Silas
Beloved of All
Your description of the battle you’re facing right now shows that something deep inside you truly longs for God’s will, and that’s a good place to begin. When those thoughts of lust and adultery press in, don’t mistake the very presence of temptation for sin. The sin is born only when you choose to entertain that desire, to let it lodge in your heart and turn into action of the mind. It’s in that moment, as the Scripture warns, that lust conceives and gives birth to sin, and fully grown sin produces death. So the question always comes back to: will you walk after the flesh, or will you walk in the Spirit? You have a real decision in every one of those moments.
Notice where the pull actually originates. Temptation doesn’t come from God, but neither does it need to be a mysterious curse placed on you. It’s drawn out by your own inner desires, your own lust. Those desires are like a deep hunger that the world promises to fill immediately if you’ll just step off God’s path. You’ve seen that lie play out: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It looks beautiful, it promises satisfaction, but it always leaves a wound and a dishonor that cannot be wiped away. Adultery, even carried out only in the heart, is like a man destroying his own soul. It lacks all understanding because there’s no real love there, only a selfish consumption.
The spiritual opposition you feel, those hindrances and bad things that flare up just as you’re making progress, may be fierce, but your first line of defense is not a prayer to break an external curse. It is to take every thought captive and to answer the enemy with the living Word of God, the way Jesus did in the wilderness. When the lust of the flesh whispers, you answer, “It is written.” When the pride of life suggests a shortcut to what you want, you answer with what God has spoken. The Spirit of God who lives in you does not stir up envy or lust; He gives you the power to starve those old appetites. You are dead to sin if you are in Christ, and your life is now hidden with Him. You don’t have to be mastered by your flesh anymore.
As for the setbacks that seem to strike every time you get near your goals, the move overseas, the training, the growth for your family, start to see these as testings that can work patience deep into your character. They are not evidence that you are cursed. If you harbor disobedience in your heart and refuse to turn from it, then you bring trouble on yourself, but a child of God who confesses and turns away from sin stands under blessing, not a curse. The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than any guilt. Yet if you are asking God for things and seeing no breakthrough, check your motives: are you asking just to spend it on your own desires? The purpose of prayer is never to enforce your own will but to align your heart with His.
You are not alone in feeling weak. Your great High Priest was tempted in every way just like you, yet without sin. He knows the pressure, He remembers that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and He is touched by that weakness. Draw near to Him there. Instead of letting shame make you hide, let the very nearness of temptation drive you to Him for mercy and help in your time of need. Count it as a severe mercy when the testing of your faith drives you out of self-reliance and deeper into reliance on His strength.
We will pray earnestly that you stand firm. But also begin today to take one simple, concrete step. Hide a verse in your heart that directly opposes the particular lie you hear in the moment of temptation. When the thought comes, speak that truth aloud, and make the hard choice, the decision of your will, to turn your mind away from the image and toward Christ. Starve the lust; don’t feed it for even a moment. The world and its desires are passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. That is where your true future lies.
Notice where the pull actually originates. Temptation doesn’t come from God, but neither does it need to be a mysterious curse placed on you. It’s drawn out by your own inner desires, your own lust. Those desires are like a deep hunger that the world promises to fill immediately if you’ll just step off God’s path. You’ve seen that lie play out: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It looks beautiful, it promises satisfaction, but it always leaves a wound and a dishonor that cannot be wiped away. Adultery, even carried out only in the heart, is like a man destroying his own soul. It lacks all understanding because there’s no real love there, only a selfish consumption.
The spiritual opposition you feel, those hindrances and bad things that flare up just as you’re making progress, may be fierce, but your first line of defense is not a prayer to break an external curse. It is to take every thought captive and to answer the enemy with the living Word of God, the way Jesus did in the wilderness. When the lust of the flesh whispers, you answer, “It is written.” When the pride of life suggests a shortcut to what you want, you answer with what God has spoken. The Spirit of God who lives in you does not stir up envy or lust; He gives you the power to starve those old appetites. You are dead to sin if you are in Christ, and your life is now hidden with Him. You don’t have to be mastered by your flesh anymore.
As for the setbacks that seem to strike every time you get near your goals, the move overseas, the training, the growth for your family, start to see these as testings that can work patience deep into your character. They are not evidence that you are cursed. If you harbor disobedience in your heart and refuse to turn from it, then you bring trouble on yourself, but a child of God who confesses and turns away from sin stands under blessing, not a curse. The blood of Jesus speaks a better word than any guilt. Yet if you are asking God for things and seeing no breakthrough, check your motives: are you asking just to spend it on your own desires? The purpose of prayer is never to enforce your own will but to align your heart with His.
You are not alone in feeling weak. Your great High Priest was tempted in every way just like you, yet without sin. He knows the pressure, He remembers that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and He is touched by that weakness. Draw near to Him there. Instead of letting shame make you hide, let the very nearness of temptation drive you to Him for mercy and help in your time of need. Count it as a severe mercy when the testing of your faith drives you out of self-reliance and deeper into reliance on His strength.
We will pray earnestly that you stand firm. But also begin today to take one simple, concrete step. Hide a verse in your heart that directly opposes the particular lie you hear in the moment of temptation. When the thought comes, speak that truth aloud, and make the hard choice, the decision of your will, to turn your mind away from the image and toward Christ. Starve the lust; don’t feed it for even a moment. The world and its desires are passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. That is where your true future lies.
