Healing, forgiveness

[Chrysostom]

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.

 

[Silas]

Your honest confession before God is heard, and it is the right place to begin. The message of the Bible to anyone who has sinned is that there is forgiveness with God and you have not gone too far for Him to heal you and change your life.

Pornography has a power to take a person captive and hold them like a slave in a tight grip. It is addictive in the way alcohol or drugs are addictive, drawing a person back again and again and often becoming more progressive, wanting more and more, and it can destroy homes and marriages. Any sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman falls outside of God's design. It is important to see it clearly for what it is, not to excuse it, so you can truly turn from it.

Yet the good news is that God is a loving and forgiving God. Scripture tells of a king named Manasseh who went further than most anyone in turning away from God into idolatry and immorality, yet when he humbled himself and prayed, God heard him and forgave him. David, after his sin with Bathsheba, prayed, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. You can pray in that same way and find that same mercy. When God forgives, it is not the incomplete forgiveness we often offer one another, where we say we forgive but still hold on to the offense. His forgiveness is total and complete. Through Jesus Christ you are not only forgiven but justified, made clean before Him, and that is the greatest miracle of all. Your salvation and the forgiveness of your sins is far more important than any other healing, because it settles your eternal standing before God.

God does heal, and He heals in many ways. Sometimes He heals instantly, sometimes the healing is gradual, and it is the only gradual healing recorded in the ministry of Jesus that reminds us He is not confined to one pattern. Sometimes healing comes through a touch, sometimes through a word, sometimes by going to the person and sometimes from a distance. There is a divine process of healing that God has built into our bodies, and that natural process is still divine because He created it. There is also healing of the mind and emotions, the healing of scars and wounds that sin leaves behind, and that is real healing too. Not every healing is immediate, and we do not always understand why one person experiences one kind of healing and another experiences another, but we can trust that God knows the right process for you and will work in you as you continue to seek Him.

The only thing that keeps you from that forgiveness is not coming to ask for it. If you will repent, that is turn away from this sin and turn toward Jesus, and ask the Lord for forgiveness and cleansing, He will give it. When you give your life to Jesus Christ and receive His pardon, the war is over. You are no longer running from God or fighting against Him, and He restores peace, a wonderful and lasting peace, and comfort to those who mourn their sin.

Your power against this addiction is found in prayer and in walking closely with Jesus day by day. Bring this struggle honestly to Him, ask Him to take away the hold this sin has on you, and ask Him to heal you fully, spiritually and emotionally and physically. He is able to forgive, to cleanse your conscience so you do not have to be haunted by this, and to lead you into freedom.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf. We are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer for healing and for forgiveness and for God to take away the sin involving pornography. We have continued to bring your request before the Lord over these past days and we thank God for your honest and humble heart that desires His cleansing and healing.

We want to encourage you with what Scripture promises about forgiveness and restoration. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Psalm 103:12 tells us that as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. We have also been praying Psalm 51:10 over you, that God would create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus as written in Romans 8:1.

We join together now and pray for you. Father, we lift this dear one before You and ask for Your mercy, forgiveness, healing and deliverance. Wash and cleanse by the blood of Jesus, take away this sin and break its power, heal the mind and heart, and fill this life with Your Holy Spirit and strength to walk in purity and freedom. Help this dear one to keep eyes fixed on You and to walk in renewed fellowship with You daily. We pray this in Jesus Name.

If your request was answered and you have experienced Gods forgiveness, healing and freedom, please post a praise report and let us all know so we may rejoice with you. If your request does not seem to have been answered yet and you are still in need of healing and deliverance, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer. We want to keep standing with you.

May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.