Porn struggle

[CupOfMilk]

If anyone has been addictied to porn or other lustful things can you please share will be how long it took to stop and how you overcame it. Thanks.

[VerticalReality]

If anyone has been addictied to porn or other lustful things can you please share will be how long it took to stop and how you overcame it. Thanks.

The only way to overcome any sin is to love God more than the sin you are committing. Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 15 that ALL sin comes from the heart. Therefore, when we sin with full knowledge we are committing that which we truly desire and love to do. We may feel guilt or condemnation for the sin we commit. However, the reason we commit sin is because that is what is truly in our heart to do, which is why sin is so dangerous.

We must make our choices VERY carefully. The next time you are tempted ask yourself this question . . .

What do I love more? Jesus, the One who died that I may live . . . or pornography?

[Tonton]

Your boldness to tackle the problem is half the battle already won.

Please go here: http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com

They have great (free) courses to help overcoming various forms of addiction.

May God relieve you of the chains of captivity, through His Son, Jesus.

Anton

[HisLeast]

If anyone has been addictied to porn or other lustful things can you please share will be how long it took to stop and how you overcame it. Thanks.

Hey COM,

My testimony can be found here (http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?p=2067609#post2067609). Its a touch long, so I apologize.

To make the long story short, I "fought" it for 10 years. I put that word in quotes because I never got close to overcoming. As the testimony describes, I had to hit rock bottom before I realized what repentance meant and how to get to it.

[Cope]

The only way to overcome any sin is to turn it over to the Lord.
Anytime you feel the desire or temptation to sin, or do anything that would dishonor God, immediately go to Him in prayer asking for help with your struggle. It sounds simple, but it will work.

[Slug1]

If anyone has been addictied to porn or other lustful things can you please share will be how long it took to stop and how you overcame it. Thanks.

I allowed fantasy lust and masturbation to enter me during puberty. Saved at the age of about 28 (have to do the math) I was bound with this till I was finally led to a church many years later that operated in the freedom of the Holy Spirit and utilized their authority over satan through faith in Jesus and are spiritual warfare warriors. I was delivered of two demons that held those two in me and once those were gone, allowed me to hand those two over to God beginning about 2 years ago and am now free.

Here is my testimony as I was led to write it and the link at the bottom is of the period dealing with this specific problem: http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?t=177345

[Sala]

I was exposed to pornography at an early age, I was 6 or 7 years old. From that time on, I was addicted to masterbation and just having lustful thoughts all the time. I was bound by this sin for many years and finally set free in 2006, 20years later.

You've received very good responses and that is how I overcame my addiction to pornography and masterbation, it was through my relationship with the Lord, the closer I got to Him, the more I surrendered my life to Him, the less and less I was masterbating and fantasizing. I also agree with Slug1, it is through the power of the Spirit that we put to death the misdeeds of the flesh and He that is within you is greater! Remember that our weapons of warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God to pull down strongholds. that's exactly what it felt like too, a war going on inside. Praise the Lord that He gives us the victory!

[coloradodad]

I agree with the post about setting captives free. I am nearing the end of their course and it was key to my recovery. I am now 76 days clean from porn and masterbation. The Bible lessons are great and you are assigned a mentor to encourage and challenge you.

As you turn and surender to Christ, you will find freedom.

[Slug1]

CupofMilk, you asked me some specific questions that I will answer here.

If you have not read my testimony I want to quote a specific part because of your question concerning my feelings:

Failure to give up this sin brought me to a place that God wanted me. Broken and crying out to Him, right at the Foot of the Cross where He wanted me to “truly” leave the sin.

That day I was led to this scripture: Proverbs 3:32

32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD,
But His secret counsel is with the upright.

As I wrote in my journal (yeah, I journal), “I grieve as I read the first part but I now fight to be upright!” I fasted that day and in the evening I placed myself once again before God with my wife and some close friends as witnesses. I was led by this: James 5:16

16 Confess your trespassesto one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

I prayed to God and laid myself bare before God and confessed it all, nothing was held back from that deep dark closet I had always refused to fully empty out. I had in the past, picked and chose what to give to God and this kept satan’s foot in the door to open later and restock the shelves.

I then received prayer from all with me that evening and I was delivered from my sin and it was “truly” left at the Foot of the Cross.My friends are church leaders and I was delivered. Since that, I was able to give the masturbation to God and Jesus Himself delivered me of that.

It's a process and God can do it all in a snap of His finger but what glory is given to God. Twenty-four hours of praise and then in another month we're right back to being bound to porn again. The struggle is to strengthen us, to make us strong against the temptations that satan places before us.

Read all of James chapter 1. Our trials have purpose. Look in the mirror and Stop forgetting that you stand on the ROCK, who is Jesus Christ and you stand in the Victory He died for. Use that victory against satan and don't allow him to lie to you and tell you that you are not in victory. He did me for many years, he still tries.

You also told me how you feel and I saw a church sign yesterday as I drove through a tiny town on my way to my church... the saign said.

"Don't give up on yourself... because Jesus hasn't"

Soon as I saw that, the Lord let me know that I am to include this message when I post in your thread.

Some are reduced to below ground level, I feel I was and as I was led directly to the specific scripture I quoted above....

32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD,
But His secret counsel is with the upright.

Through this scripture the Lord placed in me the strength to reach up and take His hand cause He hadn't given up on me. Seek Jesus and allow Him to give you the strength you will need.

All the glory is His.

[Slug1]

What is still in the closet on your end?

[CupOfMilk]

What do you mean by in the closet on my end? sorry i dont quite understand. But i did understand your post and thanks for that.

[Slug1]

What do you mean by in the closet on my end? sorry i dont quite understand. But i did understand your post and thanks for that.The first time I counseled with my pastor I told him everything... :rolleyes:

Everything that I was willing to tell him... I'd only known him for about a month (the Holy Spirit had just led me to the church) when I first counseled with him and the lie the enemy was telling me, was that if I told this man "EVERYTHING" dealing with my sinful porn addiction(s), that he'd kick me out of his church.

In time I learned that the more I told him, the closer he embraced me to help.

Today ( 2 years later) I'm an elder in the church and this is in a congregation that English is not the primary language... imagine if I listened to satan with all of this. In the beginning I did so, which allowed satan to maintain a foothold in me... I kept secret, some of my sin thus as the saying goes, kept it in my closet.

Confession isn't confession till you lay it ALL on the table before you, look at it ALL and NOT take some back (put back in your closet) and offer what you want to God through confession. ALL must be given up and surrendered over to God.

Anything taken back... allows satan to have authority... it's called legal right or legal authority and he's free to exploit this in ways that will makes things... like you seem to be experiencing now, you can't control it, it controls you.

I'm still tempted today, I have failed and looked at porn since my deliverence and I got on my knees and prayed. Offered up my failure to God and am forgiven. Am I addicted again, nope... cause I know I have that choice to take the escape Jesus offers me, an escape that was blind to me when I was addicted.

1 Corinthians 10:12-14 (New King James Version)

12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Temptation is not sin, it's when you take the temptation and develop it and act upon it. That's when the temptation becomes sin. While the temptation hit's you is when the Sword of the Spirit needs to be taken out and loosed upon satan and beat him back. It's when you need to raise your Shield of Faith and allow your faith to cause those temptations (which are the fiery darts) to bounce off away from you... then you can look for the escape Jesus has for you and TAKE IT. You won't be blinded as I was and not see or in many cases, not care to take the escape back when I was addicted.

Read Epshesians 6:10-20:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Eph%206:10-20;&version=50;#fen-NKJV-29344a)] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The escape can be as simple as walking away from the area where the temptation has hit you. Turn the computer off, walk away and go to your room and pray, read the Bible (This is swinging the Sword of the Spirit)... audibly order satan to get behind you "In the name of Jesus Christ" order the demon of lust, fantasy lust, masturbation or whatever is in control to leave you alone and to go away, "In the name of Jesus Christ". Declare that you are a child of the Lord Almighty and that you are covered with the Blood of your Savior, Jesus Christ... fight!

[CupOfMilk]

slug1 i think i know what your asking now by 'in my closet' all of it is in my closet as i don't know who to tell about this other then people online since i don't really know anyone who is a christian in real life.

[Slug1]

slug1 i think i know what your asking now by 'in my closet' all of it is in my closet as i don't know who to tell about this other then people online since i don't really know anyone who is a christian in real life.I struggled for a long time. When I finally had, had enough and humbled myself to Jesus to take it all from me I was led to visit a Hispanic church. They don't even speak my language. There was more I was seeking as this was when I began to ask God what obedience meant also. When I met the pastor for the first time I felt comforted. Never felt that from my present pastor in the church I attended. Their was a guest speaker there that night and the Holy Spirit moved in very powerful ways that night.

At the end of the service the pastor asked to talk to me before I go. He nor I, knew that the Lord had placed me in this chruch and he was to be my pastor... yet. What he did tell me was that the Lord had showed him of the darkness in my heart and that it was time for that evil to be removed.

I met this man for the first time only about 3 hours before all this. It took me about 5 months before I surrendered to all that the Holy Spirit was telling me but when I left my church ( I attended both during these 5 months) to begin attending this new church only, this act of obedience opened the way for the Lord to heal me.

During that transition period was when the pastor began to counsel with me and be used by God to help guide me and when it was time... be used to fight for me.

So... seek Jesus. Ask Him what to do, who to talk to, what church to visit... just pray and each time you pray, be quiet and listen. Above all, DO what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do. No hesitation, that is what faith is for... step, step, STEP... RUN and if it's into the unknown but you are sure the Holy Spirit is leading... RUN FASTER.

[CupOfMilk]

Alright thanks for all the help

[danm]

I allowed fantasy lust and masturbation to enter me during puberty. Saved at the age of about 28 (have to do the math) I was bound with this till I was finally led to a church many years later that operated in the freedom of the Holy Spirit and utilized their authority over satan through faith in Jesus and are spiritual warfare warriors. I was delivered of two demons that held those two in me and once those were gone, allowed me to hand those two over to God beginning about 2 years ago and am now free.

Hi,
Looking at this from a medical point of view ,I can understand pornography,fantasy and lust being sinful but is masturbation actually a sin ?
It seems to be recommended these days by many medical authorities to keep things in working order as it were .
I can't find it actually mentioned in scriptures except for maybe the implication in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, but it doesn't actually condemn the act of masturbation as a sin.

God bless.

[Slug1]

Hi,
Looking at this from a medical point of view ,I can understand pornography,fantasy and lust being sinful but is masturbation actually a sin ?
It seems to be recommended these days by many medical authorities to keep things in working order as it were .
I can't find it actually mentioned in scriptures except for maybe the implication in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, but it doesn't actually condemn the act of masturbation as a sin.

God bless.

Sexual Immorality covers it. If the Lord had to spell out all sexual sin, we'd have about 1000 more pages added to the Bible. The Lord, in His wisdom summed it up in only two words and then convicts us as we listen to the Holy Spirit who informs us what is and isn't Holy before the Lord. We are to remain blameless before the Lord as we can never remain sinless.

satan will use anything to justify an action as harmless or even necessary to live a healthy life... the Lord has eneabled the human body to be healthy and as a male experiences nocternal emissions while asleep as the body keeps itself in working order. No need to assist what the Lord already has operating in a healthy and righteous manner. Why fix something that's not broke except for personal satisfaction/lack of self-control that the enemy will use to tempt more and more until his claws are so deep in you, you have people who are Christians but find themselves addicted to any of the many forms of Sexual Immorality?

Now, this is a thread to help CupofMilk. I'm allowing this question to remain and to be answered by me but debate/discussion of the topic... if mastubation is medically needed vs. is spiritual sin WILL NOT continue in this thread. If you want to continue this, start a thread in Bible Chat about the sin/not sin impact of mastubation. There's probably several already in BC and Solomon's Porch.

If mastubation was not a sin then the Holy Spirit would not be convicting Christians against it and there would not be a need for the Lord to heal Christians who do it. Nor would the Lord design the male or female body to maintain itself in the night while asleep, if He wanted us to do it ourselves.

[Trance]

What helped me ward off that burn for lusting was a combination of a few things:

- positive, constructive thinking that helps maintain a healthy self-image. Your mind can only retain a limited amount of information at one time, so saturate it with good thoughts about yourself. Yeah, easier said than done, and it's very easy to forget these good things as you go throughout your day. I carry a card with me all the time that has a list of positive affirmations and ways to look at the world. Bible verse memorization is helpful too.

- Getting regular exercise. I believe this is so important. To my non-believer friends who condone masturbating, I tell them I would rather use my testosterone to build a better body than to spill it out of my body from masturbating.

I hope this helps

[Slug1]

Cupofmilk... above I posted the link to my testimony in post #6... since you read it, I have verbally given the testimony to a group of Christians as I was the guest speaker. The new link in post #6 leads to the new updated testimony. Much of the old is still in there but allot more.

I pray that it helps ya out.

[lbeaty1981]

Confession isn't confession till you lay it ALL on the table before you, look at it ALL and NOT take some back (put back in your closet) and offer what you want to God through confession. ALL must be given up and surrendered over to God.

Anything taken back... allows satan to have authority... it's called legal right or legal authority and he's free to exploit this in ways that will makes things... like you seem to be experiencing now, you can't control it, it controls you.

Quoted for truth. I kept my sin/shame hidden for way too long, and it had immense control over me while I did. It wasn't until I got everything out in the open with another brother in Christ that I was finally able to begin healing.

Do you currently attend church services? If so, you might try calling the main office sometime and see if you could meet with someone on the ministry team. You don't have to give specifics over the phone if you don't want, you could always just say that you would like to meet with someone to talk about some things going on in your life. Trust me, though, while bringing everything out of the closet can be scary, it's well worth the end result. :)

[The Mighty Sword]

Confess,

James 5:16 (NIV)

16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Luke 12:2-3

2 (http://bible.cc/luke/12-2.htm) But nothing is covered up, which will not come to light, or secret, which will not be made clear. 3 (http://bible.cc/luke/12-3.htm) So, whatever you have said in the dark, will come to men's hearing in the light, and what you have said secretly inside the house, will be made public from the house-tops.

Make it public, that help may come.

[Tonton]

I agree with the post about setting captives free. I am nearing the end of their course and it was key to my recovery. I am now 76 days clean from porn and masterbation. The Bible lessons are great and you are assigned a mentor to encourage and challenge you.

As you turn and surender to Christ, you will find freedom.

WOW! There you have it! The Healer healed Coloradodad. Praise Jesus!

Anton