After 1½ month of being a Christian, I realize how my faith in the Lord is still being hampered by sexual lust. Though things have improved, I feel Satan's clutches trying to drag me back in by instilling my 'yearning for sexual pleasures'. Then, yesterday, it happened again after 1-2 weeks of staying clean of that sin. I desperately practiced what I ought not do, and repented to the Lord. I read that fasting is like the nuclear warhead of the spiritual weapons that Jesus, the Father, gave us, when struggling with addictions and demonic oppression. So now, from today, I begin my first fast. I gun for 21 days of fasting, maybe 40 days depending on how things go, and if I'll be able to endure that long. This is to 'starve' my lustful desire for the flesh, and grow closer to God. So that I will love Him more, and that I will pray much more, fervently. And that I will read the bible more. Please, pray for me that when the devil and his minions, as well as my own flesh, will not have the upper hand, knowing that I shall be overwhelmed, and they will try. But that I pray as well that I will make it through the fast. Temptation will be heavy, during my fasting period. I ask that you will pray for me, dear brothers and sisters.
Praise the Lord! Halleluyah! Jesus is alive!
Going on to reply to your post. If you believe your faith is being hampered by sexual lust, then you have not understood the gospel. You said, "Temptation will be heavy", if that's what you believe, if that is where your faith is, then temptation will be heavy, because you believe it will. The devil is defeated. Sin's power is broken, it has no dominion over you. Salvation means, healing, health, provision, protection, deliverance, victory. That sexual lust is a thing of the past. So, it's telling your 'flesh', no! I put on the Lord Jesus Christ and I make no provision for the flesh. Stop believing you will be overwhelmed, you are the overcomer, you are the triumphant one because of Christ in you, the hope of glory. See Jesus! You've been crucified with Christ, it's no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you and the life that you now live in the flesh, you live by the faith of the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you, for you are 'dead' and your life is hid with Christ in God. You're ONE with the Lord by His Spirit! Your old man has died with all it's passion and lust and now you are a new creation, born again, a whole new species of being, righteous. The battle is in the mind with all that's been built up, this is why we are commanded to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Meaning when a thought comes in, it's discerning where that thought is coming from. And it's not a sin to have bad thoughts! The devil's fooling us, he's smarter than we are. He's condemning us for nothing. Those were his thoughts, not mine! If it's not your thought, it's not your sin. If it's not your thought you're not accountable to it. It's only your sin when you act on it. The thought comes into your mind, the devil wants you to take it into your heart, make it your own.
The mind is where the battle is, because we have believed when a negative thought comes in, that it's coming from us, but the truth is, it's not us, but the enemy. We either receive that thought and act on it, or turn to the Lord and say, Father, I so thank you, that's not who I am anymore. Thank you for the blood of Jesus.
I had read these scriptures many times and one day the Lord said, read it slow. So I read it, s l o w.
Gen 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Did you see it? Abel's offering was accepted, but Cain's wasn't and Cain got angry. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? and why is your face all scrunched up? Don't you know that when you do well, you are accepted but, when you aren't accepted, then sin is at the door. You have a choice to either open the door to it or keep it closed, but if you open it, then it will rule you. (My version). So you see, Cain was angry and instead of asking the Lord how to be acceptable, he let that anger override his thoughts and killed his brother.
So when the thought or 'feelings' come, it's turning to the Lord (submitting yourself to the Lord) and affirming and confessing who He says you are. Father, I so thank you that is not who I am anymore. I thank you that you have washed me in the blood of Jesus, I thank you that sin has no dominion over me any longer, that the devil is defeated and I say YES, to You, Father for your love and mercy and I receive your plans and purposes for my life. I'm not going to troubleshoot or faultfind, I am going to rest in the knowledge that I am accepted by You because of the blood of Jesus and that I am the righteousness of God in Christ. As you submit to the Lord, the devil is not wanting to hang around and he will flee. And instead of submitting to that thought or feeling, it's turning to the Lord and laughing and thanking Him, that's not me! Thank you Jesus for delivering me from myself!
Father, thank you for wooing, calling and drawing this godly man by Your Spirit and that the light of the glorious gospel pierced the darkness and he said, Yes! Lord! I pray for the baptism of Your Spirit to come upon him with fire and passion for your word and the things of God, releasing the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Jesus and that his eyes be flooded with light so that he might know the hope to which he has been called for such a time as this. Thank you that Jesus is the Vine and he is the branch, therefore, he can do all things through Christ which strengthens him, for greater is He that is in him, than he that is in the world. Thank you for growing him up in all things in Christ, for he is your workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Thank you that he is walking on paths of righteousness, that he thinks on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and praiseworthy, and casts down those thoughts that are contrary to the word of God. In the name of Jesus, I say be free and be blessed! In Jesus name. Amen.
