Silas
Beloved of All
Your honesty in bringing this long struggle into the light is important, and God hears your cry for help. You are not alone in this battle, and there is hope for freedom in Jesus Christ.
Scripture describes what is in the world as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are not from the Father but from the world, and the world with its lust is passing away. This has been the pattern of temptation from the beginning. In the garden the enemy appealed to Eve with what looked good to eat, what was beautiful to see, and the promise that she would be like God. He tried the same with Jesus, urging Him to turn stones to bread to satisfy physical hunger. He still works the same way today.
We live in a time when the opportunities to feed those lusts have multiplied beyond measure. What was once hidden is now placed everywhere before our eyes, and the flood of sexual images is designed to arouse and trap. What often begins as a small sample or a moment of curiosity can quickly take hold of the mind. Many have found that pornography acts like a drug. It grips a person, and like an addiction to a powerful narcotic it becomes very hard to break on your own. That is because the flesh is never satisfied. When you sow to the flesh you feed something that always demands more and never says enough. Soon a person who thought he was making a choice finds he has become captive, brought into bondage and held in a tight grip.
God created sex as good, but He placed it within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman for life. Any sexual activity outside of that commitment, including pornography and masturbation, is outside His design. It may promise liberty and pleasure, but in truth it makes a person a servant of corruption. Whatever a person sows, that he will also reap. To sow to the flesh reaps corruption, and friendship with the world and its lusts is enmity with God. It is spiritual unfaithfulness to Him. Those who walk this path often find it leads not to life but to emptiness and folly, as many who have tried to find meaning by indulging every desire have discovered that it leaves the soul empty and frustrated.
There is a different way to live, and God offers it to you. The way to overcome the lust of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit, so that you do not fulfill its desires. This means denying yourself, taking up the cross and following Jesus, and learning to live to do the will of God rather than the will of the flesh. You cannot overcome simply by trying harder in your own strength. You need your mind washed and renewed by the Word of God. As you fill your heart with Scripture and turn to God in prayer, He can cleanse the filth that has been sown there and set you free from the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Prayer is not a way to get God to do what we want so we can keep feeding our own desires. It is surrendering to His will and asking for His power to do what is right. Ask Him to forgive you through Jesus Christ alone, who died and rose to deliver us from the power of darkness, and to give you a new heart that desires purity.
In practical terms, freedom will mean making decisive choices. Remove access to what tempts your eyes. Do not lust after beauty in your heart or linger over images that are meant to entrap you. Guard what you look at and what you allow into your mind. Bring another trusted, godly man into your struggle for honest accountability. Replace old habits by feeding your mind daily with Scripture and by spending time in prayer. When temptation comes, turn immediately to the Lord and walk in the Spirit rather than feeding the flesh even a little.
I pray for you now. Father, I bring this dear one before You who has been bound for many years and longs to be free. Forgive through the blood of Jesus and wash his mind with Your Word. Break the power of this addiction that has held him like a slave. Deliver him from the hold that pornography and lust have had on him. Teach him to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Give him strength to deny himself, to turn from what defiles, and to grow day by day in Your grace, Your love, and Your truth. Fill the empty places with Your presence and make him whole. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Scripture describes what is in the world as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are not from the Father but from the world, and the world with its lust is passing away. This has been the pattern of temptation from the beginning. In the garden the enemy appealed to Eve with what looked good to eat, what was beautiful to see, and the promise that she would be like God. He tried the same with Jesus, urging Him to turn stones to bread to satisfy physical hunger. He still works the same way today.
We live in a time when the opportunities to feed those lusts have multiplied beyond measure. What was once hidden is now placed everywhere before our eyes, and the flood of sexual images is designed to arouse and trap. What often begins as a small sample or a moment of curiosity can quickly take hold of the mind. Many have found that pornography acts like a drug. It grips a person, and like an addiction to a powerful narcotic it becomes very hard to break on your own. That is because the flesh is never satisfied. When you sow to the flesh you feed something that always demands more and never says enough. Soon a person who thought he was making a choice finds he has become captive, brought into bondage and held in a tight grip.
God created sex as good, but He placed it within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman for life. Any sexual activity outside of that commitment, including pornography and masturbation, is outside His design. It may promise liberty and pleasure, but in truth it makes a person a servant of corruption. Whatever a person sows, that he will also reap. To sow to the flesh reaps corruption, and friendship with the world and its lusts is enmity with God. It is spiritual unfaithfulness to Him. Those who walk this path often find it leads not to life but to emptiness and folly, as many who have tried to find meaning by indulging every desire have discovered that it leaves the soul empty and frustrated.
There is a different way to live, and God offers it to you. The way to overcome the lust of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit, so that you do not fulfill its desires. This means denying yourself, taking up the cross and following Jesus, and learning to live to do the will of God rather than the will of the flesh. You cannot overcome simply by trying harder in your own strength. You need your mind washed and renewed by the Word of God. As you fill your heart with Scripture and turn to God in prayer, He can cleanse the filth that has been sown there and set you free from the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Prayer is not a way to get God to do what we want so we can keep feeding our own desires. It is surrendering to His will and asking for His power to do what is right. Ask Him to forgive you through Jesus Christ alone, who died and rose to deliver us from the power of darkness, and to give you a new heart that desires purity.
In practical terms, freedom will mean making decisive choices. Remove access to what tempts your eyes. Do not lust after beauty in your heart or linger over images that are meant to entrap you. Guard what you look at and what you allow into your mind. Bring another trusted, godly man into your struggle for honest accountability. Replace old habits by feeding your mind daily with Scripture and by spending time in prayer. When temptation comes, turn immediately to the Lord and walk in the Spirit rather than feeding the flesh even a little.
I pray for you now. Father, I bring this dear one before You who has been bound for many years and longs to be free. Forgive through the blood of Jesus and wash his mind with Your Word. Break the power of this addiction that has held him like a slave. Deliver him from the hold that pornography and lust have had on him. Teach him to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Give him strength to deny himself, to turn from what defiles, and to grow day by day in Your grace, Your love, and Your truth. Fill the empty places with Your presence and make him whole. In the name of Jesus, amen.
