Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest cry for mercy is heard, and it is right to bring it to God. He is merciful and ready to forgive, and there is joy and relief when forgiveness is received. That forgiveness has a righteous foundation because Jesus endured the cross and bore the penalty for our sins so that God can forgive us justly and cleanse us.
What you are describing is not a small struggle. Pornography can take hold of the mind like a drug and make a person a captive. It begins with looking, then lust is stirred in the heart, and before long it holds a person in a grip that feels impossible to break on your own. Scripture warns not to lust after that image in your heart because there is no true love in it, only lust, and it leads astray and leaves a person empty. This is part of what the Bible calls the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which belong to the world and not to the Father. The world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains.
James tells us that conflicts and defeats often come from lust warring within us. We want and we try to satisfy that want, and when that desire rules us we are living according to the lower nature, the flesh, doing what comes naturally to fallen humanity. At one time we all walked that way, dead in sins and ruled by the desires of flesh and mind. That is why willpower alone does not free a person.
God does forgive when we come to Him through Jesus Christ alone. To be saved is to be made alive in Him, born again, not simply to feel sorry that we were caught or that we feel miserable after sinning. Scripture shows the difference between true repentance and mere tears over loss. One man wept bitterly not because he was sorry for his sin but because he had lost the blessing. His tears were about the consequence, not about turning from the wrong. God looks for a heart that truly turns from sin to Him, not just a heart that is tired of the pain sin brings. True repentance is a change of mind and direction, a turning away from the sin and toward Christ.
Prayer is not a way to get God to do what we want so we can keep feeding our desires. Prayer is meant to align our hearts with His will and to seek His power to walk in obedience. So come to Him honestly, confessing this sin as sin, without excuse, and asking not only for pardon but for deliverance and a new mind.
He can set you free and wash your mind with His Word. That washing is needed because pornography leaves filth in the thoughts that must be renewed daily by Scripture. Ask Him to forgive you through the blood of Jesus, to save you and make you new, and to break this bondage. Then walk in the light with practical steps of repentance. Remove access to what tempts you, put no provision for the flesh, bring your struggle into the light with a mature, trusted believer who will hold you accountable, and fill the time and mind that was given to lust with the Word of God and with prayer.
If you have not truly trusted Christ as Savior, call on Him now to save you. If you are His, know that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do not stay in hiding or in despair. Come again and again to the cross until the power of that sin is broken.
I will pray for you. Father, have mercy on this soul who is weary of sin. Forgive through the sacrifice of Jesus, save and make new, and deliver from the hold that pornography has had. Wash the mind with Your Word, set this life free from the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and teach this heart to walk in Your will and to find joy in Your forgiveness. Lead into a life of purity and obedience, for Your glory. Amen.
What you are describing is not a small struggle. Pornography can take hold of the mind like a drug and make a person a captive. It begins with looking, then lust is stirred in the heart, and before long it holds a person in a grip that feels impossible to break on your own. Scripture warns not to lust after that image in your heart because there is no true love in it, only lust, and it leads astray and leaves a person empty. This is part of what the Bible calls the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which belong to the world and not to the Father. The world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains.
James tells us that conflicts and defeats often come from lust warring within us. We want and we try to satisfy that want, and when that desire rules us we are living according to the lower nature, the flesh, doing what comes naturally to fallen humanity. At one time we all walked that way, dead in sins and ruled by the desires of flesh and mind. That is why willpower alone does not free a person.
God does forgive when we come to Him through Jesus Christ alone. To be saved is to be made alive in Him, born again, not simply to feel sorry that we were caught or that we feel miserable after sinning. Scripture shows the difference between true repentance and mere tears over loss. One man wept bitterly not because he was sorry for his sin but because he had lost the blessing. His tears were about the consequence, not about turning from the wrong. God looks for a heart that truly turns from sin to Him, not just a heart that is tired of the pain sin brings. True repentance is a change of mind and direction, a turning away from the sin and toward Christ.
Prayer is not a way to get God to do what we want so we can keep feeding our desires. Prayer is meant to align our hearts with His will and to seek His power to walk in obedience. So come to Him honestly, confessing this sin as sin, without excuse, and asking not only for pardon but for deliverance and a new mind.
He can set you free and wash your mind with His Word. That washing is needed because pornography leaves filth in the thoughts that must be renewed daily by Scripture. Ask Him to forgive you through the blood of Jesus, to save you and make you new, and to break this bondage. Then walk in the light with practical steps of repentance. Remove access to what tempts you, put no provision for the flesh, bring your struggle into the light with a mature, trusted believer who will hold you accountable, and fill the time and mind that was given to lust with the Word of God and with prayer.
If you have not truly trusted Christ as Savior, call on Him now to save you. If you are His, know that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do not stay in hiding or in despair. Come again and again to the cross until the power of that sin is broken.
I will pray for you. Father, have mercy on this soul who is weary of sin. Forgive through the sacrifice of Jesus, save and make new, and deliver from the hold that pornography has had. Wash the mind with Your Word, set this life free from the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and teach this heart to walk in Your will and to find joy in Your forgiveness. Lead into a life of purity and obedience, for Your glory. Amen.
