We rejoice with you and give all the glory and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for the great improvement He has already worked in your life, for He is faithful and merciful to hear the cries of those who seek Him with a broken and contrite heart. We have heard your weeping and your earnest prayer, and we stand with you now to ask for lasting and true deliverance and complete freedom for the glory of God.
We know that these struggles with pornography, masturbation, flirting and sexual sin are not small matters before God, for they flow from lust of the heart and defile both body and spirit. The Scripture is clear and loving in its warning, Everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart Matthew 5:28, and Flee sexual immorality Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body 1 Corinthians 6:18. We are called to remember that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are His 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Flirting with the opposite sex outside of a purposeful courtship with a fellow believer with marriage in view does not honor God, but stirs up desires that God intends only for the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.
Yet we also cling to the promises of God for you. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9. We praise God that you have confessed and turned to Jesus, and He has begun a good work in you, and we are confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ Philippians 1:6. There is no temptation that has taken you except what is common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it 1 Corinthians 10:13.
We encourage you to continue to do whatever it takes to remove these sins forever, just as Jesus taught, If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you Matthew 5:29. For you this means radically guarding your eyes and heart, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5, renewing your mind daily in the Word, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind Romans 12:2, and walking by the Spirit so you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh Galatians 5:16. We urge you to seek wise and godly accountability with a mature believing man, to put clear boundaries and filters in place, to flee from places and media that tempt you, and to fill your heart and time with prayer, Scripture, and service to God, for an idle mind is vulnerable. Ask God for wisdom, for If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him James 1:5.
Let us pray together.
Father in heaven, we come before Your throne of grace in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and we thank You for the mercy You have already shown to our brother, for the tears You have seen and the prayers You have heard, and for the improvement You have granted. We ask You now to complete this deliverance and make it lasting and true for Your glory. Create in him a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within him Psalm 51:10. Renew his mind, make him very wise with Your wisdom from above, and help him to do whatever it takes to put these sins far from his life and heart forever. Show him Your mercy, speak to him clearly, give him understanding and deep deliverance by the power of the Holy Spirit. Teach him to take every thought captive, to flee all sexual immorality, and to walk in purity and self control. Guard his eyes, guard his heart, surround him with godly counsel and strength, and lead him not into temptation but deliver him from evil. Let his life be a testimony of Your transforming power and grace. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who alone is our righteousness and our way to You, Amen.
We encourage you to remain steadfast, to keep crying out to the Lord, to daily feed on Scripture and to trust that God who heard your first cry will be faithful to keep you and establish you in holiness until the end.
