I don't like myself and I don't think I will until I am free from lust

[Caden202]

I compare myself with everyone I see, and I see myself as worse than them. in looks, personality, and I fall into lust all the time, I am doubting because I have prayed and Jesus didn't free me from lust

 

[Articles]

We hear the heaviness in your heart and we grieve with you over this battle, and we want to lift you up together before the throne of grace in Jesus' name. You feel trapped by lust, you compare yourself to everyone you see and feel worse in looks and personality, and you are doubting because you have prayed and do not yet feel free. We want to speak truth over you with love and also call you to walk in the way God has set for us.

First, your worth is not measured by how you look compared to others or by whether you have conquered lust. You were made in the image of God and you are fearfully and wonderfully made as Psalm 139:14 says, and we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works as Eph 2:10 says. When we compare ourselves among ourselves we are not wise as 2 Cor 10:12 warns, for comparison steals joy and breeds either pride or self hatred, both of which turn our eyes away from Christ. God does not love you more when you finally feel free, He loved you while you were still a sinner and He calls you His child now if you are in Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus as Rom 8:1 declares.

We also must speak plainly about lust, because God calls us to holiness. Jesus said that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart as Matt 5:28 says, and we are commanded to flee sexual immorality as 1 Cor 6:18 says. Lust is not a small struggle to excuse, it is sin that must be confessed and forsaken, and it feeds on what we look at and think about. Yet we also want to correct the idea that because you prayed once and still struggle, Jesus has not heard you or will not free you. Scripture shows that even the apostle Paul cried out, For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing as Rom 7:18 says, and he described the war between the flesh and the Spirit. Freedom in Christ is real, for if therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed as John 8:36 says, but for most of us freedom is also a daily walk of sanctification as we learn to walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh as Gal 5:16 says. God has promised No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. 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 as 1 Cor 10:13 says. That way of escape often means turning our eyes away, cutting off sources, bringing our thoughts captive to Christ as 2 Cor 10:5 says, and thinking on whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are pure as Phil 4:8 says.

Your doubt does not disqualify you, but bring that doubt to Jesus honestly as the man who cried I believe. Help my unbelief as Mark 9:24 says. He is not tired of your prayers. He invites you to keep asking, keep seeking, and to confess your sins knowing If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness as 1 John 1:9 says. His grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness as 2 Cor 12:9 says, and He is still working in you even when you fall.

We pray together for you now.

Father, we come before You in the mighty name of Jesus, and we lift up this dear soul who feels dislike for himself and bound by lust and comparison. Lord, create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him as Psalm 51:10 says. Forgive him for lust and for believing the lie that he is worse than others and unlovable until he is perfect. Help him to see himself as You see him, forgiven, cleansed, and being made new. Teach him to flee from temptation, to resist the devil and draw near to You as James 4:7 says, and to walk daily in Your Spirit. Give him strength to turn away his eyes, to guard his mind, to seek fellowship and accountability, and to fill his mind with Your Word. When he falls, lift him quickly to confess and receive Your mercy without shame, knowing there is no condemnation in Christ. Help his unbelief and increase his faith, and let him know that You hear every prayer and You are faithful to complete the good work You began. We ask for lasting freedom, for joy in who You made him to be, and for a heart that loves purity because he loves You. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

We encourage you to keep praying not as a single transaction but as daily communion, to stay in the Word each day, to memorize scripture to fight lust when it rises, to remove access to what triggers you, to seek a mature Christian brother or pastor for honest accountability, and to thank God each day for how He made you and for His grace that is still at work. You are not alone in this fight and you are not forgotten. God is near to the brokenhearted and He will not abandon you as you continue to seek Him.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear how heavy this has become for you, feeling worse than everyone you see and believing you cannot like yourself until lust is gone. That is an exhausting place to live, and we are grateful you shared it so honestly.

One thing that keeps people stuck is tying their worth to winning this battle first. When we compare our looks and personality to others all day, we will always come up short, and when we make liking ourselves depend on being free, every slip feels like proof we are worthless. In reality, liking who we are tends to grow as we live faithfully in small steps, not the other way around.

It makes sense you feel doubt when you have prayed earnestly and still struggle. That does not mean Jesus has not heard you or turned away. For many, freedom from a deep habit is a longer walk of learning to surrender daily and not carrying it alone, not an instant fix, and doubt in that walk is common.

It might help to bring this out of isolation this week. Would you consider talking honestly with one trusted pastor or mature believer and asking if you can check in with him regularly, so you are not facing the comparison and the urges by yourself. We will keep praying for you as you take that step.

Father, we bring our brother before You. You see how tired and discouraged he feels and how much he wants to be free. Give him Your nearness, honest hope, and strength for each day, and guide him to the help and friendship he needs. In Jesus name, amen.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

There is a deep and painful honesty in what you have written, and it is not unknown to the people of God to feel as you do. To look upon others and think them fairer, better, more worthy, and to look upon yourself and say, I am black, is a feeling which in its right place belongs to every Christian in proportion as he lives near to God. Yet there is a great difference between a true and humble sense of sin and a hopeless dislike of yourself as one made in God's image and bought with Christ's blood.

The Christian religion is a religion of love, and you have no right to pour hatred upon any creature, and that includes the soul which God has given you. Hatred is a power of manhood, and it is to be exercised as in the fear of God, but its proper object is evil itself. You are to hate lust, to hate sin in every shape, to labor to get rid of all sin and to strip it of its disguises, but you are not to hate yourself as one whom Christ has loved. The pardoned sinner does indeed learn to loathe what his sin deserved, and as he grows in grace that self loathing in the matter of sin gets deeper. It works in him a holy self distrust, so that he will never trust himself again, and it makes Christ very precious and sin very hateful. That is not the same as despising yourself so that you think you cannot be loved until you have made yourself clean.

You write that you compare yourself with everyone you see and fall into lust, and that you have prayed and yet doubt because Jesus has not freed you at once. Here you must set Caution and Self examination at the helm. The heart is backward to this duty, yet it is needful to cry with David, Search me and know my heart, and to pass your thoughts and motives in review before the Lord who searches the heart and tries the reins. In that search you will find two truths which must go together.

First, without Christ you can do nothing. Not some great acts of piety only, but nothing at all. Every grain of self strength is a grain of weakness, and every particle of self reliance is but poison in the veins. If you say, I will make myself pure and then I will like myself and then Christ will accept me, you are putting self where Christ alone must stand. From all reliance upon self, good Lord deliver us. Your keeping of your own vineyard has been neglected while you have looked upon the vineyards of others, and that comparison will always wound you. Look not so upon others to measure your worth, but look upon Christ who is altogether lovely.

Second, deliverance from lust is not won by a single prayer and then done, as if one victory ends the war. You must be not content with overcoming one sin, but labor against all that entices you, and learn to hate the sin itself while you flee the occasions and disguises by which it comes. Lust would have you believe it is little, or inevitable, or sanctified by some fair appearance. Strip it of those lies. Make no provision for it. Keep watch over eyes and thoughts and company, and seek the help of faithful pastors and brethren who can walk with you and hold you accountable. Holiness grows as you abide in Christ, not as you trust in your own resolve.

And concerning your doubt, know this, that many of God's people are much vexed with doubts because they do not examine themselves aright, and also because they measure God's love by their present feeling of victory. Self examination is a safe cure for half the fears that vex us when it drives us not inward to despair but outward to Christ. You say you have prayed and were not at once freed. Remember that He who came to quench the flames of hell for you did so by giving hands and feet to the iron and by crying, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me. He knows what it is to be tempted and to suffer, and He has not forgotten your prayer because the answer tarries. I have known You too long to doubt You now, my blessed Lord, is the language of a soul that has learned to overcome even Goodness itself with the eyes of faith and love which long for His appearing. Bring your same prayer again, not as one who bargains for self worth, but as a naked spirit casting itself upon the sea of Divine love, for a naked spirit was never drowned there.

Do not wait until you feel free from lust to believe yourself loved. Believe that Christ loved you while you were yet a sinner, and let that love make sin hateful to you. Let self distrust keep you watchful, and let faith keep you hopeful. If any rag of self righteousness remains, off with it, and come to Him just as you are, asking Him to keep your vineyard for you and to make you gentle toward others as one who has loathed his own sin and found mercy.

May the Lord search you and know you, humble you and lift you up, teach you to hate the evil and to love the Saviour, and to find your worth not in comparison with others, nor in your own strength, but in His precious blood and His power to keep you. I pray that He will give you daily grace to flee lust, to walk in purity as He has ordained it within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, and to know that salvation and acceptance are through Jesus Christ alone, and that in Him you are not despised but dearly loved.

 

[Savannah20]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.