Silas
Beloved of All
Giving thanks with you for what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done is the right place to begin. All glory belongs to Him for the improvement you are seeing. It is His mercy and power that breaks chains, and it is right to thank Him for every step away from pornography, masturbation, flirting and other sexual sin. At the same time your cry for lasting and true deliverance is honest and needed, and God hears that cry.
Scripture is clear about where these battles start. James says that fights and quarrels come from the lusts that war within us. We want and we lust to satisfy ourselves, and that inner craving drives much of our trouble. That is why true freedom must go deeper than outward behavior. It must reach the heart. A man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed, and lust when it is allowed to remain brings forth sin. It begins in the heart, in what we allow our eyes to look at and our minds to dwell on. If it is not cut off there, it will lead to sin.
Pornography is especially dangerous because it is designed to inflame that lust. It works like a drug that gets a grip on the mind. It feeds the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, and once those passions are aroused they press a person toward further sexual sin. Many who have been caught in it describe being bound, unable to free themselves by willpower alone. This is one of the main ways the enemy attacks. John writes that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. Satan used those same three avenues with Eve when she saw the fruit was good for food, beautiful to look at, and able to make her wise, and he tried the same with Jesus in the wilderness. The world still offers a flood of images and opportunities to fulfill these lusts, but friendship with the world is enmity with God, and the world is passing away along with its lusts. Only he who does the will of God abides forever.
That is why prayer is not about trying to get God to do our will so we can consume it on our own desires. Prayer is about aligning our will with His. His will for you is purity and holiness, to walk as Jesus is pure. He wants to set you free from the corruption that is in the world through lust and to make you a partaker of His divine nature through His great and precious promises.
Lasting change will involve the renewing of your mind. What a man sows he will reap. If we sow pollution into the mind through what we look at and allow, we will reap corruption. If we sow to the Spirit, we reap life. That means guarding the eyes, turning away quickly from beauty that would entice you to lust, refusing to embrace what God calls strange and outside His design for marriage. Marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy belongs only within it. Outside of that, what is called love is in truth lust. God calls you to wash your mind daily with His Word, to let Him speak and give understanding, to let Him make you wise with the wisdom that comes from above.
Let us pray together for you now. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, thank You for the mercy You have already shown and for the improvement You have worked. We ask for deeper deliverance. Work in this heart, renew this mind, make wise and watchful, and show what steps must be taken to remove these sins forever. Speak clearly, grant understanding, wash away what has defiled the mind, and keep far from all that inflames lust. Strengthen to walk in purity, holiness and righteousness, not by mere resolve but by Your Spirit and Your promises. Keep from returning to what You are cleansing, and cause love for You to be greater than desire for sin. We ask this for Your glory alone. Amen.
Scripture is clear about where these battles start. James says that fights and quarrels come from the lusts that war within us. We want and we lust to satisfy ourselves, and that inner craving drives much of our trouble. That is why true freedom must go deeper than outward behavior. It must reach the heart. A man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed, and lust when it is allowed to remain brings forth sin. It begins in the heart, in what we allow our eyes to look at and our minds to dwell on. If it is not cut off there, it will lead to sin.
Pornography is especially dangerous because it is designed to inflame that lust. It works like a drug that gets a grip on the mind. It feeds the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, and once those passions are aroused they press a person toward further sexual sin. Many who have been caught in it describe being bound, unable to free themselves by willpower alone. This is one of the main ways the enemy attacks. John writes that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. Satan used those same three avenues with Eve when she saw the fruit was good for food, beautiful to look at, and able to make her wise, and he tried the same with Jesus in the wilderness. The world still offers a flood of images and opportunities to fulfill these lusts, but friendship with the world is enmity with God, and the world is passing away along with its lusts. Only he who does the will of God abides forever.
That is why prayer is not about trying to get God to do our will so we can consume it on our own desires. Prayer is about aligning our will with His. His will for you is purity and holiness, to walk as Jesus is pure. He wants to set you free from the corruption that is in the world through lust and to make you a partaker of His divine nature through His great and precious promises.
Lasting change will involve the renewing of your mind. What a man sows he will reap. If we sow pollution into the mind through what we look at and allow, we will reap corruption. If we sow to the Spirit, we reap life. That means guarding the eyes, turning away quickly from beauty that would entice you to lust, refusing to embrace what God calls strange and outside His design for marriage. Marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy belongs only within it. Outside of that, what is called love is in truth lust. God calls you to wash your mind daily with His Word, to let Him speak and give understanding, to let Him make you wise with the wisdom that comes from above.
Let us pray together for you now. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, thank You for the mercy You have already shown and for the improvement You have worked. We ask for deeper deliverance. Work in this heart, renew this mind, make wise and watchful, and show what steps must be taken to remove these sins forever. Speak clearly, grant understanding, wash away what has defiled the mind, and keep far from all that inflames lust. Strengthen to walk in purity, holiness and righteousness, not by mere resolve but by Your Spirit and Your promises. Keep from returning to what You are cleansing, and cause love for You to be greater than desire for sin. We ask this for Your glory alone. Amen.
