Have you tried every trick, every resolution, and still ended up defeated?
Are you tired of trying to overcome your temptations when your deepest desire is to please God, but you fail each time?
I’m writing this from my experience as a man. But this applies to women too who face the same struggles.
As men, we try every way imaginable to conquer lusts. We cry out to God and may even ask why He gave us a body with desires that lead to sin.
Do not be mistaken: the Bible clearly states that God does not tempt us, nor can He cause us to sin.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. James 1:13-15 (NKJV)
The biological attraction that leads to unison between men and women holds a symbolic meaning of Christ becoming one with His Bride (the Church). You can see how much God desires us, as His Bride, to be called to Him and be one with Him—a mystery that Agur in Proverbs 30 struggled to comprehend: "The way of a man with a virgin."
My Personal Journey and the Cycle of Defeat
I write this as a man who struggled with this for many years. I remember the longest I staved off this addiction was two years when I was a teenager. I remember reading a magazine where a sex expert was asked if pornography was healthy; she answered clearly that men do not need it to live. After a few months of freedom, I saw women differently; I treated them for who they were and less and less of an object.
But one day I fell into it again, I could not get free no matter how hard I tried after that. No matter how much I prayed, used Bible verses, or prayed in tongues. I declared myself freed from it but still gave in. I cried out to God, confessing, "I can't do it!"—but it still felt incredibly difficult to abstain.
It is later that I understood why God has instructed us to flee from sexual immorality multiple times in the New Testament!
The Bible makes it clear that there are grave consequences. For me, my ex-girlfriend left me due to this issue, and my heart was broken.
Sadly, my heartbreak did not stop me; in fact, the addiction worsened until it became a daily routine. This even led me to visit a masseuse for greater pleasure.
Yes, you heard that right: a born-again believer doing such things, even worse than when I was a non-believer. However, each time the deed was done, deep inside, I knew I was still the righteousness of God in Christ. But I had severely grieved the Holy Spirit.
The Breakthrough: Warnings and Repentance
My breakthrough came only through a verse God brought me back to. One day, I took up my Bible and read. I was revisiting Romans 7, a chapter I had meditated on repeatedly. But this time, I was led to two more verses that shattered my complacency.
First, a passage of warning:
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV) 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
I have read these verses before, but this time it truly felt like God was speaking to me. Yes, I had been warned by God! Paul was addressing the church in Corinth (saved, but still very carnal) that the Israelites, though having passed through the Red Sea (a picture of Christ's blood bringing His people out from death to life), were still thinking of their "ex-boyfriend" (Egypt). They ate the same spiritual food and spiritual rock (a picture of the communion). Yet, God was displeased with most of them and scattered their bodies.
God was displeased with me as well.
Second, God brought me back to this bible verse:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NKJV) 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor [a]sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
God was saying: Do not think for one moment that you are free to commit any sins you like, even when you are born again! No one who continues in such a manner will inherit the kingdom of God.
Immediately, I repented. I sensed that He had been patient with me all this while, and I actually felt loved that He was reprimanding me.
I also found this extremely important verse:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
We need to constantly remind ourselves that our bodies now belong to Jesus Christ as we are now one with Him in unison. So to desecrate our own body with sexual sins, we are also desecrating the body of Christ by pulling together into that sin.
That’s why God cannot stand such a thing and will destroy that person who defiles the temple.
The book of Corinthians serves as a good case study. These were born-again believers who were still so carnal in their mindsets—even committing sexual immorality that was unheard of among non-believers! Paul's firm response was: "Don't you know that the Holy Spirit lives in you?!" He even declared a severe measure to force repentance:
1 Corinthians 5:4-5 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
This verse tells me a few things. There is heavy judgement for such and if not for the destruction of the flesh, he could have been sent to hell even as a so-called believer.
So Paul is saying to let him be judged here on earth than be judged in his afterlife for this particular sin. And either way, he cannot escape judgement.
How To Overcome Lust As A Christian
In writing this article to share with fellow brothers and sisters, I found more verses to help us.
The good news is that there is a way of escape for us who are tempted.
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NIV) 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 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.
This means that God has fully equipped us to overcome every temptation we face! He says He will be faithful to provide a way out for you so that you can endure it.
Bible Verses To Overcome Temptations: Specific Commands and Warnings
So here I have gathered all the instructions written by the apostles and bible verses for lust:
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. — 1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV)
Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. — Romans 6:12-13 (NASB)
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. — 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 (ESV)
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. — 1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. — 1 Corinthians 7:2 (ESV)
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. — Colossians 3:5 (ESV)
Do not keep company with sexually immoral people. — 1 Corinthians 5:9 (NKJV)
But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. — 1 Corinthians 9:27 (NKJV)
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. — Romans 8:13 (NIV)
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. — Ephesians 5:5 (ESV)
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. — Hebrews 13:4 (ESV)
...that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” — Acts 15:29 (NASB)
“But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. — Acts 21:25 (NASB)
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV) 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
This journey also got me to think on what would have happened if Joseph had committed adultery and slept with Potiphar’s wife. His story would have surely ended there and then! Though Potiphar placed him in jail, I am sure he inwardly trusted Joseph's account more than his wife's and spared him from the gallows only by his mercy.
Paul reminded us to FLEE from sexual immorality. Yes, flee, just as Joseph fled the scene. We must not try to tackle or battle this with our own flesh—that is fleshly pride!
So, every time you come across a lewd video while scrolling on social media, listen to the Spirit and flee immediately. Don't linger on it. This is walking by the Spirit. Each time we obey the Spirit, we draw closer to God, He will speak more to us, and we will hear His voice more clearly.
I hope this sharing has inspired you. Do not wait for a magical transformation in you to happen- which turned out to be my mistake. But obeying His command to flee is the more important and practical first step. The truth is, we will continue to face temptations of the flesh as long as we live in this body.
The great truth is that God has set us free: We have the Spirit living in us who gives us the power of self-control. Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling, not provoking God as there is judgment for the sexually immoral.
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