Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest confession before the Lord is precious to Him, and He hears a prayer like this. The message of the Bible to anyone who has sinned is that there is forgiveness with God. You have not gone too far. God promises to heal and to restore comfort, and that healing begins with forgiveness.
Pornography is not a small thing. It takes a person captive and makes him a slave, holding him in a tight grip. Scripture teaches that any sexual expression outside the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman in marriage is outside God's design. That is why this struggle feels so enslaving, and why it leaves restlessness and shame, like a stormy sea that cannot rest. But God is extending peace and healing to you, not condemnation. Even the story of Manasseh, a man who went further from God than most of us could imagine, shows that when he prayed and turned to the Lord, he found a loving and forgiving God. If God forgave him, He will forgive you.
God's forgiveness has a righteous basis. Jesus took our sin and took the penalty for our sin upon Himself, so that God can justly forgive us. Through His death in your place, your sins can be forgiven and you can be justified before God. When you turn your life over to Jesus Christ and receive that forgiveness, the war is over. You are no longer running from God or fighting against Him, and He gives a wonderful peace in place of that turmoil. As David wrote, how happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
True repentance is more than feeling sorry. There is a sorrow that is godly and leads to repentance and salvation, and there is a sorrow of the world that only brings death. Godly sorrow brings a change. To repent is to turn, to get your path straight before the Lord, and then to show that change by your life. Bring forth the fruit that demonstrates repentance. If you are sorry and you turn from it and do not continue in it, that is repentance. It will mean making practical choices to turn from what enslaves you and to walk in purity, trusting the Holy Spirit whom God gives to those who obey Him.
Healing from this is also part of God's work, and healing often is a process. All healing is from God, whether it comes instantly or gradually. God has established processes of healing in our bodies and in our minds and emotions. He can heal the wounds and scars that this sin has left, and bring healing in your thoughts and desires as you walk with Him day by day. Do not measure God's love by whether the struggle disappears in a moment. The greatest miracle God does in any life is not physical healing but the forgiveness of sins and the new life He gives. That is the miracle to seek first, and the rest follows in His wisdom and care.
Failure does not mean you are put out with no hope of return. Peter failed and denied the Lord, yet he found forgiveness and restoration and became a pillar in the early church. God is gracious, merciful, long suffering and patient. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I pray for you now that you would know this forgiveness fully. Lord Jesus, thank You for dying in this one's place and bearing the penalty for sin. Forgive and cleanse this dear one who is confessing to You. Heal the captivity of this sin, restore peace and comfort, and renew the mind. Give strength by Your Holy Spirit to turn from pornography and to walk in purity, and let there be clear evidence of a changed life. Make this forgiveness and healing real and lasting, and guard this heart in Your peace. Amen.
Pornography is not a small thing. It takes a person captive and makes him a slave, holding him in a tight grip. Scripture teaches that any sexual expression outside the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman in marriage is outside God's design. That is why this struggle feels so enslaving, and why it leaves restlessness and shame, like a stormy sea that cannot rest. But God is extending peace and healing to you, not condemnation. Even the story of Manasseh, a man who went further from God than most of us could imagine, shows that when he prayed and turned to the Lord, he found a loving and forgiving God. If God forgave him, He will forgive you.
God's forgiveness has a righteous basis. Jesus took our sin and took the penalty for our sin upon Himself, so that God can justly forgive us. Through His death in your place, your sins can be forgiven and you can be justified before God. When you turn your life over to Jesus Christ and receive that forgiveness, the war is over. You are no longer running from God or fighting against Him, and He gives a wonderful peace in place of that turmoil. As David wrote, how happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
True repentance is more than feeling sorry. There is a sorrow that is godly and leads to repentance and salvation, and there is a sorrow of the world that only brings death. Godly sorrow brings a change. To repent is to turn, to get your path straight before the Lord, and then to show that change by your life. Bring forth the fruit that demonstrates repentance. If you are sorry and you turn from it and do not continue in it, that is repentance. It will mean making practical choices to turn from what enslaves you and to walk in purity, trusting the Holy Spirit whom God gives to those who obey Him.
Healing from this is also part of God's work, and healing often is a process. All healing is from God, whether it comes instantly or gradually. God has established processes of healing in our bodies and in our minds and emotions. He can heal the wounds and scars that this sin has left, and bring healing in your thoughts and desires as you walk with Him day by day. Do not measure God's love by whether the struggle disappears in a moment. The greatest miracle God does in any life is not physical healing but the forgiveness of sins and the new life He gives. That is the miracle to seek first, and the rest follows in His wisdom and care.
Failure does not mean you are put out with no hope of return. Peter failed and denied the Lord, yet he found forgiveness and restoration and became a pillar in the early church. God is gracious, merciful, long suffering and patient. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I pray for you now that you would know this forgiveness fully. Lord Jesus, thank You for dying in this one's place and bearing the penalty for sin. Forgive and cleanse this dear one who is confessing to You. Heal the captivity of this sin, restore peace and comfort, and renew the mind. Give strength by Your Holy Spirit to turn from pornography and to walk in purity, and let there be clear evidence of a changed life. Make this forgiveness and healing real and lasting, and guard this heart in Your peace. Amen.
