Joe Dallas - The game plan

A Player is a follower of Jesus Christ, imperfect but committed, who recognizes the value of sexual purity and strives for it daily.

A Player has had his conscience awakened to the seriousness of compromise, either by an internal or external crisis of truth.

A Player has made conscious and practical efforts to separate himself from any activities, relationships, or circumstances that would constitute or induce a sexual compromise.

A Player is a man of daily prayer, daily Scripture reading, daily recommitment to purity, and daily review of the factors that motivate and inspire him.

A Player knows that to keep his integrity thriving hell need the additional integrity of men who share his vision. He stays accountable on a weekly basis, allowing his allies to know his weaknesses, struggles, and victories.

A Player comes clean about his failures and attempts to make restitution to those who have been injured by his behavior.

A Player knows the adversarial nature of the arena he plays in and the tactics his opponent will use against him, and he stays prepared for both.

A Player is a steward of his emotions, so he addresses them by attending to his wounds through honesty and forgiveness.

A Player understands sexual temptation and stays prepared for it by refusing to entertain it when it arises.

A Player resists sexual temptation through daily training and practical resistance techniques.

A Player recognizes that his body is not his own and that he will someday answer to its Owner for the way he has managed it.

A Player confronts, humbly but clearly when necessary, always with the goal of improving his relationships.

A Player has in place a relapse contingency plan that he never intends to use.

A Player pursues his passion and calling beyond sexual purity.

A Player loves his Lord, knowing his love for Him is imperfect but growing daily, and he expresses that love through devotion and obedience.

SECTION ONE

ROUTE

Day 1 Recruitment:
Getting Back into the Game
God calls us out of the behavior weve gotten comfortable with and reminds us of the potential were blocking and the life were neglecting.

Day 2 Action Plan for Recruitment

Day 3 Crisis: Truth Hurts
God confronts us with the truth by allowing an internal or external crisis to interrupt us and to motivate us to change.

Day 4 Action Plan for Crisis

Day 5 Separation: Making the Final Cut
We reject the behavior that has disrupted our lives by separating ourselves from it and, to the best of our ability, removing the opportunity to return to it.

Day 6 Action Plan for Separation

DAY 1
RECRUITMENT:
GETTING BACK INTO THE GAME

To join in what God is doing, what adjustments must I make in my life?

HENRY BLACKABY AND CLAUDE KING,
EXPERIENCING GOD

I loved Little League; I just didnt care for baseball. Hand-eye coordination didnt come naturally to me, and Ive never been fast, so strikeouts and missed catches were a problem. I could manage a football pretty well, and I blocked and tackled better than most, but baseball eluded me. Still, there I was, season after season, wearing a Little League uniform.

That, I liked. I liked the status. I liked saying, Im a ballplayer. I loved the camaraderie of the team and the social privileges it brought. I liked everything about baseball, in fact, but the game itself.

So I made up my own. At each game Id sleepwalk through the first half, strike out, flub catches, or get tagged. Then when the others in the lineup took over during the second half, Id sit on the bench with a concealed comic book, sipping a soda and letting my mind wander. Disinterested in the real game, I had my own game going.

Until my coach intervened.

I was in the middle of a terrific Green Lantern story while ignoring, as usual, my teammates and the game, when my coach snatched me off the bench, pulled my astonished face within a fraction of his, and said, Dallas, nobody made you join this team. You wanna play, play. You dont wanna play? Then turn in the uniform and quit calling yourself a player. Because when you carry this teams name but dont really play, you let the rest of us down. So make a decision.

Thats the day I got serious. And within weeks, as I played seriously rather than halfheartedly, the game took on a whole new meaning.

A Player is afollower of JesusChrist, imperfectbut committed,who recognizesthe value ofsexual purityand strives forit daily.

DONT CARRY THE NAME IF YOU WONT PLAY THE GAME

Christian men by the thousands are sitting on the bench, carrying the Name but ignoring The Game. And while theres no telling just how many believers have sexually compromised, the estimates arent encouraging. More than 18 percent of the men polled in a Zogby/Focus on the Family survey, for example, identified themselves as Christians who used pornography.

In other words, there are plenty of guys out there wearing the Christian uniform, calling themselves players but not truly and consistently playing The Game. If youre one of these guys and youre still looking for reasons, I want to offer you three.

YOUR MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS ARE SUFFERING

I liked my Little League coach. Truth to tell, I loved him. He was tough, funny, and dedicated; and like all good coaches, he loved his team by pushing them. But the more I slacked off on the field, the more I withdrew from him. It was especially hard looking him in the eye during practice, because his eyes were full of delighted pride when they looked at my hardworking teammates but full of irritation and disappointment when they rested on me. He knew I was failing, I knew that he knew, and our coach/player bond was polluted by that mutual knowledge.

My unwillingness to put effort into the game ruined my relationship with my coach, so I ducked him whenever possible.

I wasnt too fond of my teammates, either, because I knew I was letting them down. Have you noticed that when we know were wronging another person but not willing to make it right, we tend to resent that person? Ive seen this time and again in my married clients, for example, who know theyre cheating on their wives via pornography or adultery. Theyre guilty, and the wife is the focal point of the guilt. But rather than deal with it, they avoid her and resent her for being a reminder of their sin.

My primary relationships suffered. Yours do too. You may belong to God. But somethings missing, because you know that He knows theres compromise in your life, and the Father/son bond is polluted by that mutual knowledge.

Perhaps youre avoiding Him?

No surprise there. Mans first response to sin, after all, was to run away and hide from God, rather than run to Him for help. When Adam sinned, he fled the scene, making an insane attempt to duck God. And to my thinking, theres no sadder line in all of Scripture than Gods heartbroken call to His rebel son: Adam, where are you?

Stop right there. Write your name in the blank in this sentence:

________________, where are you?

Read the sentence out loud with your name in it. Hear God saying it to you. Do this a couple of times. Cant you sense a Fathers heart, angry and hurt, trying to get His beloved son to emerge from the bushes, discard those pathetic fig leaves (which arent covering anything, anyway), and deal with the problem?

Of course, your relationships with others are suffering too. Secrecy does that, and if youve been entertaining a sexual sin, dont tell me you havent become a pro at the secrecy game. You have to, in order to keep sexual sin alive. You have to do it secretly, then cover it up, lie about it, and pretend it isnt there. And the ongoing cover-up cant help but erect a wall of secrecy between you and the people who love you the most.