Question
How do I overcome the temptation to view pornography?
Answer
You want to overcome the “Goliath” (being addicted to pornography is like that) in your life, but you are now facing a seemingly invincible giant blocking your way.
This unclean barrier puts you far from the path of a Christian. But the calling for your life is not that you spend your life walking in the vicious circle of temptation, defeat, and guilt.
It is possible to completely resist these unclean temptations and to live a clean, victorious Christian life.
God established marriage as a framework in which a husband and wife live together with His blessing, can love and care for each other in a harmonious relationship.
Giving in to unclean lusts in any way, including pornography, is sin. It is a sin that we must see as God sees it.
Pornography damages your soul
Giving in to this “hidden” unfaithfulness does far more damage than just the effect it has on you. You should not think that others will not be harmed even though you do it in secret.
Not only do you get a scratch on your soul from the images etched into your memory, you also cause serious damage to your ability to remain faithful to your mate.
There are many people who have never physically admitted to adultery, but hidden infidelity is just as destructive.
The consequences of infidelity are all around us: broken homes, pain, bitterness and psychological suffering. Satan gains complete control over a person through filth such as pornography. The devil’s aim is to steal, murder and destroy. One of the most devastating ways this can be achieved is by enticing people to indulge in their sexual desires outside of the intimacy of marriage. Satan gains complete control over a person through filth such as pornography. The results are catastrophic.
Satan has the ability to hide the consequences and appeals to the senses in such a way that you lose sight of the big picture for a moment.
And then, the moment you are cheated and confused, he slyly paints you a picture of someone or something saying that there is no alternative and that you should join in his dirty game. After you take the bait, you are left feeling unclean, defeated and ashamed, every time.
How badly do you want to be liberated?
The question is: how badly do you want to be liberated?
Is living as a slave to your unclean lusts a minor inconvenience or have you come to the point where you say, Enough is enough?
The key is to develop a raging, seething and burning hatred for this sin. You can pray for open eyes so that you can see the destructive nature of pornography and develop a complete hatred for it.
▪︎ How can you fight against something you don’t really hate?
▪︎ How can you completely eradicate something that you see as an “inconvenience”?
For a job interview, you love to set 3 different alarm clocks and leave home an hour early to make sure you won’t be late – but what steps are you willing to take to avoid being tempted to watch pornography?
Maybe you should temporarily stop using the internet. What are the benefits of all that aimless surfing? Have you not very quickly lost your willpower to resist sin?
You may wonder if there are other ways that can help you to victory. Of course there are, but you have the best qualifications to answer this question.
You know better than anyone where and when you fell in the past.
Being aware of your own weakness gives you a tremendous advantage in your fight against uncleanness! Once you recognize where and when you are weak, you will know exactly where to fight and when to need strength to overcome.
Prayer at the critical moment
It says in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the season of time.”
In other words: You have to pray.
You are tired of sin, you hate it, you try to break the habit of watching pornography, but you feel powerless.
If you call to Jesus in due time – the moment you are tempted – you will be filled with an incredible power, the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit does not magically make temptations disappear. He makes sure that the next time you are asked to watch pornography, you suddenly experience opposition within you.
That is the Holy Spirit fighting that which your flesh is being drawn to – the filth that you now deeply hate. As soon as the thought comes to your mind, your heart should cry out, “I’m not going to give in to this! Jesus help me to conquer! ”
If that desire is genuine, then Jesus is more than willing to help.
Keeping your heart clean is not an easy struggle. It is a daily struggle. But the Bible has incredible promises to those who overcome: “Since Christ then suffered according to the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same thought, that he who suffered according to the flesh has ceased from sin.” 1 Peter 4: 1
In other translations it says that you are done with sin.
Use this verse as a weapon in your life.
Victory and Joy!
Imagine if you say no every time sin shows its ugly head, it dies because you no longer feed it. There will come a day when the desire to give in to this infidelity no longer hurts you. That which once stood in front of you like a huge giant is now dead. You are done with that sin.
As soon as you overcome the temptations to view pornography, a whole new world will open up for you. You become really happy – you are going to experience real joy of victory.
Fight for cleanness, fight to become someone in whom God can do His will on the earth, and never give up!
As a victorious Christian, you will not miss a moment of the cheap and temporary enjoyment you have left behind.
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has endured the trial, he will receive the crown of life which he has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12
Furthermore, there are also quite clear texts in the Bible, such as:
Ephesians 5:3-5: Do not let fornication and any uncleanness or greed even be mentioned among YOU, as befits sanctification; neither shameful conduct, nor foolish talk, nor obscene jesting, things that are not proper, but rather thanksgiving. For this YOU know and acknowledge, that no one fornicator or unclean or greedy – that is, to be an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God.
Colossians 3:5: Therefore, kill YOUR body members on the earth as regards fornication, uncleanness, sexual desire, hurtful desires and covetousness, which is idolatry.
To be continued
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