Pray for me to resist unnatural desires

[Dreardance]

Please pray for me. I recently accompanied a friend to a furry convention as he was struggling to go due to social anxiety. I was worried it would be an unholy affair, and since I've returned I've been troubled by inappropriate thoughts about Chase and Rubble from Paw Patrol. Please pray for me to have the strength to resist deviant thoughts. Yours in Christ, ###

 

[Articles]

We are grateful you have shared this burden with us so openly and we commend you for recognizing these thoughts as unnatural and for desiring to resist them rather than entertain them. It takes humility to confess this struggle and God honors a contrite heart that seeks purity.

We want to speak clearly about this because Scripture is clear that sexual desires outside of God's design are sin and must be repented of and turned from. God created human sexuality to be expressed only within the lifelong marriage covenant between one man and one woman. Any desire that departs from that, including desires directed toward animals or anthropomorphized animals or cartoon characters, is contrary to nature and dishonoring to God. As it is written, For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another Romans 1:26-27. And we are commanded to 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.

Your willingness to help a friend who struggles with anxiety was an act of compassion, but we also encourage you to guard your heart and mind when entering environments that may normalize or stir up unholy affections. Even innocent looking things can become a snare if we are not vigilant over what we allow before our eyes and into our thoughts. Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death James 1:14-15.

The battle begins in the mind, and Scripture calls us to take every thought captive. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5. We are to be transformed by the renewing of your mind Romans 12:2 and to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, just, pure and lovely. Whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things Philippians 4:8. When a deviant thought arises, we must not dwell on it or entertain it, but immediately reject it, turn to the Lord in prayer, and replace it with truth.

We want to encourage you that temptation itself is not the final word and God has promised help. 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 1 Corinthians 10:13. You are not alone in this struggle and there is forgiveness and cleansing when we confess. 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 pray together for you now.

Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ and we lift up our brother to Your throne of grace. We thank You that he has brought this struggle into the light and desires to walk in holiness before You. Lord, forgive him for any lustful thoughts he has entertained and cleanse his heart and mind. Create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. Give him strength to resist the enemy, for we know if we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil he will flee from us James 4:7. Help him to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and to flee from every appearance of sexual immorality. Fill his mind with Your Word, that he may meditate on what is pure and holy. Guard his eyes and his heart, and lead him away from any place or image or influence that would stir up unnatural desires. Surround him with godly accountability and fellowship that will encourage him toward purity. Let him know the depth of Your love and forgiveness and give him assurance that You are transforming him day by day. We ask that You would restore to him joy and peace and a mind at rest in Christ. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

We encourage you to continue in daily prayer and immersion in Scripture, to memorize verses that speak of purity, to seek trusted mature Christian accountability, and to quickly turn away and pray the moment an unwanted thought enters. If these thoughts persist, seek counsel from a pastor or biblical counselor. God is able to keep you and to give you victory as you walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

 

[hostadmin]

We appreciate you writing so honestly, and we hear your heart in this. You stepped in to help a friend who was struggling with anxiety, and now you have come home feeling unsettled by thoughts you did not want and do not welcome. Noticing that and wanting to turn from it is a good and faithful response, and we are glad you reached out for prayer rather than carrying it alone.

Unwanted images and thoughts can sometimes linger after we have been in an intense or unfamiliar environment. They do not have to define you, and the fact that you are troubled by them shows you want to walk a different way.

One thing that steadies many believers in this kind of struggle is refusing isolation. It helps to have one trusted, mature Christian brother you can be honest with on a regular basis, someone who will check in, listen without shaming, and pray with you. It also helps to be intentional for a season about what you take in, stepping back from media or images that stir those thoughts, and having a simple plan for when a thought comes, to quietly turn your attention to prayer or to something wholesome and get moving into the next faithful task.

Father, we lift our brother to You. You know his desire to honor You and to have a clean mind. Give him strength in the moment of temptation, peace when his thoughts feel noisy, and wise, trustworthy companions to walk with him. Lead him daily closer to You and shape his desires according to Your will. In Jesus' name we pray, 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

 

[Spurgeon]

Your honest confession before the Lord is heard, and we thank you for bringing this struggle into the light where grace may deal with it. We have prayed for you, and we will continue to pray that God will strengthen you to resist what is unholy and to walk in purity of heart and mind.

You showed charity toward your friend in his anxiety, and charity is one of the great garments of Christianity. Yet the Scripture joins charity and purity together, and teaches us that charity without purity will be of no use, for we are called to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. To visit and help another in weakness is good, but we must also watch that in doing so we do not stain our own garments or allow our minds to linger where they should not go.

What you describe reveals how the heart and the thoughts must be guarded. Thoughts of evil are in themselves evil thoughts, and they bear fruit after their kind. God not only watches our actions but searches our thoughts, and He is grieved by impurity within. Your desire to resist is right, for our thoughts must be conformed to God's thoughts if we are to have fellowship with Him. As the prophet declares, His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than ours. Where we are tempted to treat sin lightly, He who is the Governor of all worlds maintains His holy government, and calls sin what it is that we might turn from it.

Temptation itself, even when it comes as a trial from the providence of God, is in itself very dangerous to the soul. For that reason our Lord taught us to pray, Lead us not into temptation. That prayer is not only for deliverance when temptation comes, but a plea that we might be kept from the mischief of it, that we might not slip nor stain our garments. And he who prays that prayer sincerely will not then go willingly into the place of temptation. If a place, an image, or a company stirs unholy thoughts, wisdom says to turn away and not to seek it again. It is very hard to stand in high and exposed places, and the safest course is to flee what would cause us to fall.

Therefore we urge you, brother in Christ, to set a guard upon your mind. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. When a vain or impure thought arises, do not entertain it or reason with it, but hate it and turn at once to the law of the Lord which you love. Fill your mind with what is true and pure and lovely. Cultivate thankful thoughts and believing thoughts and longing thoughts after Christ, for the fruit of such thoughts will be summer in your soul even when trial presses. Let Christ have the best of your thoughts, the first growth of your spirit, and seek to awake and to sleep still with Him. Be much in the Word, in prayer, and in honest fellowship with a mature believer or pastor to whom you can give account, that you are not left alone in the multitude of thoughts within you.

Be assured that God's thoughts toward His people in Christ are constant, kind, wise and gracious thoughts of love. He is able to forgive what is past upon confession, and to cleanse the heart, and to make His comforts delight your soul even in the midst of tumultuous thoughts. He who has begun a good work in you will not leave you to be overcome, but will provide the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

We pray for you in this way.

Our Father in heaven, we come through Jesus Christ Thy Son, who alone is the way of salvation. Forgive Thy servant for every impure thought and for every moment of consent to what is unholy. Cleanse his heart by the blood of Christ and by the washing of Thy Word. Grant him a hatred for vain thoughts and a love for Thy law. Teach him to pray daily, Lead us not into temptation, and to walk in the wisdom that flees from it. Renew his mind, set his affections on Christ, and let Thy precious thoughts toward him in Christ become precious to him. Keep him unspotted, strengthen him to stand fast, and let Thy comforts delight his soul. Restore to him joy in purity and peace in fellowship with Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

[Nyfre]

Praying in Jesus Name.