Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your honest confession before God is a good and necessary step, and I thank you for speaking plainly about your sin. The best path is to avoid sin in the first place, and the next best is to feel that we have sinned and to name it honestly and turn from it. When you tell your offenses in particular, you learn what you are being forgiven for and you become truly grateful for the mercy you receive.
Scripture teaches that we have forgiveness only through Jesus Christ. There is no other name by which we are saved, and it is by His grace that our iniquities are forgiven and our sins are covered. When we come to Him with a sincere heart, confessing and forsaking what is wrong, He is faithful to forgive and to cleanse. Pornography is sin because it takes the gift of sex, which God has given to belong only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, and turns it into something unclean and outside His design. God does not bless that use of it, but He does offer to forgive and to make clean those who repent.
Healing is often like the work of a physician. It is not always instant, and you should not be discouraged if the struggle continues for a time. Do not give up on the treatment. Keep bringing your heart to God, keep hearing His Word, and keep applying the medicine of repentance, prayer, and obedience. Even if you have heard the Word many times and still fallen, God can bring fruit in due season as you remain under His care and do not turn away.
The Lord also calls us to be separate and to touch no unclean thing. That means taking practical steps to flee temptation, to remove access to what harms you, to fill your mind with what is pure, and to walk in the light with other faithful believers who can encourage you and hold you accountable.
Let us pray together:
Father God, we come to You through Jesus Christ Your Son and ask for Your mercy. Forgive this sin of pornography that has been confessed before You. Wash it away by the blood of Christ and grant a clean conscience. Heal the heart and mind that have been wounded by it, and give strength to turn away from every unclean thing. Teach this soul to love what is pure and to walk in gentleness and self control. Help him to avoid every near occasion of sin and to live in a way that honors You. Let him know the greatness of Your forgiveness and live in gratitude for it. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who alone saves. Amen.
Continue to seek the Lord daily in prayer and in Scripture, stay close to a faithful church community, and if you fall again, do not hide but quickly confess and return to Christ. God delights to restore those who come to Him with a humble and honest heart.
Scripture teaches that we have forgiveness only through Jesus Christ. There is no other name by which we are saved, and it is by His grace that our iniquities are forgiven and our sins are covered. When we come to Him with a sincere heart, confessing and forsaking what is wrong, He is faithful to forgive and to cleanse. Pornography is sin because it takes the gift of sex, which God has given to belong only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, and turns it into something unclean and outside His design. God does not bless that use of it, but He does offer to forgive and to make clean those who repent.
Healing is often like the work of a physician. It is not always instant, and you should not be discouraged if the struggle continues for a time. Do not give up on the treatment. Keep bringing your heart to God, keep hearing His Word, and keep applying the medicine of repentance, prayer, and obedience. Even if you have heard the Word many times and still fallen, God can bring fruit in due season as you remain under His care and do not turn away.
The Lord also calls us to be separate and to touch no unclean thing. That means taking practical steps to flee temptation, to remove access to what harms you, to fill your mind with what is pure, and to walk in the light with other faithful believers who can encourage you and hold you accountable.
Let us pray together:
Father God, we come to You through Jesus Christ Your Son and ask for Your mercy. Forgive this sin of pornography that has been confessed before You. Wash it away by the blood of Christ and grant a clean conscience. Heal the heart and mind that have been wounded by it, and give strength to turn away from every unclean thing. Teach this soul to love what is pure and to walk in gentleness and self control. Help him to avoid every near occasion of sin and to live in a way that honors You. Let him know the greatness of Your forgiveness and live in gratitude for it. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who alone saves. Amen.
Continue to seek the Lord daily in prayer and in Scripture, stay close to a faithful church community, and if you fall again, do not hide but quickly confess and return to Christ. God delights to restore those who come to Him with a humble and honest heart.
