Sex/porn freedom in 40 days: day 32
Don’t give in to rationalizations. The physical and mental pain of addiction withdrawal is real, and you’ll likely start telling yourself it’s ok to take up the habit again. Don’t listen to the voice telling you to start back up. Don’t give up on yourself when it starts to feel hard. Every bit of pain will be worth it in the end.
What makes you slip up? You know what did it in the past but you don’t know what will do it in the future – or do you? You do, it will be the same exact thing that tripped you up in the past. For example, you have avoided sinful lust for 26 days and you hear that Showtime has a free special. While their smut is nothing special you have almost never avoided watching it and it has sent you spiraling.
Think for 5 minutes about what “always” trips you up when you are doing well?
Now write it down. Now think about how often you will need to pray about “it” so that from now on it will “never” trip you up again.
If you pray morning noon and night for 30 days that Jesus Christ will help you resist looking at that garbage (or taking that call from the one person you can’t resist) it will almost be a miracle if you do look or go. If after all that prayer you are not empowered to resist the sin you may want to check if you are slipping into others sins to often to get your prayers answered. If that is happening you may want to check if your life is a vacant empty vacuum with no heavenly purpose. If that is the case I have the answer for you – repent and do things God’s way.
We get a feeling we are getting close to falling on a Tuesday and then everything goes wrong on a Wednesday and we are almost doomed. But the problem is not what happens on Wednesday the problem is what failed to happen on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I have rarely seen someone totally fired up about Christ on Tuesday fall on Wednesday. But I have seen people fired up for Christ on Sunday morning who get into sin on Sunday afternoon. Then they don’t get into the Word for 2 straight days. Then a bad day hits and they fall apart.
They don’t realize that someone else just as messed up as them fell into sin Sunday afternoon and practiced rapid repentance. Rapid repentance gives you the ability to make a right decision when temptation hits. Rather than almost being forced into a bad decision.
They also spent extra time in prayer out of remorse that day. Then they faithfully prayed and studied the Word for the next two days. And everything fell apart for them on Wednesday as well. But they had a fighting chance to overcome because the Holy Spirit was with them.
“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently…” Tony Robbins
Of course Tony is preaching positive thinking which is good. But in addition to positive thinking we need positive actions. What if on Sunday morning we tried to find someone at church who could mentor us. You don’t have to tell people “I am an addict and need a sponsor.” Just say to them – “I am a new (or renewed) Christian and I need to be taught how to live as a Christian. Ask someone who is your same gender and keep asking people until you get help.
Ask your Pastor or Priest if they have any suggestions to stop porn now. Try listing 3 Christians who could help you. Contact each of these people and ask them to disciple you. Tell them you need help with discipline and self-control. If you can come up with 5 specific area’s you need help in that will let them know where to start.
When you have that rotten day when everything goes wrong you have a huge advantage when you have been doing what you should be doing (like Tony says – consistently).
Finding our purpose/How to try to be in God’s blessing
Some of you are starting to find your purpose but what you are currently doing to help people may seem small to you. But we need to do right now what God has given us to do. We have to bloom where we are planted right now. If we are not faithful with the small task that God has given us to do right now He will never give us a more important task.
David in the Bible is famous for killing the giant Goliath. But first God had him praying in the fields as a sheep shepherd. Then he was faithful playing music to serve king Saul. Then many years later after he served faithfully he was given the task to win a victory for Israel. After he passed this test (we are always tested before we can go to the next level) he became king of Israel.
Bloom where you are planted right now.
Today I am going to write about how to try to be in Gods blessing. Many people struggle with porn or sex addiction because they want want the wrong things. Many people live their life for pleasure or money or any other number of empty goals.
A better approach is to try to live right and be blessed by God. Psalms one says:
Psalm 1
New International Version (NIV)
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Verse three says that if we live like this whatever we do will prosper. So if we live like this a small amount of the time we will prosper a little bit. If we try half of the time to live like this we will do better. If we always live like this we will prosper.
Living right before God is healthy and it brings joy. Having a goal of starting to live in God’ blessing makes addiction start to fade.
Read Psalm 7
If you would like to start living in God’s blessing pray: “Father – I plan to start doing things your way, obeying your commands, studying the Word. Please bless me when you are ready to do so. I am planning to do my part and I will patiently wait for you to bless me when the time is right.”
Read Matthew 4, Proverbs 27 and 2nd Corinthians 13
- Pray: “Father help me to make it a habit to always plan my next few days. It is vital to plan because boredom is a trigger to relapse. Routine and concrete scheduling can be a lifesaver for an addict. A schedule, coupled with passion for a new hobby or sporting activity, allows people to successfully and happily break the cycle of boredom.
- Checklist for avoiding relapse: Even during times when you are succeeding, prayer urgently often each day to overcome addiction – to develop habits that you may very well need during seasons of severe temptation.
What The Bible Says About Addiction is my new 260 page e-book which is filled with new information about quitting addiction. My book is filled with a large number of ideas about quitting addiction and renewing the mind. It is amazing how differently we think when we do things God’s way. It is encouraging how focused we become when we do things God’s way. Writing this book completely changed my mindset – I believe that reading it will do the same for you. Click here to access it. Please leave a good review if you like it.
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Thank you for reading day 32 of this program to stop porn now.
Index
Day 1: Overcoming cravings
Day2 : Is God real?
Day 3: Quitting addiction exercises
Day 4: Getting negative emotions out
Day 5: You can never increase the amount of pleasure that you can have for the month by going back to an addiction
Day 6: Sin leads back to addiction
Day 7: Worshiping God helps us overcome addiction
Day 8: What causes you to stay addicted
Day 9: Develop positive addicitons
Day 10: Overcoming negative emotions
Day 11: You have some self control
Day 12: Always have a list of alternate activities to do when temptation hits
Day 13: Only living water can satisfy you for good
Day 14: Learning form the story of Adam and Eve
Day 15: Blessings and curses
Day 16: Self Control
Day 17: Self Control continued
Day 18: Learning to pray
Day 19: What kind of prayers does God answer
Day 21: Finding a Church that can help you
Day 22: Why is it so hard to quit
Day 23: plan plan plan
Day 24: Don’t condemn yourself
Day 25: Get the anger and negative emotions out
Day 26: Attack your addiction
Day 27: The mad cycle
Day 28: Practice coping skills
Day 29: Why we need to find our purpose
Day 30: We were created to worship, praise and serve God
Day 31: Addiction is a trap that takes our freedom away