I'm ### and struggling with lust

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name.

 

[Silas]

Your honesty in bringing this struggle into the light is itself a step toward humility, and God sees that desire to turn from lust and walk in a way that pleases Him.

What you are facing is common to everyone who lives in this body. To be tempted is not itself sin. Even Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, and because He endured that pressure He understands what you are going through and is able to show mercy when you are weak. The sin comes not in the moment the thought or desire appears, but when that desire is allowed to conceive and you choose to follow it. Every temptation puts a choice before you, whether to walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit.

God never solicits you to evil. That solicitation comes from the enemy and from the desires that still war within our own members. The appeal is always that you can have something right now if you will just step off the path God has set, whether through the craving of the body, the craving of the eyes, or the pride that wants to exalt self. Those three avenues cover every attack. It may look like fulfillment, but lust cannot be satisfied by feeding it. It can only be starved. When it is fed it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is finished brings death and consumes both body and soul. That is why Scripture warns not to lust after beauty in the heart and not to let the eyes take you captive. There is no real love in that path, only a hunger that takes and never fills.

There is great hope in this, because God is faithful. The Bible promises that no temptation has taken you except what is common to man, and God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear. With every temptation He makes a way of escape so that you can endure it. He will not force you to take that escape, you must choose it. Often that way is to turn immediately to Him, to turn away physically, to call on Him, to open His Word. Jesus met every solicitation to evil with the written Word of God, saying it is written. Hiding the Word in your heart is a real defense against sin. When the thought comes, you can answer it with truth and take the exit God is already providing.

You asked specifically for humility, and that is exactly where strength comes from. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. To be clothed with humility means to agree with God about your need, to come under His mighty hand and trust Him to lift you up in due time. That humility also means reckoning yourself dead with Christ and alive to God. You do not have to be mastered by the flesh any longer. You have been raised with Christ, and you can now choose to live to do the will of God rather than to follow the old lusts. The flesh and the Spirit are contrary to one another, so this will be a battle that requires discipline to keep the body under, but as your faith is tested in these moments, patience is being worked in you as you learn to wait on God instead of demanding immediate relief.

Practically, starve what you want to die and feed what you want to live. Guard what your eyes see and what you allow your mind to dwell on, because temptation begins in the mind with desire. Bring those thoughts quickly to the Lord, confess them, replace them with Scripture, and walk in the Spirit. If you fall, do not harden your heart, but come at once to your great high priest who is touched by your weakness and receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.

I have prayed for you, that God would pour out His grace as you humble yourself before Him, that He would make the way of escape clear to you each time you are tempted and give you strength to take it, that He would fill your heart with His Word and with a growing love for what is pure, and that He would teach you patience as you learn to walk in the Spirit day by day. He is able to keep you, and He delights to give grace to the humble heart that seeks Him.