this book last summer, which is in the editing process right now, and after I write something, it needs a lot of editing.

So it's being edited, but in these nine habits that I'm going to talk about, I felt like when I was writing it, man, I need to define what we mean by seeking first the kingdom.

Does that mean like be Jesus, wear a robe?

What does it mean to seek Jesus first?

Well, I think if if you combine two thoughts, the first is Jesus saying, make the main thing your first thing, and everything lines up, which is what we just read.

But then at a later date, the Pharisees come and ask him, What's the greatest commandment?

He doesn't say seek first the kingdom.

He says, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbors yourself.

That's in Mark 12.

So isn't that interesting?

I think Mark 12 defines Matthew 6.

I believe that the way we seek the kingdom first, you guys, is we make the kingdom of God what we are after through the loving the king.

Okay, so write this down.

This is really important.

Build a new way of thinking.

You will build new habits.

New habits build new character, and new character builds a new destiny.

It's really important.

So it starts off with our thinking.

That's what I'm doing today.

I'm Coach Steve encouraging you to think differently in 2024 with a bring it on attitude that new thinking builds new habits.

So you're not gonna have new habits changing your thinking.

It's actually your thinking that changes your habits.

Habits build a new character, new character builds a new destiny.

So just by renewing your mind today, you're actually creating a new future for yourself.

Does that make sense?

So the process, I've just broken it down for you.

So here's the definition of seeking first the kingdom of God.

Jesus being asked by the Pharisees in Mark 12, what's the greatest commandment?

So if we get the right destination clear, seek first the kingdom of God and it's righteous, all these needs to be added unto you.

Now he's saying, now he's saying, let's fill in the blanks of how we live the greatest commandment ever given to man, and this is what he says.

He says, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength, and love your neighbors yourself.

Everything, everything in the Bible, everything summed up by those two commandments.

That's seeking the kingdom first.

Now listen to that.

Heart, soul, mind, strength.

I didn't take time this week to draw it, but if there was concentric circles, that's who you are.

That's who I am.

We are mental, we are emotional, we are spiritual, and we are relational.

And so whole hard 45, which is going to be 10 challenges for you to do every day for 45 days, could change your life.

It could change your life.

It might not change your life, but it could change your life.

And even in doing this challenge, which I gave to the men on Tuesday, I know four or five families in the church, they're doing it all together, this whole hard 45.

So you're saying, what is wholehard 45?

Okay, I'm getting to that.

So let me give you four ways, wholehard 45, a 45-day 10-item challenge done consecutively.

If you miss one day, you start over.

You gotta do it consecutively for 45 days.

There's four reasons why it's important.

Number one, wholehard 45 incorporates all the key points of Jesus' greatest command for healthy living, spiritual, mental, and physical.

It's all encapsulated in these ten challenges.

Number two, wholehard 45 is also about loving others.

So it's not just about you, it's also about giving.

It's not just getting, but it's giving, it's loving others.

Number three, wholeheart 45 requires for you to have blood stained, a blood-stained ally with you.

Now I was asked this right as I got up this morning, what if my wife and this guy's doing it?

I said, because he got it on Tuesday at Wholehearted Men.

Um, he said, so my so I my son and I were gonna do it, but then my wife wanted to do it.

So there's three of us now.

Is it okay if we have more than one blood-stained ally?

Yes, please.

Have an entire team of blood-stained allies.

You guys, if you only knew what this originally was.

I mean, it's really easy now.

Uh when I shared it with Anna, my daughter, who is our communications director here at the church, she goes, Dad, nobody can do that.

I said, No, this isn't that hard.

She goes, forget it.

Nobody's gonna do that.

And I said, Okay, so I went back and I I got in there and got my little laboratory called my study, you know, as a mad scientist.

And I so I gave it to her.

I said, What do you think of this?

She goes, That's as bad as the other one.

You you added stuff over here and you subtracted over.

You made it even harder.

Okay.

Went back into the laboratory.

So this is not that hard.

It's not that hard.

So if you say, well, I I put a whole hard 45, because for some of you it will be hard because it's 45 days.

But hopefully we've brought it down to a level that is many, if you can walk, you can do this.

Now, if you can't walk, then you can you can we actually have an exception because you can exercise instead.

But so no complaints, because it was a lot harder before.

All right, so number four is whole hard 45 is about building new habits.

So all the experts say that you need to do a new thing 21 to 30 days to build a new habit.

So I thought, let's make it 45 and it doubles your chances.

Okay?

So, so the idea here is that if you'll do this over 45 days, it could change your life.

Now, here's the thing: some of this you go, I'm already doing that.

So it's not gonna change your life in that because you already read a lot.

And I've got some stuff about reading in there.

You already take a walk every day.

That's great, that's fantastic.

I love that.

Matter of fact, that would that's what I expect from road people because that's the kind of people you guys are.

That's the reason I love you so much, is because you're also disciplined and you're pretty focused.

You're intentional, man.

It's cool.

But there might be three or four that you go, now that's hard for me.

Okay, that's hard for me.

One guy came up to me and he said, Man, I like everything in here except the first one.

And I said, Well, that's the main one.

And he goes, I knew you were gonna say that.

And so he's he's doing that now.

So he's gonna grow in the first one, but he's probably got the other nine uh wired.

So that's why we're doing it.

Are you guys ready?

All right.

So listen to this.

Write this down.

Your destiny is defined by your focus.

Your destiny is defined by what you focus on.

So you could narrow everything down and realize, and I'm gonna ask you to do this, kind of do a, you almost need to do an analytical look at yourself and say, what am I focused on?

That's gonna, that's determining your future, man.

That's determining what's gonna happen.

If you're focused on mental and spiritual and physical and emotional health, you're creating your future.

It will get better in all those areas.

And here's the summation, kind of a thesis statement of all that I'm gonna talk about with Wholeheart 45, and that is that a little done consistently is way better than a lot done sporadically.

So what I don't do more, like somebody said, Well, if I do two hours uh working out, you know, on Monday, does that take care of Tuesday?

I went, no.

He actually wanted to know if it took care of the whole week.

Okay, because he was standing 30 minutes and dividing it up and everything.

He said, No, you gotta do it every day.

And so we're talking about consistently doing something that you can do.

So you guys know, I think I've shared this before.

Sometimes I forget what I've shared at Tuesday morning with the men and what I've shared here.

But six months ago, I just started getting up 4 15, 4 30 in the morning, and working out.

And I had a and I made a workout room.

I already had a workout room, but it was kind of a mess.

I actually cleaned it up.

It's kind of a Rocky-esque kind of room.

It's not very nice.

If anybody wants to see it, I can take a picture of it and you go, that's not a very nice looking room.

And I don't care.

It gets the job done.

So, but I started working out every day, six days a week, but I only did 15 minutes.

That's all I did was 15 minutes on some weights.

And then it became 20, and then it became 25.

But it was what I like to do.

So I don't know if it's perfect, you know, the perfect workout.

I just like what I do because I knew I could do it.

And so I'm hoping that you'll gain a love for the new life God can create in you.

And let me say this, March 3rd.

So March 3rd, that's in two weeks, after the third service, Pam Holloway with radical resiliency is going to be sharing, and I asked her to do this, gonna be sharing for about 30 minutes, right after the third service in the chapel, about mental and physical health, what's happening kind of in culture right now, what's happening with all these different vaccinations that are suddenly popping up all over the place, and what appears to be maybe the development of a new pandemic that they may come up with by May or June to, as we get closer to the election.

So anyway, you might want to jot that down right after third service on March the 3rd.

Pam will be sharing.

It'll be really, really good.

Okay.

The 10 daily challenges of whole hard 45.

Let me give you these 10 daily, daily.

Everybody say daily, daily challenges.

If you skip one, start over.

So if I skip one, say that.

You have to start over.

All right, so make sure you heard that loud and clear.

And it's on an honor system.

And what you do when you get the booklet, it's$5.

It's out in the lobby if you want to get the booklet.

It's got a check where you can check all it.

It's got a whole self-evaluation at the beginning so that you can see what your goals are, what you want to accomplish, where you think you are.

So I have on there zero to ten, zero being not so good, ten being really good, relationally, mentally, physically, spiritually.

And you rate yourself.

And then when you complete it, which a lot of you guys are gonna complete it, you know, you can rate yourself again.

You'll see how you've progressed in your life.

So here's number one.

This is the most important one of all, PBJ.

Prayer, Bible, and journal.

30 minutes.

30 minutes of PBJ.

And this was this is the one that a lot of guys say they really struggle with because they have to get up early for work.

And I said, Well, you don't have to do it in the morning.

If you want to do it later, it's fine.

But I like what Jay's done.

Jay Inman has taken the PBJ concept for the whole year, and it's on Amazon under PBJ, Jay Inman.

You can go, you can order it, you can get it there.

Or you can also do a simple plan, which is just start with Genesis and Matthew.

So, first book of Old Testament, first book of New Testament.

Read one chapter of Genesis, read one chapter of Matthew.

And then journal and pray and go for it.

That's foundation laying.

That incorporates mental truth and spiritual truth, and that gets you going, man.

That is a good start.

And you might even want to start with a cocktail.

So you might want to start your day with a cocktail instead of coffee.

Now here's what I call an adrenal cocktail.

This comes from my daughter-in-law, Chandler, Chandler Holt, married to Daniel, my son.

And that is a half a glass of orange juice, a half a glass of coconut water, sprinkle salt on top, stir it together.

That's an adrenal cocktail.

It'll get you going, man.

And so all the Studies out there right now are saying that if you'll, when you wake up, this is the best morning routine.

But you don't have to follow it.

I'm just telling you, it's the best morning routine because I do it.

No.

No, this is I'm doing it because I've heard it's the best morning routine.

And that is first thing in the morning, get light into your eyes.

And if any, you know, if you're getting up as early as I am, 4:15, 4.30, there's no light.

So I man, we just Liz and I just flick on every light in the bedroom and every light where I work out.

And then I first thing I do is I get a glass of water, drink it, go into the workout room, and I work out for 30 minutes.

And I take care of the cat too.

Sometimes they even clean their poops, okay?

So that's not part of it.

That's not on here.

But but then I drink that adreno cocktail and I try to it, I try to push out coffee.

I try to push out coffee for at least an hour, and then I might have coffee after that.

So anyway, PBJ is the beginning.

So I actually don't do PB and J first, I do that after my workout.

Number two, and this is where I'd separated this is where Anna told me you're asking too much.

I had exercise and walk for 30 minutes.

She says, Dad, I'm never gonna see my husband, so this is not a good idea.

So exercise or walk for 30 minutes.

Exercise or walk for 30 minutes.

So we all know exercise is good for us.

We all know that's good for us physically.

What we don't realize is that exercise, especially weights and putting pressure on your body isometrically, also has the effect of oxygenating your brain.

That was probably the that was probably the biggest discovery for me six months ago about working out was that working out is the number one way to oxygenate your brain, again by Jordan Peterson and Dr.

Huberman.

But then, secondly, it act you can actually increase your IQ by working out.

So even as you grow older, by working out, you actually increase your IQ.

And so I work out when I'm on the road and I'm speaking somewhere, I work out about two hours before I speak.

I work, I do a really hard workout, and I mean I get fired up.

And then sometimes I take a cold shower.

So I get in, take a cold shower, and I'm ready to go.

And I did that this morning for you guys.

Okay, so I work out every Sunday morning.

Saturday's my one day, I don't work out.

So exercise, but walk.

So you may not, you may exercise on one day and walk on the other day.

But 88% of us in this room, maybe not in this room, maybe it's more like only 60%, because we're we're a road people and we're smarter than everybody else.

Um, but 88% of Americans in general are vitamin D deficient.

And one of the best ways to get vitamin D naturally is to get out in the sun.

So when I say walk, you can do it inside, that's great.

You know, use all the machines where you can walk, that's great.

I'm not talking about running, I'm just talking about walking.

But if you can get outside, that's even better.

And when you get outside, you got sun, the main way that you get vitamin D is through your eyes and through your skin.

So no sunscreen.

Has anybody heard anything about sunscreen?

Like crazy?

Because you live in Colorado?

Okay, so if you're gonna go for an hour or two without sunscreen, that's not good, that's bad.

Okay, but I'm just talking about 30 minutes, eyes, no sunglasses, no sunscreen.

It's really, really good for you.

Dr.

Hooverman says in his work, Hooverman Labs, that's where I'm coming from, if you want to look that up.

He's a neuroscientist at Stanford.

He says that first thing in the morning, get light.

Get light.

So if you're getting up as early as I am, you're not gonna have any light, so you can create artificial light.

It's not as good, but it's better than nothing.

But getting out and walking.

Okay, number three, a random act of kindness.

A random act of kindness.

Start helping others.

So every day, look for opportunities to help someone, or text someone, or email someone, or call someone and say an encouraging word.

Do something kind, do something loving.

It increases your love quotient.

Say love quotient.

I want to increase my love quotient.

Well, the best way is not to sit there and go, I want to increase my love quotient.

I need to be more loving.

No, do something.

Because when you do something, it actually convinces you that you're actually becoming a loving person because you saw the smile on that person's face.

You help them.

You help someone move, you help someone move a desk at work.

I don't know, but think through every day.

Go to work, go to your job.

If you're a mom at home or your dad at home or whatever, you're at home, because a lot of you guys work from home, all that.

Um, just how can I do this?

If moms, it's easy because that's all you guys do is give.

I mean, you give, give, give all the time.

So that's a really easy one for you.

But for us that are not doing it that way, we have to think about it.

Now, number four, got a big chagrin from Tuesday morning, no alcohol.

No alcohol.

Now, I'm not against alcohol.

I drink.

I drink a beer occasionally, I drink red wine sometimes and stuff.

So I'm not against it.

I'm just saying, though, that the stats show that alcohol is bad for you.

By and large, it's not good for you.

And when you see the studies that indicate things like red wine's good for you and all that, guess who did the study?

Red wine companies, okay?

So, overall, with those that are neutral on this area, they would say it's not good for your weight, it's not good for your mind, it's not good for you physically.

So I'm pretty much weaning myself in that direction personally, but I'm not against it.

So don't ever don't hear me saying I'm not one of these legalistic evangelical pastors, like no alcohol, you know, you're going to hell if you drink alcohol.

That's just like so not me.

I'm just saying for 45 days, leave alcohol behind.

And if you slip up, gotta start over, man.

Drink more water.

Drink more water.

Drink more water.

Okay.

Number five, this'll this'll kill you.

No junk food, man.

And Chick-fil-A is junk food.

I'm sorry, it is, it is, man.

Start taking the income you did with junk food and give it to us.

Give it to the road, man.

We'll use it really well.

Because some of you people waste so much money on junk food.

Are you kidding me?

I know, because some of you worked with me.

We've worked together.

You've come to my house, we've done jobs together, we, and so you're in that laboring class where you're out on the road.

I know what it's like, and you're doing a house.

So you're doing your thing there, and you you just get junk food.

I watch you because you bring it to my house.

I'm like, you, you, why are you eating that junk, man?

And they go, well, I didn't have time to make my meal.

And I, but you had time to drive all the way off my campus and come back with that junk food, you know?

So stop it.

Quit doing that.

Eat God-made food.

Eat God-made food.

That's organic, that's non-sprayed with pesticides, non-GMO.

Do you realize we're the most unhealthy, obese nation in the world?

Do you guys know that?

We are technically the most obese, out of control, physically, country in the world.

We got more counseling for mental disorders.

We got more, I mean, have you seen what's happened in northern Colorado Springs?

There's more clinics and hospitals than I've ever seen before.

It's like every corner there's another clinic, there's another hospital.

Because we run off to see these people because we're unhealthy.

So I'm challenging you to start putting good fuel, man.

Get some good fuel in your system.

And they say, well, it doesn't taste good.

All right, fine.

Does pharmaceuticals taste good?

Because you're gonna be taking a man and you say, well, it costs too much.

Well, does it cost too much to always go to the doctor?

Seems like it's so funny to me that people they don't mind going to the doctor to listen to a pharmaceutical solution to something they're struggling with and spending all that money with him, but they can't quit going out to junk food and spending all the money with them.

So I'm challenging you in a new way, no junk food.

Does that sound good?

All right, no, that doesn't sound good.

I know you're you're all lying.

Okay, number six.

All right.

Read three pages of a nonfiction book.

Leaders are readers.

If you're not a reader, become one over the next 45 days.

If you like history, read stuff in history.

If you like biography, read stuff in biography.

If you like science, read stuff in science.

Go with what you have a desire for.

Don't make, don't like, oh, well, Steve wants me to read this leadership book, and I hate leadership stuff.

I didn't say that.

I said, if you, what do you want to do?

But don't just read, you know, Harlequin romance novels and stuff.

So read good stuff, okay?

If you want to read Jack Carr, you know, a terminal list, that's fine with me, because I read him, okay?

But that's not counting here.

This has to be a nonfiction book.

And I have a whole list.

If you go back on my blog, I don't remember when it was, I don't know, it was like a year or two ago, I had my top 20 books.

Well, those are all nonfiction.

So read three pages, just three pages.

Just three pages.

Number seven, watch an Empower You episode.

They're only 15 minutes long.

Subscribe today.

It's free.

Subscription is free.

And then you'll get an email.

And if we develop an app soon, then you'll have an app and you can just go in there, pick the category, the rubric you want to learn from.

There's usually about six to eight 15-minute episodes with that.

You gotta watch one a day.

You can't binge on it.

Now, a lot of you, well, I mean you can, but it doesn't count.

Okay, so a lot of people, uh, probably a dozen people have come up to me in the last six months and said, Man, I binge on, you know, empower you.

Or I've there's a hundred episodes, and some people have already heard them all, um, which is awesome because we're gonna try to do 250 this year.

Um, so we're gonna be up to a lot.

Anyway, uh, so do an empower you episode.

Okay, number eight, pray out loud with your spouse.

Ooh, that one hurts, right?

Okay, pray out loud.

You can't do this.

You know, and I know we all know what you're praying.

You're praying, she wants more intimacy.

Okay, no.

What I want you to do, and if you can't do, if you can't do the prayer, you like it's really hard for you to do as a couple, try this.

She's here, you're here, and you go help her.

Lord, help her.

Amen.

And then if he does that with you, you go help him, Lord.

He needs more help than me.

Okay?

Just start somewhere, okay?

And then see where it goes from there.

I bet it'll get more sophisticated than that.

Um, number nine, communicate with your blood-stained ally.

So have someone you're doing it with or someone you're accountable with.

So they may not want to do it with you, but you would you're gonna text or call or let them know how you did for that day.

Now, what you get in the booklet is when you open it up, it has all 45 days, and then a place for you to check the stuff, the 10 challenges as you do them.

But you'll make sure that your blood-stained ally knows about that.

And then number 10, sexual purity.

Sexual purity, no porn.

So, if you're involved in sex outside of marriage, stop it.

It's a good time to stop it.

Not a good idea.

It's not helping you, it's not helping you emotionally, physically, or spiritually.

It's hurting someone, it's hurting you the most.

Do it God's way.

God's way is the healthiest way, God's way is the right way, God's way is the funnest way to do it, okay?

And and then porn, stop it.

Stop the porn.

And that's gonna be a hard one for some of you because you've got to struggle there.

I get it.

Um, and you can, but you can break through.

45 days, you might actually, for the first time in your life, or the first time since you were 14 years old, when you first saw porn, get break that baby.

Because in 45 days, you you literally might break it because you'll have a new dopamine fix.

Your dopamine fix won't be porn.

You know what your dopamine fix will be?

Working out.

Because the same thing.

When you work out, you release dopamine in your frontal cortex.

It's the adrenaline drug of God's drug within your system that makes you fired up for the day.

Thank you for listening to the Forn for War podcast.

We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org.

God bless.