Daily Devotional for Wednesday August 3, 2016
Pornography is a Problem Many Men and Women have Battled for a Long Time
(Mark 11:25; Colossians 3:13)
***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, this nation is under your judgment for our sin, wickedness, and rebellion. Help me to be courageous as I stand for you in these perilous times. Use me as a beacon of your light in the darkness of our world today. Though our enemies surround us, the world around me curses you, help me to stand for your Truth that will ultimately defeat the lies of satan. May the evil of this world become so apparent, people will begin to bow their knee to you in repentance knowing YOU are their only hope and only answer! In the name of Jesus…AMEN!!!
Pornography is a problem many men and women have battled for a long time. With the advent of the Internet, it has made accessibility to pornography incredibly easy and has now become a very real societal problem. As with all problems in society, many Christians also end up caught in the traps the enemy has laid to destroy people's lives. Let me say up front, DO NOT underestimate the destructive power of pornography.
Like all sin, it starts almost innocently, but always escalates. One day you are browsing through X-rated pictures, and the next you are actually involved in a real physical relationship. One day you are chatting with someone, the next your chat becomes more graphic, and then you are actually sitting next to them. Like all sin, there is a seductiveness that eases you into it, and one day you wake up in total bondage to that sin.
The reason pornography is a sin is because God's plan for sexuality is for one man, with one woman, for one lifetime. Our sexual thoughts are to be only about that person God gives us to share our life with. ALL other thoughts are impure. Fantasies take our mind to places we shouldn't be going, even if we never act on them.
The reason is that Jesus said if you lust in your heart, you have already committed the act. Is it a high standard? Yes! But God has called us to live at a high level in our life. We are to live above the low standards of this world. We are to find our sexual satisfaction in the mate God gives us to share our life with as our husband or wife.
That very simply means this: First of all, if you are NOT married, you need to keep your thoughts pure and save not only your body, but your mind for the one God has for your life. If you are married, your sexual thoughts and activities are to be ONLY with your husband or wife. Anything else is not God's plan and is sin.
Now that we know what God expects, let's talk about real life. Read and re-read the second paragraph. There is to be NO compromise. This is what God expects from us. Now, how do we get to that point? The best case is you are still young, you have not been exposed to pornography, and you have the warning of this message to guard yourself against it. For those who have been exposed in the past to pornography, the key is to "renew your mind" and flush it out.
We do that each day using the spiritual detergent of God's Word. Stay away from and guard your thought life. Then there are those who are currently involved in pornography at some level. It is bondage. Before you can get victory over it, you have to want to quit. Once you get to that point, then realize it is a battle. Like any battle, to see victory you need a battle plan. You need one or several people in your life to be accountable to. You need the strength each day only the Lord can give you. There is victory over pornography just like any other sin.
I love you and will be praying for you. I realize this is hitting home with many of you. Let it be a special tap on the shoulder from God that now is the time to deal with this issue in your file. It isn't going to change until you decide to change. As you know, anytime we pervert the original plan of God, things never really work. We always get cheated out of the best God has for us when we settle for what the world offers.
You can only know the true blessings of God, the fullness of what life can give when we are in His will, and living life His way. Since this is such an incredible problem so many face, this Friday I will be fasting 24 hours, and spending several hours praying for those in this bondage to pornography.
God is in the deliverance business, and I know He can deliver someone from the bondage of pornography. I will be praying for those people fighting this sin in their life and believing God to touch their heart, to bring them under conviction, and to help them have the courage to take the steps necessary to walk away from this sin and live a victorious life. He is able and can set you free.
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller