HOW TO OVERCOME THE PERSISTANCE OF PORN IN YOUR LIFE"But she [or he] that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" 1st Epistle of Timothy 5:6"Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ" Romans 6:11
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CHRISTIANS AND PORNOGRAPHY: If you are struggling with the desire to switch to porn even right now as you are reading this, pause, and meditate on this simple verse: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee" - Isaiah 26:3 Think on Christ, because you are presently seated with Him in heaven at the right hand of God. Would you bring a porn magazine into His living room? Even though you feel that you "hardly" have the victory, and you seem to be tottering on the brink of sin, know that He that is within you is greater than he that is in the world ... the love of God is greater than your love of your own flesh. Would you be a slave to your own traitorous body?
FOUR SINS TOUGH TO DEFEAT:
WE SIN BECAUSE OUR WILL IS NOT GOD'S WILL. HIS WILL IS OUR SANCTIFICATION. Our essential problem is the love of self. Even self-debasing things such as depression, and ultimately suicide, are manifestations of self-centeredness. Many folks have beaten alcohol and drugs without being godly people. Drug and alcohol abuse just doesn't pay. And when we get older, and own a peaceful house and some basic luxeries, we realize that the quest for money and fame is not that important anymore -- BUT THE LUST FOR PORN IS A MONKEY THAT CAN CLING TO A MAN LIKE NO OTHER VICE. Porn and selfishness go together-- We do porn, because we love to pleasure ourselves. -- But if you are positively certain of the unseen spiritual realm, you know you are hurting yourself in the long term. After doing porn you feel dirty, weak, and unworthy. You don't think God can use you until the guilt goes away. Many TV preachers only tell you about "grace, grace, grace, grace"; they don't mention SIN or the DEVIL, because to hear about sin and the devil is uncomfortable, it is 'politically incorrect'; telling the whole truth may decrease the potential donations received. -- But the fact remains, "The wages of sin is DEATH". If you're truly Christian and born-again, you still have the ability to sin (but not the right), and though it may NOT send you to Hell, it must according to God's perfect SPIRITUAL LAW kill your health, finances, relationships and etcetera. These things are written to convict you, not to condemn you. It is difficult to defeat porn when so many popular preachers are withholding the Truth of the perfect Law of God from us. Knowing the Truth shall set you free. By grace we are not only free from sin, but we are free to obey God! We are enabled. Some use grace as an excuse for sin. Paul warned: "Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh" Galatians 5:13. Peter wrote: "... as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness" 1 Pet.2:16. Sin KILLS! That's the Law. Jesus didn't destroy the Law. He kept it. It is still here. You need the Law; that's why Porn makes you feel guilty afterwards, because you have a conscience. Thank God, for the Law! "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31 Some CHURCH DOCTRINES that Indirectly Encourage Porn:
REASONS/EXCUSES we use to commit Porn:
God told Adam and Eve they could partake of every tree in the garden but ONE tree. Think of Porn as that tree. God gave you an abundance of great things. Sex outside of marriage is NOT one of them. The porn topic is a bit like homosexuality: society calls Gay/Lesbianism 'alternative life-style', as if a person is either gay or straight, as if you have to be one or the other. What the media forgets is that there is a third alternative --- abstinence or abstemiousness. Meaning: no sex [or whatever vice you're forsaking]. You say you NEED sex. Not true. The human species as a whole needs sex for its perpetuity, but you personally can do just fine without sex. Many preachers say masturbation is OK since it's not against another person, but Jesus says: "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Mt.5:28 So masturbation is the same spiritually as adultery. Any sin is worthy of death. Jesus died for all sins and all sinners. God says that some people have the gift of celibacy, and some don't. He says it's better to marry than burn. What about the celibates? God must have given them the ability to abstain from sexual lust since even 'looking to lust' is sin, and Jesus has defeated sin by His death and resurrection.
God doesn't cause you to sin [James 1:13]. It is your choice. He gives grace to walk away from sin. It's not easy. If being a Christian were easy, everyone would do it, seeing as how the alternative to heaven is hell, and all non-Christians are headed to hell unless they receive Jesus in their heart. So it is hard, but possible to stop porn because God wants to make you strong by exercising your spiritual man instead of the flesh we so easily bow to. You have to surrender to the Spirit of God, and stand up against sin and Satan, and stand up for what is right. God will not allow you "to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape" 1 Cor.10:13. ACCESSORY TO CRIME When we do porn, we are keeping the actors and models of the porn industry in spiritual bondage to their sins. Because of our selfish desires, we strengthen the chains shackling them when we should be instead breaking those chains, if we respected them as fellow humans. The money you give to porn finances more and more porn. You are donating to the enemy. TO DEFEAT PORN, FOLLOW MILITARY STRATEGY We are all in a daily battle against the flesh, the world, and the devil. Porn is a portal that invites Satan and his demons into your life. They won't stop at porn, but will lead you into other sins. Battle ground lost is harder to regain. When you fall down before porn you invent more excuses to keep coming back to it; like a pig back to the mud; as a dog returns to its vomit. A drowning person gets weaker and weaker until they don't come up for air anymore. Reach out your hand to the Master of the waves, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth; He'll pick you up. BE STRONG! 'Macho' isn't defined by how many women you can 'do'; manliness is self-control. Faithfulness. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small" - Prov. 24:10
SET YOUR EYES ON HEAVEN Moses chose "to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" - Heb.11:25. Look toward Jesus in Heaven, the Author and Finisher of your faith. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" Col. 3:2
ONE WAY TO OVERCOME TEMPTATION: Jesus said, "If your hand offends thee, cut it off ... if your eye offends thee, pluck it out ..." The way to do this is: Don't touch that dial! Don't touch that remote! Don't push that button! Don't go to that store! Don't turn to that TV station. Don't go to that web site. If you don't live alone, put the computer in the living room. THINK OF YOURSELF SIMILAR TO AN ALCOHOLIC -- A PORNOHOLIC. You can stop by NOT starting. Don't make an opportunity or a provision for porn. Once you see that first image of the day, you won't stop until tomorrow, so don't start. Know your limitations. You don't jump off a cliff; why? --because you already know you can't fly. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" - Romans 13:14
WORDS ON THE BACK of T-SHIRT: "Beer Makes My Clothes Fall Off" Drinking and drugs make you lose your inhibition. The first inhibition you lose is your will to stop drinking. A subsequent inhibition you lose is the will to restrain yourself from sex or porn. If you don't take the first drink, you may stop yourself from porn. Drinking lowers your resistance. "PORNOHOLICS ANONYMOUS" SUPPORT GROUPS
Hebrews 10:25 - "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" Ecc. 4:12 - "If one prevail against him two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken"
WHY DO WE SIN? - BECAUSE IT FEELS GOOD! -- IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION We sin because sin is not immediately punished. We read this in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Second Peter, and the rest of the Bible. Ecclesiastes 8:11 - "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." "... Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." - Ps.37:1,2 "The Lord is longsuffering [and patient] to usward, not willing that any should perish" (2Pet.3:9). That is why God allows sin for a season; He is hoping for our repentance, but He says that when He comes, He'll come swiftly as a bolt of lightning. Destruction will come suddenly upon the wicked.
But the decay that porn causes is evident long before Judgment Day. Its effect on your life is much like drugs and alcohol: loss of family, loss of finances, and EVEN a physical shrinking of the brain.
The wages of sin is death, but thank God we can stop before payday! "DOMINO EFFECT" "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump ... I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators" 1Cor.5:6,7,9 Here's a note to those in ministry. Sin spreads rapidly, radially like yeast and cancer. If you don't resist porn, you open the door to Satan causing one-after-the-other in your church to fall victim to lust and physical illnesses. The church leaders are the gate keepers. When the devil slips by the leaders, the lion will pick off the sheep one-by-one through various lusts and carnality. One indiscretion leads to yet another, and on down the dark, slippery slope. This applies to family men. If you do porn, there is a great possibility or probability that your children will do porn. If you don't respect yourself enough to control your urges, can you at least pity these weak sheep you are exposing to demonic attack?! PORN is IDOLATRY
The two Great commandments are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love your neighbor (including your marriage partner) as yourself. Anything less is idolatry. OVERCOMING THE FANTASY OF PORN WITH THE TRUTH We have available a REAL relationship with God. An eternal bond. Jesus is the Truth. Conversely, the promises of porn are lies, fantasy, and distortion of reality. Meditating on the contrast between the fantasial artificial superficial aspect of porn, VERSUS the foundational solidity of God and His eternal promises of unadulterated future happiness --- is perhaps the strongest incentive to purge oneself from porn. Do you want to live in a distorted dreamworld? Or would you rather live the dream that is too good to be TRUE? -- But it really IS TRUE! As to believers, we are already seated in heavenly places Ephesians Chapter One declares. The Kingdom of God is within you if Christ is in you. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD If the fear of Hell cannot scare you away from porn, the only thing that can stop you from porn is the love of God. You must decide: ~ Which do you love more - God or porn? ~ Who do you love more - yourself or God? ~ What is more important - temporary pleasure, or everlasting joy? ~ Who loves you more - your imaginary idol, or the One Who died in place of you and rose for you to live eternally? MORE INGREDIENTS TO OVERCOME PORN:
IS IT REALLY WORTH IT? Mark 8:36 "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR BODY! 1 Corinthians 6:20 KJV: "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's"! So your body is not your property to use for sin, but since it is God's possession, He has the responsibility to maintain your body's health through divine healing, just as meditating on the Word of God can heal and transform your mind, replacing thoughts of porn that try to build a nest in your head. You can't always stop the birds from pooping on your car, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair. - "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." - Isaiah 26:3 SAVIOR and SANCTIFIER The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was not just to deliver you from from death and Hell. The works of Jesus and His sending of the Holy Spirit are so that you may be sanctified. Christians argue about whether sanctification is #1, one event, #2, a second event after salvation, or #3, a growth process. Hey! The theology doesn't matter! What matters is that God has called unto Himself a Holy people, and through Christ, He has given you the power now by faith in Him to become holy and to stay holy until your physical death or until the visible return of Jesus to this planet Earth. He has said, "Be ye holy, for I Am holy" - 1Pet.1:16. God always enables that for which He asks. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ because He will do it! HELP for PORN ADDICTS: SELF-HELP BOOKS for FREE **downloaded in Epub files www.covenanteyes.com Power Over Pornography by Brian Brandenburg www.recoveryranch.com Your Brain On Pornography by Gary Wilson Messages: Overcoming Pornography Did You Blaspheme the Holy Ghost? How to Get Saved and to Stay Saved **Free Reading Apps: www.microsoft.com |
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