If I was to give you just one piece of advice that could help you to say ‘NO’ to pornography it would be - CONFESS YOUR STRUGGLE TO SOMEONE GODLY.
In no way am I saying that this is the only thing you should do, but If I was to give you only one piece of advice it would be: confess your struggle. Most people struggle in the world of porn all by themselves. Quite frankly they are too ashamed to tell anyone. And the shame forces them to be secretive about their struggle. The truth, however, is that exposing the sin helps in bringing about our own freedom from the sin. James 5:16 tells us: Confess your sins one to another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. Confession is a rather powerful weapon. It does three effective things:
Confession Exposes the Sin
Secrets give a false impression to others. They actually force us to walk around constantly lying because we are giving the impression that everything is fine when it is not. Confession Exposes what is going on in our hearts. Exposure is a good thing, It is only when the patient exposes his sickness to the doctor that he can receive treatment. It is only when the client exposes his problem to the lawyer that he can be properly defended and it is only when the congregant exposes his sin to another godly believer that he can be prayed for.
Confession Humbles the Person
Confession humbles us. Pay close attention to what you are confessing. You are confessing your sins. When we confess our sins we are letting others know we had a failure in our life, and more importantly, we are making it clear to others that we failed the Lord. When we let others become aware of our failures, we are actively humbling ourselves. Humility is a good thing because it opens the door of mercy to our lives. Isaiah 66:2 tells us that the Lord will look upon the humble. If there is one thing we need when we have sinned it is God’s mercy and we receive His mercy when we humble ourselves before him.
Confession Opens the door for Healing
Confession opens the door for us to be healed. When we confess our sins to another godly believer we are going to be prayed for. We all need others to pray for us because there are some things that we cannot get over by ourselves. The Lord in his wisdom has placed us in community with a body of believers. And He will heal us many times by using those same body of believers. James 5:16 tells us that we should pray for each other so that we may be healed. It’s all good to pray for yourself, but many times our healing comes after others pray for us.
There are other steps to take in order to overcome a struggle with pornography, but if I was to give you only one piece of advice I would say confess your struggle to a godly leader. In your struggle against pornography check out the devotional ‘21 Days To Sexual Purity’. It is jam packed with godly, Biblical wisdom that will help you in your purity journey before the Lord.
God bless you.
