this could be the turning point in your journey but first let me share a little bit about mine the first time that i was exposed to sexually charged content was when i was about 11 or 12 years old i was just given my first ipod but i was just scrolling randomly and a compilation of super bowl commercials was there it looked interesting to me i clicked on it and from there i was exposed to all sorts of sexually charged content from then on i kind of searched out more of these type of videos i knew
it was wrong at the same time i didn't really have any self-control at this point i would have considered myself a christian but i never experienced this kind of temptation before and i didn't really have a box to put it in i didn't realize what it was doing to me i was plagued by guilt and shame so much of the day i went to a youth conference and they talked about the strongholds in our lives and how they'll hold us back from serving god faithfully it was in that moment where i was like i need
to do something about this and the only thing that i could think of that might help is talking to my dad so one night as i was just plagued by guilt i could still remember this vividly i couldn't sleep it was probably like one o'clock at night and i walked into my dad's mom and dad's bedroom and i look at my dad and i said hey can i talk to you from then on i left my ipod with him during the night and so i wasn't tempted i think for a lot of us this kind
of season of life 11 12 13 maybe earlier for some folks marks the beginning of being exposed to kind of sexually charged content and beginning this battle with lust now fast forward about 10 years i'm 23 and though temptation definitely still rears its ugly ahead i began to find real victory in this area of my life over the last few years i know what it's like to feel that guilt and that shame and that discouragement that comes from falling once again and yet i can also testify to the fact that freedom is available but here's
a big problem that we all need to come to terms with we live in a pornographic culture we are continually assaulted by music media movies social media that is charged with sexuality and it's tempting and we can't just live as a monk or maybe some people do maybe you can i don't know i can't but we need to know how to operate in this space so i want to share some of what has helped me and actually make headway in finding freedom in matthew 26 41 jesus gives us two steps that are extremely important to
take as we're looking to overcome temptation here they are watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak so what does jesus mean by watch well to be alert to be aware to be discerning do those three words categorize your approach in your daily life i think for a long time honestly i pretended to be ignorant of a lot of the sexuality that was kind of embedded in what i was watching and taking in i just kind of like pretended like it wasn't affecting me
or wasn't an issue i wasn't being alert aware or discerning for us we need to begin by becoming aware of what is going to trigger us to fall into temptation so this is where it gets kind of intense and a lot of people will back off because they're like oh that's too extreme oh it's not that big a deal oh i can handle it i'm strong enough you're not you're not strong enough so if you're on instagram let's say head to your following who are you following and who are the people that tempt you seriously
and you need to stop following them and now that should just be like a no-brainer at the same time we're like well i'm following them for their music or they're a good actor and i like their movies it's like no it's not worth it and i'm gonna go to the extent to say even a friend that posts risque instagram pictures that tempt you to look lustfully look you should not be following that person i'm sorry i went through my instagram following i unfollowed everyone that tempted me even if they were a good musician that i
really liked or um you know a movie star that i wanted to keep up on what the you know what they were up to it's like no i don't want to be tempted i'm just not going to have that on my feed also tick-tock if you're on tick-tock you should probably get off but for me i'm on there and pretty much every time i see something that tempts me or you know some sexually charged content i block them immediately without hesitation it's become a routine now and so every time like i just get used to
it you know oh no block sorry it's done like i'm not even gonna think about it i'm not gonna risk seeing this person again or seeing their content again i don't want it i stopped watching edgy movies for a while in my teen years i felt like i was mature enough that i could handle it that the movies that i wasn't allowed to watch as a kid now i'm like 16 17 oh yeah i can watch all like the classics or whatever and honestly it wasn't worth it it really wasn't the movies weren't that good
and also it like got my mind thinking in thought patterns that i didn't like it just felt icky and so now i'm just free of that i just don't watch that stuff i'm like i'm not interested and for going to theaters i'm going to common sense i'm seeing is there like sexualities or nudity it's like i just don't want it for me it was little pieces here or there on social media that was kind of getting my heart prepared to fall into sexual immorality it was like oh here's a little piece here a little piece
there oh accept that oh okay that's not so bad or that's not you know but it's getting you to this place where you're being triggered to fall that much more into lust and so me like you need to i need to cut it off at ground level that's what i've come to the conclusion you can't kind of go halfway on this stuff god cares about the thought life too and so as we're thinking about the thought life we need to go back to ground level like what are the little things in my life that i'm
letting kind of creep in that's causing me to move further and further down this dark path step two the second part of the verse watch and pray so pray in thessalonians it talks about pray without ceasing and this is especially important as we're encountering and facing these temptations in our lives if we're not praying without ceasing like if we're not praying throughout this we're doing it on our own and willpower is not going to cut it like in that second part of that verse it says the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and
if you've been in this battle for any length of time you know that your flesh is weak and you've experienced that part of the reason that we don't take little bits here and there thinking that we're strong enough to overcome oh this little bit of temptation or i can watch this movie because i'm i'm a strong enough christian it's like no the flesh is weak we need to come to realize this when we talk about prayer and in the midst of the battle that i've experienced i'm asking god for deliverance god deliver me from this
temptation something else that i'm doing as well is i'm listening to him my justifications of why i think it's okay that i you know watch this thing or you know whatever else it is it's like okay well god you know i feel like maybe i deserve it because most the other time i'm a good christian so um you know that's why i feel like and just verbalizing those things to god and actually kind of dispelling them with biblical truth thing but i know that's not true because you hate sin and you you know you've given
me the power to overcome this through your power and presence in my life and you died for this sin and just kind of preaching truth to yourself in the midst of that prayer and asking god to give you deliverance from that that can be a freeing experience what i've noticed is these kind of justifications at least in my own life are kind of the primary force that leads me into temptation that leads me to submit to these kind of temptations is saying you know oh i'm a good christian it's just one time or i deserve
it or things like that these are lies that i'm believing lord show me your truth in colossians 3 5 it says put to death therefore what is earthly in you sexual immorality impurity passions evil desires and covetousness which is idolatry you we need to put to death this sin this is like very clear in the scriptures but how do we do that well we're going to confront it we're going to identify what it is we're going to stop making excuses or justifications for why we do it we're gonna be honest with ourselves and what we're
gonna do and what i've done is verbalize it to other people hey this is a temptation that i experience hey this is something i'm struggling with and be you know clear and intentional about who you share this stuff with like there's a couple friends in my life or family members that know this about me that know that i kind of struggle in this area that this is a temptation for me and you know we keep up to date on it but when you keep it inside you give it a little place in your heart you're
not putting it to death you're kind of keeping it in storage till you need it and that's definitely not what the bible says we definitely don't want to keep sins in storage we want to put them to death galatians 5 16 says but i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires by the flesh this is something we miss so often this guy's kind of goes hand in hand with the whole prayer aspect and praying without ceasing look if we're simply trying to overcome lust on our own strength or just trying
to you know subtract something from our life we're going to have a big issue but if we are walking in accordance with the spirit if we're pursuing christ right it's going to be a natural occurrence to put away those things put away who we once were because that doesn't align with who we are becoming if you want to put your sin to death what you need to do is you need to starve it out you need to stop feeding it you're giving it morsels here and there that's sustaining it till it's finally strong enough where
it can take hold of you you need to stop feeding it to put a cap on my journey and i guess where i'm going from here yes i still struggle with it i'm still tempted by it i've found freedom but at the same time i'm not getting overconfident because i am still tempted i do see these things and i'm okay you know in this moment i need to make this decision lord help me through this you know deliver me from this temptation and so um yeah you when you find freedom when you begin to find
freedom there can be this excitement and this like okay this is really working this is really happening i'm so like thrilled and excited and there's a sense of relief but don't let up don't let up still be aware alert and discerning of what you're consuming and pray without ceasing and god his covering is over you he is more than powerful to deliver you from this and i'm excited for each one of you as you watch this video and go from here into this kind of next stage of your life where you're continuing to pour into
christ and put sin to death this video is brought to you by my patrons on patreon it is only because of your support that i can continue to make this kind of content so thank you to each one of you on there if you want to support my mission of helping people follow jesus daily head to the link in my description and sign up to support me on a monthly basis help us reach our next goal it would be a huge blessing thanks so much guys and i'll see you next time god bless
