16/08/2023
Every day Christians fight the same battle, the war between the flesh and the spirit. Our bodies want to sin and our spirits want to please God. As you already know, the moment you became a Christian, you gained an enemy. Satan destroys anything he touches and wants you to be part of his team for eternity. He hates when you join forces with Jesus.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭;
𝟏. 𝐁𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬:
King David thought he deserved a well-deserved rest so he took it. He gave in to boredom when he should have been on the battlefield with his soldiers. Instead of focusing on God and His plans for him, David looked and looked and looked again at Bethsheba until lust overtook him. He had to unlawfully have her as his. He failed to recognize that he was in lust’s danger zone.
𝟐. 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞:
A life with purpose leaves no time to dance with sin. Find God’s purpose for you and devote your days to living out His will for you.
𝟑. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞:
God built into each man and woman sexual desires reserved for their wife or husband. Lust fails to honor the other person and lacks holiness due to their covenant relationship.
𝟒. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
Our emotions trick us so we believe it’s okay to follow evil desires. If we do, temptations can ambush us quickly. If you need to run away from lustful situations, then do as Joseph did when he fled from Potiphar’s wife.
𝟓. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭:
Make a vow to stop entertaining yourself with media attractions (TV, internet, magazines, music, social media sites). Don’t ween but stop these attractions before they disarm their power over you.
𝟔. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬:
Keeping your eyes on Jesus seems to be an answer to every problem Christians encounter. Well, maybe it is. To do what Philippians 4:8 recommends: to think about what is pure, lovely, of good report, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy is good advice. Jesus has all these qualities and more. Loving him more than anything else drowns out lust.
𝟕. 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭:
You choose whether you follow your Father in heaven or the father of lies. It’s a conscious decision. Another way to describe walking in the spirit is dying to strife, anger, envy, etc. We die to nasty traits in favor of spiritual fruit (love, joy peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc.).
𝟖. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝:
To clean your spiritual house you must say the Word of God to rid your spirit of filth. Say something like, “In the name of Jesus, I refuse to dwell on lustful images or allow lust to control my thoughts.” Repeat that statement as many times as necessary. You can sense when the spirit of lust leaves you.
𝟗. 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭:
Lust enters through your eyes and goes directly to your heart. If it lodges there, the rest of your body follows however lust leads. That’s the danger zone you never want to reach which I’ve referred to.
𝟏𝟎. 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬:
When you have a repentant heart, you seek God’s forgiveness. You no longer attempt to cover up wrongful deeds or make provisions to sin.
Perhaps you’ve noticed, the world is getting increasingly darker spiritually. Right is wrong and wrong is right. The earth groans under the weight of sin and Christians feel the accompanying oppression. Therefore, it stands to reason that sin will continue to abound and Christians must commit to staying on a sure path toward holiness. Overcoming lust takes determination, and a willingness to identify the root causes. Ask for God’s help on how to overcome lustful thoughts and temptation influencers.
~ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲
