Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing so honestly and for giving glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for the improvement He has already brought in your life. That progress is His work and His mercy, and it is right to thank Him for it. At the same time I hear your cry for lasting and true freedom, and I join you in praying for complete deliverance.
What you are describing is a battle that is fought first in the heart and mind. Scripture teaches that sinful desires war within us, and that a person is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. When that desire is entertained it gives birth to sin. That is why the struggle often feels so persistent. Images and fantasies that are planted in the mind do not simply disappear. They stay and they have power to stir the passions again if the door is left open. Pornography and flirting work that way. They promise satisfaction but they never satisfy. They always demand more and more to produce the same excitement, and they keep the heart restless.
For that reason God calls us to guard our hearts with all diligence and to deal with temptation at its very beginning, at the thought level. Do not lust after beauty in the heart or linger on a look that is meant to inflame desire. Outside of the covenant of marriage, what the world calls love is most often only lust, and it has no power to give real love or peace. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life belong to the world system, not to the Father, and that system with its desires is passing away. Friendship with that system is hostility toward God, so the way forward is to turn fully toward Him.
Prayer is central in this, but its purpose is not to get our own will done or to use God to serve our desires. Its purpose is to surrender our will to His and to ask Him to make us holy as He is holy. When we pray in that way we can ask with confidence for what He already desires for us, which is purity, a renewed mind and wisdom to walk in His ways.
The spiritual battle is largely a battle for the mind. If the mind is fed with the things of the flesh it reaps corruption, but if it is filled with the Spirit and the Word of God it reaps life and peace. God has promised to renew the mind of the one who seeks Him. That renewal comes as you consistently put His truth before your eyes and keep your heart from what defiles it. Whatever a person sows, that he will also reap. If we sow to the flesh we reap from the flesh, if we sow to the Spirit we reap from the Spirit.
So I pray for you now that the Lord will show you His mercy in a deeper way, speak to you through His Word, give you understanding and grant you full deliverance. I pray that He will help you to do whatever is necessary to remove these sins from your life and heart, not for a moment but permanently for His glory. I pray that He will renew your mind daily, make you wise to recognize temptation early and give you strength to turn away at once, to cut it off before it takes hold. I pray that He will fill the places once occupied by lust with His love, His peace and a desire for holiness, and that He will keep you in purity even as Christ is pure.
Continue to walk honestly before Him. Bring every thought into captivity to Christ, keep your eyes from what would inflame lust, remove access to what has trapped you before, and invite trusted and godly accountability into your life. Fill your mind with Scripture and let the Holy Spirit be the one who directs your thoughts. God sees you, He hears your tears, and He is faithful to complete the work He has begun in you.
What you are describing is a battle that is fought first in the heart and mind. Scripture teaches that sinful desires war within us, and that a person is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. When that desire is entertained it gives birth to sin. That is why the struggle often feels so persistent. Images and fantasies that are planted in the mind do not simply disappear. They stay and they have power to stir the passions again if the door is left open. Pornography and flirting work that way. They promise satisfaction but they never satisfy. They always demand more and more to produce the same excitement, and they keep the heart restless.
For that reason God calls us to guard our hearts with all diligence and to deal with temptation at its very beginning, at the thought level. Do not lust after beauty in the heart or linger on a look that is meant to inflame desire. Outside of the covenant of marriage, what the world calls love is most often only lust, and it has no power to give real love or peace. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life belong to the world system, not to the Father, and that system with its desires is passing away. Friendship with that system is hostility toward God, so the way forward is to turn fully toward Him.
Prayer is central in this, but its purpose is not to get our own will done or to use God to serve our desires. Its purpose is to surrender our will to His and to ask Him to make us holy as He is holy. When we pray in that way we can ask with confidence for what He already desires for us, which is purity, a renewed mind and wisdom to walk in His ways.
The spiritual battle is largely a battle for the mind. If the mind is fed with the things of the flesh it reaps corruption, but if it is filled with the Spirit and the Word of God it reaps life and peace. God has promised to renew the mind of the one who seeks Him. That renewal comes as you consistently put His truth before your eyes and keep your heart from what defiles it. Whatever a person sows, that he will also reap. If we sow to the flesh we reap from the flesh, if we sow to the Spirit we reap from the Spirit.
So I pray for you now that the Lord will show you His mercy in a deeper way, speak to you through His Word, give you understanding and grant you full deliverance. I pray that He will help you to do whatever is necessary to remove these sins from your life and heart, not for a moment but permanently for His glory. I pray that He will renew your mind daily, make you wise to recognize temptation early and give you strength to turn away at once, to cut it off before it takes hold. I pray that He will fill the places once occupied by lust with His love, His peace and a desire for holiness, and that He will keep you in purity even as Christ is pure.
Continue to walk honestly before Him. Bring every thought into captivity to Christ, keep your eyes from what would inflame lust, remove access to what has trapped you before, and invite trusted and godly accountability into your life. Fill your mind with Scripture and let the Holy Spirit be the one who directs your thoughts. God sees you, He hears your tears, and He is faithful to complete the work He has begun in you.
