Romans 12:2
I have been guilty of suffering from habitual sin, I am in my early sixties and I have lived on my own for the last twenty years, and I have become addicted to internet pornography. I finally confessed this to one of my church elders. He is very kindly and effectively helping me conquer this habitual sin. And what follows I have learned from him and applied it to my life. Satan and his fellow demons want me to give in to sin, in the hope that I become defeated like them. At The Cross, they were defeated and I was redeemed, in Revelation 20v7 it says Satan is in prison, some translations say he is in chains. Either way, he and his demons can only lie to me, and they are very, very good at that. An example of his lying was to Eve in the book of Genesis where Satan says to Eve ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’1. This was such a good lie that it led to the fall of man and sin entering creation.
The only tool Satan has left is lying, and he uses it mercilessly to try and achieve his desire, mine and you defeat. There are three lies he will commonly throw at you:
- “You cannot win”.This a lie 1 Corinthians 10:13 Tells Us – “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
- “You will have to go through this forever until you just lose again”. This a lie, James 4:7 tell us “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
- “It’s not such a big thing”. This is a lie James 1:12-15 tells us “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
There are so many passages that tell of the same thing. My elder’s advice was to memorise these verses and to quote them in times of temptation. Demons can whisper into your mind but they cannot read your thoughts, there is an example of this in Daniel 2:1-11, so if you want to address them directly you need to speak out loud. Bring the word to life by saying it so they can hear you. So say these, or similar verses out loud. It gives you more spiritual authority, and that is all you need to do, but I found, in the beginning, it helped me to SHOUT them at the top of my voice, when appropriate. It helped to make me feel better. I am not sure how it made my neighbours feel. I no longer shout and I am not suggesting you shout these instructions but I have found this so helpful. Personally, I would add “IN THE NAME OF JESUS”. There are many verses, such as Mark 16:16-18, that tell us, those who believe will cast out demons in My (Jesus) name, and I find it also helps me when resisting temptation.
There may be more lies thrown at you, for example, he throws at me “Nobody loves you” and “You are absolutely useless, what’s the point of you”. But again these are lies. God loves me passionately, see the parable of the lost sheep. I have a purpose, that is, at least, to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind, to love my neighbour as myself, to make disciples of all nations and more that will be revealed to me when the time is right. Also, Jereimiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
- If I want to sin, God won’t stop me.
- But if I don’t want to sin, and decide to rely on God’s strength, I really can win.
God has granted me the choice of what I allow in my life, I can choose to allow sin into my life, or I can choose to allow God into my life. I am shouting at the top of my voice “I CHOOSE GOD”
It has been over 40 days now and I have resisted internet pornography and some other sins. This teaching has really helped me.
But I realise as a fallen and sinful man I MAY trip up at some stage in the future, I hope not, the lies one and two above, say that it is inevitable I will, but they are lies. But if I do fail, it is not a victory for Satan, because God has already forgiven me and will be waiting to pick me up and carry me until I can walk beside him again. My desire has changed and it is now to honour Him and choose Him always. That is the Grace of God, and nothing at all to do with me, I could never renew my own mind, it is all God.
In conclusion memorise the above verses, or similar verses and quote them out loud. And the temper does flee, for a while anyway.
