Walk to Freedom – Living a Lust Free Lifestyle

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 3:17, Isaiah 1:19-20, Matthew 26:41, James 4:7

Willingness Matters

It is absolutely possible to walk in freedom from lust. The battle to overcome lust will make you stronger and more capable of helping other men find freedom. I invite you to join me as we walk in freedom and spend the next 10 days proclaiming our freedom from lust. 

You must understand and believe that lust is an enemy and is on the “other team”. Lust is 100 percent willing to destroy you, get you to waste your life, cause you to not reach your destiny, or create the consequences of sin in your life. In other words, lust is committed to your complete destruction, and the potential to lust lives within everyone.

Imagine lust is a linebacker. Once the ball is snapped, he is committed to move you. The snap has already been released, and all of hell is committed to get you to lust and stay lusting so you are destroyed. They can’t get you to lust. That’s your choice. Once you make that choice, if you continue, hell knows the outcome. 

Honestly, ask yourself what percentage are you willing to commit to a lust-free life. Willingness matters. If you are not fully committed, you will continue to struggle with little compromises and little secrets. 

Just look behind you. The lust you have agreed with, considered, and participated in is still there. Behind the choice to lust, you had two options: lust or not. Think like God or think like an earthly man. You have probably had moments of both, and you realize that willingness played an important role in the choice you made.

Walk to Freedom

1. How will you know how willing you are to be lust-free?

2. Can your willingness to be lust-free be measured in your behaviors?  

3. If yes, what behaviors can you begin to measure in your life that will indicate to you how willing you are to be lust-free?

Scriptures: 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Luke 11:9, Ephesians 6:18, 2 Chronicles 7:14

Pray for You

Prayer is a very important weapon to have in your arsenal as you walk in freedom to overcome lust. Prayer has a way of bringing heaven and the atmosphere of the kingdom of God to you on earth. 

Daily prayer is important for living a lust-free life. This prayer can be easy: “Jesus, I thank you for dying so I can be lust-free today.” Christians will often choose to pray throughout the day to maintain the lifestyle they want to live. God will not withhold from you anything you regularly pray for that is in His will. Living lust-free is definitely in His will and is the way Jesus is currently living and wants us all to live.

The key to this is to pray desperately. Pray as if you need to be healed from a disease. This isn’t a place to passively come to God for restoration. Be aggressive. Pursue God for His promise of a lust-free heart and mind to become your possession. Ask and beg Him to make the changes in your heart and mind so you can truly live free from lust. Finally, ask for faith to believe that today you can have minutes, hours, and even the entire day to be lust-free.

I find praying the first thing in the morning sets the tone for the day. Regardless of when you pray, pray daily to God. He loves you and wants you to be free even more than you do.

Walk to Freedom

1. If you were to pray to live lust-free, what would be some key elements in that prayer?

2. What time each day is best for you to pray to be lust-free?

3. Who can you be accountable to for the next thirty days to join you in praying for a lust-free life?

Scriptures: Philippians 4:6-7, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 5:43-45, 1 Timothy 2:1-3

Others

Years ago, the Salvation Army was in the midst of a financial crisis. Pressured by those around him to rally financial support, William Booth sent a letter. He chose to write only one word: “Others.”

In the battle of lust it becomes very easy to get focused only on your own battle. When this happens, you tend to only pray for your purity, victory, freedom, and deliverance. I want to challenge you to another option: others.

Take time every day to pray for those you personally know who are struggling. Pray for the People in your church, city, state, nation, and the world. Cry out to God for their eyes to be opened, hearts to be healed, revelations to be given, relationships to be mended, and freedom to walk in love and in the Spirit.

As you begin to intercede something amazing will happen. Your heart will open to others. Your prayers and life become a little less about you. Removing selfishness can help you walk in a more lust-free life. God can use you to move in people’s lives around the world. You can be an agent of change. Not just for you, but for others.

Walk to Freedom

1. In the past, have you found your prayer mostly focused on your own battles?

2. What do you think about praying and interceding for others in this battle?

3. What do you think would happen in your church, city, and nation if men struggling with lust all began to intercede for others?

4. How often would you like to practice this principle in your life?

Scriptures: Galatians 5:16-24, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Ephesians 5:2

Walk in the Spirit

Scripture tells us to walk in the Spirit so we won’t satisfy the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). The scripture continues to list the behaviors of the sinful nature. Inappropriate sexuality is definitely a frontrunner on this list.

You may be asking, how do I walk in the Spirit? You may have images of deep prayer, fasting, and memorizing Scripture. While those are all fantastic spiritual disciplines, I would rather give you the tip Paul used in 1 Corinthians 13 about love.

Walking in love is walking in the Spirit. If you love God and bring Him into a potential lust situation, it will decrease. If you love your spouse children, parents, pastor, and church members, your lust will decrease. 

Love is walking in the Spirit. Lust needs selfishness for fuel. When you walk in the Spirit, lust’s fuel supply dries up. Say goodbye to lust when you start walking in love.

Walk to Freedom

1. Before reading this, when you heard about walking in the Spirit, what images came to mind?

2. How can you make this practical in your daily life?

Scriptures: Proverbs 4:23-27, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:25, Galatians 6:1-2

Talk About It

Every person I have ever met has had one of those days when several things didn’t go the way he or she expected. I know you have had them, too. You didn’t get the job, were passed over for the promotion, or got stuck in traffic. Bad days happen to all of us.

When you have a day like this, you need to have a friend and a plan. You need to talk about it. You need to get out in the open with someone about how unfair your situation is. Then you need to have a plan to do some physical activity to give your body some positive chemicals. Being heard and getting some energy released in a healthy way won’t change your circumstances, but they can certainly change your mindset.

If you don’t have a plan, lust has a plan for you—especially on the roughest days. Lust will send you on a goose chase to find someone to look at or to have someone look at you. Lust will show you an opportunity to get you to view images or even act out in worse behaviors. Lust’s voice will feel familiar with the promise of feeling better afterwards. Lust loves to talk to the vulnerable. 

So when you have bad days, have a plan to talk to someone and get a physical release. Talking to God and your spouse (if you’re married) can be a great part of that plan. Being proactive can help you in the battle of lust. Being reactive can lead you back into lust and give you false comfort. So plan ahead and stay lust-free.

Walk to Freedom

1. Take a minute and remember a specific bad day you had in the past year.

2. On this bad day, what were some of the stronger feelings you had?

3. Who is the person(s) you need to talk to on a bad day?

4. What is a healthy physical activity you can do on very little notice to release energy?

Scriptures: Matthew 24:21, James 1:12

Well Done

Every believer wants to hear “well done” at the end of his or her life. Lust also has the same goal. Lust wants to hear “well done” for bringing you to your knees. Lust longs for the day when your life is being reviewed. Lust loves when its character is on the screen of your soul’s movie. Lust loves to watch your soul slavishly obey it, and delights in watching you lust, become sexually inappropriate, fornicate, or commit adultery. Lust loves to see its influence on a believer’s life and to hear the words “well done.”

You long in your spirit to hear Jesus tell you, “well done.” You long to see Jesus as a real person directing and blessing your life. You want to feel His pride for you. Living a lust-free life and destroying lust both now and in the future can help you move towards hearing Jesus say, “well done.” 

Walk to Freedom

1. Before reading this, did you know lust has a longing for “well done”? 

2. What behaviors do you need to stop and which do you need to do in order to hear “well done” for overcoming lust?

3. Ask yourself, who would get “well done” spoken to them (you or lust) and why, if you died today.

Scriptures: Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 1:7, Psalms 147:11, Psalms 19:9

Fear God

Lust’s natural enemy is the fear of the Lord. This is a very practical tip, not one full of religious doctrine. Contemporary Christianity has forsaken the whole idea of fearing God, embracing only God’s love for us.

If the father who raised you was a manly man, he was there to help you stay out of trouble. If you feared your father, you had respect for your father, understood his values, and knew the consequences of violating them. 

My son knows I love him, and I tell him and demonstrate this to him daily. He also knows my value of respecting women, especially his mother. He knows disrespecting women would be immediately painful. He has a healthy respect and fear of dad.

Respecting our Father God’s value of others is really helpful to walking lust-free. I know God loves me, but I also know He hates lust. He knows the pain it causes inside and the damage it does to those around us. Honor your Father and fear Him in order to maintain a lust-free life. Having His values and value of People in your heart is an antidote to lust. 

Walk to Freedom

1. When you hear the phrase “fear of the Lord,” what thoughts or images come to mind?

2. In your mind, what would it look like for you to have a proper fear of the Lord regarding lust?

3. Why do you think God hates lust and commands us not to lust?

4. What changes would you need to make in attitude, thought, belief, or behavior to feel like you adequately fear God regarding lusting?

Scriptures: Philippians 4:8, Matthew 5:28, Ephesians 5:1-4, Romans 8:5-6

Media Budget

Life is full of limitations. In order to manage these limitations, many of us budget ourselves to be successful. If you want to be financially successful, it’s best if you have a budget to help you identify what you have to do, what you have to spend to meet needs, and what you need to save to reach future goals.

If you want to be great at marriage, you need to budget your time in order to give the relationship what it needs to flourish. If you plan to be successful in a lust-free lifestyle, you should strongly consider starting a media budget.

A media budget is a predetermination of what is acceptable in your life as to forms of media and how much time to spend on them. You may consider movie ratings, porn blockers, whether to have Internet access on your phone, magazines, television, computer, or video games. Then take a look at all the different forms of media you use and decide how much time you are willing to use to be entertained by them in total and individually.

Now you have a media budget. You know if you are going to view inappropriate images and attitudes and how long you are going to spend entertaining these thoughts. You decide what your budget is for media outlets and review them regularly with an accountability person.

Walk to Freedom

1. Have you ever budgeted an area of your life? 

2. If yes, give an example of what and how you budgeted?

3. What is your media budget in these categories:

   ___ Internet ___ Phone   ___ Movies.  ___ Magazines ___ Television

4. How much time are you dedicating to be entertained?

    Daily basis: _____ hours Weekly basis: _____ hours

Multiply total weekly hours by 52 for yearly time absorbed in entertainment:

   52 X ____ = _____ (total hours)

Scriptures: Colossians 2:13-15, Galatians 5:1-26

5 Years Free

Lust takes immediate opportunities to utilize its services. I want you to imagine what your life would be like if you were successful over lust for a day, then a week, then a month, and then a year. Finally, I want you to take a few minutes and imagine your life completely lust-free.

You will see People as people, not objects to be used to quench your lust. Instead of preying on them for self-pleasure, you will feel sad for those who objectify themselves and pray for them. 

What does your life look like in five years? What about your spiritual life? Your health? Your spouse? Your children and grandchildren? How are they impacted by having someone committed to sexual integrity in their lives?

Imagine wisdom and energy flowing through you in your relationships at work. Think about your hobbies and having the best sex of your life with your spouse. It’s possible to be lust-free. I have known men and women who have experienced years of lust-free living. What’s stopping you from joining us?

Walk to Freedom

1. Do you agree lust sells the immediate?

2. How far were you really able to imagine you could be lust-free?

3. Take a few moments and write out a summary of what your life looked like.

4. How would this picture feel if you were actually living in it now?

Scriptures: James 4:7, John 14:15, Romans 6:23, Deuteronomy 28:1-13

Resistance Training

As a result of pushing and pulling weights at the gym, you get stronger. In order for this to happen effectively, you have to be consistent in resistance training, and you have to increase the weight or resistance over time.

Lust is the weight. If you resist lust consistently, you get stronger in love, honor, and respect toward others. If lust throws you larger opportunities to be lustful or sexually inappropriate, and you resist, you get stronger.

You get the same positive feeling after resisting lust as you do after a good workout. When you choose not to lust, you choose to honor God, and that feels good. You just protected yourself, your spouse, and family. When you fight lust, you start getting yourself in the best spiritual shape of your life.

Regardless of how long your road is to get and maintain a lust-free lifestyle, the decisions are the same. You must decide to become lust-free. You must have the tools you are willing to master on a daily basis. The battle may be minute by minute in the beginning, so you have to commit to brutal honesty with yourself, God, and an accountability partner (don’t keep trying by yourself). 

A few consistent daily choices create a habit of preparation to defeat lust and make you ready to win. Those who make a daily choice to prepare, are able to get and stay lust-free earlier and longer than those who wait for lust to decide when and where to fight. Be proactive; start daily disciplines as a part of your life and you will be victorious. 

My prayer for you is that you make the decision to daily walk in freedom and that you live a lust free lifestyle.

Walk to Freedom

1. What are your thoughts on consistency and increased resistance?

2. When you have beaten lust in the past, how did you feel?

3. Are you willing to commit to a daily discipline to prepare you to fight lust?