Stay Awake!

Matthew 26:41 KJV

41) Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking...This is Jesus talking to Peter, James and John, while He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But there is a very important lesson here.
 
"Watch..." This word literally means to "keep awake". As Christians in this world, we are too often lulled to sleep by the haunting lullaby of Satan's empty promises. As Christian Men, we are bombarded with sexual images and conversation, until we become insensitive, or "used to it". We need to stay on our guard.
 
My wife and I have made a commitment to honor God with what we watch in movies--we don't even bother with TV. We recently decided to go through our movies again, and found that we had slowly degraded and we had begun to accept things that we had said we would not. Needless to say, we got rid of them and "pruned" our movie collection.
 
 
"...and pray..." Pray to God! Talk to Him. He is our Best Friend, closer than a Brother, He is our Husband and Father. He takes care of us and provides for us and shelters us from evil and hurtful things. Ask for His help: that's the ONLY way anyone will ever overcome an addiction.
 
"...that ye fall not into temptation..." I had to read this a couple of times before I really understood it.  If we Watch--or guard ourselves--and if we pray--talk to God and ask for His help--then we can avoid temptation.
 
Once you're being tempted, it becomes almost impossible to say no. If you can avoid being tempted, then you don't have to have the "battle" that every addict knows when the urge to commit their specific act of addiction comes upon them. It is best if you can avoid it all together. Now, this does not mean to live like an Amish person, with no electricity, or no source of connection to the world. It simply means to think.
 
TV today is aptly named the "boob tube". Almost everything on Television is sexual in nature. My wife and I have agreed that it is foolish to place such a sexual and evil thing in our household, when the amount of good that comes from it is far outweighed by the bad things that come from it.
 
Put up defensive hedges.

Watch.
 
Pray.
 
That is the recipe for success to avoid temptation altogether.

My Eye Patch

 Genesis 20:16 KJV


16) And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

Here is the end of the story of Abraham and Sarah traveling to a foreign land called Gerar. Abraham, worried that the king, Abimilech, would kill him to take Sarah, told Sarah to say that she was his sister. Abimilech then tries to woo her and he is warned by God in a dream that he is "a dead man", literally!!!
Abimilech then reproves both Abraham and Sarah, and says to Sarah that Abraham is to her a "covering of the eyes".
 
This means that Abraham is the only person that Sarah should desire to look upon or to desire to be looked upon by, and vice versa.
 
Abraham is to be Sarah's "Eye-Patch", limiting the view of her eyes to him alone.
 
We are God' bride, and when we turn to pornography, or other forms of sexual addiction, to provide the things that God provides through a wife, we are cheating on God. If you don't have a wife yet, you are cheating God and her out of a fully committed husband who desires only her.
 
Look at it this way, guys--or gals, because some women do struggle with this--how would you feel if your significant other was wanting every other guy/girl to look at and lust after them? Or if they were lusting after every guy/girl that they saw? You'd be jealous, right?
 
I can hear some of you saying right now though, "I'm not married, and I've been looking at porn, so I've already ruined my relationship with God and my future wife. Why stop?"
 
Other than the obvious fact that it's wrong, and will eventually lead you into a darker path, consider the following verse.
 
Romans 6:1-2 KJV


1) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Should we continue in sin, just because God will forgive us? NO!!!

We ought to be fighting for Victory in our lives. Clawing and scratching if we must.

Take a look at when you fail. Examine what happened right before you failed.

Could it have been prevented?

Then CHANGE IT!!!!
( See post entitled "Hedges" )

I have a friend who, although I have tried to help him several times, seems to not put any hedges or change his lifestyle at all. He has admitted that the only time he ever gets on the internet is at work, but he hasn't quit or asked for a different job. He watches TV, and that's just asking to be stimulated, because even the commercials are sexual or sensual in nature. It seems that at least a part of him, if he was honest with himself, still desperately wants to look at pornography. He'll never beat it until the part of him that doesn't gets a handle on the part of him that does.

Protect YOURSELF!!!

I KNOW IT'S HARD!! I'VE BEEN THERE! But you know what? You CAN beat this!!

 Make yourself an eyepatch!

Do WHATEVER IT TAKES!!!

QUIT YOUR JOB! TRUST GOD THAT IT'S THE RIGHT THING AND PRAY THAT HE'LL PROVIDE YOU WITH A JOB THAT YOU CAN'T LOOK AT PORN AT!

GOD WILL HELP YOU!!!

Pick One

(1Ki 18:21 KJV) And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
 
Today, too many Christians are frozen by indecision. We want both: a ticket to Heaven and the pleasure of fulfilling our own fleshly desires. Satan has convinced usto compromise ourvalues little by little, until Christians are indistiguishable from the Lost.
 
For example, according to an article published by Barna Group, 38 % of Christians believe that viewing pornography is morally acceptable, along with homosexuality (30%) and sexual relations with someone other than their spouse (42%).
 
We CANNOT profess to be God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians if we refuse to accept what the Bible and God have to say about such important issues!
 
With statistics like this, we still wonder why our country is going to Hell in a handbasket. A nation is made up of families, and families are made up of individuals, and apparently, those individuals can't seem to make up their mind about what they want.
 
Another survey by Barna Group said that four out of ten homosexuals claimed to be a christian, while 27% would qualify as a "Born-Again Christian".
 
Before we judge them too harshly however, let's look at another statistic.
 
4 out of 10 pastors looked at porn, today (As quoted by XXXChurch.)
 
The same percentage of "christian" homosexuals is the same percentage of pastors currently in bondage to pornography.
 
Clearly, we have a problem.
 
Jesus said it best.
(Mat 6:24 KJV) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.


Now, yes, He is talking about money, but the concept can be applied to every aspect of our lives.

We CANNOT serve two masters, whether that master is Deviant Sexual Behavior (including, but not limited to the viewing of pornography, exhibitionism, voyeurism, homosexuality, and adultery), or Alchohol, or Drugs, or Money, or maybe even Television.

(Jas 1:8 KJV) A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

(Rev 3:15 KJV) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
(Rev 3:16 KJV) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

It is time, my friends, my fellow brothers and sisters. Whether you are in bondage to pornography, alchohol, drugs, or homosexuality, it is time to Choose!

(Joshua 24:15 KJV) ...Choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.