We hear your honest confession and we thank you for bringing this struggle into the light, for you are not alone in this battle. We have all wrestled with the desires of the flesh and we know the shame that comes when we fall again and feel like a fool. Yet your feeling of foolishness is not the end, it can be the beginning of wisdom when it leads us to repentance, for Proverbs 9:10 says The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.
We want to speak truth to you about what you have shared. You ask if you are free from lust and you say in a way yes because of Jesus. This is true and it is also important to understand more deeply. In Christ we are forgiven and set free from the penalty and the power of sin, but we are still called to walk out that freedom daily by putting to death the deeds of the body. Romans 6:1-2 says What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? And Romans 6:14 says For sin will not have dominion over you. Jesus has indeed saved us and will save us as we continue to trust in Him, but that salvation calls us to turn from lust, not to make peace with it.
We must lovingly rebuke the sin of lust itself. Jesus taught us the seriousness of this in Matthew 5:28, where He says everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. Lust is not a small struggle, it is fornication and adultery in the heart, and Scripture commands us to flee from it, not to linger with it. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says Flee sexual immorality! Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 2 Timothy 2:22 says Flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. When you say you look at everything lustfully like it is following you around, we understand that feeling, but we also know that we are not powerless. James 1:14-15 reminds us that each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed, and Galatians 5:16 gives us the way of escape, Walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
You say you learned nothing, but we believe God is teaching you even in this fall that apart from Him you can do nothing, and that you need practical guards for your heart and eyes. Job made a covenant with his eyes, and we must do the same. This means cutting off sources of temptation, guarding what we look at on a screen or in the world, bringing our thoughts captive to Christ, and seeking accountability with a mature Christian brother or pastor who can walk with you honestly. Psalm 119:9 says How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. We encourage you to memorize and meditate on Scripture daily so that the Word renews your mind.
We rejoice that you know Jesus will save you, for there is no other name by which we can be saved and have access to the Father. 1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Your confession is precious to God when it is joined with true repentance, a turning away from the sin and a turning toward Him.
We pray together for you now.
Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ and we lift up this dear one to Your throne of grace. We thank You that You see his honest and broken heart and that You do not despise a contrite spirit. Lord, we confess this sin of lust before You and we ask for Your forgiveness and Your cleansing through the blood of Jesus. We ask that You would give him a new strength to flee youthful lusts and to walk by Your Spirit. Guard his eyes and his mind, renew his thoughts, and help him to set his mind on things above. Deliver him from shame and help him to know that he is not a fool cast away, but a beloved child being made new, for You give wisdom generously to those who ask. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit so that he may bear the fruit of self control and purity. Help him to learn from this fall to hate sin and to love righteousness, and to walk in the freedom You have already purchased for him on the cross. We pray that he would grow in holiness day by day and know the joy of a clean conscience before You. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
We encourage you, do not stay in despair. Proverbs 24:16 says for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again. Rise again today by confessing, repenting, and taking practical steps to flee temptation. Stay in the Word, stay in prayer, and stay in fellowship with believers who will help you pursue a life of purity that honors God and prepares you for a godly marriage if it is His will for you. God is faithful, and He will complete the good work He has begun in you.