“If you don’t find what brings you life, what brings you death will find you.”
Isolation Will Kill You
Isolation will kill you. God meant for us to be in relationships – that is why we are born into a family and saved into a body. It is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).
When we are not in healthy relationships, we make poor choices. In the early 90’s, Dr. Harry Schaumburg wrote a book called False Intimacy. He proposed that sexual sin wasn’t just an issue of sex or even external behavior but “a byproduct of loneliness, pain, and the self-centered demand to be loved and accepted regardless of the consequences.”
When we don’t feel accepted, we will look for a false version of intimacy where we can pretend we are accepted.
This book was helpful to understand some things driving sexual sin, but it never gave a path out.
Relationships Will Heal You
“When you’re ready to be honest, you’re ready for relationships.”
All of us have some people in our lives, but knowing people and having real connections are not the same thing. We often only tell other people those things that we know they want to hear. We censor those things we fear will bring us rejection. However, this censoring keeps us from feeling fully accepted, because there is a part of us we don’t want others to see.
Mark Peterson has developed a method to help men to become free from all kinds of addiction. He has successfully run a men’s group for ten years that has had hundreds of success stories. ManAlive describes how he has done it.
Peterson shares how he goes after true relationships for men by making phone calls, getting vulnerable, actively listening, giving homework, and getting better. This book will give you hope for all men.
This book is filled with stories of lives changed by the methods discussed in the book. I personally know many of the people in those stories and have seen the joy and life that has been brought back in their lives. And, my life has been enriched by the development of true friendship by being in the group Peterson started.
How Does ManAlive Relate to Prayer?
The Bible contains at least 45 verses about “one another.” We are to love one another. Encourage one another. Meet with one another. Accept one another. Bear with one another’s burdens.
Friends help us live out of who we are because as we are ourselves with them, their acceptance of us allows us to believe in God’s acceptance of us. We can see the eyes of God’s love best through the eyes of one another.
But, there is more behind it. The more we hide from one another about ourselves, the more we will hide from God. And, the more we hide from God, the less we will hear from Him. Since He talks to who we are created to be, if we hide areas from Him, we turn off ways He wants to speak to us.
Do Yourself a Favor
Jesus came that we may have life to the full (John 10:10). ManAlive by Mark Peterson will give you direction for how to release this in men. Do yourself a favor and buy this book. It will also make a great Father’s Day gift. 🙂