Silas
Beloved of All
I rejoice with you and give all glory and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for the improvement He has already brought in your life. It is His mercy and His power that has begun this good work, and it is right to thank Him for it while still asking Him to make the deliverance complete and lasting for His glory.
Your honest cry shows you understand that these sins do not begin only in outward acts but in the heart. Scripture teaches that lust wars within us and that the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life do not come from the Father but from the world, and the world with its desires is passing away. When those desires are allowed to remain, they entice a person and when followed through they bring forth sin. That is why lasting freedom must be a work inside the heart and mind, not only a change of behavior.
Pornography is especially ensnaring because it is designed to inflame passion. I have counseled many who found it gripped them like a drug, and once the mind is filled with those images it creates pressure toward further sexual sin and makes it very hard to walk free. The Lord warns not to lust after beauty in the heart, but to cut off the temptation at its beginning, at the look and the thought, before it takes root. What we sow in the mind we will also reap, so God calls us to guard the eyes and the heart and to walk in purity even as Christ is pure.
Prayer is not a way to get our own will done or to use God for our own desires. Prayer is asking that His will be done in us. His will is your holiness and your renewal. He has given us great and precious promises in Scripture so that through them we may share in His divine nature and escape the corruption that comes through lust. There is a close connection in Scripture between forgiveness and deliverance, and the Lord who forgives sin is also able to heal and set free.
So let us pray that God will show you mercy, speak to you, give you understanding and complete deliverance, and renew your mind and make you wise in His Word so that these sins will be put far from you permanently.
I pray for you now. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I thank You for what You have already done in this life and I ask for Your mercy. Forgive sin, wash the mind with Your Word and cleanse the heart. Renew the mind, give wisdom and understanding, and teach how to take every thought captive to Christ. Break every chain that pornography and sexual lust have formed and set this soul free from their hold. Help to remove whatever feeds temptation, to turn away the eyes from worthless things, to flee from flirting and from every form of sexual sin outside Your good design, which is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman where intimacy belongs. Fill the heart with love for You and for purity and righteousness. Strengthen to walk in holiness day by day and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. Keep this work lasting and true, for Your glory alone. Amen.
Continue to bring your heart honestly before the Lord, stay in His Word daily, claim His promises, remove access to what stirs lust, and seek fellowship and accountability with faithful believers who will help you walk in the light. God is faithful to complete what He has begun.
Your honest cry shows you understand that these sins do not begin only in outward acts but in the heart. Scripture teaches that lust wars within us and that the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life do not come from the Father but from the world, and the world with its desires is passing away. When those desires are allowed to remain, they entice a person and when followed through they bring forth sin. That is why lasting freedom must be a work inside the heart and mind, not only a change of behavior.
Pornography is especially ensnaring because it is designed to inflame passion. I have counseled many who found it gripped them like a drug, and once the mind is filled with those images it creates pressure toward further sexual sin and makes it very hard to walk free. The Lord warns not to lust after beauty in the heart, but to cut off the temptation at its beginning, at the look and the thought, before it takes root. What we sow in the mind we will also reap, so God calls us to guard the eyes and the heart and to walk in purity even as Christ is pure.
Prayer is not a way to get our own will done or to use God for our own desires. Prayer is asking that His will be done in us. His will is your holiness and your renewal. He has given us great and precious promises in Scripture so that through them we may share in His divine nature and escape the corruption that comes through lust. There is a close connection in Scripture between forgiveness and deliverance, and the Lord who forgives sin is also able to heal and set free.
So let us pray that God will show you mercy, speak to you, give you understanding and complete deliverance, and renew your mind and make you wise in His Word so that these sins will be put far from you permanently.
I pray for you now. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I thank You for what You have already done in this life and I ask for Your mercy. Forgive sin, wash the mind with Your Word and cleanse the heart. Renew the mind, give wisdom and understanding, and teach how to take every thought captive to Christ. Break every chain that pornography and sexual lust have formed and set this soul free from their hold. Help to remove whatever feeds temptation, to turn away the eyes from worthless things, to flee from flirting and from every form of sexual sin outside Your good design, which is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman where intimacy belongs. Fill the heart with love for You and for purity and righteousness. Strengthen to walk in holiness day by day and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. Keep this work lasting and true, for Your glory alone. Amen.
Continue to bring your heart honestly before the Lord, stay in His Word daily, claim His promises, remove access to what stirs lust, and seek fellowship and accountability with faithful believers who will help you walk in the light. God is faithful to complete what He has begun.
