I am a slave to sin

[Johnanon]

I don't know if I can go on. I'm desperate for a life line.
I have fallen into sexual sins (internet porn) a thousand times. Each time I doubt my salvation. Up to now I have asked God's forgiveness, determined to be pure, and somehow moved on with my walk with Jesus. But with the latest failure I am totally defeated.
I have no reserve to continue, no confidence that I will ever be free. None. It just keeps happening over and over again. The Bible says that a man is held by the cords of his own sin. That's how I feel. I feel there is no escape. I have begged God to free me, cried out for His strength to resist the temptations, but after a period of time I go back. This has been the cycle for 13 years.
I would just give up and live in sin, but I can't do that either. I can't live without Christ in my life. I feel so guilty. I can't live with this filth for more than a few days, then I have to get it off my computer and out of my mind. I sometimes feel like a coward, unwilling to endure temptation. I sometimes feel like I love my sin more than I love God.
I'm every active in my local church, and I love serving my Lord. Those who know me in church think I'm such a spiritual man. It hurts me that they are so deceived, and that I'm such a hypocrite. I'm so full of guilt and shame. I want to make yet a new start, but given my track record, I know that my own shameful, selfish, lust, will drag me down again. It's just a matter of time. I can't live with this awful cycle any longer. I'm too ashamed to share this any way but anonymously. I just now registered on this site with the hope that maybe God will speak to me through someone here. I thank you for sharing in my struggle and for your prayers and prayerful thoughts.

 

[strelok0017]

You, friend, have the same problem as all of us. I have been struggling recently and this occurred to me today. Am I serving myself? Am I under such load because I am following my way or the Lord's way? Answer is "Misery comes when we want our way.". God wants to make you happy and I believe that many are withheld from full-blown repentance because of the conviction "God may deny me this and this and thus make me miserable." That is not so! He who did not spare His own Son, shall He withhold what can't compare to the worth of our Savior and Lord? Maybe this isn't much of an answer but I know that apart from sin we have to be free from ourselves.

 

[Epecho]

I hope that you will take an honest look at the passages I'm listing below. Study them with an open mind, not prejudiced by preconceived ideas or opinions.

10 "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. - 2 Corinthians 7:10 NKJ

10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. - 2 Corinthians 7:10 NASB

Salvation from sin​

What is sin? 1 John 3:4; James 4:17
(John 8:21; Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 6:23)
All have Sinned Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8​

It's not enough to be...​

In A Way......Proverbs 16:25; Jeremiah 10:23; Matt. 7:13-14
Religious........Galatians 1:13-14; Acts 8:26-39
Honest......Acts 23:1; Acts 22:16
Morally Good......Acts 10:1-6,48
Believer.......James 2:19-26
Almost Persuaded..........Acts 26:27-29​

"Hear ye Him" Matt. 17:5​

Believe.......Mark 16:16; John 8:24
Repent..........Acts 2:38; Luke 13:3
Confess.............Matt 10:32-33; Acts 8:37
Baptized............Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38;Acts 22:1-16
Who?..........Matt. 28:19; Acts 8:12
How?.......Romans 6:3-4
Thus Added........Acts 2:41-47
Redeemed............Acts 20:28; Colossians 1:13-14​

All Spiritual Blessings are IN Christ - Ephesians 1:3​

Blessed are the dead...........Revelation 14:13
Eternal Life............1 John 5:11
Salvation.............2 Timothy 2:10
No Condemnation............Romans 8:1
New Creature..............2 Corinthians 5:17​

Steps to get INTO Christ​

Believe unto........Romans 10:10
Repent unto......Acts 11:18
Confess unto..........Romans 10:10
Baptized into......Galatians 3:27​

After Conversion​

Saved from Past Sins........Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16
Saved Eternally..............1 Timothy 4:16; Revelation 2:10​

Things to remember​

New Creature..........2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6:4
Babes IN Christ.........1 Peter 2:2; 1 Corinthians 3:1-2
Critical Period...............Matt. 4:1-11; 1 Cor. 10:11-13
Possibility of Falling..John 8:31; 1 John 2:1-2; Acts 8:17-24
Representative...........2 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Timothy 4:12
Christ is your example......Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 3:1-7​

God wants you to...​

Love Him first..........Matt. 22:37; Matt 10:37
Study...........2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11
Pray........Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Timothy 2:8
Assemble.........Hebrews 10:25-27; Matt 18:20
Give..........1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 9:6-7
Help save others.........Matt. 28:19-20; John 15:1-6,16​

 

[LindaJ617]

Johnanon,
My heart and prayers go out to you. It is a good thing that you are beginning by asking for help. Hiding our sins from the world is an easy thing to do. Hiding our sins from our Father is impossible.
He knows your heart and knows His plan for you.

Some may say it's a mental/addiction, and ask you to go seek rehab. Some may tell you that you are lost in your sin and separated from God. Others may tell you that it is good that you continue to pray, ask forgiveness, and serve your church/community. There can be 1000x pieces of advice; there is only one King.

In a way I understand exactly what you are going through, but from the flip side of the coin. If I may explain?

My husband has been viewing pornography for years. The pain, mistrust, disunity, and shaken faith invades our home and our hearts. However, my husband, does not attempt to stop or change. He feels it is okay and believes he is a Christian and saved.

I feel your pain because I hurt from this sin and so do you. It is a very deep, dark hole that permeates and seems to never end.

I have a disability and on a some what regular basis, I lie to hide my shame and not let someone know the truth about me. I ask God everyday to forgive me of this sin, and beg Mercy that He will heal me of this. Yet I find myself doing it again.

Am I any different than you? No. Am I right in judging and being angry with my husband? No. We all sin and fall short. If a male member of your church every Sunday looked lustfully upon a woman that was not his wife, another member of your church was found and convicted of being a rapist, would not the world (in general) judge the latter to be a great sinner and deem he should go to hell? And what of the former? The world may not see his sin and judge him, but is he not a sinner also?

So (as I ramble on, as I tend to do) the thought I want to convey is:
You are NO different than ANY one else on this forum. We ALL sin. Your sin in our society may deem you to be different. You are no different in God's eye. We all are as filthy rags.

I will be praying for you Brother.

“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.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:8-10)

Your first step is asking for help from our Loving Father and your next step is asking for help from His children. I pray that here you will be lifted up and offered sound, Godly advice. We must all giving a helping hand whenever , wherever, and however we may be able.

May you be restored, in the Almighty name of Jesus.

Grace and Peace
Linda

 

[LindaJ617]

Coincidence? I believe not.

Today's sermon from InTouch Ministies.

 

[Johnanon]

Thankyou Epecho for caring and taking the time to list the Bible verses. I have probably read and/or meditated on most, if not all of them, many times. I believe God's word and the power of God's word and I have seen it at work in many areas of my life...except total victory in the area I mentioned. I'm not saying I don't need God's word, but I think what I need now is caring hearts who can identify with what I'm strugleing with.

 

[Johnanon]

NOTE: This is to all who replied. Not being familiar with how to post my comments, I wrote a separate reply to Epecho, then tried to delete it and send a general reply to all, but I see it got posted anyway. And thanks, Strelok0017, for your encouragement.

Thankyou, LindaJ, for sharing your heart. I read your reply with tears. Your letter was a great encouragement to me to fight this addiction again. But I realize I must do something different than what I've done in the past. We've all heard the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. I just don't know what there is different I can do.
I'm able to clean up my behavior (the outside) for months at a time, but when I yield to the darker side I find the inside of me is just as filthy as ever. All this makes me feel that I'm trying to clean myself up instead of letting God do it. But I've asked God to do it, many times. I'm just really confused as to what else I can do. I've tried to pray more, read and meditate on God's word more, and serve in my church more. I have to admit it has helped me through longer times of purity, but after several months I am drawn back into the porn.
As much as the thought scares me, I wonder if God hasn't given me over to a reprobate mind. I wonder if He hasn't given me what I wanted, and my sin is its own punishment. In the past I stopped going to church several times for various periods of time, and had nothing to do with God, living my life like I wanted. I did this because I couldn't stop various sexual sins and drinking. Maybe I dropped out because I didn't want to give up the sins. More confusion. Thirteen years ago, after years of living miserably, I reached a very low place in my life and felt God calling me back. To make a long story short I repented, got back in church, felt God's forgiveness, and have stuck with the Lord since. I had occasional moral failures, but my life definitely improved. But the one sin that "so easily besets" me is porn.
Forgive me for unloading on you. But somehow I feel a little better talking to God loving folks like you all. Right now you're my only outlet. Does anyone know of a sexual addiction accountability class here or on-line?
Linda, if I ever get back on praying ground I will pray for you and your husband, I promise. Thanks for sending the sermon by Charles Stanley. I've listened to many of his sermons, and I will listen to this one.

 

[savedfromdistruction]

I don't know if I can go on. I'm desperate for a life line.
I have fallen into sexual sins (internet porn) a thousand times. Each time I doubt my salvation. Up to now I have asked God's forgiveness, determined to be pure, and somehow moved on with my walk with Jesus. But with the latest failure I am totally defeated.
I have no reserve to continue, no confidence that I will ever be free. None. It just keeps happening over and over again. The Bible says that a man is held by the cords of his own sin. That's how I feel. I feel there is no escape. I have begged God to free me, cried out for His strength to resist the temptations, but after a period of time I go back. This has been the cycle for 13 years.
I would just give up and live in sin, but I can't do that either. I can't live without Christ in my life. I feel so guilty. I can't live with this filth for more than a few days, then I have to get it off my computer and out of my mind. I sometimes feel like a coward, unwilling to endure temptation. I sometimes feel like I love my sin more than I love God.
I'm every active in my local church, and I love serving my Lord. Those who know me in church think I'm such a spiritual man. It hurts me that they are so deceived, and that I'm such a hypocrite. I'm so full of guilt and shame. I want to make yet a new start, but given my track record, I know that my own shameful, selfish, lust, will drag me down again. It's just a matter of time. I can't live with this awful cycle any longer. I'm too ashamed to share this any way but anonymously. I just now registered on this site with the hope that maybe God will speak to me through someone here. I thank you for sharing in my struggle and for your prayers and prayerful thoughts.

Hello Johnanon,
first let me remind you of some scripture.
1Cor 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].

Notice two things. One is that there is no temptation taken you except what is common to everyone.
Second is that God will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able as He always supplies a way of escape. I will point one way to escape in a minute, but remember it is always up to us to take it.

Also in Mat. 5:29,30
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Notice that God is saying sometimes we need to take radical actions to overcome sin.

Next Gal.5:16,17
[This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Then finally Eph. 6
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 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, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Eph 6:10-18 (KJV)

Now I said I would explain how to take care of this sin issue you are battling with. The Lord said He will not allow us to be tempted above what we can handle and that He will provide a way of escape. He also says we might have to do some radical surgery.
He explains in Gal. and Eph. certain steps we need to do so as to ward off temptation and sin.

So if I was battling drunkenness I would stay away from anything that might remind me of drink including certain friends or family if need be. If I was battling lust I would stay away from the beach or any place that reminds me of sex including the TV. In both issues if even my job was a temptation I would find another job, or if my residence was a temptation I would move. Radical surgery!
In your case it is the internet. I strongly suggest that you either drop the internet or get yourself a program filter that will not allow you to see porn.
Here are some links to look over for filters.
Break free from Internet porn with Internet accountability

American Family Online

Christian Internet filter, Porn blocker-Cannot be bypassed- International -Wischoice. net

You can check them out, but as scripture says if we really want free from any sin there is always a way out IF we will take it.
God bless.

 

[Johnanon]

Dear SavedFromDestruction,
Thanks so much for caring enough to reply. I am seriously looking at the accountability web site you provided, or one of the others.

 

[98cwitr]

It takes a bigger man to admit this, OP. Praying for you and myself...Im in the same sinking boat

 

[LindaJ617]

John you are so very welcome. You are in my prayers. I know God has amazing plans for you. Like I said, just your reaching out and asking for help is such a great step. And dont forget to listen to that sermon. It directly relates to how you've been feeling about repeated sin.

May God Bless you Brother.

 

[HawgWyld]

I don't know if I can go on. I'm desperate for a life line.
I have fallen into sexual sins (internet porn) a thousand times. Each time I doubt my salvation. Up to now I have asked God's forgiveness, determined to be pure, and somehow moved on with my walk with Jesus. But with the latest failure I am totally defeated.
I have no reserve to continue, no confidence that I will ever be free. None. It just keeps happening over and over again. The Bible says that a man is held by the cords of his own sin. That's how I feel. I feel there is no escape. I have begged God to free me, cried out for His strength to resist the temptations, but after a period of time I go back. This has been the cycle for 13 years.
I would just give up and live in sin, but I can't do that either. I can't live without Christ in my life. I feel so guilty. I can't live with this filth for more than a few days, then I have to get it off my computer and out of my mind. I sometimes feel like a coward, unwilling to endure temptation. I sometimes feel like I love my sin more than I love God.
I'm every active in my local church, and I love serving my Lord. Those who know me in church think I'm such a spiritual man. It hurts me that they are so deceived, and that I'm such a hypocrite. I'm so full of guilt and shame. I want to make yet a new start, but given my track record, I know that my own shameful, selfish, lust, will drag me down again. It's just a matter of time. I can't live with this awful cycle any longer. I'm too ashamed to share this any way but anonymously. I just now registered on this site with the hope that maybe God will speak to me through someone here. I thank you for sharing in my struggle and for your prayers and prayerful thoughts.

Prayers to you, Johnanon, and you'd better believe there is something that all of us struggle with. Period. There was but one perfect man in our history and, brother, I ain't Him. Neither is anyone else.

I think we all yield to our sins in various degrees and at various times. The important thing is to acknowledge our behavior and take the steps we can to alleviate those things we believe are offensive to God. The worst thing one can do is just surrender to sin and be comfortable in it or feel helpless against it.

So, keep pushing and don't give up. You've got a chink in your armor as do all of us. You've acknowledged it, now do what you can to patch it. If you fail from time to time, don't beat yourself up over it -- keep trying and keep improving. We'll never achieve perfection, but the goal is to keep striving for it. Most importantly, don't let the shame you feel be the thing that keeps you from growing in your relationship with God. Ol' Scratch is a crafty rascal, and he'll use guilt and shame to separate us from God in creative and effective ways.

Good luck in your struggle, and I'll add you to my prayer list (which seems to be growing quite long these days -- we're all damaged in one way or another).

 

[Hupomone10]

I don't know if I can go on. I'm desperate for a life line.
I have fallen into sexual sins (internet porn) a thousand times. Each time I doubt my salvation. Up to now I have asked God's forgiveness, determined to be pure, and somehow moved on with my walk with Jesus. But with the latest failure I am totally defeated.
I have no reserve to continue, no confidence that I will ever be free. None. It just keeps happening over and over again. The Bible says that a man is held by the cords of his own sin. That's how I feel. I feel there is no escape. I have begged God to free me, cried out for His strength to resist the temptations, but after a period of time I go back. This has been the cycle for 13 years.
I would just give up and live in sin, but I can't do that either. I can't live without Christ in my life. I feel so guilty. I can't live with this filth for more than a few days, then I have to get it off my computer and out of my mind. I sometimes feel like a coward, unwilling to endure temptation. I sometimes feel like I love my sin more than I love God.
I'm every active in my local church, and I love serving my Lord. Those who know me in church think I'm such a spiritual man. It hurts me that they are so deceived, and that I'm such a hypocrite. I'm so full of guilt and shame. I want to make yet a new start, but given my track record, I know that my own shameful, selfish, lust, will drag me down again. It's just a matter of time. I can't live with this awful cycle any longer. I'm too ashamed to share this any way but anonymously. I just now registered on this site with the hope that maybe God will speak to me through someone here. I thank you for sharing in my struggle and for your prayers and prayerful thoughts.

First,

Don't give up. Resolve that you will stay with it come hell or high water until you are free. Consider adopting this as your life verse for a while:

Psalm 18:37-39 (don’t stop until they are gone)
I pursued my enemies and overtook them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed.
I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; They fell under my feet.
For Thou hast girded me with strength for battle; Thou hast subdued under me those who rose up against me.

 

[Hupomone10]

There are certain things that as a Christian you need to instill in your mind as often as you have been recently telling yourself that you cannot overcome this. One of them is that God's acceptance is not based on our attainment or achievement.

Please read this as often as required.

Grace Once Bestowed Is Not Withdrawn
​

"Every believer is accepted by the Father, in Christ... And we must never forget that His peace is founded solely on the work of the cross, totally apart from anything whatsoever in or from us... The blessed God never alters nor diverges from the acceptance in which He has received us because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Alas! we diverge from the state in which God can ever be toward us as recorded in Romans 5. Many suppose that because they're conscious of sins, that hence they must renew their acceptance with God. The truth is that God has not altered. His eye rests on the work accomplished by Christ for the believer.

When you are not walking in the Spirit you are in the flesh; you have turned to the old man which was crucified on the cross (Rom 6:6). You have to be restored to fellowship, and when you are, you find your acceptance with God unchanged and unchangeable. When sins are introduced there is a fear that God has changed. He has not changed, but you have. You are not walking in the Spirit but in the flesh. You have to judge yourself in order to be restored (by admitting/confessing the sin)...

The tendency is to suppose that the blessed God has altered toward us. He certainly will judge the flesh if we do not, but He never departs from the love which He has expressed to the prodigal, and we find that when the cloud, which walking in the flesh produced, has passed away, His love, blessed be His Name, had never changed...

When the Holy Spirit reasons with man, He does not reason from what man is for God. but from what God is to man. Souls reason from what they are in themselves as to whether God can accept them. He cannot accept you thus; you are looking for righteousness in yourself as a ground of acceptance with Him. You cannot get peace while reasoning in that way. The Holy Spirit always reasons down from what God is, and this produces a total change in my soul. Sad today, most believers actually reason just the opposite - from themselves to God...

To be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself. To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret. Until the Christian is absolutely and scripturally sure of his standing, he is not going to do much standing. "Stand, therefore" (Eph 6:14).
- Miles Stanford, “The Green Letters”, ch on Acceptance

 

[Hupomone10]

Greetings John,

I suggested a verse before that you could consider as your life verse for this time period. Here's another one that goes along with it. Remember David's approach to Goliath and how different it was from King Saul and the others':

1 Samuel 17:37
The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

The comments I posted as step 1 aim at the tendency we all have when caught up in a sinful stronghold. We usually repeat the error of Adam and Eve. Remember what they did when they sinned? They hid from God. That's what we do also. We run from God because we feel we've disappointed Him. Then we compensate with human effort like they did (they made garments of fig leaves to cover themselves.

So, step 1 was aimed at getting us to go right back to God and Christ and stay there. I promise you, you haven't shocked or surprised God by your failure. He knows what is in man, and He's dealt with far worse than you and delivered them. When we withdraw from God because of our failure, we isolate ourselves from the very strength that can deliver us. We have to push through and ignore the first temptation of the enemy to stay away from God and go into His presence immediately, confess our latest failure, acknowledge that it also is under the blood of Christ, and accept His love and forgiveness.

That is the only way we can appropriate the grace He offers. To refuse to go to Him when we've failed is to isolate us from the very power of the Holy Spirit that can deliver. We will soon conclude that we do not truly have the Spirit of God within us since one with the Spirit of God would surely not struggle as we do. Once isolated from Him and doubting His power and presence in our lives, we will be left with the strength of Self with which to battle, and that will fail for that is in fact the strength that we have tried to use up until now.

So, step 1 is to stay in His presence and accept His grace, forgiveness, and presence in your life. He is more concerned about your deliverance from this than you are.

continued...

 

[Hupomone10]

Step 2 is to begin a battle you expect to win. Right now it's a battle you expect to lose. I suggest you alter that. Accept the fact that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and that's where the above verse and the other one come in.

In a Christian’s life, there is no such thing as an unwinnable scenario. In the Star Trek movie “The Wrath of Khan,” they talked about a training scenario at the Federation Space Academy especially programmed so no one could win. It was called the Kobiyashi-Muru scenario, a “no-win scenario.” Many of us feel like that’s exactly what we’ve run into in life – the “no-win scenario.” We’ve been defeated so many times or the temptation is so intense that we don’t see any way we can ever find true and lasting freedom from it.

2 Cor 10:13 (mentioned by another poster on here) says “there has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.” That means your spiritual life is programmed with a success path. There is no Kobiyashi-Muru scenario. I used to work in the nuclear power industry. At the nuclear plants, we had a computer-run Simulator exactly like the real control room that would run every possible accident scenario. But they were always programmed with a success path. You could always succeed if you did it right.

In the Christian life, we have that promise as well. Life’s problems always have a built-in success path regarding spiritual growth. It may be hard to find it or walk in it, but it is there. Believe it. Believe you can overcome; and come with your desire to stop drinking from that fountain. It starts with the knowledge that you can win.

“and Caleb…said, ‘We should by all means go up and take possession of (the ground),
for we shall surely overcome it.” Joshua 1:30


Step 1: don't fall into the error trap of Adam and Eve, stay with God
Step 2: begin a battle you expect to win

 

[Hupomone10]

The next step might be considered a part of step 2.

I personally found victory only through Christ, and I believe that's the only true way of victory. All other methods merely trade one sin for others.

The condensed version of my own journey, a short background:
I'm a recovered alcoholic. Not just that; but a severe alcoholic. I fell into alcoholism as a Christian, just as you have fallen into this lust addiction as a Christian. In some ways that makes it easier, in other ways it is harder. Due to a marriage problems I couldn't handle and handled very poorly, I began drinking. First, the man took the drink; and eventually the drink took the man. Along with that came lust. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that lust actually led to the drinking. So they are closely related and the principles which apply to the one apply to the other. They both involve an intense feeling of rush at the anticipation and the fulfillment of the urge. For me, lust led to drink; and drink led to lust, and usually to the internet in the later stages. The internet porn went away first; but the principles God used to deliver me from alcohol also applied to lust. As I said, the obsession for the one is emotionally almost indistinguishable from the other.

Essential in this process is a desire to stop drinking from the fountain of lust and porn, nothing more. That's all you need - the desire to stop rather than just an intellectual curiousity about God's truth vs your own opinions.

I haven't been in AA for quite a while, but when I was involved in AA they would often point out that “the only condition for membership is a desire to stop drinking.” And no matter if you relapsed, all you had to have was a desire to stop; and they would welcome you back with open arms, and even clap as you re-introduced yourself to the group, having relapsed. There was constant encouragement to recover, and never condemnation at having fallen. This is what the body of Christ should do.

So now, ask yourself the question: do you have the desire to stop drinking from the fountain of lust? Just a simple desire, nothing more. But without that desire, nothing we have to share will be any help. Without that, you will simply play around with these concepts, and then blame them for your lack of success. If you are going to overcome a sinful stronghold, you must have the desire to stop. Not a strong desire, just the simple desire to stop. You don't need powerful dedication, re-dedication, yielding, consecration, etc. If you had that, you wouldn't be here and this would be moot.

God doesn't first "require from you", He "performs for you and in you."

God bless,
H.

Step 1: don't fall into the error trap of Adam and Eve, stay with God
Step 2: begin a battle you expect to win
Step 3: a desire to stop drinking from the fountain of lust.