Secrecy: Recipe for darkness and hurt

It has come to my attention that we have a big problem in society today;"personal space". I look around me and I see people hurting. I see people hurting themselves, and i see people hurting people, even Christian brothers and sisters are falling prey to this epidemic lie that satan is using. Let me be clear, there is a time and a place for a certain amount of "personal space" however in todays culture it is widely thought that space includes the things people do in their private lives they shouldn't. I mainly referring to things such as porn, watching things or going places you shouldn't, or chatting about things you shouldn't. The people that are close to me know that I am not afraid to ask hard questions, even people not so close to me I ask hard questions because I believe we should all have accountability! I know so many brothers and sisters who say they are doing ok and that they don't need accountability in theseareas but if you keep these things in the dark it gives satan a place to come up and take you places you never wanted to go. Darkness is death's and satan's fertilizer. I also see a lot of brothers and sisters with best friends and family that don't want to approach them about hard things they may be doing in their life, there have been many times I would say to someone "you should really ask how they are doing with that or if they have anything they need to talk about" to which the answer is usually along the lines of "that isn't my business" or "I don't want to, that is weird". It may be weird or uncomfortable to ask you friend or family member "hey, how are you doing with purity with your gf/bf?" or "have you been looking at porn lately?" but will it be more weird to do that or to face God or your feelings later knowing you could have helped a friend in need? Especially if they get addicted to something like porn and it destroys their life. See God puts close friends and family in your life to help keep light on areas that tend to get dark. We constantly have to shine light onto and into our lives and our hearts to expose sin and kill the bacteria that is death. I have people in my life that ask me the hard questions and in the times that they don't or haven't I have felt the darkness creeping up on me wanting to over take me, there have been times when it almost has. I got rid of the darkness by praying and telling my brothers what was going on. Usually everyone has a least one person they can approach about something in their life and they know that person is going to give them the hard answer to take care of it or to stay away from it, when we don't approach that person we stumble often. However, if we do approach that person and ask them to help us and to pray for us then light fills that area and God helps to keep sin and death away. Trust me if you allow that darkness in your life it will make you miserable and possibly make you lose everything that is dear to you.

Honestly these things people go through don't even have to be sinful at the start. Maybe the person that is close to you is having a hard time with one of their friends or family members and satan uses that to start causing them to sin. See something as simple as not being able to talk to your wife or parents can cause you to find another person where you can talk freely or feel like you can connect with that person better. The problem with this is when the person you are better able to connect with is one that helps you and causes you to sin because it is someone who is not bothered by sin or maybe lives in sin and that makes you more comfortable with sin. Even the Bible says we should surround ourselves with good council. Having friends that are not a good influence is one thing, having close friends who can influence you that are bad influence is a problem. I say that about the friends to say this. If you see someone who seems to have something going on in their life then ask about it and see if they will let you in, even if they don't at least you tried and did your part. I would challenge anyone who reads this to go after they read this and ask a close friend how they are doing and ask if there is anything they could help keep that person accountable with. Maybe you will need to ask that person straight up if they are having sex with their bf/gf, or maybe you will need to ask that person if they have or are looking at porn. They may get a little uncomfortable or sometimes defensive but it is worth the risk to ask and let them know you are the friend or family member that cares enough to ask the hard questions. No need to be harsh or pushy or judgmental over it, maybe even tell them something your are struggling with to help them be ok with talking to you but everyone needs someone to talk to.

PS If you want feel free to anonymously post something you are struggling with in the comments so I can pray for you and with you.